Consultancies return to MBA hiring

Consulting remains a popular career choice for MBA students and there is no shortage of work for them as demand for business school graduates continues to grow.

Keywords:

Management Consultancy Recruitment, jobs

Article Body:

Consulting remains a popular career choice for MBA students and there is no shortage of work for them as demand for business school graduates continues to grow.

These days a top MBA is almost a prerequisite in order to reach senior or even mid-management levels at many of the major consulting firms. The leading strategy consultancies in particular have redoubled their recruiting efforts: McKinsey hired over five hundred MBAs in 2005 and this figure was set to rise in 2006; Booz Allen Hamilton, BCG, Bain and IBM Consulting all hired over one hundred MBAs in 2005 and were expecting increases again in 2006. By comparison, the larger banks have been hiring as few as two hundred MBAs a year and the numbers relating to the technology and industry sectors are significantly lower again.

According to the 2005 TopMBA.com Recruitment and Salary Survey, demand for MBAs in the consultancy sector rose by a colossal 35% in just twelve months (June 2004-5), and it’s a trend that looks set to continue. The dip in economy and the consulting market at the start of the decade meant that many consultants used the time to study for an MBA; now that the market is on the rise again, consultancies are looking to these MBA graduates with prior consulting experience to meet their needs.

More MBAs hired from non-consulting backgrounds.

There are also an increasing number of MBA graduates who are being hired from a non-consulting background. Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, for example, reports that in 2005 only 13% of those entering a consulting career post-MBA had previous experience in the field. Similarly, at INSEAD Business School in France the number of graduates being hired into consulting from different backgrounds, such as industry, rose from 36% to 47% in one year (2003-4). What is behind the change? Consultancies are recognising the diversity and wealth of experience and expertise that candidates from a non-consulting background can bring, particularly as the average age and work history of MBA students rises. There is an increasing need for consultants with specialist skills and knowledge and these attributes can often be acquired outside the consulting profession.


Strong UK market attracts more MBAs than anywhere else in Europe.

Demand for MBA graduates is particularly strong in the UK. The healthy economy and policy to attract highly skilled migrants make it the most popular destination for European MBA graduates. Overall the UK drew 23% of INSEAD students in 2005 and of those choosing to remain within western Europe, it attracted an enormous 37% (the next most popular destination being France with 18% and Germany with 8%).

Consulting remains a highly lucrative option for MBA graduates. According to the 2005 annual report from the London Business School, earnings for consulting jobs outweighed those in both finance and industry, averaging at £65,000 per annum before bonuses. This compares with an average figure of £58,000 for those who found jobs in the finance sector and £55,000 for those in industry. Employees also received an average annual bonus of £25,000 and a sign-on bonus in the region of £10,500. Companies are also attempting to lure in the brightest graduates by offering a range of perks, from company cars to all-expenses-paid days out.

Lifestlye and choice are stronger motivations than salary.

Interestingly, though, the reason that are given by the majority of MBA graduates for making consulting their preferred career choice is not high salaries. According to the students, the real motivation for making the move into consulting is the career and lifestyle options it can bring – the opportunity to find a stimulating and varied role with the chance to progress in different directions.

Hiring A Branding Company 101

How to hire a branding company.

Keywords:

branding, corporate branding, internet branding, brand identity, brand image, brand equity, brand development, branding company, branding agency, corporate internet branding, boston seo

Article Body:

If your company has a good product and a hungry market for that product, you’re closer to success than 90% of the rest. But to take that final step, some of the most successful companies in the world have hired a Branding Company to craft their company’s brand image into the sales and loyalty-generating machine it needs to be.

How have these successful companies—take your pick from the Fortune 500—found these branding companies? There’s no one-stop resource or fail-safe formula. Fact is, finding one worth its salt is exceedingly difficult. But if you’re going to take your brand to the next level, there’s no way around it—you need one. So, here are some things to remember when you’re out there on the hunt:

1. Know your needs and have an idea about how you’d like them met. This will give you the self-knowledge you need to better gauge the work of the branding agencies you'll encounter to determine if they really can deliver what you need.

2. Go ahead, be a fan. If you admire the branding efforts of a certain company, call around and find out who did the work.

3. Go with a referral, not a blind hire. Canvass your contacts. This is always better than hiring someone with no frame of common reference. If they left a favorable impression on one person, chances are it’s a trend, not an exception.

4. Throw a few companies a bone & see what they do with it. Give them a general question or problem scenario. See how responsive they are and how much time it appears they put into crafting their response. This isn't the same as asking for free or speculative work, which is bad form. Don’t do that. Rather, this should give you a preview to how they think and their work ethic…and whether they would really value your business and do a good job for you.

5. Money isn't taboo. Once you’ve found a company you’d like to work with, discuss it from the outset. It’s better to agree on financial terms from the start than for either of you to be in a precarious position somewhere down the line. This may start with a simple question, like: “What’s your budget?” or “What would you typically charge for this kind of work?” If they ask you, give a number if you one in mind, but don’t pull it out of nowhere. Be sure you’ve educated yourself on the costs involved with the kind of work you need, and don’t expect them to give you a discount just because you have kind eyes. If you ask them, try to be specific. Ask how much it cost to produce a specific project in their portfolio.

Hiring the Best - Interviewing Strategies that WORK!

Hiring continues to be key to a company’s success. Hiring the right staff – with the skills AND characteristics required for success – requires behavioral event interviewing. This article provides insights into effective interviewing and hiring.

Keywords:

management, boss, manager, supervisor, hiring, interviewing, behavioral-based, resume, candidate

Article Body:

In today’s competitive environment, hiring has increasingly become a key link in establishing and maintaining your company’s edge. By attracting and hiring the best people, your company can move quickly and grow steadily. On the flip side, however, poor hires cost you precious time, money, and opportunity. Poor hiring could cost you your company.

Unfortunately, hiring candidates who can do what they say they can do is getting tougher. A whole industry has sprung up in the past ten years helping job seekers land a job — sometimes at all costs. You can’t afford to hire someone who can’t do the job, do it with minimal direction, or do it quickly. Fortunately, there are techniques that you can use to ensure that the candidate you select can do the job. We will examine four techniques here — demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, and testing — and introduce a powerful interviewing technique — High Performance Interviewing — that we will cover in more detail in the next issue of Performance News.

Demonstrations

Ideally, the best way to see if a candidate is able to do the job is to have them actually do the job. To have them, in other words, demonstrate their ability to do the work. Sales representatives can sell something; software engineers can code something; machine operators can operate a machine; secretaries can answer phones or type a memo; etc.

Simulation

Sometimes demonstrations are not possible or appropriate. The next best thing to a demonstration is a simulation. A simulation is like a demonstration except that the situation is not real. In sales or customer service, for example, you can role play an angry customer and have the candidate respond to your anger. Another example of a simulation is having a telesales representative call you (the “customer”) to sell you something. Or, if you’re interviewing for a training position, you could have the candidate teach you something.

Problem Solving

Sometimes demonstrations and simulations are not feasible. Then problem solving might provide you with confidence in the person’s ability. Problem solving is a technique many interviewers use to see how adept the candidate is in addressing real or hypothetical problems and challenges. It is one step removed from simulation because in problem solving the candidate describes what s/he would do rather than simulating what s/he would do. A cautionary note: problem solving by itself may only indicate what a person SAYS s/he will do in a given situation, not how they actually will or did behave. Still, problem solving is a good way to check a critical skill.

Test

Tests are also sometimes helpful as part of the hiring process. Psychological tests provide a way for some companies to identify key characteristics in an individual. Other ways of testing include asking specific knowledge questions such as “What commands might you use to initiate a subroutine?” or “What are the advantages and disadvantages of common network protocols?”

Interview

However, sometimes demonstrations, simulations, problem solving, or testing might not be feasible; at the very least they -- by themselves -- are inadequate. Interviewing is required. Effective interviewing requires that you have sharp probing and listening skills to get the candidate to describe or explain relevant experiences from which you can draw highly predictive information. We call this type of interviewing High Performance Interviewing.

Can we maximize the traditional method of hiring candidates — the interview — to hire more effectively? The answer is, “YES!”

Many interviews result in a mutual exchange of meaningless information and a “gut feeling.” The process we call High Performance Interviewing (HPI) helps you gather meaningful, predictive information and substantiates your “gut feeling.”
HPI is based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. HPI is designed to extract highly predictive, accurate target data from candidates. Target data is:

• Behavioral: The data must be about what the candidate did, said, thought, or felt. We do not consider what the person “was responsible for” as target data since it doesn’t tell what the person actually did. The data must be about the candidate. We do not consider “we” data target data since we don’t know what the candidate did.

• Volunteered by the candidate: Target data comes from the candidate’s memory, not the interviewer’s suggestions or prompting.

• About a specific past situation: Focused on what actually happened, not on what might have happened, or what generally happens. Having the candidate state what they would do in specific scenarios may point out problem solving and quick thinking but may not predict what the person actually has done in similar situations. Only data based on past situations is considered target data.

Step 1: General Opening Statement or Question

Begin gathering target data with general opening questions or statements. The purpose of this step is to get the candidate to talk about what we want them to talk about. Here are examples of general openings. (The phrases in parentheses are examples of specific skills I might be looking for in a candidate.):

• “I’m looking for (examples of when you managed multiple priorities).”

• “I’d like to hear more about (your experiences in delegating).”

• “I’d like to find out how (you respond to autonomy and little direction).”

• “Can you think of a time when (you had a difficult deadline to meet)?”

• “Do you recall an instance where (you were aware that another member of the team was not pulling his or her own weight)?”

• “Is there an example of (a challenge you faced in coding a new module)?”

Step 2: Get Deeper

The next step in gathering target data is to get deeper in those areas important to the job. Questions that help you get deeper include:

• “How did it start?”

• “What were the key points in the situation?”

• “What were the results?”

• “What happened first/then/next?”

• “What did you do/say/feel/think?”

• “How did you prepare/follow-up?”

• “What do you believe was the most important event/decision/activity during that time?”

Here are several guidelines for getting deeper:

• Ask what the candidate did, said, felt, thought.

• Separate the candidate’s actions from others’ actions.

• Ask “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “how”.

What is your role throughout this questioning? Take notes to help you guide the conversation. Listen. Ask for clarity when necessary. Remember, we cannot assess a candidate’s qualifications if WE do all the talking!

What You Don’t Do

It is important that you as interviewer don’t:

• Ask leading questions: Leading questions give you exactly what you want to hear. And they typically result in inaccurate data.

• Accept generalizations: Generalizations don’t tell you what the candidate did. Target data must be specific.

• Accept collectivisms: Collectivisms are the use of we, the group, my team, etc. They don’t tell us what this individual -- the candidate -- did. Again, target data must be specific.

• Assess the candidate before hearing all: Prejudging a candidate before the data is heard is a serious mistake. The brain can easily “find” data to support its prejudgment. Therefore, stick to the script; write down what you hear as the interviewer. The time for assessment comes later.

How To Get Back On Track

Because HPI is a dialogue, it is sometimes easy for the candidate to digress. It is your responsibility as interviewer to pull the candidate’s discussion into more relevant and appropriate direction. Here are some pithy phrases that will rein in or focus the digresser:

• “If I was there, what would I see?”

• “You said there were meetings. Could you tell me about one?”

• “Can you give me the details?”

• “Let’s backtrack a bit.”

• “Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

When you’ve gathered an appropriate amount of data for a particular skill, repeat the HPI technique until you are satisfied with the results. Then close the interview.


Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com. Check out Entelechy's website at www.unlockit.com.

Critical Guidelines You Need to Know Before Hiring Anyone

We don't like to think about people doing harm to ourselves or others. The reality, however, is that we live in a country with one of the highest rates of financial crimes, including embezzlement, fraud, theft, etc. And, that's just the beginning.

Keywords:

employment screening,hiring,background checks

Article Body:

We don’t like to think about people doing harm to ourselves or others.  The reality, however, is that we live in a country with one of the highest rates of financial crimes, including embezzlement, fraud, theft, etc.  And, that’s just the beginning. 
 
Let’s look at just a few statistics on what the FBI reports is the fastest growing crime in the US - employee theft:

·         US Chamber of Commerce reports that $50 billion dollars are lost annually due to employee theft and fraud and that 20% of all businesses fail due to the same reason.

·         According to an Ernst & Young Report, "White Collar Crime:  Loss Prevention through Internal Control" companies lose 1% to 2% of its sales to crime -- most committed by, or in collusion with, employees.

Employee theft, negligent hiring, sexual harassment, and workers’ compensation fraud are just a few of the liabilities an employer has to face in today’s hiring environment. 
 
For example, an Arizona Fitness Club hired an unscreened applicant which resulted in the rape and murder of a female patron while she lounged in the sauna.
 
Is it any wonder that employment screening has become mandatory?  Not only do you want to avoid hiring criminals, don’t you want to hire the right candidate who is most qualified for the job?  All of this information can be ascertained through a proper background check from a company that knows what they are doing, and/or which can supplement an already existent screening program.
 
Critical Tips When Choosing an Employment Screening Company

When choosing an employment screening firm, look for longevity first with a track record that can be verified with numerous references from clients.  Also look for professional memberships in organizations such as ASIS, SHRM, PIHRA, NPRRA, NAPBS, to name just a few. 
 
Do you have a complete knowledge of employment law?  If not, your screener should know the laws involving the background screening process.  It helps, if the firm you hire has an acute knowledge of “negligent hiring,” much in the way that an Expert Witness might know, since it will be the expert witness who exposes the shortcomings of any hiring loophole which created the environment for the negligently hired employee to have come aboard in the first place! 
 
Intimate, thorough and long-term knowledge of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is necessary, as well as the ability to testify for you in a court of law if need be – or even better, keep you out of court!
 
Does the prospective screener have knowledge and understanding of current HR Management systems?  How about corporate Due Diligence programs or Factual Employment Screening programs that train people to find fraudulent applications and false identities?
 
In short, can your vendor help keep you from unwanted litigation?  Unless you or someone in your company is an expert in employment law, you are putting your company at significant risk.  If you are using any of the multitudes of online databases that have become available recently, it’s not likely you are protected. 
 
Not only do these companies decrease your risk of exposure, they may even add to it.  For example, let’s say you are currently using an employment screener who does not require you to provide a signed release for each applicant.  Sounds relatively harmless, doesn’t it? 
 
The truth is what these companies have done is had you waive liability to them when you signed up for an account so they can avoid the time and effort it takes involved in this critical step.  In the case of an audit, your company is responsible for producing a signed application and therefore liable if you don’t have one on file.  A good employment screener provides signatures for these audits and you’ll never even know when they occur.  A typical lawsuit of this nature could cost your company six figures.   Can you think of any good reason to take this kind of risk?
 
Join us again in the next issue and we’ll expose several common myths about background checks and give you the real facts such as what you must have including: a thorough candidate identification process, financial and driving history and hand-researched criminal court records.  We’ll also show you how to use this information to make the best hiring decisions.

Hiring A New Assistant?

Are you considering hiring a new administrative or executive assistant? Maybe you should think twice.

Keywords:

virtual assistant, virtual assistance, small business, administrative assistant

Article Body:

Are you considering hiring a new administrative or executive assistant? Maybe you should think twice.

The online service industry boom may be a viable alternative for your apparent human resource needs. More and more small businesses and even larger companies are turning to virtual office assistants to handle their administrative tasks.

Does it sound too complicated or new-fangled? Well, there are good reasons to at least consider the option.

Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits that a cyber employee has over their in-office counterpart.

-Insurance, taxes, and other benefits do not apply to most online service providers. They provide services as a contractor or freelance provider.

-Your relationship with the provider you choose is just that: service provider to client. Imagine having all your employees treating you as their favorite client all the time, doing their best work each time to ensure your repeat business! Conversely, have you ever been dissatisfied with a project you asked your assistant to complete. It probably, wasn’t feasible(or legal) for you to fire that person on the spot. Online you determine whether to continue that relationship by allowing them to work on future projects for you or not.

-It may not seem like a lot, but take a moment to think of all the capital you invest in each new employee you hire. Every extra phone line, data port, software license, cubic foot of office space, furniture, and anything else a person would need to sit in your office and conduct business reduces your bottom line.

Obviously, virtual assistants have some limitations. Online providers can handle just about any need that could arise. Consider that you may miss the personal aspects of working side by side with someone you know and trust. It’s the human and spatial aspects that are difficult to duplicate online. Extraordinary technology exists for communication and collaboration. However, none of that can ever guarantee you that if you stick your head around the corner and ask for an opinion or some help, you’ll get it immediately. Most likely they won’t attend your office holiday party or join the softball team!

There are many different types of companies online that can help you run your business more efficiently. You can hire on a project basis. You can put an assistant on retainer. If you have administrative needs that aren’t being met, you may want to consider your options before running into your local classifieds office, ad in hand.

Hiring Adjustments For Generations X And Y

Work-life balance. Flexible work hours. Corporate mission. What is the point of focusing on these non-traditional hiring topics? Two letters – X and Y. Generation X (born between 1963 and 1980) and Generation Y (born after 1980) are establishing a more prominent position within the employment landscape as the Baby Boomers prepare to exit the workforce. The shift to these younger generations is prompting a new focus in hiring tactics.

The Baby Boomer generation was cut from...

Keywords:

sales recruiting,hiring,sales hiring,salespeople,recruiting,assessment,Select Metrix

Article Body:

Work-life balance. Flexible work hours. Corporate mission. What is the point of focusing on these non-traditional hiring topics? Two letters – X and Y. Generation X (born between 1963 and 1980) and Generation Y (born after 1980) are establishing a more prominent position within the employment landscape as the Baby Boomers prepare to exit the workforce. The shift to these younger generations is prompting a new focus in hiring tactics.

The Baby Boomer generation was cut from the cloth of work first and foremost, climb the corporate ladder and retire with a healthy pension plan. Those days are all but gone. Today, younger workers are creating a paradigm shift in employee hiring based on their priorities. We have observed this accelerating transition firsthand over the past 2 years.

We work with companies in many market spaces, industries and geographic locations. The hiring landscape has already changed and companies that do not frequently hire may be unaware of the new focus. Certain patterns exist today that are universally consistent when hiring Gen X and Gen Y employees.

--WORK-LIFE BALANCE--
Perhaps there is no more profound shift in values than this topic. Gen X, and even more so Gen Y, is focused on a position’s time requirements. This isn’t to say the younger generations are not hard workers. On the contrary, they put tremendous effort into their work, but they also place a high value on their personal time away from the office. This balanced approach has been mistakenly interpreted by the Baby Boomers as a “slacker mentality.”

The younger generations search for opportunities where they can grow their skill set without having to sacrifice every other area of their life. As an employer, it is imperative to understand this desired balance. Positions that lack the needed support, tools or technology often will be a red flag to the Gen X or Y candidate. The reward for accepting such a position clearly has to outweigh the perceived imbalance it may cause in their life.

--SKILLS PATH--
Most people are familiar with the term “career path.” The Baby Boomer generation experienced a marketplace where preordained opportunities existed to climb the corporate ladder within the same company. Today’s younger generations generally do not have such consistent opportunities before them. More importantly, many of the younger generation do not subscribe to the same loyalty as the Baby Boomers.

Gen X and Y candidates are looking for a “skills path.” They desire to understand what skills are needed to be successful in the position today. The long-term incentive is to understand what skills they will personally develop or acquire within the company. They prefer a horizontal management structure and respond to personal skill development. Titles are out. Responsibilities are in. It is imperative to share with the candidates the responsibilities they will inherit as their skills become more advanced over their tenure with the company.

--SHERPA MANAGERS--
As mentioned, the younger generations have a fairly horizontal view of the org chart – whether accurate or not. We have seen this approach wreak havoc in an office dominated by Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers expect an almost military-style chain of command while the younger generations have a more fluid approach to positions of authority.

Gen X and Y highly value the manager-employee relationship. They view their manager as a guide – an experienced Sherpa to make sure they are on the right path. In debriefing Gen X and Y employees after they are hired, the vast majority consistently mention the impression of their manager as having the most influence on their decision to join the company. The hiring manager needs to connect with the Gen X and Y candidate on a personal level during the interview process. Clearly the manager-employee relationship is a two-way street so this approach affords the hiring manager a beneficial insight into the candidate also.

--WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER--
These generations are plugged-in to technology from Bluetooth to Blackberries. They have spent much of their working careers, even entire lives for some, having Internet information available to them at a moment’s notice. This fact can work against employers in that these younger candidates are savvy about Internet job boards and have a tendency to always have an eye out for new opportunities.

However, the upside of this technological ability is far greater. A subtle item we have observed among Gen X and Y candidates is their strategic thinking. Their youthful age belies the fact that they have sharp minds for understanding macro markets. We have seen these younger candidates ask amazingly insightful questions that make the hiring managers pause during the interview. We have also seen strong candidates pass on opportunities because they were skeptical of the hiring company’s shallow business plans.

The Gen X workforce will be ascending into prominent management positions at a brisk pace over the next 5 years. The next wave of change will occur in the management ranks as they shift the hiring process away from the Baby Boomer approach. The aforementioned topics will move to the forefront of the hiring process as the newly crowned Gen X managers hire the Gen Y employees. Until that happens, progressive companies will perceive these current shifts and adjust their hiring tactics in advance.

Flight Attendant Hiring Outlook

The hiring outlook for flight attendants hasn't been this good in five years. Please read on to see who exactly is hiring and what you can do to launch your new career right away!

Keywords:

flight attendants, corporate flight attendant, Aviation Employment Board, aviation jobs, jet jobs

Article Body:

The hiring outlook for flight attendants has brightened considerably over the past few months. Led by United Airlines’ recent announcement that they would immediately begin to hire up to 2000 new flight attendants, this news has sparked the most attention. If you are interested in becoming a flight attendant, the market is the best it has been in five years. Let’s take a look at who is hiring or who can be expected to hire over the next year.

Legacy Carriers – Beaten up by high employee costs, surging fuel prices, competition from low priced carriers, and overall inefficiency, two legacy carriers [defined as those air carriers who have helped shape the US airline industry] are turning the corner and are hiring flight attendants. United Airlines and Continental Airlines are hiring for various bases within the US.

Discount Carriers – Southwest, AirTran, Mesa, and Alaska Airlines are all hiring right now. In fact, across the board hiring is taking place at virtually all discounters right now as they seek to strengthen their footing in the marketplace.

Regional Carriers – Chautauqua, Comair, Champion Air, and Air Wisconsin are all hiring. Like the discount carriers, most regional carriers are awash in cash and are expanding their routes. More routes means additional employees needed to fill the increased capacity.

Charter Carriers – Air Miami and several other airlines that fly unscheduled flights are hiring.

Start Up Carriers – The two newest air carriers, EOS Airlines and Maxjet Airways, have recently hired flight attendants and are expected to hire again.

So, if winging your way to Peoria or Paris is the kind of lifestyle you want to lead, then working as a flight attendant is certainly one of the ways to do just that. Air carriers are hiring and the pickings are good for the right candidates. Contact your desired airline directly for up to date hiring information and open houses.