Wednesday Night is Apprentice Night

"The Apprentice" is must watch TV.

Column inches have already been written in the press and in other blogs about previous series and the current Series 4 (which we are now halfway through). And I just HAVE to add my thoughts to the mix....

The beauty of "The Apprentice" is that it is entertaining, informative and educational. Above all it is about people - with all their brilliance, stupidity and flaws.

Who can forget candidates from previous series such as Tre Azam, Ruth Badger, Katy Hopkins or Saira Khan who have made their mark on the public imagination?

I would never put myself up for such humiliation but I can definitely learn some lessons about work and business including how to work in a team, how to have conviction, how to focus on the customer, how to influence and negotiate with others and importantly how not to behave in work situations.

It is perhaps not surprising that Learndirect (a leading nationwide UK supplier of learning programmes) quickly launched a DVD-Rom of training programmes based on "The Apprentice" on the themes of leadership and management, negotiating and selling, pitching and presenting. I don't have any statistics but I would presume that this learning solution is very popular.

I am not a trained HR professional and from an HR point of view there are bound to be flaws in "The Apprentice" style of recruiting - for a start it encourages the arrogant and self confident to come forward. What about people with other characteristics and skills which are not so TV friendly but vitally important to business such as loyalty and quietly achieving? Having said that, the programme does provide a window on the whole recruitment process - particularly from how candidates prepare and how they come across in their dealings with others.


So what about Series 4 speicifically?

If the series to date is anything to go by, there will still be surprises. Some candidates have a strong tendency to put the proverbial foot in it. For instance what was Jenny Celerier thinking in the greeting card task by effectively pushing the team to except her idea for an environmental card and then during the pitch, admitting that she bought less cards for green reasons. Or what about, Lindi and Jennifer's poor planning and pitching during the laundry task when they had no idea of costs and off the top of the their heads came up with the idea for a telephone hotline to the laundry!

Who will win Series 4? I am routing for Rafe and Lucinda, because they both seem to be effective leaders. Rafe, despite coming across in a very pompous manner, seems to get on well with most of the other candidates and stood up for Sara last week. Lucinda has been under-estimated in my opinion by the other candidates and I am hoping she makes her mark towards the end.

Clearly "The Apprentice" winner needs to have a strategy for applying, for being on TV, for playing their part in the tasks, being team leader, being in the boardroom and for post-Apprentice 'fame'.

Or as Tim Campbell, the winner of the Series 1 says "Being successful in business is all about the five Ps: Planning, passion, perseverance, partnership and planetary assistance - everyone needs a bit of luck. "

Wise advice!

To keep up to date with the latest on the BBC series "The Apprentice" see http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/

The Art of Interviewing - Part 2

I am pleased to say that my 2 days of interviewing went well and I actually got quite a buzz out of it all.

Whether job applicants like it or not, the recruitment interview is probably the most tried and tested way of determining whether to employ someone.

There are many advantages including:

• Ability to assess person's verbal fluency and communication skills
• Ability to assess person's fit with the organisation and team
• Chance to assess job applicant's knowledge
• Flexible situation with opportunity to ask more questions if required.

As well as some downsides:

• Can make subjective evaluations
• Not as reliable as tests
• Strong likelihood that decisions tend to be taken in first few minutes

Being on the other side of the desk, I could see how much an interview is a two way process. The better candidates make an interviewer's life easier and the interview seems to flow more, compared to weaker candidates where the interviewers have to gather more evidence and probe deeper, taking more time.

Strong candidates can come from any sector, as long as they are able to demonstrate that they are competent by giving thought through evidence and examples from any are of their current or past work or from a social environment. Interviewers want to see the candidates succeed and demonstrate their skills.

There is occassionally debate in the library professional press about changing sectors. Based on my experience of being on an interview panel it can be done, if you can demonstrate and speak with confidence about your skills in your application and in the interview.

On the other side of the desk, you gain a number of valuable skills including those of listening, questionning and assessing as well as gaining a new enthusiasm.

Interviewing is also about teamwork. Everybody on an interview panel is there for a reason and has something to contribute including, for instance, HR who can bring their expertise from other recruitment rounds and knowledge of the job market overall.

All in all I loved it!!

The art of interviewing

There are squillions of articles online and books about interviewing skills and techniques aimed at candidates with the aim of securing a new job role. Advice on everything from sample interview questions to advice on how to dress and behave.

But what about from the other side of the desk?

Interviewing is after all a two way process. As a candidate you can easily forget who the other people are in the equation.

Since I am about to sit on an interview panel, this issue is intriguing me. I wonder to myself if I will behave to type and be either an absentee, a buddy, an inquisitor, a laser beam or the shotgun interviewer or even a chatty, nosy, inexperienced, by-the-book or interrogation interviewer. Will I do a good enough job?

Interviewing is an art and a science. It involves so many variables:

Listening + Personal Connection + Focus on job and Competencies + Intuition + Skill + Situation + Verbal and Non-verbal cues

I feel a weight on my shoulders knowing that:

• The average cost of filling a vacancy in 2007 has been calculated as being between £4333 and £7750


• Bad recruiting decisions result in less productivity, additional training and development costs, wasted time and effort and impacts on team culture and motivation levels.


• To pays to recruit well since it is clearly costly to business to recruit. According to Gregory Smith, research shows that those organizations that spend more time recruiting high-caliber people earn 22% higher return to shareholders than their industry peers.

Interviewing is not as easy it looks. So to help me and anyone else who is interviewing for the first time, the following resources might be useful:

• The Interviewing Cheat Sheet: 100 Resources for Interviewers and Candidates



• The Interviewer's Edge

As with many things in life, it comes down to preparation and planning along with a level of flexibility and openness on the day.

Wish me luck!