I have spent over 10 years listening to thousands of peoples reasons for wanting to leave their current employer and OH BOY are there patterns in peoples behaviour. If you want to best manage your team and keep your high achievers happy and productive, read on as you need to predict these drivers before you drive your people away.
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Micromanagement: If you are running a call centre with 100 people with no specific industry expertise, then yes you need reports in order to manage. If you are a National Sales Manager and have a team of 8 people who are industry specialists and you ask them to report constantly on their day to day activities. They will after time look for a business who trust them.
Try:

• Operating from the mindset: "I don't hire smart people to tell them what to do, I hire smart people so they tell me what to do" and you will have cultivated a innovative, creative, motivating place to work.
• Only hire people your agent or yourself have extensively reference checked so you know they can be trusted to work autonomously. 
• Letting Go. Usually if you give people enough rope they will climb to greatness or hang themselves.

Recognition: This is the number one reason people leave their jobs! After a while employers, managers and business owners forget and take for granted that their full time employees dedicate over 70% of their lives to their company. In the short term a pay cheque is a good reward but over the years, if this is the only way you are rewarding and recognising your people they will leave. Usually to a competitor for 5-10 grand more. Because you taught them to value income over loyalty. 
Try:

• Sending out an email notifying the rest of the company of the high performers and talking the time to congratulate people when they improve in any area.
• Taking your employees aside and saying "Good Job". It may seem small but this alone can prevent a sent application. 
• Running an annual awards night

​Hierarchy: When a boss runs a company, his door is closed, the office is quiet  and there always seems to be tension between team members. When a leader runs an office the door is wide open, communication is flowing and all team members are treated equally, most importantly their opinions matter. 

• Try: Opening your office door and leaving it open.
• Leading by example and not operating from the mindset of "do as I say not as I do".
• Don't make sales figures more important than people.
• Stop operating from the idea that everyone is replaceable because they will all fulfill that proficy and walk straight to your competitor.

Personal Development: If we don't grow as humans, like every other creature on earth - we die. People are leaving your workplace because you have not set any goals that compel them - Goals that compel them to jump out of bed and dedicate their lives to your cause.

• Be the leader people want to go to battle for. Be warm, energetic, recognise your teams achievements, give them space to be themselves and work their way and genuinely care about their well being.
• Get your own coach or mentor, push yourself to be more, to attract higher caliber candidates to your company - you have to be at a high standard to attract a high standard of candidate - people long to be inspired.
• Set personal goals with your team, not just sales targets.

I have found that many high achievers would stay in their current organisation if these needs were met. Take an honest look at why people are leaving your business and stop the revolving door.  
Be rewarded, recognised and inspired,
Marianne Paterson
Coach & Talent Strategist
0459468898

​I am a recruiter. I have 10 years experience reading, writing, reformatting and selling resumes. If you are a job seeker, you are probably sick to death by now of the 10:1 ratio that exists in the market for phone calls back to resumes sent. Trust me you are not alone, and yes I speak for recruiters everywhere that we are a part of the problem.
You are not crazy! A lazy, self serving nature does exist with the majority of Recruiters and HR people in this job seeker heavy market. Resumes are a dime a dozen... (that is) bad resumes are a dime a dozen. But what sets a good resume apart from a bad resume?
Every time you send out a resume it decreases in value. With this in mind you want to create a short, simple, direct, sales piece intended for a specific audience. Here are some tips on how to nail your application and beat the 10:1 rule. 
 Here are mistakes I have seen again, and again, and again that you need to avoid.
Donts!

• Do not quote Ghandi, Martin Luther King or Abe Lincoln on the front page...we get it, you are spiritually enlightened and positive but it is ridiculous and a waste of time which will see people laugh around the water cooler instead of calling you back. 
• DO NOT use terrible Word Art from the 90's. Why do you still own an original mac? This makes you look un-tech savvy and like your teenage daughter designed your CV in 1996. 

DO NOT use any colour other than black and white, keep it simple. 

• DO NOT assume the reader knows anything. If the reader has to research the company you are working for to understand what you do, you have ruined your application.                                      Always write a full description of your company(s) who they are, what they sell, what they specialise in, key markets they sell to even if its Coca Cola. Create context, the easier you are to read the more likely you are to get a call back. For example: Advanced Minerals PTY LTD - Sales Representative 2001-2016 is not enough. Assume the reader knows nothing. 
• DO NOT spend hours writing a 9-10 page thesis on yourself. 3 pages Max. We live in a fast paced world, ain't nobody got time for that! 
• DO NOT include a hobbies section, I mean its wonderful you like kayaking with your cat. But honestly its just another reason to not be taken seriously. 

DO NOT send 5,10, 20 resumes out, ever! Qualify each opportunity carefully, research the recruiter - Call them at their desk! Strike up a conversation. Recruiters love to talk about themselves if you ask us for guidance we will help you. 

• DO NOT try to hide things. If you actually live overseas don't try to pass it off that you are in Perth and can start right away. Be honest. If you haven't been employed for the last 3 years, come up with a compelling story as to why.                                                        If you have been traveling though the mountains of Peru for a year trying to find your inner dharma and think that this will look bad on your application, it will. If you try to hide it. 
• Do not write 2001-Present on a role if you left 3 years ago and have not been able to find work. It will backfire when the truth comes out and it always does. Remember to tell a story, be charismatic, confident and interesting, these are ways to catch our attention. 

Here are the ways to win the heart of your recruiter.
DO's

• Write 10 dot points outlining your responsibilities in your last role. Use your old job description to help you. 
• Write 10 dot points outlining your achievements in each role. If you can't demonstrate that you made a significant impact with your previous employer your are not being creative enough. Usually employers look for how you saved time or money or made money. Start here and aim for 10 per role.
• You've all heard the expression "dress for the job you want not the job you've got". It's the same with your CV; Write your resume for the job you want! Not the jobs you've had. Read the Advert carefully and spend time tailoring your resume to that role. 
• Write an exciting, captivating objective to start your cv. It should be one paragraph that describes your strengths professionally and personally whilst giving the reader an idea of your goals. Cover Letters are things of the past, take all the information from your cover letter and pump it into your Objective.
• Write your clear address, suburb and city - proximity is a major reason for returned phone calls. 
• If you have stability issues with your employment track record, i.e 1 year here, 2 years there you need to include a Reason For Leaving under your company description. Redundancies and company restructures can be confused with poor performance when you leave the story up to the reader to fill in the blanks. They will assume the worst. 
• If you must use SEEK.COM fill in the 'Most Recent Role' section with the opportunity in mind, make sure you only put in a relevant job that will catch the eye of the recruiter. Most recruiters use this to shortlist candidates these days, oh how the internet has made us lazy.

REMEMBER! The better the story you tell the more likely you are to sell yourself. Treat your resume like a sales brochure by putting yourself in the seat of the audience. Follow these steps and you will play the game to win! 
I hear the phone ringing.....
Be Rewarded, Recognised and Inspired
Marianne Paterson 
Coach & Headhunter 
0459468898

Lets face it, times are actually really tough for a job hunter. In my 10 years as a recruiter I have had the pleasure of working with thousands of people who are frustrated and completely disenfranchised by the entire job seeking process, with good reason. 
After buying a house, finding a job can be the most emotional time in a persons life. A time filled with uncertainty, frustration, rejection, hope and then more rejection. How can we take control of this situation and guarantee a smooth career transition so we can sleep at night?
Here are the major reasons job seekers are finding it tough! 
1) People don't trust Recruiters:
Rightfully so, over 80% of online job advertisements are from recruitment agencies (Statistica). This means you will certainly be putting your faith into a recruiter at some stage in the job seeking process. Trust is built by honest, open and direct communication between two parties, but how can you trust a recruiter or an industry where you see the same jobs posted 3 times in a day?
<See Above Image credit Recruitloop>
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How can you trust a process where you send a resume and seems to end up in a black hole? How can you trust a recruiter who asks you hundreds of questions without a mention of who or what they are recruiting for? 
At the end of the day most recruiters are sales people, they have ridiculous KPI's and targets to make 50-100 calls a day. You are probably one of those calls.
The truth is they don't even have a job to offer you, thats right when a recruiter has no clients or jobs to fill they will simply place an ad on seek to fish for candidates just like you. You will apply for a non existent opportunity and have no idea which company the role was with because, it simply did not exist. 
Solution: 
Don't become a statistic! Before applying for any role, call the agency and strike up a conversation with the recruiter, make sure they are personable, knowledgable and understand your industry. If you ask them several industry questions they cannot answer it is likely they are "farming" for candidates. 
The more your cv is sent out the less valuable you are as a candidate, never forget this. 
Agencies have internal agreements for candidates which split commissions on certain resumes, if everyone in the office has your cv there is no motivation for the agent to network you internally with colleges or externally with their "clients".
Once you have found a recruiter that knows your industry, knows the key players in your market and is able to hold a good conversation without quickly dismissing you and asking for you to "just send your CV". Then you can send your CV directly to that recruiter and bypass Seek.com altogether. 
2) Online job boards are the wrong place to start. 
You've just been made redundant, so have another 100 people in your company. You decide Seek is the best place to start, guess what? So do the other 100 people in your organisation. 
Online job ads increased 6.4% in the last financial year (Recruitloop 2016). Our politicians use this information as an indication that the economy is turning around. Its False! More desperate recruiters are posting more and more ads, because the market is flooded with the same people following the same process and getting the same result - the definition of insanity. 
Seek.com = Quantity over Quality 
Solution: Do not send your CV!
Treat it as solid gold! Unless you are 100% sure there is a real opportunity with a real company, keep your cards close to your chest and hold onto your valuable CV, once its out there in online job world its looses all value. 
Search for an industry recruitment expert proactively! Don't let the market dictate terms, take control and identify an agent who knows their stuff in your field. It's an easy LinkedIn search away! 
In a recruiter you are looking for at least 5 + years experience in your industry. You need a solid negotiator, someone who their client respects and listens to and who ensures their client is not falling into the Seek.com advertising trap. 
3) Reputation and Image Management 
What does your resume look like? Is it a professional profile or is it riddled with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes? Does it look like a professional piece of writing or does it make you look compute illiterate? Is it written for the career you want (not just a lists of jobs you've had)? If not, hire a professional to write it for you by clicking here.


What do people in your industry say about you? If I asked your last boss (without your knowledge) to tell me about you, would it be positive? Be honest. If not, make sure you bring this up at the start of the interview process and handle any lingering objectives that may affect the final decision to employ you, let me assure you it will come out eventually. 
4) Are you the kind of person people want to be around? 
On average people spend 80% of their life at work. Consciously or not, a hiring manager will hire a person with a lighter skill set and a brighter personality over a highly skilled person who lacks stamina, energy and passion. 
More and more people are hiring the attitude and training ability!
Have you become so entrenched in your work that you are no longer fun to be around? Do you take yourself and your job WAY too seriously?
You are competing with a generation of millennials who are fun, light hearted, work at a hundred miles an hour and are driven and excited! 
Solution:
Diet and Exercise: In order to get your energy levels up you must move your body everyday at least 15 minutes first thing in the morning! Combine this with a healthy lifestyle and diet.
I can tell in the first 10 seconds of meeting someone wether they have high standards for their life which will ultimately be the standards they have for their job. 
Find a passion outside of work: People who peruse passionate endeavours are just plain happier. Wether it's playing guitar, rowing, charity or study find a positive passion (that does not involve intoxicating yourself!) This is proven to make you happier and more attractive to an employer. 
Stop complaining: People hire problem solvers not problem announcers. It's not the happy people who are thankful, its the thankful people who are happy. 
Set goals: Why do you even go to work? Are you really that passionate about your companies bottom line? Maybe, but truthfully you are there to meet your own needs and it must be more than paying the lousy bills or getting out of debt.
Set a compelling goal that gives you a reason to jump out of bed every day excited to go to work. Don't rely on your employer for that — they have their own goals. 
A combination of finding the right recruiter, building an excellent cv and cultivating a passionate, happy goal orientated personality will see you position yourself as a candidate that recruiters (like me) stop our day for and hiring managers bend over backwards to interview. 
If you are struggling to find a role it could be because one or more of these factors are not being met, be honest. 
Please share this article to help others in this situation. 


Be Rewarded, Recognised and Inspired,
Marianne Paterson
Coach and Talent Strategist
Global Talent Strategies
0459468898 

​You have to have your head in the sand not to have noticed, our world is changing at a rapid pace.
In the 80's we were afraid of robots taking our manufacturing jobs, in the 90's we were worried about computers superseding our personal abilities and replacing us in clerical roles, today technology is advancing so fast that in some industries creative people are being replaced by Ap's!
The BBC has developed a fun online estimation tool to determine just how replaceable you are by a machine, Click here to see wether you will be replaced by an Ap.
These technological advances in our society will continue to create new opportunities for people who position themselves as irreplaceable. These are the people who get headhunted. The people who go further, who innovate, who create a brand not only for their business but for themselves personally. 
Headhunters (or Executive Search Consultants) are not recruiters, recruiters advertise on major online job boards and sift through hundreds of resumes. Headhunters target market specialists, through referrals and usually have strong relationships with an employer in which they work together to secure their top industry talent.

Being Headhunted means your value automatically sky rockets in the eyes of the potential employer. If your Headhunter has a great reputation for delivering excellence and you are represented by this person you can expect; 
1) Your value to soar; unlike applying for a job your salary requirements are understood and negotiated prior to your first meeting. You can expect to ask for what you want...and get it! 
2) High levels of respect from the moment you are introduced to the employer. You enter the engagement on a very equal playing field and are viewed as an industry professional, unlike when you are a job hunter. 
3) A role tailored to your strengths and what you enjoy, because the interview will be less of an interview and more of a strategy meeting uncovering what makes you tick and what you love. Now you are in charge of your own destiny, unlike being a job hunter where you are expected to be a square peg in a square hole. 
4) No competition, you will likely be the only candidate interviewing for this opportunity.
I have headhunted hundreds of people though my company, here is the way to get headhunted.
1. Work for a market leader. Working with a leader in your market will assist greatly in your exposure and reputation. Use the big machines marketing and resources to position you as a serious industry player. 
2. Specialise. What are you a specialist in? You must know the answer to this question. You will not be highly sought after unless you can build a reputation within one field of expertise that a professional Headhunter can determine as a niche. Pick something you enjoy, because this will be your leverage for life.
3. Stop changing jobs! Once you have found your speciality, stay there! Do not move for more money, that 5-10 grand pay rise now will cost you in 5 years. The longer you specialise and stay with one company the more valuable you are. 4-5 years with one company is a great indication that you are Headhunt material. 
4.Always market yourself. Go to your industries trade events and conferences, set up a strong LinkedIn profile, celebrate your achievements on your linked in profile, make sure people know who you are! Write an industry blog, throw industry events, position yourself as an expert. 
5. Be open to new opportunities, open your mind and yourself up to the possibility of being headhunted. When you get the call before dismissing it, make sure you make an educated decision based on all the facts about the opportunity being offered. If a Headhunter has taken the time to call you, they know your market and could be a valuable asset for years to come. 
6. Never apply for a job again. The moment you send your resume to an agency your value drops. The moment you enter the market looking for work you automatically loose your position of power. Stay away from online job boards they should be a last resort! Find your industries specialist Headhunters, connect with them on LinkedIn and build a relationship now that will serve you when you are ready to move. Job boards are now being viewed as archaic and old school, innovative companies are going to LinkedIn and working with Headhunters to secure top industry talent. 
7. Educate yourself. The only way to not get lost in this technological age is to ensure you are on top of all the changes. Do an online degree or study your MBA. By studying online you are forced to understand all the technological advances coming and you position yourself as technically savvy. A huge benefit not only to your future employer but to you as a person. It's proven that personal happiness is increased when we achieve personal goals, there is nothing more fulfilling than handing in a paper you have written.
Once you have set up your reputation as an industry specialist with 4 + years of solid performance with a reputable company you can expect to become a target for a Headhunter. You will move from replaceable by a machine to highly sought after and will have set yourself up for a life of being chased by opportunity. 
Have you been headhunted? If so what was your experience like? 
Rockstars, I'm coming for you!
Marianne Paterson 
Director 
Global Talent Strategies 

0459468898
Headhunter