October 2018 - Quadrant

How To Follow-Up On Your Job Application

construction-hiring-application-followup

You’ve spent weeks or even months searching for a new job: trawling jobs boards, crafting your resume and cover letter, and sending out applications. How do you know if your application was read or received, or when you can expect to hear back? Follow-up contact after submitting an application is a great way to make yourself stand out from the other applicants. It also gives you an idea as to how long you should hold out for the job and when it’s time to shop elsewhere.

To call or not to call?

Don’t expect to get an email response–or any other response, for that matter–saying that your application was received. Each time a company posts a job ad, they are inundated with applications and cannot reasonably reply to any. That said, companies expect, and in some cases like, to receive follow-up calls or emails from applicants. A follow-up email as opposed to call is usually best, as it is least demanding on the hiring manager’s time. However, if the job ad specifies a contact who is willing to answer questions, feel free to give them a call to enquire whether your application was received.

How to follow-up

Time your follow-up about one week after sending your initial application. This gives the hiring staff adequate time to begin looking through the applications without allowing too much time to pass. The best time to call or email someone is on a Tuesday or Thursday morning at around 10am. Try to avoid calling or emailing on Mondays or Fridays, especially early morning or last thing before closing time.

Make sure you are emailing the same person you sent your application to, i.e. the contact specified on the job ad. If an email address was not provided, and you submitted via a jobs board or the company’s website, then you’ll need to be a little more creative with your follow-up email. Search for the hiring manager on the company’s website and contact them directly, or call up at reception to find out who the relevant contact is.

What to say

Your follow up email should be ultra-brief to ensure it gets read and replied to. The more words you write, the less likely the recipient is to read or reply to your follow-up. Simply state that you are checking in to see if your application was received, and reinstate your enthusiasm for the role. In most cases, you’ll get a response telling you when the applications should be processed and when you can expect to hear back.

If calling, the same principle of brevity applies. Introduce yourself as one of the applicants and enquire as to whether your application has been received. You may take this opportunity to restate, in a few words–without taking up too much of the hiring staff’s time–why you’d be perfect for the role. For example, you could state your experience in a similar role or your years of experience in the industry. You may also enquire as to the application period time frame and when they expect to make a decision, but again, keep it brief and polite.

Employer Branding: Differentiate Your Company From Hiring Competition

Attract stand-out candidates with a stand-out employer brand that beats your competition. Your recruitment marketing strategy should aim to tell the unique story of your company, differentiate your organisation, and avoid cliches in your recruitment marketing.

The Facts

According to a recent LinkedIn survey, 75% of candidates research a company before applying for a job there. If they don’t like what they see, 70% of those candidates will not apply to your job, even if they are unemployed. Needless to say, there’s a lot resting on your company’s reputation. By developing an employer branding strategy, you can make sure that your company’s reputation is a good one.

Have you honed your ‘employee value proposition’ (EVP)?

Imagine yourself as a candidate who is considering working at your company. Now ask yourself, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Go through all aspects of a candidate’s employment–compensation, benefits, career, work environment and culture–and reflect on what makes each of these attractive to potential employees.

What makes your company unique?

The answer to this question should pervade all of your marketing material, from your company’s website to your social media posts. Use your unique selling proposition (USP) by translating it to your recruitment marketing, whether they be job ads or briefs for headhunters.

Why is your company a great place to work?

Many companies make the mistake of posting job ads that state their company is a great place to work. But in doing so, you are not saying anything specific or meaningful about your company. Candidates want to know why your company is a great place to work. Strengthen your employer brand by detailing your reasons.

What are your three Cs?

Identify your three Cs: your candidates, the channels they use, and the content that speaks to them. For engineering and construction employers, candidates use job boards and social media such as Linkedin to search for jobs and read industry news. Engage new and potential talent by posting regularly to LinkedIn and becoming involved in industry conversations online.

Are you being authentic?

Whether they’re reading a social post or a job ad, candidates want to feel something when they interact with an employer. Be authentic in your recruitment communications by describing the impact your company makes in the world. You’ll attract candidates who share your vision and fit well with your team.

Australian Construction: Is Digitisation Important?

Construction is viewed as a traditional, slow-to-change, industry. And in today’s digitised world, it isn’t hard to see why. While industries such as marketing, architecture and design are highly digitised, construction lags behind. According to the APCC report, construction as one of Australia’s least digitised industries.

Drivers of digitisation

With everyone from the CEO to the construction site worker armed with devices, there is a growing need to link all stages of a projects construction through technology. Such technologies improve communications, implement updates in real time, and improve the safety of building sites.

Another driver of digitisation is the increasing gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ Digitisation in construction would better connect the tech and no-tech areas of the industry, for example, creating more seamless connections between design and architectures stages to the on-site construction stages.

Although slow, digitisation in construction is already taking place, giving digitised companies and sectors over those that are non-digitised. Competition is driving further digitisation.

New technologies

For years now, architects and designers have made use of building information modelling (BIM) and other architecture software platforms. However these technologies are now expanding in usefulness to the entire construction process. For example, BIM can now relay design changes from the planning office to the construction site in real time.

Enterprise content management for construction now allows companies to capture, manage, store and deliver organisational documents. By centralising core business processes onto a single platform, companies improve efficiency and also integrate with platforms and applications relevant to other parts of the business.

AI and machine learning technologies now act as smart assistants in construction, helping teams parse the mountains of complex data involved in the development of a project. AI can prove teams with risk analysis, identifying the top most critical issues that require immediate attention.

Recent tech innovations

Probuild recently signed a deal with Brickschain, a Californian tech startup, as part of their move to digitise and gain a competitive edge in the market. Brickschain will be providing Probuild’s supply chain technology, utilising the cutting edge technology of blockchain.

Rio Tinto are another company utilising new technology in Australian construction, with their addition of driverless vehicles. This technology is slowly changing the landscape of Australian mines, significantly reducing the manpower required on site, and reducing safety from hazardous site.

Onboarding Strategies For Better Staff Retention

What do your onboarding practices look like? Do you have a program in place or do you throw new hires into the deep end? Given that 30% of new hires leave within the first three months, onboarding is essential to staff retention. Effective onboarding lessens a new hire’s stress and alleviates pressure for your team. It also saves your company huge costs of having to hire again. So let’s take a look at what it is and how to do it.

What is onboarding?

Onboarding is the practice of helping your new employee adjust to their role in your company. This involves physically, professionally and emotionally adjusting to your existing company culture, and to the demands of the job itself. With an effective onboarding program, employees will not only stay longer, they’ll also be more productive.

What onboarding isn’t

If you have an orientation program in place, you may be wondering if this counts as onboarding. But while orientation is part of onboarding, they aren’t the same thing.

Orientation provides an overview of your company. It may include training, and is all completed within the first couple of days of the new hire’s employment. Onboarding is more specific to your new employee. It takes place when the new hire starts orientation, and should continue throughout their first year of employment. Orientation is what gets your new hire started, but onboarding is what keeps them going.

Effective onboarding

Effective onboarding involves time and planning. This is why companies will often consult recruitment specialists or purchase onboarding software. Get started with effective onboarding by first considering where and when your new hire will undergo their orientation and training. A slapdash effort of throwing them into a spare room and assigning a busy staff member to the role can make the new hire feel unwelcome. By the same token, the new hire’s workspace should be ready before they commence. Research shows that a new hire’s trajectory can be mapped within their first two weeks, so be sure to make them feel special.

Onboarding for retention

Sometimes it can be hard to tell if your new hire is thriving or floundering. You don’t know them well and they may not be expressing themselves fully. Assign your new hire a buddy to help them build relationships with colleagues and get any questions they have answered. You’ll need to track your new hire’s progress with monthly meetings during the first year. At these meetings, you and the new hire make sure everyone’s clear on deliverables and is making progress towards achieving them. It’s also an opportunity to discuss any feedback they may have.

7 Traits Employers Look For In A Candidate

Are you the right candidate for the job? Examine your work-ethic and become the candidate employers are looking for.

7. Are you results-driven?

Don’t get bogged down in lengthy processes. Unless you can deliver the goods, employers aren’t interested. Whether you’re interviewing for jobs or starting out at a new role, make sure you focus on results and achieve them.

6. Are you productive?

There’s little point in being hard-working unless you can prove your worth. A productive employee crosses tasks off their checklist and keeps their fellow team members in the loop, demonstrating a project’s progress.

5. Are you positive?

Employers look for positive workers to join their team. Being positive is not just about being optimistic and upbeat, it’s about presenting a “can-do” attitude. Be willing to take on tasks within your means, and be prepared to face the challenges that will invariably arise.

4. Are you proactive?

You’ve been hearing this one since you were at school, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t put it into practice. It’s easy to stick with what you know and satisfy a minimum job requirement, but candidates willing to go the extra mile will always get the best jobs. Employers want you to be self-motivated. They want to do as little hand-holding and micro-managing as possible.

3. Are you a team-player?

Every workplace has its employees who either thrive at teamwork or excel at flying solo. Determining which type of employee you are comes with experience and time. But regardless of your preferences, every employer wants a candidate who fits into their company as a whole. Being a team-player is more than having a knack for communications, it’s about being approachable, and fitting in with the company culture.

2. Are you adaptable?

Turns out skills and qualifications are less important than you might think. With technology improving every year, and the nature of certain roles changing to suit, employers are now looking for candidates who can prove they’re flexible and adaptable. With nearly half of Australian degrees predicted to be obsolete within a decade, your adaptability is your greatest asset.

1. Are you trustworthy?

Top talent is worthless unless it’s matched with a trustworthy employee. Employers take a financial risk when they hire you, and lose money if you don’t pull through. Conduct yourself with integrity throughout all aspects of the job, from arriving at work on time and meeting deadlines, to maintaining professional confidentiality on sensitive issues.

Do Non-Grads Earn More?

The age-old debate over degrees versus apprenticeships continues to rage, sparked by new insights by National Electrical and Communications Association.

Australia’s peak body for electrical employers has claimed that doing an apprenticeship after year 12 is more profitable than going to university.

The controversial claims by the National Electrical and Communications Association were backed by evidence that a newly licensed electrician would be $200,000 better off than a new graduate in the year after each had completed their studies.

The NECA trains roughly one-third of Australia’s electrical apprentices. Each of these apprentices earns about $160,000 during their four-year course, and pays no tuition fees. They then go on to earn between $58,000 and $91,000 in their first year of work.

By contrast, the average university graduate would not earn while learning, unless they had a part-time job, and owe at least $20,000 in student loan debts at the end of a four-year course. In their first year of work they would earn an average of $40,000, after subtracting student loan repayments.

That means that a licensed electrician would have earned $240,000 at the end of their first year at work, in contrast to the graduate’s $40,000.

NECA chief executive, Suresh Manickam, also pointed to the skills shortage in the trades, which would also benefit a recently licenced electrician’s job prospects. According to NECA, 99% of electrical apprentices found jobs when they completed their course.

Despite this great news for those who prefer trades apprenticeships, a major Australian University group has hit back against the claims. Universities Australia has argued that Australia needs both tradespeople and university graduates to power our economy.

UA chief executive, Catriona Jackson, said she was disappointed at NECA’s “rubbishing” of the value of university education, and said it was neither accurate nor helpful to young people who are trying to decide on their futures.

Jackson’s stance was backed by a spokesman from the Grattan Institute, who said the advice given by NECA reflects early-stage career benefits rather than long-term advantages.

While electricians tend to earn more than graduates while both are in their 20s, electrician earnings tend to plateau in their 30s and 40s. By contrast, the earnings of graduates tend to continue increasing, eventually superseding their counterparts in the trades.

Data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also supports this claim, showing that the median salary of someone with a bachelor’s degree is $245 higher per week than someone with a vocational qualification. And the median salary of someone with a postgraduate degree increases to $465 more per week than the vocationally qualified person.