Pace of job hunting moves up a gear
Business has adopted the speed dating concept and uses it for everything from recruiting to company mergers. Carly Chynoweth gets her skates on
IDLENESS? Don’t waste my time. The office isn’t for relaxing or taking me-time or, heaven forbid, napping. It’s for getting work done, fast.
While some slowpokes try to excuse their laziness by calling it a movement, there is plenty of evidence that the real movement in business is speed.
The recruitment firm Reed Graduates is keeping job hunters on their toes by inviting them to speed recruiting events. At these, excruciating three-hour interviews where both sides are too polite to feign madness and leave are replaced by meetings that last no more than ten minutes. A quick chat, hand over the CV if you’re interested, and you’re away.
A quick call to Katy Nicholson, the marketing director at Reed, shows that is not quite how it works. The full recruitment process still has to take time so that employer and candidate can be certain they are a good match. Speed recruiting is more of an introduction service that lets graduates see what’s available without having to make a major time commitment right at the start.
“Both employers and job-seekers prioritise making the best match over and above speed in the jobs market these days,” she says. Still, it’s certainly not about sitting around in your pyjamas, so that’s one for the anti-idleness movement.
It’s not just private-sector recruiters getting on the speedwagon. The Civil Service offers a fast-stream option for graduates who don’t want to meander up the career path. People who are accepted on to the accelerated development programme are earmarked for senior management. Filling in the “are you suitable” questionnaire online took a very speedy three minutes, though people who want to read the questions thoroughly are told to allow 15.
It took me slightly longer to be ordained online by Universal Ministries, though because the confirmation e-mail seems to have been blocked by the spam filter here at The Times, I’m sure it’s entirely official yet. As soon as it is I can start earning a fast buck presiding over quickie weddings in the Career Church of Speed.
M&A International Inc, a network of mergers and acquisitions advisers, know a thing or two about fast unions. Chris Scales, the managing director, was one of the organisers of a recent “speed merger” event.
The Mergers and Acquisitions Mid-Market Forum (not the speediest name in the book) co-ordinated about 850 20-minute “dates” between companies looking for acquisition advice and advisers willing to provide it. Each participant swapped cards with information about their location, industry and interests, but instant chemistry – or its absence – between participants did the rest.
Scales is quick to point out that the event wasn’t about signing deals on the spot. Much like Reed’s speed recruiting, it was simply a chance for companies to decide if they liked any of their dates enough to commit themselves to a longer meeting.
Despite the speedy nature of the event, Scales cautions against business people letting the thrill of doing this quickly go to their heads.
“Speed networking is valuable, but networking is quite different from day-to-day work,” he says. “In business you need to pause and take time to think things through.”
IDLENESS? Don’t waste my time. The office isn’t for relaxing or taking me-time or, heaven forbid, napping. It’s for getting work done, fast.
While some slowpokes try to excuse their laziness by calling it a movement, there is plenty of evidence that the real movement in business is speed.
The recruitment firm Reed Graduates is keeping job hunters on their toes by inviting them to speed recruiting events. At these, excruciating three-hour interviews where both sides are too polite to feign madness and leave are replaced by meetings that last no more than ten minutes. A quick chat, hand over the CV if you’re interested, and you’re away.
A quick call to Katy Nicholson, the marketing director at Reed, shows that is not quite how it works. The full recruitment process still has to take time so that employer and candidate can be certain they are a good match. Speed recruiting is more of an introduction service that lets graduates see what’s available without having to make a major time commitment right at the start.
“Both employers and job-seekers prioritise making the best match over and above speed in the jobs market these days,” she says. Still, it’s certainly not about sitting around in your pyjamas, so that’s one for the anti-idleness movement.
It’s not just private-sector recruiters getting on the speedwagon. The Civil Service offers a fast-stream option for graduates who don’t want to meander up the career path. People who are accepted on to the accelerated development programme are earmarked for senior management. Filling in the “are you suitable” questionnaire online took a very speedy three minutes, though people who want to read the questions thoroughly are told to allow 15.
It took me slightly longer to be ordained online by Universal Ministries, though because the confirmation e-mail seems to have been blocked by the spam filter here at The Times, I’m sure it’s entirely official yet. As soon as it is I can start earning a fast buck presiding over quickie weddings in the Career Church of Speed.
M&A International Inc, a network of mergers and acquisitions advisers, know a thing or two about fast unions. Chris Scales, the managing director, was one of the organisers of a recent “speed merger” event.
The Mergers and Acquisitions Mid-Market Forum (not the speediest name in the book) co-ordinated about 850 20-minute “dates” between companies looking for acquisition advice and advisers willing to provide it. Each participant swapped cards with information about their location, industry and interests, but instant chemistry – or its absence – between participants did the rest.
Scales is quick to point out that the event wasn’t about signing deals on the spot. Much like Reed’s speed recruiting, it was simply a chance for companies to decide if they liked any of their dates enough to commit themselves to a longer meeting.
Despite the speedy nature of the event, Scales cautions against business people letting the thrill of doing this quickly go to their heads.
“Speed networking is valuable, but networking is quite different from day-to-day work,” he says. “In business you need to pause and take time to think things through.”
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Carly Chynoweth (Times (UK)) 28th October 2004