School Leaver? Graduate? How ready are you to meet today’s employer expectations?
It is disappointing that, with so many opportunities and hunger in the market to work, that individuals are falling at the first hurdle, with their lack of understanding of what an employer needs – or expects – with general behaviour or “Business Etiquette”.
At The Recruitment Queen we view on average 200+ job applications a day and 80% are immediately rejected because of failure to understand what is required.
So what is Business Etiquette? Business Etiquette involves communicating effectively with all contacts. It is about building relationships with other people. It is a code of conduct and manners that are required and acceptable within the working environment.
Here are some examples:
- Why you need to respect your working hours.
- What is acceptable use of your personal mobile phone when at work?
- When can I eat and drink during work hours?
- How do I interrupt somebody when I need help?
- Asking questions, joining a conversation, entering a meeting room
- How should I say hello or greet somebody? Making that great first impression.
- Introducing people to each other.
- How to answer a call and take a message.
- Respecting the dress code.
- Appropriate or inappropriate social media use.
- The importance of the handshake, smiling and eye-contact.
It’s a minefield and you are your own brand. Your behaviour in the workplace reflects on you as the individual and can secure or lose you that perfect job.
Companies have a level of expectation of these basic skills that are generally not being met when they look to recruit young people. Standards that have traditionally been present, without the need for training or awareness, would seem to no longer be standard.
So young people who might be perfect for the job – could lose out just by not understanding the basics and giving a professional representation of themselves.
Educational establishments now seem to be embracing these needs more and many companies are putting their own training in place to “bridge this skills gap”.
A local company that embrace the need for this groundwork is Freedom Communications – all their Apprentices spend the first three months completely engaged in a programme of Business Etiquette. “Lisa Clark, Operations Director at Freedom recommends offering business etiquette training as part of the induction to help new hires avoid making mistakes that could lead to a poor first impression. This critical training should cover specific business expectations and basic workplace skills, especially relevant for those entering the workplace for the first time”.
The Recruitment Queen is passionate about helping these young people to gain the necessary skills to find themselves the right job, the job they will be good at, and obtain that job. We want to help the educational establishments work with the students to engage in the way that the current employer expects.
There are a number of local enterprises that have recognised these needs and Hertfordshire is definitely pioneering forward to address this “soft skills” issue.
For more information please access The Recruitment Queen website for free information on job hunting, CV writing, interview techniques and general Business Etiquette – www.therecruitmentqueen.co.uk
