The battle for the Prime Minster is on through the UK, I was interested to read the recent survey by Wiki Jobs .co.uk that two in three undergraduates thought that Barack Obama would make a better lead than Gordon Brown or David Cameron.  This shows that our British leaders still have a long way to go to win over British undergraduates.

The survey also found that an amazing 80% of students were thinking of voting this Spring!

62% also said that they would be willing to work long hours for good pay when asked what is the most important factor when looking for a graduate job in 2010?
 
 

Labels: 2010 graduates, graduate employers, graduate jobs

Many graduates go to university to become a sales person?  Not that many, it's only when they learn the expected high OTE's and benefit packages that can be earned that they start to pay attention to the potential of a career in sales.

I was interested to read some new findings from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) that nearly 6 in 10 graduates are not working in a role that is related the subject they studied at university.  Over the last 2 years the study of 700 graduates identified that 58% gave the reason that they could not find a suitable role related their degree.  The study also identifed that 28% though that their degree did not equip them with the skills for the work environment.

The survey also identified that 21% of the graduates chose a new career path, whilst 24% have since decided to postpone the start of the careers entirely.

This outlines  what we have been seeing for many years with more and more graduates opting for graduate jobs in sales as the career progression and earning potentials are endless.

Labels: 2010 graduates, graduate earnings to be tagged, graduate employers, graduate jobs, graduate recruitment schemes

Research on by, Meet the Real Me, has indicated that  85% of workers in Britain think that employers do not read through every CV they receive.

It also shows that half thought that a CV was an ineffective form of showcasing a true personality and real qualitites.  86% of the results agreed that personality and real life qualities were more important than educational qualifications.


This is what we at Pareto have believed for over a decade. If we look at the conventional process for recruitment we can see it carries with it the seeds of its own failure. You place an advert. You plough through hundreds of CVs. It is time consuming for senior management so, naturally, you are tempted to cut corners, skim read the CVs, use irrational selection methods and then conduct an interview that is little more than a cosy chat or worse still, a monologue by the employer.

And yet this cavalier approach is not about purchasing some trivial item of stationery. This is the approach people use to make decisions that represent an investment of £100k plus for the organisation, not to mention the opportunity cost of the sales or business opportunities a successful recruit would have made.

So what is the answer:
Adopt a competency based approach to recruitment, indeed a competency based approach to the whole HR discipline.   Our competency based approach to recruitment is the perfect solution to understanding candidates abilities and qualities before sending them onto an interview.

 I was interested in reading the results of this week’s undergraduate survey by totaljobs.com about their expectations on graduating.  The survey highlights the unrealistic expectations that they will earn over £35,000 in their first year.


The survey shows the contrast that one in ten undergraduates believe they will earn over £35,000 in the first year of graduating. Whilst six in ten graduates believe their salaries will be below £20,000.


It is good to point out that Pareto graduate jobs roles on average earn £27,521 OTE in their first year which is above the national average of £25,000.  However undergraduates need to be more realistic and be prepared to understand the expectations of the graduate market to earn above £20,000.


Mike Fetters, Graduate Sales Director at totaljobs.com believes that graduate flexibility is the key: “Having invested heavily in securing a decent degree, it is not unreasonable for graduates to feel they deserve a job that matches their career expectations. Unfortunately competition for professional roles has never been fiercer, and students that have failed to prepare carefully through extra-curricular activities and early engagement with employers are simply not making the grade.”


However, what is good is that it seems that graduate job seekers now more willing to be flexible than ever in both the sector. Nearly 50% would work in either the private or public sector and 79% would relocate for work, and this figure rose to 86% for undergraduates. Then 44% said they would move abroad and a 33% would move anywhere in the UK.

Labels: graduate earnings to be tagged, graduate employers, graduate jobs, graduate sales jobs

At last some good news for the sales industry, a recent survey has found that sales people are considered to be more trustworthy than politicans.  A survey, by Offersupermarket co.uk, has found that politicans are the least trusted profession across the UK. I think the moral of the story here is to keep your expenses legit.
The retail brand did a search fo the 'The UK's only honest politican', and asked over 1,000 people which profession they trusted the least.  Surprisingly bankers only came in 7th least trusted with door to door salesmen coming in 4th, good news is that the survey did not include any other sales profession.

The top 10 least trusted professions are:

1. Politicians – 68%
2. Estate agents – 59%
3. Plumbers – 54%
4. Door-to-door salesmen – 47%
5. Taxi drivers – 46%
6. Sportsmen – 41%
7. Bankers – 38%
8. Lawyers – 37%
9. Brick layers – 32%
10. Accountants – 29%

The number of permanent placements / hires rose again the month of March according to the REC.  This is the fastest growth since October 1997.  Accoring to the March Report by KPMG and REC it shows that growth in the market has risen at a great pace.

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Looks like the graduate jobs market in the US is looking poor, according to a research by Gallup up to twice as many are likely to be unemployed.

Well thank goodness the UK graduate jobs market is not seeing the same outlook.  Let's hope the economy carries on expanding in 2010.

Labels: graduate employers, graduate jobs

• We need to increase our sales but there's a headcount freeze.
• We don't know where the market is going in two years but there is a short term growth opportunity that we want to maximise.
• We have a pilot project but we cannot commit to building a permanent sales team until we know it will fly.
• The company has been through a round of redundancies but we need a new sales force quickly.

Labels: improve sales, sale training, sales assessment centre, sales outsourcing, sales team