Merry Christmas from Clicks!

‘Tis the season to be jolly – and Clicks staff and contractors were keen to get into the festive spirit at this years’ contractor Christmas events held in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.

Clicks host Christmas events in each state every year to thank our contractors for their hard work and efforts throughout the year. It’s a great opportunity for contractors to catch up and network with peers and Clicksters alike.

Celebrations kicked off in Canberra at The Boathouse by the Lake on the last Wednesday in November, where Clicks contractors were entertained by a classical duo from the School of Music. Abhishek Pandey took home the lucky door prize, a hamper filled with various goodies. Congratulations Abhishek!

Melbourne and Sydney held their celebrations last week at Martin Place Bar and Number 5 at Southbank respectively, and both in stormy, wet conditions. This didn’t dampen the Christmas spirit though, with plenty of lucky door prizes and a Nintendo Wii up for grabs!

We would like to wish our clients, contractors and candidates a very happy holiday season, and a safe and prosperous new year and we look forward to working with you all in 2011.

Top Tips – Resigning from your job

It’s often said that buying a house, getting married and changing your job are the most stressful things we do in life. Your resignation can be the most stressful part of moving jobs. You can feel guilty that you’re letting someone down and you can feel sad to be leaving. Here is some advice on how to best handle the process.

• Before you even embark on your job search, make sure you really know why you want a new job. What are you looking for in your role? Why can’t your current employer provide this for you? Write these things down – they are your ‘selection criteria’.
• Throughout the hiring process, refer to your selection criteria to assess the suitability of each job opportunity.
• Once you have been offered a job that meets your selection criteria, accept it. Get the job offer in writing.
• Write a resignation letter –

- State that you wish to resign your position.
- State the date of your last day at work (allowing for any required amount of notice).
- Thank your employer for the opportunities they have provided you.

• Revisit your selection criteria to confirm your decision to leave.
• Ask your manager for a meeting.
• State your decision to resign, thank them for the opportunity and hand them your letter of resignation. Your objective is to convey your decision clearly and emphatically.
• It is not necessary for you to seek their agreement with your decision.
• Contact your consultant to confirm your start date at your new job.
• Celebrate !!!

Top Behavioural Interview Techniques

Behavioural interviews can be the most daunting part of the job search process, particularly for those of us who don’t interview often!

As with most things in life, the better prepared you are the more confident you will be, so this week’s blog is dedicated to top tips for behavioural interviewing!

What is a Behavioral Interview?
A behavioral interview is a structured interview that is used to collect information about past behavior. Because past performance is a predictor of future behavior, a behavioral interview attempts to uncover your past performance by asking open-ended questions. Each question helps the interviewer learn about your past performance in a key skill area that is critical to success in the position for which you are interviewing. The interview will be conducted face-to-face whenever possible.

Using the STAR Technique
In a behavioral interview, the interviewer will ask questions about your past experiences. A useful way to prepare for this style of questioning is to use the STAR technique. The STAR technique is a way to frame the answers to each question in an organized manner that will give the interviewer the most information about your past experience. As you prepare to answer each question, consider organizing your response by answering each of the following components of the STAR technique:

• What was the Situation in which you were involved?
• What was the Task you needed to accomplish?
• What Action(s) did you take?
• What Results did you achieve?

Preparation Tips
What’s the best way to stay relaxed and calm during an interview? Be prepared. Here are some tips:

• Research the business unit or department.
• Become familiar with the products, services, structure, competitors, reputation, and any recent significant changes.
• Review the job description to understand the skills required.
• Do “research” on yourself as well.
• Know why you want the job.
• Review your resume.
• Identify transferable skills, key accomplishments, work style, and personal and professional
  strengths. Remind yourself of specific experiences that exemplify these skills and strengths.
• Be able to express the unique marketable skills you have to offer.
• Prepare a list of four or five questions about the department or position.
• Get a good nights’ rest.
• Know the exact place and time of the meeting.
• Allow plenty of time to get to the interview and plan to arrive early.

Interview Tips

• Listen carefully, and feel free to ask for clarification before answering a question.
• Take a moment to formulate your answers before you speak.
• Project energy and enthusiasm. Be honest while focusing on communicating your professional achievements.
• Bring extra resumes, a notepad, and a pen.
• Be polite to everyone you meet at the interview.
• Do not chew gum, swear, or use slang.
• Thank the interviewer for their time. Within a day, send a written thank you note via e-mail or
  regular mail.

If the interview is face-to-face:

• Look your professional best.
• Be conservative in your use of fragrance, cosmetics, and jewelry.
• Make eye contact with the interviewer.
• Be aware of the interviewer’s body language and other non-verbal cues.

Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
Need more help? Here’s a list of some sample behavioral interview questions:

• Tell me about a time when you were on a team, and one of the members wasn’t doing his or her share.
• Tell me about a time when you felt a need to update your skills or knowledge in order to keep up with the changes in technology. How did you approach that?
• Describe a time when a customer got angry with you. How did you react? How did you resolve the situation?
• Please give me an example of a time when you took the initiative to improve a specific work process.
• Give me an example of a time when you surpassed a customer’s expectations.
• Tell me about a time when a customer requested special treatment that was out of the scope of normal procedures. What was the situation and how did you handle it?
• Describe a time when you had to use logic and good judgement to solve a problem.
• Tell me about a time when you had to cope with a stressful situation.
• Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split second decision.
• Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem.
• Describe a time when you put your needs aside to help a co-worker understand a task. How did you assist them? What was the result?

The Truth About Counteroffers

You’ve interviewed for a position with a new company. The company likes you!-and makes you an offer. You analyze everything: career development, growth potential, salary, benefits, and intangibles. After some thought, you decide to accept the offer.

You attempt to resign from your current company. Oops! It doesn’t go as smoothly as you planned. Your boss is upset about losing you and presents you with a counteroffer. A counteroffer is an attempt by your current company to persuade you to stay.

Why Companies Make Counteroffers
Some companies never make counteroffers. In others, it’s a fairly common practice. Consider what happens when an employee (like you) resigns:

First, morale is likely to suffer, particularly among your closest coworkers. Management will notice, and your resignation may be perceived as an unfavorable reflection on your boss. Your absence could jeopardize the progress of a big project, lead to increased workloads for colleagues who remain behind, and even mess up vacation schedules! Furthermore, it could be expensive (in terms of time, energy and money) to replace you.

A cheaper “solution” for the company is to make you a counteroffer. This may consist of a raise, a promotion, change in title or job description, or a combination of these factors. It may even be just a promise of change to come.

Be aware that this “solution” may actually be a stalling technique. By buying you back, the company has bought itself some time, perhaps to finish that big project, reorganize other team members, or search for a suitable replacement for you.

What Does a Counteroffer Sound Like?
Because your company wants to attract you to stay, a counteroffer will usually come cloaked in flattery. It may sound something like this:

• “But you know we’re right in the middle of a big project! And you’re much too valuable to the team to desert us now!”
• “We didn’t want to tell you until next quarter, but we were just about to give you a raise/promotion to show you how much we appreciate your work. Why don’t we make it effective immediately instead of having you wait any longer?”
• “Why, we had no idea you were unhappy with anything here. Let’s discuss this further before you make some rash decision. Whatever it is, we can work it out.”
• “You know we have great plans for you here! But the company you’re going to work for? What can they do for you?”

Counteroffers can be tempting and ego-inflating. You also may detect an underlying threat that by not accepting the counteroffer, you’ll be throwing away your entire career, future, life.

Why Counteroffers Don’t Work
It’s true: counteroffers very, very rarely work. There are several reasons for this:

• Trust. No matter what the company says, you will forever be a “marked” employee. You have demonstrated your lack of loyalty by considering another opportunity. People will feel jilted, even if you accept a counteroffer and stay. Trust and acceptance among your immediate colleagues may be irrevocably lost. Managers, too, have long memories, and won’t forget your lapse in loyalty –no matter how brief it may have been.
• Most likely, your basic reason(s) for thinking of leaving will eventually resurface. There are a myriad of reasons why you may have considered a change: perhaps something in particular bothered you about your position, or maybe you were presented with an irresistible opportunity. In any case, changes made as a result of a counteroffer may appease you in the short term, but rarely last for the long run. Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, it’s still extremely likely that you’ll voluntarily leave or be terminated within 6 months to a year.
• While it may be true that your current company values your work, your interests and career will always be secondary to your boss’s career and way down on the totem pole compared to the company’s profit or survival. Reconsider the flattery that makes up a counteroffer: is it really about you??
• If your counteroffer involves an increase in money, consider the source of the raise. Is this just your next raise, granted early? In that case, will the counteroffer simply prolong your review cycle? Remember that all companies have budgets which include strict wage and salary guidelines.

What You Can Do
Rather than setting yourself up for the feelings of confusion and guilt that may arise when a counteroffer is presented, be prepared.

When resigning…

• Avoid any possible misunderstanding by submitting your resignation in writing.
• Focus on the positive opportunity you’ve been offered with your new company. At your resignation meeting, don’t feel pressured into giving reasons for resigning. Simply state that you’ve been presented with an opportunity that you cannot pass up.
• Handle your resignation right the first time you do it. Be professional and courteous, not disgruntled or weak. Offer to help during the transition time, then follow up with your best effort.

Then, after you’ve done all that you can, move forward! Look ahead to your new opportunity, complete with fresh challenges and all the excitement that goes with the start of any journey.

Good luck!

Clicks Contractor of the Week!

Congratulations to Kerrie Monzo and Jayanti Mathur, both winners in our June iPad Promotion.

Jayanti is currently contracting for one of our Federal Government clients in Canberra, and won our first iPad.

Kerrie Monzo is contracting at RTA in New South Wales, and won last week’s iPad.

Photos of the happy winners and their iPads coming soon!

We have had an amazing response to this promotion, with over 300 nominations received so far! Many of these nominations were accompanied by detailed explanations as to why they felt the nomination was deserved, so congratulations to all those who were nominated. It’s always nice to get a pat on the back!

For more details on our iPad Promotion, click here.

We look forward to announcing next week’s winner. Good luck everyone!