Category: Career

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Career CV Internet Jobs Recruitment Recruitment Agency Social Recruitment

Career Zoo

Looking for a job, internship, work placement, course, or starting your business? Career Zoo as the name says will have all you need to do any of that there for you. And what is the best, it is free. There are some great speakers like Peter and Paul there as well, that I can highly recommend!

Unfortunatelly the Career Zoo site does not display the schedule who is speaking when and about what. I know Paul is speaking about How to get a job without a CV. But when.. is the enigma to me.

It is a day before the exhibition, and the Career Zoo site just reads:

An exciting schedule of seminars will be posted on our website early next week so please check back in.

Well next week is after the Career Zoo exhibition, isn’t it?

Anyway, here are the all the details I could find on the CareerZoo.ie web site:

Grab Your Career by the Horns at Career Zoo
The Round Room at The Mansion House, Dawson St., Dublin 2.
Saturday 15th Jan: 11am – 6pm
Sunday 16th Jan: 11am – 5pm
ADMISSION FREE

Get ready for the career event of 2011 for experienced professionals and graduates who are considering upskilling, retraining or exploring new career opportunities.

Meet leading employers with real career opportunities
Explore thousands of courses including cert, diploma, degree, postgrad and masters. Talk to leading course providers and get clear information in an accessible and friendly environment
Employment growth sectors – what are they and how to prepare for them
Discover work placements, internships and volunteering positions
Career Clinic – get free advice from recruitment experts (click here)
Start Your Own Business – how to become a successful entrepreneur

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Career CV Jobs Recruitment

When do job hunters apply for jobs?

Blue Monday allegedly the most depressive day in the year that falls on the fourth Monday of January is a strong contender that everyone thinks of the day the most people will start searching or apply for a new job. But the statistical data is actually very different. By looking at tens of various recruitment sites, job boards and HR sites of employers, the actually data the most applications come to all the recruiters is the first working Friday of the year. This year 2011, it was the Friday January 7th.

So why are people most likely to send their job application on the first working Friday in the Year? Is it New Year’s Resolutions? Are we just fed up with our work, and decide to do something about it when we came back from the Christmas holidays?

Are employers hesitating to let people go before het Christmas, and break the news in the first week back to work – so people actually get fired on that first working Friday. There is no such jobs news to support it, but then again negative news on the jobs front rarely get to the press anyway.

As a job hunter, if you have sent your application on the first working Friday of the year – you might want to check with the recruiter, since your CV got there in the worst possible time for you – the largest possible amount of the competition of job hunters are applying for the same jobs you are.

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Career Internet Jobs Recruitment

Hundreds of IT jobs available – will there be candidates?

Every second day there is another announcement that het another hundred new IT jobs are available in Ireland. City Bank announced 250 last week, and only today there is 105 new HP Jobs in Galway. With so many of the graduates leaving Ireland, will there be enough heads to fill all those new IT positions announced? Recruiting from other countries to bring people to Ireland as well might not be the easiest thing with Ireland being broke mentioned on every international news published in the western world.

Are we getting into the even worse shortage of the IT candidates than we ever had?

If the shortage of the IT professionals deepens, it will eventually drive to the following outcomes:
1. Higher cost of hiring IT staff – since employers will start offering more to attract new candidates
2. Higher cost of doing business in Ireland, because of the high staff costs – making Irish IT export suffer, and blocks new IT companies setting up in Ireland.
3. Less new jobs being created, as a result as the un-competitiveness
4. Fewer job opportunities in IT for the existing IT graduates – pushing them to emigrate

The cycle goes on and on and the outcome is all but good for the country, for employers or for candidates. It does sound like a Loose–Loose situation far more than a Win-Win one. Do I see it just completely wrong? Or am I just a bit pessimistic today?

What do you thing the shortage of the IT staff in Ireland will be like in the future? And also what will it result in?

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Career Internet Job Site Jobs Recruitment Search Engine Social Networks Social Recruitment

Simply Hired releases their first-ever UK Today’s Job Seeker Report

SimplyHired.co.uk has released it’s first annual Today’s Job Seeker report for the UK market. Based on the results of more than 60 user polls conducted on the site since October 2009, the report provides the industry’s most comprehensive picture of job seekers and their interests, behaviours and motivations. To download the full report visit http://scr.bi/ukjobseekerreport.

Highlights of the report include:
• Today’s job seekers say the most important consideration when looking for a job is work-life balance (36%)
• 69% of job seekers are willing to take a pay cut to avoid redundancy
• More than half of job seekers use social media sites in their job search, including Facebook (18%) and Linkedin (31%)

Gautam Godhwani, co-founder and chief executive officer, Simply Hired, said: “The current recession has created a new group of candidates, distinctive in their job search methods and what they want from their career. Today’s job seeker is part of a selective, independent and passionate group actively searching for work through social networking and personalised online job sites. We are pleased to share this data through our first UK Today’s Job Seeker Report.”

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Career Social Recruitment

Irish Social Media Recruitment Conference


When you put one of the best speakers on the recruitment topic Peter Costgrove, into one of the best venues Science Gallery in Trinity College, you get what you got yesterday – probably the best Irish Recruitment Social Media Event so far. And as we all know there is plenty of them lately. Everyone who doesn’t have anything better to do, all of the suddenly become some kind of self proclaimed Social Media expert! Hey even I get invited to talk on such Irish Recruiters and what not conferences. The difference is – when you hear it from Peter once,… your next few events, you will leave early! Peter just raises the standard of presentations very, very high. And that is not all. He is besides being probably one of the best recruitment managers, a very nice person to talk to. So a package hard to beat actually.

If you compare Peter Costgrove to most of other speakers on the Social Media in Recruitment topic, Peter is the only one who will clearly say what he just doesn’t get. There is no hiding. No gray areas. Most if not all others I have heard in the last years talk about the Social Media in recruitment and sourcing process very vaguely actually. All are swimming on the surface, that make you wonder, if they actually know much about what they are talking about (ehm,… me included!). Peter just dives in. Straight to Boolean Search live example. Off to Facebook, LinkedIn specific searches… no beating around the bush. Nosedive in the sourcing for search engines and social media sites.

That sets Peter apart. Next round is in January. (you are not taking my seat!)

What is also different is that it is free. Not like the Irish Recruiters events or other Social Media gurus, who make money on you there.

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Career CV Database Internet Job Site LinkedIN Recruitment Social Networks Social Recruitment

LinkedIn 2010

The following series of articles I will write about the long list of changes LinkedIn have brought in lately, and how does it all reflect the recruitment process in Ireland. The main topics are:
• Free Job Advertising by LinkedIn
• Paid Job Seeker Account on LinkedIn
• Why Would I Pay LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn Future – Advertising Platform

If there is any topic in relation to LinkedIn you think I missed – please let me know in the comments from below, and I will do my best to include it.

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Career CV Database Job Site LinkedIN Recruitment Recruitment Agency

Why Would I Pay LinkedIn?

The service I would gladly pay LinkedIn to do for my today is to do the sourcing for myself. What they did is they have created this wonderful social network, and it is super easy to use, and has so many job hunters on their database. I can use it for free, or I can pay to use advanced features. LinkedIn is really easy to use, and a great product in a whole.

But guess what – I am a busy recruiter. I have no time to spend on web sites. I have my clients and candidates I need to put together to fill roles. So since you have all those nice sourcing tools, and large database, why don’t you do the sourcing for me and I will give you a cut of my placement fee? That is something I would pay LinkedIn to do for me today.

Unfortunately LinkedIn is not jet on that stage of a development as a company. They still think – we are the internet company, we have a web site and charge the usage of it. Just compare it with Google for example. Google was exactly like that years ago. There was just a form to place your credit card details and pay for your Google AdWords ads. All you had to do yourself on the Google site. Today – you tell them what your business needs are, and Google does it all for you. They charge you of course for all that, but they are higher in the food chain now. They work closely with the customer. They look after you. They give you what you need. If you look at the titles of numerous opening Facebook has in Dublin – they are doing exactly the same. Hundreds of Account managers will be available to you.

And where is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is still a few years behind in their business model. They still think they can ask for your credit card without talking to you. They still think they are there to provide tools as opposed an overall service – and just do your sourcing for you.

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Career CV Database Job Site LinkedIN Recruitment Social Networks Social Recruitment

Paid Job Seeker Account on LinkedIn

Dara O’Briain defined how wrong one can be in the eyes of the Irish low as:
1. there is all this stuff which comes under: That’s grand
2. then it moves into: Ah now don’t push it
3. … and finally it comes under: Right now you’re takin the piss, and that’s when the police come in.

LinkedIn is also placing the job seekers in three categories and offering a product for each. If you are looking for a job you should pay different fee based on how desperately you feel:
1. Basic Job Seeker
2. Job Seeker
3. Job Seeker Plus

What those get you is that you: Get noticed by recruiters with a Job Seeker Badge. And you can send some from 0 to 10 LinkedIn messages called inMails to other LinkedIn members.

Large numbers of us Irish feel a bit strange with this public display of interest in another job that you present with your profile on LinkedIn. In the US, people are in fact far more honest on the labor market. The size makes a difference, and Americans are far more mobile within the country. The way we are is we are looking for a job close to where we live. A Cork-man will hardly even contemplate to move to Limerick just because there is a better job there. Americans would move thousands of miles away easily for a better opportunity. So when social media comes into play where you publicly state your intentions (and what you feel about your current employer), we have a problem here. Everyone knows everyone, and have a cousin that knows someone, etc. So the job seekers accounts in Ireland can actually be looked in Dara’s classification as well. This time it is a classification of a job seeker – how badly do you want a (new) job? LinkedIn accounts here should be renamed as:
1. Basic Account (just paying and faking I am not looking!) – I am grand.
2. Job Seeker (coming out aren’t we?) – Don’t push it!
3. Plus- Right now you’re takin the piss, and that’s when the HR come in!

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Career CV Database Internet Job Site LinkedIN Recruitment Social Networks Social Recruitment

Free Job Advertising on LinkedIn

Well, we all know that job advertising on LinkedIn is for most of us, far from free. With a lack of a volume discount that is the industry standard in within job board, LinkedIn actually priced themselves far too high. For that reason, the number of job advertisements sold in Europe was always really symbolic. It was always just a handful US multinationals with jobs in Ireland advertised.

LinkedIn decided to give away free job advertisement to recruiters. They know the ‘First Time Free, Pay Later’ model only too well. Remember, for a number of years, LinkedIn was 100% free to anyone. Only in the last couple years they brought in the paid LinkedIn Recruiter product, than all the different paid types of the accounts as well. The move I personally really never liked – the paid account to the job hunters is now available on LinkedIn. I just never liked asking unemployed for cash, to help them find a job. Regardless if you call it unethical, or just super greedy, in my books it is just bad.

So how will the free job advertising on LinkedIn change the recruiters life?
If you did not get your free LinkedIn job advertising slot – ask for it. There is plenty of Irish LinkedIn staff fairly active on LinkedIn itself, so get connected, and ask for free slots.

When you publish your jobs on LinkedIn, and I will cover that topic later on it this LinkedIn series – How to publish a Job on LinkedIn? You will notice that only a certain jobs in Ireland can be filled via the LinkedIn. Do some research before – since publishing a wrong type of a job on LinkedIn is exactly the same as publishing a CEO job on Jobs.ie (a.k.a Nixers.ie).
But the real problem will actually happen if you do manage to hire via paid job advertisement on LinkedIn. You will want to advertise again – and the far too high advertising price by LinkedIn will stop you.
The only way for recruiters ‘Friendship’ with LinkedIn going forward is if LinkedIn gets a bit smarter and creates a super low cost entry level Recruiter package. To get recruiters used to pay a small nominal fee and upsell from there. The current jump from Free to Paid product for the recruiters is too high for LinkedIn’s product to be considered as a ‘Freemium’ offering.
Would you pay LinkedIn in the PPC model (clicks on your ads to jobs)? YES!
Would you pay LinkedIn in the PPA model (per CV received)? YES!
Aren’t those the super low cost, and tight budget control products? Didn’t that exactly built Google into the largest advertising agency (and platform) in the world in the shortest timeframe possible?
So here is an open letter:

Deal LinkedIn,

Stop taking money from job hunters, and get to business. Just implement the appropriate business model used by all eh market leaders in online advertising –Google and fast growing Facebook. We will all be far more interested to be placed in the control seat, and monitor our budgets in some PPC or PPA model than purchasing an unknown value – Job Slot Advertisement. Your current model is a showstopper. PPC model will be embraced instantly by far larger number of potential customers (recruiters and employers), so instant cash flow, and in the end will also bring in far higher revenue than your job slot or job credit advertising model.

Yours truly,
Irish Recruiter
irishrecruiter@gmail.com

Small note on the article of this article
To write successfully for the web you have to put something extremely catchy in the title. Most likely something that is not really ehm,… true. You need to make sure your title is so intriguing people will click on it to follow the link and land on your article. Hence the title of this article is:
Free Job Advertising by LinkedInAs opposed to what the article is really about:
LinkedIn Have sent a number of free job slot advertisements to a few recruiters in Ireland.
You are far likely to click on something like free job ads by a leading global recruitment social network – especially if you are a recruiter – which this article is for!

Categories
Career Recruitment Recruitment Agency

PMO Open Day

Cpl PMO Solutions are pleased to announce a Recruitment Open Day for IT Business Analyst’s. Cpl as largest IT Recruiter have unrivalled access to Ireland’s top companies in the Multinational, IT, Finance, Telcomms sectors and across the economy as a whole. With this coverage our specialist recruiters deal with the hiring managers for IT Business Analysts in every sector and are interested in meeting Business Analyst’s coming from a functional or technical background at all levels for current and upcoming opportunities (contract and permanent) with our clients.

If interested in attending please call in to Cpl’s offices in 83 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 between 12noon and 7pm on Thursday Feb 11th or contact liam.walsh@cpl.ie or Ph: 01 6146135 / roisin.kenny@cpl.ie or Ph: 01 6146073 for more info.

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Blogs Career Internet LinkedIN Recruitment Social Recruitment Twitter

Personal Branding and Digital Footprint

Creating your personal and or company brand is a delicate act on the social networking sites. You really need to be genuine, positive, honest, and stand behind anything you say. And that is something in the contradiction with the main task – being Active. What do you say on a web 2.0 sites – if you have nothing to say that day? You know you need to be active and communicate with others. The long term success of that contribution you make to the social networking – depends on the Quality of your contribution. If you have nothing to say – say nothing.

Quality of your online content
It took me a lot of time to learn that. After some time (and numerous mistakes!) I have realised that it is sometimes worth far more to post once a week on a blog than once a day! The quality of the content is actually far more worth than the quantity. If it takes a week to write a good article, do not rush it. Do not force yourself to publish when you do not have something of a value for your audience.

Digital Footprint
All you say (write) on the Web 2.0 sites will stay there, and will work for or against you in the future. It will always be easy to put your name or your company name in Google and check what you are all about. Your name associated with something you are not proud while publishing it – will most likely hurt you at some stage in the future. Carefully choose what photos you publish, and how you represent yourself on the web. Your digital footprint is there to stay!

Release your Marketing Message
The social networking sites like LinkedIN, Twitter and Facebook and blogs let you publish your ideas, thoughts and opinions. Define who you are and what you are. Then define who your target market and the audience are. List the topics you know about and they want to hear about. Bring your original marketing message in the mix. Do not push it on your audience. Leave it there for them to take it.

Let Go of your Marketing Message
This is what worries most of us. Corporations are shivering with just the idea of it! What do you mean by letting go of our (so far always tightly controlled) marketing message?

In the Social Web, the users will take your messages and give their spin on it. Here you are getting crowd generated picture of your brand. Your only made the initial input and slightly steering and maintaining it later on. Your audience – the crowd will decide if they like your message, and will contribute to it.

Candidate Digital Personal Branding
Your CV is great tool to open the doors. But it gives you what you want to say about yourself. This is why recruiters ask for references. To check up and make sure all you wrote is true, and that there isn’t something important missing.

In the Digital world of the Blogs and Social Networks – it is all about the public opinions being formed around yourself. It is about the number of people you are connected, about the ‘qualities’ of this connections. It is about the quality of your contribution to the public communication. It is about the response from the crowd on your social communication contribution. Does the crowd like you? Do they value your professional opinions?

How do you measure your Digital Branding success?
When the people you do not know, not your co workers, not friends or family, simple people who find you online – publicly show respect to your work and you – you must be doing a lot of good! It doesn’t happen overnight! You will need to invest a lot in creating a digital brand. Regardless if that is yourself or your company brand. It takes time.

The Social Web is changing. Remember MySpace? Remember Bebo? Both are gone. Have you started with Google Wave, or did you decided that you will be left behind? Social media tools are changing. You need to change your skills to be able to follow the change. Your message although always the same in its essence will have to be adapted for every new web publishing and collaboration tool that comes around.

Conclusion and a Real Life Personal Branding Example
Related to the recent article about the Internet traffic on Job Sites, I asked the LinkedIN Users for their input via the LinkedIN discussion: Irish jobs sites traffic comparison chart. Here is just a short few sentences I got as a reply:

Thanks Ivan and admire your humble approach. I suspect this combined with your vast knowledge and being a genuine nice person is how you have gained my respect and trust of so many others also. You have not become one of the market leaders for no reason…

…Hope to catch up with you again at the Christmas drinks.

Would like to hear how other niche and generalist job boards are doing, if you’d like to share….

MD of one of the Irish Jobs Site

When you start getting positive comments like this from the ‘crowd’ – people you are not associated to in any way, they start forming a Digital Image of your brand. Competitors recognition as in this case is of the utmost importance – that was the reason I have chosen this comment in front of all the others. It is a bit like the eBay and the recommendations it introduced smartly in ecommerce. People trust brands that are positively spoken about online.

What will you do today to create a Digital Image of yourself that you desire?

Categories
Career Jobs Recruitment Recruitment Agency Social Recruitment

Job: Principal Resource Specialist (Senior Recruiter)

The role of the Principal Resource Specialist (Senior Recruiter) – PRS is to develop and deliver excellent recruitment services to the client in line with agreed service levels. A key component of this role is to design innovative sourcing strategies to attract candidates from within the market place in a cost-effective manner. The Principal Resource Specialist is also responsible for building excellent relationships within the hiring manager community in order to identify opportunities for direct hiring and provide guidance to ensure a best practice approach to resourcing is adopted.

This is a key role that requires a responsive, strategic and client-facing individual.

  • Essential to have in house recruitment experience
  • Proven track record of sourcing candidates directly & ability to source directly from multiple channels and recruit at all levels
  • Ability to deal with rapidly changing priorities
  • Excellent ability to deal with people at all levels – internal and external stakeholders
  • Good commercial and business acumen
  • Target driven and ability to meet key deadlines

Job Title: Principal Resource Specialist (Senior Recruiter)
Job Location: Dublin South
Hiring Company: Alexander Mann Solutions – global leaders in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
Applications to: garreth.woods@alexmann.com

Categories
Career Jobs Recruitment Recruitment Agency

Recruitment Job: Technology Recruiter

Our city centre office on Grafton St is a stylish air conditioned professional environment to enable all of our practice consultants perform to the best of their ability. Our standard product offering is a hybrid of contingency and selection recruitment methodologies. We have a very structured training plan with a fully developed training calendar. Recruiters have invested heavily in the latest web enabled technology to access job seekers on the move. Then National Recruitment Federation just awarded us the best online services company in our category – check out our great new website on http://www.recruiters.ie/ .

To work with us you will possess the following competencies and experience.

A background in a combination of IT, Telecoms, Sales or Recruitment.
1-2yrs work experience
A keen interest in Sport / Poker and Online Gaming
Fearsome organisational skills coupled with an acute commercial awareness.
Experience of working in a team environment
An aptitude for Sales and comfort working in a commission based role.
A Degree in Business, Finance or IT.
Business development aptitude
Emotional Resilience with the ability to thrive in a target driven environment.

On successful hire you will assume responsibility for:

Interviewing at least two professional level candidates per day.
Attending one client facing meeting per week.
Writing online job specs and screening responses.
Qualifying and administering new job orders from clients.
Identifying and attracting new hires into our business.
Selling RECRUITERS product offerings to clients and candidates
Developing a thorough knowledge of the recruitment process and the latest in search methodologies
Adopting innovative problem solving / creative thinking techniques while sourcing candidates and new business opportunities
Competency based interviewing and selection
Contribute towards the growth, strategy and direction of the company
Initiate, champion and sell your business unit to existing and new clients.

To hear more about this opportunity, please contact Gerard Doyle on 01 6489112 or gerard.doyle@recruiters.ie.

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Career Interview LinkedIN Social Networks

Connecting with Customers

Me in the press again. This time in the InBusiness magazine by Chambers Ireland. Here are a few snippets:

“PEOPLE WILL BE COMFORTABLE BUYING FROM A COMPANY THAT HAS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE RECOMMENDING THEM.” – Ivan Stojanovic

Conventional advertising and marketing strategies are typically one-way communications with the product or service provider addressing customers. However, social media and social networking sites offer businesses the opportunity to engage with their customers or clients. Blogs, forums and profile pages can reach a large potential market, are free, and will allow a company to conduct market research and respond to the needs of their customers. It’s important to remember that your aim is to encourage customers to visit your website where they can get more information andenquire about making a purchase. “Facebook itself will not sell your products or services directly,” says Ivan Stojanovic. “However, if used correctly, it will bring visitors who should then be encouraged to leave comments about your offering. Your company blog will also drive relevant interested visitors to your company page where they can purchase your products or services.”

Ivan Stojanovic InBusiness

Building visibility and brand awareness on social networking sites is relatively easy. Building credibility, on the other hand, takes time and effort. However, once that is achieved, third-party recommendations can be a major boost for your business. Stojanovic agrees: “People will be comfortable buying from a company that has thousands of people recommending them, and not a single unhappy customer. eBay pioneered the introduction of social media on their existing merchant site. When you buy something, you can rate a supplier. This brought trust into online shopping and made eBay the largest online shopping site.”

Marketing to the masses InBusiness Autumn 09 2009 / 31

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Career Jobs Recruitment Recruitment Agency Social Recruitment

Job Advertisement: Director of Permanent Sales, Cpl Recruitment

Job Description: 
A Director of permanent sales is needed in Cpl to develop consistent processes and drive the execution, development, and measurement of our permanent placement business in Ireland. You will need to detail and measure our progress towards achieving our strategy of becoming number one in each of the sectors in which we operate. Number 1 in particular in terms of customer satisfaction, (client + candidate) and number 1 in terms of profitability & efficiency. You will support the CEO, by directing all permanent placement activities and inspiring and influencing managers to deliver their best as a part of the senior leadership team.

Responsibilities include:

       Directs and coordinates all aspects of Cpl’s permanent placement day to day activities.

       Reviews previous day’s send outs, interviews and placements and challenges upcoming day’s and week’s activities as a result.

       Understands key metrics in each area and supports managers and sales team to improve fees.

       Agrees fees and recruitment plans

       Develops relationships with existing and prospective customers to strengthen customer relations.

       Will work with the Business Development Directors to create and implement sales strategies.

       Oversees permanent placement budget activities in order to sustain cost-effective business practices, maximize profits, and increase efficiency.

       Works with Managers and CEO to develop talent pool for future talent needs.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Leadership Competencies

  • Vision creation – Study issues in light of past practices to understand current strategy of each team. Then work with managers to develop innovative strategies built upon both previous experience and company history.
  • Technical – Must be able demonstrate excellence in permanent recruiting and a deep knowledge of how to get results for both candidates and clients
  • Engaging – Capacity to quickly establish solid interpersonal relationships. Someone others want to follow.
  • Tactical – Emphasizes the production of immediate results by focusing on short-range, hands-on, practical strategies.
  • Process/Structures – He/she must have the ability to develop a systematic and organized approach in order to systematically achieve the required fees and results
  • Strong Communicator – Very strong listener and consultative approach He/she asks questions to obtain understanding of the situation. States clearly what he/she wants and expects from others.
  • Control – Adopts an approach where nothing is taken for granted, deadlines are set and persistent monitoring ensures activities are completed to expectation.
  • Management Focus – Seeks to take “ownership” and accountability. Leads and directs the efforts of others.
  • Achievement Orientation – Holds high expectations for self and others. Pushes self to achieve at high levels.

For additional information please contact Anne Heraty, Cpl on 01-6146015 or email anne.heraty@cpl.ie