Talent Partners recently surveyed 120 professionals to get a better understanding of the career thoughts and motivations in today’s marketplace. Over the course of the next 2 to 3 blogs we will outline some of the key results and discuss them in greater detail.

Of the 120 respondents, 85% had 10 or more years industry experience and had therefore previously experienced some of the dynamics of today’s marketplace. Approximately three quarters of the respondents came from the ICT marketplace with next biggest grouping being the Banking and Financial Services industry.

Q. What keeps you in your present role today?

Candidates were given a drop down menu of options (10) and asked to tick their top 5 answers. Surprisingly for some, salary or package was not at the top of the list, but rather the responsibilities of the role, closely followed by the flexibility of the role and company. Bearing in mind that the majority of candidates who completed the survey had 10 years plus industry experience, the results should not come as too much of a surprise, the typical respondent is a high performing business contributor with a track record of promotion and success behind them. To reinfoce this point, the third most important factor was seen to be the calibre of the people you work with. Again if you are working with talented professionals who can help you achieve your business goals and objectives and develop you professionally it strengthens the probability of you staying with your company.

Location of the job and opportunities to progress were jointly seen as the fourth most important factor in keeping candidates in their present role today (47.9% of respondents), with your manager (at 35%) being the sixth most important factor for retaining employees according to this survey.

The next blog will focus on the reasons why candidates leave their present Company and also their key criteria in choosing a new employer.

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Listening to “The Business” on RTE Radio 1 with John Murray earlier today I had to symapthise with Jack Murray, MD of mediacontact.ie. who outlined to John his recent experience in checking references. The podcast can be heard from the RTE web site but to summarise, Jack interviewed candidates for a Sales Manager role with his Company. This role was to facilitate the next stage of business growth and was a critical hire for Jack’s company. Having interviewed and identified the preferred candidate Jack moved to the reference checking stage.

Jack’s first reference was taken from a lady called Catherine O’Malley, who gave a glowing reference, but wouldn’t divulge any specific sales targets the candidate had achieved. Jack digested the information and then called the lady back using the main switchboard number. Surprise surprise the lady did not work in the company and never had. John asked to speak with the MD and told him his plight, the MD eventually told him that the candidate had been sacked for being “too economical with the truth”. The second reference followed the same lines and was not a genuine reference.

Reference checking is a critical tool in the recruitment process and one that is frequently overlooked or just seen as a tick boss exercise. Executive recruiters who are experts in the marketplace or niche are constantly learning about the key performers in the marketplace and building profiles of the impact players in each sector.

Talent Partners will always obtain references from a variety of channels that include:
Co-workers who may not speak officially for the company, but can speak from personal experience.
Business contacts outside the candidate’s current company who have worked closely with the candidate, such as clients or customers, joint venture or project partners, and in some cases vendors.
A candidate’s former employer who has left the company, but can stress the candidate’s importance within the workplace.
Colleagues from professional associations or other entities where the candidate’s professional skills and performance might be known or evaluated.

We know there is no perfect company and no perfect candidate, so it follows there can be no perfect reference either. Our experience, training and professionalism has taught us never to look for the “perfect reference”. It has been our experience that glowing references are either exaggerated or invariably a candidate outlining the role & achievements of a manager/supervisor instead of their own role. As a talent scout for our client companies we are always looking to assess the candidate’s potential cultural fit with a company. For example, if leadership ability is a particularly sought after skill, for instance, we look to elicit very specific examples during our reference check of how a candidate has used team-building skills to create focus, drive results and energize others to initiate real change within an organization.

To conclude, reference checking is a critical part of the hiring process. Even if you have identified the candidate directly, it is always advisable to ask an external and impartial professional recruiter to conduct the reference checks on your behalf.

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The 8th ICT Excellence Awards took place last Thursday, May 1, at the O’Reilly Hall in UCD. Over 600 people attended this black tie event, that is described by the organisers as the oscars of the Irish ICT industry. A judging panel that comprised of Jim O’Hara, GM of Intel Ireland, Tom McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Irish Management Institute, Eoin O’Driscoll, who sits on the boards of a number of early stage software and telecommunications companies, Patrick Brazel, Chairman of the Irish Software Association, and Dr. Jim Mountjoy, who acts as a non-executive director to a number of companies in the technology sector.

Talent Partners were delighted to sponsor the best ICT Company to work for, and this award recognises a technology organisation which can demonstrate, through its training and human resources policies, evidence of outstanding employee satisfaction and growth. 

 From a shortlist of Kainos, Intel and BT Ireland, the judges vote for this award went to Intel Ireland and a delighted Anne Kelleher and her team collected the award on behalf of the organisation.

Other big winners on the night included Magnet Business who won the Telecommunications Company of the year, Belfast based software firm Biznet IIS who received two awards, Puca who won the mobile technology award for the third time in four years and the winners of the Young IT person of the year were Patrick and John Collison for the success their company Auctomatic, which they have sold for €3.2m within a year of the company being set up. Continued success to you both.

 A full listing of all winners can be seen at www.ictexcellenceawards.ie 

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