This week was one of endings and new beginnings, after an 18 yr relationship with the Commonwealth bank I went in today and closed my award saver, my savings and my credit card accounts. Ever since I stopped studying the bank has just hit me with bank fee after bank fee and is also changing their award point structure for their credit cards, there’s simply just better deals elsewhere. Makes me kind of sad though I think I opened the account with $1 and was given a Dollarmite pencil case and money box.... ahhh the good old days..
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When I first started with Hudson there were 3 others that started around the same time as me. My 3 month probation ended at the beginning of March and I didn’t really think much about it. On Wednesday night one of the other new starters had to meet with the managers for their 3 month review. While he was in the meeting the rest of the team was pulled into a room for a ‘meeting’ we later found out that my colleague had been given the sack – while he was a great guy he just wasn’t cut out for recruitment. As we were being told this news he was at his desk gathering his things and was given the dignity to not have to look us all in the eye.
Once he had left we were allowed back to the office, it was such a sad day for the team. It was so sudden, one minute he was there and next he wasn’t without any goodbyes. I’ve never seen this happen before (I mean sure we lost Baku girls all the time, but retail is really quite different) and it makes you feel weird and empty in the stomach. There is probably no easy way to do something like this, but ‘great guy’ aside it I must say I agree with my manager’s decision
The worst of it was when I was told to follow up on all the things he had been working on. I wasn’t even over losing him yet to have to go through all his notes and desk. He left so much of his stuff…I wanted to pack it all up to give back to him, but then thought maybe he didn’t want it.
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A lot of people ask me ‘So what do you do Emily?’ and they have no idea what recruitment specialists do. But here is an example of a run down of my day…
7:50am – I usually rock up at work at about this time, grab some breakfast from the kitchen and log into my outlook and Epro to check my events and messages for the day. My mail box is usually flooded with messages of people to call people back, and updated resumes of candidates which I have to screen and send back out to the database people in the city.
8:00 - 8:30am – I call a few of my potential candidates and attempt to catch them before they head off to work, while simultaneously surfing competitors websites and Seek to suss out any opportunities that may be out there.
8:30 – 9:00am – Meeting with the non-exec team to discuss market information and talk about great candidates we have interviewed recently. We go through what jobs we have on, and discuss a plan of attack for the day.
9:00 – 11:00am – A big part of my job is to maintain and build on relationships that I have with existing and new clients. I spend this time making my relationship calls to check on their needs and tell them of great candidates that have come onto the market place. I also find companies which I would like to target and do business with, and find out relevant contacts within that company. I may drop off information packs, get my secretary to send out mailers, or I may drive out to drop off stress balls and Easter eggs.
11:00 – 11:15am – Leaving to go on a client visit out at Boral in 15 minutes, I have a few jobs on and need to send out a shortlist to my client by this afternoon. I send the resumes over to my Team co-ordinator and tell her to have them done for me by 2pm. In the meantime I research the company that I am visiting and see who they have dealt with in the past…off I run.
11:15 – 12:30pm – Client visit at Boral, got lost on the way…thank goodness for my company mobile! (or my phone bill would sky rocket) I ring my secretary for directions. Arrive at Boral, get a tour of their offices; met with my client and got the names of other potential contacts. Managed to get a real feel for the company and made a mental note of the type of people that would fit in well in this type of working environment. Stopped to say hi to the people that we have placed there, made sure that all is going well.
12:30 – 1:30pm – Lunch time is any time between 12 and 2, if I have time I will take it, if not I will grab something from the shop and eat it at my desk and have the people from office support tell me off for not having lunch with them again. Over lunch I try reply to some of my emails, do some candidate calls and leave messages for others. I take a look at the ad response for my Assistant accountant job that I put up on the internet and action the ones that I think are not suitable. I find a few good resumes and give them a call to touch base. I arrange interviews for the ones that I think are good.
1:45 -2:30pm – Have to interview a candidate that I booked in a few days ago, looks good on paper and had some good systems experience. Will see how they present in person and manage their expectations as the price that they are aiming for is a bit unrealistic for the market today – interview complete will put them on excel and data entry testing.
2:30 – 3:00pm – Come back to my desk tell my team that I have met a great candidate, arrange for my colleagues to meet with them when they have finished their testing. In the meantime I email the accounting teams in our other offices to let them know this candidate is on the market. I type up my interview notes and add my personal comments then post it to our database. Will also put a time in my diary to remind my self to reference check this person.
3:00 – 4:00pm – Back at my desk my TC has finished the candidate reports, I have to finish writing my recommendations and draft an email to my client…. eEek! It’s 4pm and I haven’t sent the shortlist yet, I panic a bit a run to my colleague Reena to ask for advice. My client is a difficult one and I feel a bit intimidated by her. Reena (my mentor) who use to be a lawyer for PWC tells me to relax and coaches me on what to say. She makes a few calls to difficult clients herself and I regain my confidence as I watch her do her magic.
4:00 - 4:30pm – Send out my shortlist and call my client to see what she thought of the previous candidates and whether she wants to interview any of them herself. She is quite adamant that the person she wants must be degree qualified. I advise that for that price it’s hard to attract candidates at that level, she agrees to up the salary to $50, 000….score!
4:30 – 5:00pm - Most businesses close at 5pm so I make more client calls to arrange visits for the next couple of months. I get rejected a few times but I will persist.
5:00-6:00pm – I search on the database for suitable candidates around the $50k mark; I also have a few other jobs on and will need to find people to shortlist and make more candidate calls to see if they are available.
6:00 pm – make a run for the train!! (or if my managers around I will scab a lift to the city).
So yeh, that’s an example of one of my days at work, no two days are ever the same…if I want to be out of the office I will arrange more visits. I work with and meet the greatest people! I am challenged every day and as you can imagine things can get pretty hetic! But professionally and personally I have developed a great deal and I feel so confident in my ability…that if I were to walk away from this job tomorrow I would have learnt enough from this experience to see it all as a positive.
After the Easter holidays the company is sending me to do some course that teaches me the skills to handle different people and to believe in what I do for a living…. Should be good… I also met with HR recently who said that the company would pay for my Masters if I chose to do so, but I don’t even have time to sleep at the moment, I don’t really think I have a desire or time to do my Masters.
After all...I aspire to be a house wife oneday! =P
