Globalisation means that in many ways it’s easier to have technology designed in India, Far Eastern manufacturing products produced in China and labour from Eastern Europe to undertake the jobs those in the UK don’t want to do.

Indeed, for some time it’s been possible to give “a brief” for artwork for an online brochure at 3pm one afternoon and wake up the following morning for the brochure to be already uploaded onto a professionally produced new website that had been designed and placed on the net and is ready to take orders online.

And all of this for one sixth of the cost you would pay in the UK!
So has or will UK Talent and many businesses price themselves out of the marketplace?

How important is understanding office politics to success?

What types of actions are acceptable and what types of actions unacceptable, or is it all fair in love and war?

Where can you learn how to “play the game”?

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Research shows that Top Talent all over the world is adept at identifying companies that they wish to join and for lifestyles they want to enjoy.

• In Malaysia 47% of Top Talent is looking for a new job
• In singapore the figure is 40%
• Australia  33%
• Thailand  32%
• China  31%
• UK  40%

Much of this talent identifies companies thay wish to work for by surfing the internet. They are looking for companies that will look good on their resume and for lifestyles that they will find attractive. As such the company website will often be the first gateway to attracting Top Talent

A positive E-image is, therefore, important to attracting and retaining Top Talent in a business.

What should this image look like and which companies do you know that have a positive e-image?

Have you a story of a job interview that went wrong?For instance: The Accountant that sat in front of the interview panel with his flies undone with his white pants showing through.
or the interviewer who got the application notes muddled up and interviewed the “wrong candidates” all day.

If something similar has happened to you then we would love to know

Do companies that recruit top talent?need to?pay more to attract and retain the top talent?

There are many reasons why top talent is attracted to a company and pay is often lower down on the list than we might expect. Firstly top talent tends to be hungry for knowledge, it’s often what makes them top talent in the first place. So if our business can offer learning and development opportunities then it will attract and retain top talent.

If there is a culture of training and development, coaching and mentoring opportunities with people that the top talent?respects, the prospect of promotion and development, working with other top talent and being part of a growing and successful company then top talent will want to join, even if this means compromising substantially on salary.

Secondly top talent will be attracted to a business that’s recognised as being (or will be) a market leader. Often top talent will delay rewards such as pay as these people will look for opportunities to grow and develop their skills and experience.

Companies that are serious about attracting and retaining top talent will pay a competitive salary and ensure that it remains competitive.

However it’s the non-pay actions that attracts and retains the top talent in the first place.

www.stephenharvarddavis.com

(44) 0 1727 838321

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In my regular discussions with CEO’s and the leaders of large multi-national businesses about the value of top talent to their business we will often conclude that:

1. A top talent company means having top talent in all areas of the business. A business can’t survive with top talent at the top or in specific areas of the business whilst having little top talentin all the other parts of the business.
2. Many organisations fail to recognise that they may already have top talent within their business. As a result they will often seek to recruit expensive outsiders. This is because they don’t have a system for identifying their top talent at an early stage in the employment cycle.
3. Top talent is often attracted to the prospect of personal development as opposed to a high salary.
4. A company filled with top talent will always attract other top talent to it
5. A company filled wwith top talent will grow faster, be seen as a market leader and produce more profits than its competition.

When describing how the above impacts upon a business I will often make the analogy to a highly successful restaurant. Any restaurant that fills all of its tables every night and has a full diary of forward bookings will have acapable, stable and motivated team of chefs in the kitchen. However having a team of top talent creating the product, in this case food, is not enough. To provide a great customer eating experience there must be a team of professional front of house and waiting staff to meet, greet and serve the customers. Otrher aspects such as decor, entertainment value and ease of access may play a part but the main criteria are the people and the product.

However if that top talent leaves the restaurant this is often immediately noticeable by regular customers. Either the food or the service will suffer and customers immediately will stay away in droves.

Why top talent is attracted to a business:

• The work is interesting and challenging
• There are promotion opportunities
• The company will look good on the CV
• High performers are recruited and looked after
• There is a boss or mentor that is admired
• The company has a good reputation and is a strong performer
• There is long-term commitment to top talent
• Culture and values are liked
• There is trust in the senior management
• Top talent is recognised and rewarded for their individual and team contribution

Why top talent leaves a business

• There is change in the management that does not appreciate the top talent
• There is conflict with immediate superiors
• Close friends (other top talent) leaves
• There are no further learning opportunities
• Another company will look better on the resume (CV)

Stephen?Harvard Davis is described as the UK’s leading authority on job transition and is the author of “Why do 40% of Executives Fail?”. He also advises companies on transion managment and attracting and retaining top talent within a business. He is also a sought after speaker at high level conferences and business meetings.

Tel: 44 (0) 1727 838321

email: stephen@busrelcon.com?www.stephenharvarddavis.com

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Research shows that there is an increase in turnover following a M&A and that this carries on for much longer than expected.

The exodus peaks about two years after the acquisition and research amongst 450 firms shows that executives depart at twice the normal rate for a minimum of nine years after the acquisition.

The reasons given by departing executives show that about a third depart due to reduced job status or alienation.

If you have left a firm as a result of a M&A we would be interested to know:

• How soon after the merger did you leave?
• What were your reasons for leaving?

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As reported on the Today Programme (Radio 4) this morning 25 January 2007:

CEO’s of companies in the UK have a Trust Void
Trust in CEO’s is 20%
whilst in an employee it is between 35 &40%
and in a peer 50%

Is it any wonder that the average tenure of a CEO in an organisation has fallen in recent years to under 2 years and that so many newly appointed CEO’s go on to fail in the new job.

Can CEO’s increase the chances of success by raising their TRUST rating both inside and outside a company?

Everyone accepts that the interview is one of the least successful ways to select people for a job. But perhaps this is not surprising.

Some time ago the CIPD reported that only 21% of those that undertake job interviews have been trained. Even if trained many of those will only undertake an interview once or twice a year and thus lack experience.

However, the main problems with an interview is that, no matter who is doing it, the interviewer brings with them a huge number of prejudices, opinions on what is required to succeed in the job (many of them irrelevant) and other baggage that gets in the way of selecting the right person for the job.

Indeed Walt Disney was so aware of his prejudices that when he auditioned for the “Voice” of Snow White he made each actress speak her lines from behind a screen so that he would not be influenced by her appearance.

So the question put here is: Suppose a process could be undertaken that could accurately measure an individual and the information supplied by them against a known set of criteria without the need for time consuming interviews. Would that save time, increase accuracy and the chances for a more successful appointment?

The information that would be assessed against the agreed criteria would include:
A deeper review of the applicants CV
? A written statement by the applicant on their job requirements
? Online Numeracy & Literacy questionnaire
? Online Personality Test
? Personal references taken up at time of application
? Educational Qualification Certificates sent in by applicant with CV
? Applicant writes a report to a problem relating to the job

By benchmarking these measurements against a pre- determined list of job requirements and scores it is possible to identify a “preferred candidate”.

However, no selection process can remove meeting the candidate altogether. After all, there may be specific issues that need addressing.

It’s at the “Preferred candidate” stage that the individual is invited to meet those that he/she will be working with.

The objective of this meeting is NOT to review the CV or other submitted material, although some questions to increase clarity could be made, but merely to ensure that the applicant can communicate properly and that the personality fits into the culture of the team, is able to present themselves, etc.

At this point physical demonstrations of abilities could be demonstrated by the applicant. For instance: if a Training Manager was being recruited it would be at this point that the applicant be asked to deliver a short training talf for fifteen minutes.

So how could “Cheats” be avoided?
Readers might ask how cheats could be avoided by online questionnaires. This should be easy by ensuring that the questionnaires and reports being supplied are properly measured with “Known criteria” against the job and that questions asked are changed at regulat intervals.

for further information or to discuss this article Tel: (44) 01727 838321 or www.stephenharvarddavis.com