Popular leader Felicity Jackson was the latest contestant to be axed from last night’s Apprentice. Felicity was singled out by Lord Sugar for the position of team leader for the ‘girly’ beauty task but the writing was on the wall for Felicity and she was unceremoniously despatched from the boardroom.

In a shock result, a poor performance by Team Venture was overshadowed by an unforgivable loss for Team Logic.

Felicity had made two irretrievable mistakes; firstly she failed to win the rights to sell the spray tan – the simple to use and highly profitable treatment. This, along with failing to focus her team’s efforts on chasing the lucrative treatments proved a disastrous combination

The challenge that Felicity failed to embrace was taking decisive action when the treatments weren’t being sold. ‘She had enthusiasm, she had passion but there was a lack of strategy,’ Natasha told the board. And when firing the project manager, Lord Sugar told her: ‘This was a disastrous task and a lot of decisions weren’t really made.’

It goes without saying that when recruiting senior positions leadership is key but being a popular leader directly conflicts with making unpopular decisions. It takes courage to make difficult decisions.

It’s important that candidates are able to prove they are not afraid to take decisive action. Allowing candidates the platform to define how they have positively influenced a floundering situation and so have taken decisive action to turn a situation around is an important part of the interview/ assessment process and should be an area prospective employers probe using competency based interview techniques.

Competency based interview techniques are becoming increasingly popular as a way to predict a candidate’s future performance. Essentially a series of behavioural questions, the candidate will be asked to describe a situation which demonstrates their abilities that will be integral to the role they are interviewing for.

The failings highlighted in last night’s task would definitely serve as a ‘what not to do’ scenario.

BBC, Beauty task, interview style, leadership, Lord Sugar, The Apprentice

Last night’s uninspiring leader, Gavin Winstanley provoked plenty of Thursday morning post-Apprentice debate over what it takes to be a successful team leader.

Gavin, the latest contestant to be axed from the show, was more than keen to put himself forward for the position of team leader for the task. As a managing director himself, he has ample experience of organising others, and was seemingly capable of the job. It soon became apparent he wasn’t equipped for the task, being described as ‘uninspiring’ and ‘disorganised’.

Following the team’s harsh scrutiny of Gavin’s management skills, Karren Brady jumped to his defence, “He had a much more difficult team to manage, of very strong people, who didn’t want to listen, who wanted to do it all”. The challenge Gavin failed to embrace was to unite his diverse team and bring individual strengths and skills to the fore.

As recruiters, we often see job seekers with strengths in areas that their prospective managers do not possess. This has the potential to negatively impact the hiring decision, as managers might feel their experience is not relevant, or might even feel threatened. However, it is important to embrace professionals with varying skill sets; they can often boost your own performance and that of your team.
The real question was whether Gavin was truly motivated to be Lord Sugar’s business partner or whether he would be happier running his own business.

BBC, BBC1, Karren Brady, Lord Sugar, Management, Nick Hewer, recruitment, Savoy Grill, The Apprentice, The Savoy, Top Hats

As a recruiter, I talk to dozens of professionals each day about how a new job can help them achieve the work/life balance that matters.

A month ago, Transport for London announced that telecoms companies are being invited to put a wireless network on to the London Underground by June 2012. The goal is of course to have it up and running in time for the Olympic Games and the anticipated influx of tourists and visitors to London.

However, the impact on workers in London remains to be seen. Will it be embraced by BlackBerry evangelists? Will some of us be deafened by senior executives holding conference calls whilst stumbling over tourists’ suitcases? More crucially – will the technology actually work?

Whatever the outcome, it does raise the question of how connected we are to work and whether it increases our efficiency as much as we think. As a recruitment consultant working with top tier investment banks, I have yet to hear any HR or line manager looking to hire somebody who is available 24/7 on phone and email and I have never read a job advert that requires somebody who can take calls on the way in to work.

Far from having a negative impact on business, an uninterrupted journey to or from work on the tube is a great time to think, read, catch up on news – or for some, a chance to get a bit more sleep!

BlackBerry, London Underground, mobile phone coverage underground, Transport for London

The workplace can be hectic; more than ever workers are juggling deadlines, stakeholders and the growing demands of technology.

On top of this, dealing with the politics that can arise within a competitive business environment can be incredibly challenging. We have all been there – a colleague causes you stress, tensions run high around performance reviews or a merger changes the corporate culture you had grown accustomed to.

It’s no surprise then that more and more professionals are considering temporary roles as career options that, by and large, avoid day-to-day office politics. Temping is not only lucrative in terms of pay rates and learning, it enables workers to essentially act as their own bosses. Contract workers have the flexibility to ‘hit the ground’ running to make strategic changes to a business, whilst remaining mostly detached from the stresses of personality or power disputes.

Consider Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg. Yes, he’s set to be valued at around $9.6bn following the company’s scheduled IPO but he will have to wait until 2016 before selling his stock. Pressure from shareholders could make it an uncomfortable five years! He might be ready for a temporary position after that (or an escape to his own private island).

Would you like to discuss the benefits of temping? Get in touch!

Photo sources from www.flickr.com

contract jobs, contracting, Glencore, office politics, temporary jobs

Our latest report provides insight into current salary and hiring trends for accounting, finance and support professionals working in commerce and industry (C&I), professional services and the public sector.

Click to view the Accounting, Finance & Support Salary Guide, UK 2011

These are clearly diverse markets but overall, the recruitment outlook is much more positive than at the same time last year. Our market knowledge, and anecdotal evidence from our clients, points to 10-20% growth in hiring activity across the board in 2011. Although this is a pleasing forecast, hiring levels are still relatively suppressed when compared to pre-recession data.

The C&I, professional services and public sector recruitment markets felt the effects of the global financial crisis in H2 2009, around 12 months after the financial services sector. It is a similar scenario with market recovery; while last year saw a rebound for financial services, it is predicted that 2011 will be the year of measured growth for C&I, professional services and the public sector.

We hope you find this salary guide informative. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact me or any of my colleagues here at Morgan McKinley.

Chris Leeson

T: +44 (0)20 7092 0078
E: cleeson@morganmckinley.co.uk
Chief Operations Officer Accounting, Finance & Support, United Kingdom

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