Online Business Blog

Following on from our previous blog posts on writing job specifications and choosing the right candidates to interview, we will now look at job interview techniques. Most job interview articles whether it is for accountancy jobs or finance jobs you will read will concentrate on the interviewee and what they will encounter, but in this blog we will look at what the interviewer needs to do and look out for.

Conducting the perfect interview is all about getting the right balance of preparation, questioning and listening.

There are many interview techniques you can use, the two most common are the behavioural event interviewing technique and the criteria based interview.

The Behavioural event interview is where you look at the applicant’s past and you look at how they performed and handled previous tasks and roles. This is based on the assumption that the applicant will handle your role in a similar fashion to how they handled previous relevant roles.

Criteria based interviewing is when you measure a client’s performance in different areas, this is done by testing the applicants knowledge using structured questioning. This formal technique is a great way of testing the applicant’s performance but does involve the right questions and the ability to interpret the answers given.

The technique you use in your interview depends on various factors such as personal preference, objectives and company regulations to interviewing. But with careful planning, questioning and listening, you should be able to conduct a successful interview. Here are some of the things you need to factor into your interview.

Detailing your requirements and what you are looking for is something you have hopefully prepared already and used in your job advertising process. But it helps if you go into a bit more detail at this stage. Make sure you are clear about what skills, experiences and qualifications you are looking for.

You should always look and analyse the applications and CVs in advance, but this can sometimes be overlooked. Make sure to highlight any points you would like to raise in the interview, this includes both strengths and weaknesses. This is a great chance to highlight any questions you have about previous employment as most people don’t go into great detail in their CVs.

Remember you will not only be asking questions, the applicant will probably have some for you as well. So make sure you have relevant information to hand to make sure both you and the company appear professional, this may include history of the company, benefits or what its like to work there.

Make sure the area or room you will be conducting the interview is suitable. You want to put the applicant at ease, so don’t choose a place where you will be disturbed a lot.

Preparing an agenda for the interview will help you to stick to your time slot and also make sure you cover all areas that you wanted to go over. One of the best techniques to put an interviewee at ease is to introduce yourself and then cover your agenda so you can let them know what to expect.

Once you have finished your questions you should close the interview by asking the applicant If they have any questions. They may want to cover some of the areas you have introduced briefly. After the questions you can let them know things like, when they can expect to hear back and how the rest of the process will go. Whether there will be any other interviews for example.

As well as notes during the interview, it is always a good idea to make notes at the end to summarise what you thought of the applicant.

Once you have performed all this and seen a good range of applicants, you can hopefully come to a decision on who you want to see again or even who you want to offer the job to, completing your financial recruitment process.

If you have taken on board our advice about writing a concise job specification then you should have a good amount of appropriate candidates applying for a job but what do you do if you end up with a lot of applications and CVs. Well it can be a difficult and time consuming task to sort through them and establish who to bring in for an interview. In this blog post we will look at some of the key areas you should use to assess whether the applicant is right for your roles. If you look for the right things in these applications you should soon be able to work out who will be right to bring in.

When looking at the skills and achievements they list you will need to think how these will benefit you and the role. Do the skills they have provided actually match the ones required for the position? Is there any skills and achievements that make them stand out from the others, something that may actually help them in the role that you may have not initially thought was required.

When looking at the candidate’s qualifications and educational background you will be looking to see if it meets the requirements for this position. It will also be worth looking for applicants who have completed other courses that may bring extra skills to the position.

If they have the right skills and education, you can then move onto the work experience they have. Hopefully you will have applicants that have had good positive experiences in relevant industry sectors. There are many things to take on board when looking at this section of the CV. How many employers have they worked for? How long have they been with each one? Do they give reasons for leaving their current position?

To fully analyse this section you will need to look at what you require and how the candidate presents the information, hopefully painting them in a good light.

Sifting through a large amount of applications can be quite a task especially when finding candidate for accountancy jobs and other finance jobs. But by taking on board the points we have made, hopefully you can find a good selection to bring in a talk to.

We have written many recruitment blog posts here on the online business blog, but the majority of those were written to aid the person looking for a job. In our next few blog posts we will be looking at things from the recruiter’s perspective.

It may seem like any easy task to come up with specifications for a potential employee, but it’s a good idea to take a moment and evaluate what qualities you are looking for.

Coming up with a detailed specification will help you focus on what type of person you want and what skills you need, which will hopefully make the recruitment process much smoother.

The goal of a job specification is to come up with a detailed description of the job opportunity, and detail the responsibilities and goals of the potential employee will have.

The second part of the process is coming up with a person specification which is where you will create a profile of the ideal candidate that you think will suit the role. These specifications, not only help the employer work out what type of person they are looking for but also the candidates will be able to understand the role and position better.

Many employers and recruiters make the mistake of posting vague information about jobs hoping that many people will apply and they can choose the best. Using better specifications you can save time and resources by having the appropriate candidates apply in the first place.

By specifying exactly who you are looking for and the skills and experience they should have will also avoid problems once they have been accepted and started. This can avoid unnecessary training that may be needed if the candidate is missing any skills.

One problem that crops up with vague job descriptions is that a new employee may leave the company fairly quickly as they might find that the position was not what they were looking for. This will then take you back to square one of looking for someone to fill the position, so it is always best to get it right the first time.

This is especially true for international recruitment as you want to make sure the right candidate is chose if they are having to move abroad for an international job.

We have written an accompanying piece on our tumblr blog

If you are planning to use international recruitment services for accountancy jobs and banking jobs and move abroad to the Netherlands, you will probably be working for a business where English is the main language spoken, but it would be handy to know some simple Dutch phrases to help you get by once out of the office. If you are planning to stay for a long time, it will be worth taking lessons and learning it so you become fluent, but these phrase will help you get by in the beginning.

English: Yes - Dutch: Ja

No - Nee

Please - Alstublieft

Thank You - Dank u wel

Thank you very much - Hartelijk Dank

Good Morning - Goedemorgen

Good Afternoon - Goedemiddag

Good Evening - Goedenavond

Hello & Good-bye - Dag

Do you speak English? - Spreekt u Engels?

May I ask you a question? - Mag ik u wat vragen?

Where would you like to go? - Waar wou je naar toe willen gaan?

That would be great! - Dat zou prima zijn!

Where do I have to sign? - Waar moet ik tekenen?

What is today’s date? - Wat is de datum van vandaag?

I need to telephone England. - Ik heb nodig England te bellen.

See you soon - Gauw tot ziens

Please - Alstublieft

Excuse me - Neem me niet kwalijk

I’m sorry, but… - Het spijt me, maar…

I would like to see the menu, please - Ik wou graag de menu zien, alstublieft.

I would like to order now. - Ik wou graag nu bestellen.

Could I have the bill, please - Mag ik afrekenen, alstublieft.

For more Dutch Phrases, click here

If you are advertising a position within your organisation it could well be tempting to slightly embellish the role to make it sound more exciting or glamorous than it really is, after all you want to attract a lot of good people to apply. However this can easily backfire on you if the person you have employed decides that their new job does not match up to what was advertised and decides to leave. That’s why it’s always good to be honest about the job and the kind of skill you will be requiring.  You aren’t allowed to discriminate in your advertisement either, but you are allowed to talk about the skills, traits and education you are searching for from a candidate.

Targeting the right people with your vacancy advert is essential in recruiting the right person. After all there’s no point spending a lot of money placing an advertisement for a senior manager in a magazine read predominantly by people in there twenties, as the readers are not going to have the skills or experience necessary for the position. This will mean you have wasted hundreds or even thousands of pounds on an advert which returned no suitable applicants.

This is where a recruitment advertising agency will often provide invaluable expertise in targeting the right outlets to attract the right people and not wasting you money by placing expensive ads which don’t attract suitable recruits. They will have detailed knowledge and data to be able to target the right advertising opportunities to bring the right candidates to your business. Marketing recruitment agencies can also be great time savers as a simple phone call or two could result in your vacancy being placed in a number of different places via different medias, a task which completed by yourself could take hours if not days to complete.

When looking for finance jobs you may have seen the term risk management used, you may already know what this role is or like me might be wondering it involves. After some research I have found some great information about what risk management is in the financial sector.

Employees who work in financial risk management help to create economic value for a business they are hired by, using financial instrument to manage credit and market risk. They may also deal with inflation risks, liquidity and foreign exchange.

As expected financial risk management is very similar to risk management in other areas. It requires the identification of sources of risks, measuring how big the risk is then coming up with ways to help prevent them. When dealing with risks in the financial sense, you will be dealing with both quantitative and qualitative management. To manage financial risks, teams and individuals need to use a technique called hedging with financial instruments to prevent and maintain costly risks and exposures to them.

So when do companies need to use financial risk management? The current theory is that a business should take on risk management project when it will improve the situation for its shareholders. Firm managers cannot add value for the investors or shareholders in a project that can be carried out by the shareholders themselves for similar cost. So in terms of financial risk management, if possible shareholders should hedge risks rather than bringing in a firm to do it for them at the same cost.

But hedging risks internally by shareholders is the best situation using perfect markets, according to business theory. But financial markets are often not perfect markets and firm managers will have better luck creating value using risk management than shareholders would be able to.

For more information on risk management jobs and financial jobs, visit Martin Ward Anderson

Finding a job in any foreign country can be hard as there will be obstacles such as different customs and different languages that may hinder your efforts. Hopefully language won’t be too much of an issue as you will either be able to speak the language or will be targeting English based companies. In the case of the Netherlands around 70% of the population can speak English, so if your Dutch isn’t up to scratch when you make the move, you should find communicating easier.

Here are a few pointers on finding a job in the Netherlands.

Internet

As with most things there days, the Internet is now one of the best resources to use for finding things. This is especially true in the world of recruitment and job hunting. There will be many Dutch based recruitment sites and jobs boards, but most of these will be in Dutch. So if you are looking for an English speaking role then, companies like Martin Ward Anderson Finance Recruitment services can help you find jobs in the Netherlands. The company focuses on jobs in finance such as banking jobs and public sector jobs, but if this is the area you are looking for then they are ideal.

Personal Contacts

Networking with people in your industry is a great way of finding out about job opportunities. How you deal with these contacts is up to you, but is not deemed appropriate to flat out ask people for a job. It is much easier to let your contacts know collectively that you are looking for work. This can be done with social sites like LinkedIn of Facebook.

Media Advertisements

Dutch Newspapers is a great source of finding job opportunities. Most Dutch papers have job sections in their Saturday editions and you can also find the job sections on their websites. Some Dutch papers to check out are the NRC Handelsblad, de Volkskrant, de Telegraaf and Algemeen Dagblad.

Temporary employment agencies

Uitzendbureaus are Dutch temporary employment agencies that are very common in the Netherlands. Most occupations can be found through temporary agencies but these are obviously not the best places to look if you want a permanent position.

While researching the state of financial recruitment and accountant jobs in the Netherlands we came across some interesting information on the views of the Dutch public when it came to the recent recession / financial crisis that we are having.

Due to a recent poll, the majority of people in the Netherlands think that the current financial crisis we are facing will come to an end in one to two years time.

The people in the Netherlands are confident that things will be sorted out sooner rather than later. Nearly half of the people who were asked thought that the current crisis will last between one to two years. A small, fifteen percent of the poll thought the crisis will be over within a year and a fifth are of the opinion that things will stay bad for two to three years.

These results were taken from a poll conducted by the central bank in the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank. The poll was part of the bank’s quarterly report that also announces that 39 billion euros were lost last year by Dutch banks thanks to the current financial problems.

While the opinions of the Dutch people may seem optimistic, they do correspond to predictions from the economic policy unit that were recently released. These predictions from the CPB show that the economy in the Netherlands is expected to fall by 3.5% in 2009 and by 0.25% in 2010, then recovery is expected to start. Consumption levels are expected to stay the same during this period despite problems.

According to the bank’s poll, the Dutch public are planning to cut back on their spending. Half of the people interviewed said that they will reduce their spending as the think their purchasing power to diminish. This statistic is strange as it is generally expected that purchasing power will increase due to wage increases and improved unemployment benefits.

An average of 80 euros is the figure that people will be expecting to cut back on per month and around half of consumers are said to not be making large purchase until things get better.

When it comes to employment and jobs, half of respondents feel safe in their current jobs despite warning of a strong rise in employment. The main group of people who are worried about being laid off are from the low income groups which is understandable. Out of currently employed people around 40% think it will be difficult to find a new job.

When looking at Jobs sites and recruitment portals you may have seen information on senior management recruitment and wondered what the job entails. Well senior management is a term that generally is a group or team of individuals who are at the top level of management hierarchies within a business or corporation. These individuals are usually only ranked higher by boards of directors or shareholders. They deal with the managing senior management rather than the day to day running of the business. These roles are sometimes referred to as upper management, higher management or top management.

If senior management is at the top of the tree, who is below it? Well our break down of management levels should help clear that up a bit.

Senior Management

As mentioned before, these people are at the top,  just behind owners and directors.  Senior management jobs require a large and extensive knowledge of management roles, skills and techniques. The decisions they take will need to factor in long term goals of the business and take in external factors such as markets. They will come to decisions using analytic, directive, conceptual and sometimes behavioural processes.

Senior management will be responsible for strategic decisions for the company and come up with plans and make sure they are effective for the future.

Middle Management

Middle management will have specialised skills in certain areas and have understandings of certain managerial tasks. They will take orders from top level/senior management and will have to implement them within the teams and areas they are responsible for.

Low Level Management

Low level or lower management are the people who will ensure the decisions and plans from middle management and senior management get carried out. The choices and decisions that lower management make will be usually short term and not of high importance.

Foreman

Foreman or lead hand are the people that are in charge or directly supervising the work force in either offices, factories or sales environments.

Rank and File

These people are even lower management that the foremen, they are responsible for smaller and more specific groups of people.

When looking for a job in the Netherlands it is very common to use a specialist recruitment agency, especially if you are looking for a banking job or an accounting job. Much like in the UK they have the expertise that will help you find the best jobs as they have well established contacts.

Most Dutch companies use recruitment agencies to help find suitable staff for their positions. These recruitment companies can offer you permanent contracts directly with the companies, temporary placements or detachering which are fixed term contracts. Detachering is a type of contract that is often used for things like replacing staff with long term illness or jobs that only last the span of a project, say four months.

Some recruitment agencies work so that they will actually be your employer and will pay you your wage. This has the means you will receive flexibility and good employee benefits.

So if you are planning to relocate to the Netherlands for a new career, it is best to contact a specialist recruitment firm that will help your on your way.