​The Power of Three – Clients, Candidates, Colleagues

Everyone Matters.

Here at Expion, we believe that everyone matters. Our clients and candidates tell us that we offer an exceptional and consistent recruitment experience allowing you to benefit from our expert opinions and supporting you on every step of your recruitment journey.

What sort of support do we offer?

How our Colleagues SUPPORT our Candidates.

We give CV advice. If your CV isn’t suitable for the role we’re talking to you about, we’ll tell you. And share with you a template and a step-by-step guide to make your CV shine.

We give Interview Coaching. We really do. We have an inhouse Interview Coach, Liz, who works with our candidates before interview. She ensures everyone is prepared for interview, understands their ‘Red Thread’ and is able to articulate their experience well.

We’ll ask about your other interviews. Not so we can pit others against you. But to share any knowledge we might have about that business. Give YOU an outsider’s view. As our candidate, you’ll have additional information to help you decide which role is best for you.

We’ll meet you. We place you and you can expect a visit from us on site. It’s a proper check in, catch up and a way we can ensure we’ve done all we can to support you to settle in.

There’s plenty more. But it’s only by working with us, you’ll get the real ‘us’.

How our Colleagues SUPPORT our Clients

That might sound obvious. But it’s about doing the extra and building a true partnership that we think makes us stand out.

We’re your eyes and ears. Sensing how a candidate is feeling, where there’s a risk we might lose a valued candidate from the process and providing that insight to a client. We advise clients to include incoming team members in team communications, team lunches (Covid permitting) and even the Christmas party if it’s the festive period.

We can let you know what others are doing in the market. If we’re proposing a retainer to you, we’ll provide insight into your competition for candidates. Often overlooked, this can make all the difference to developing the role proposition and landing that ‘gem’.

We’re market savvy. As members of APSCo and Elite Leaders, we have access to market reports that others don’t. And as our client, we’ll share. All part of the service.

How our Candidates SUPPORT our Colleagues

You may ask what we mean by that. But it’s a partnership right?

We can only be as good as the information we have. So the way to work well with a recruiter is easy. Be honest, be upfront and respond.

Make sure we’ve got your up-to-date CV. You’d be surprised how many people have old CVs saved in job boards and then get upset when they apply with an old CV and think we’re in the wrong.

Be honest about your salary expectations and don’t over-egg what you’re looking for. We’re open with our clients so be open with our colleagues to make sure there aren’t any surprises as the process goes on.

Tell us what’s important to you and why you’re interested in the role. A ‘new challenge’ is very vanilla and 95% of candidates give this as a reason to look. It’s a good reason but make it specific if you’ve applied to a role and help our colleagues do their best work for you.

And give us feedback. If you’re not interested in a role, let us know. We’d rather you select the role that’s right for you than feel cajoled into proceeding with a process that you don’t have your heart in.

How Clients SUPPORT Candidates

Were you expecting that? Perhaps not, but the goal is to recruit the right person for your business isn’t it?

A recruitment process is like dating. It's getting to know each other, putting in the work and showing your best bits. And for a business recruiting, it’s making sure your chosen candidate chooses YOU. 

I'm not talking about overinflating and over promising. But making sure they are as right for you as you are right for them. 

There's no one size fits all, but if you are interviewing, think about how the business portrays itself, who you meet during the interview process and how you feel around the people you'll be working with. 

Here are things I've seen businesses do well:

• Invite the candidate to a team lunch after the interview. It's more relaxed and makes them feel 'included' early on

• Include incoming team members in team training and team building events prior to starting

• Share business updates, company information (where possible) so someone joining feels part of the business before they are 'in the building'

• Have a senior member of staff call to welcome them. Amazing how powerful that can be

• Send them some products (if you can) that they can share with friends and family. Makes the incoming employee proud of who they work for before they do! 

The list is endless, but it’s important not to overlook. If you’ve made an offer to someone and they have a 3 month notice period, that’s a long time for their current employer to try to persuade them to stay. 

And it's also a canny way of batting away any counteroffers.

How our Clients SUPPORT our Colleagues

They do. Perhaps we’re just lucky. But having a supportive client #makes all the difference to us and helps us to do our job better.

You might be thinking, how can a client support a recruiter?

Here’s what I’ve seen clients do well

• Be open and transparent about the work you’re asking us to do. If there’s internal candidates, preferred candidates and other recruiters in the mix, just let us know. Allows us to be more open with the candidates we represent, and we in turn represent you more accurately

• Open communication with the line manager. Hearing from the ‘horses’ mouth the nuances about the role and the attributes a candidate should possess helps to make the role ‘come alive’. And it gets us excited about finding candidates for the role

• Involving us in the process. Hearing our thoughts on candidates and why we think they should be considered. We get under the CV (and some CVs don’t necessarily make candidates shine). And some clients ask us to conduct the first stage interview with the line manager saving the client time and resources.

• Helping us get paid! You may chuckle but we don’t have any other income and providing PO numbers and making sure invoices are approved are vital to the lifeblood of any business.

We love partnership. And we value it. Thank you to all the clients who offer us that ‘hand of friendship’.

And to find out more about how what we do could SUPPORT you so get in touch