Greg’s Recovery

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Since the kiteboarding accident that I had Christmas Day my life has changed a lot. I broke my pelvis, my nose and had muscle damage to many parts of my body, but they were nothing compared to the brain injury that happened to me as well. The first 3 weeks I was in a medically induced coma to help me survive from my kiteboarding accident. Originally in the medical team were saying that it would take 18months to 2yrs to recover. After the first 6 weeks they transferred me from the Gold Coast Hospital to the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit (BIRU) at the P.A. Hospital and I had my first great win. The medical staff said it would now take approximately 6 months for me to be out of the hospital instead of the 12 months plus which they originally estimated.

After week 11 at BIRU I had my next win when they told me it would now be 2 weeks before I was allowed to be an outpatient, a total of 13 weeks. I am now involved in the outpatient program and have a family review meeting on the 5th June.

During the discussion that I have had with my treating team they believe that I will have passed the out-patient program and will be living normally. Well, close to normal. On celebrating the passing of the patient program I will be opening a nice bottle of bubbly. Non-alcoholic, that is, as I am not allowed to drink alcohol at the moment.

I would like to thank everyone for the help and support that I have received during this period, but would like to truly thank Kim Ritchie, Justine Eden and my Family, for all the support that I have received.

Eden Ritchie Welcomes New Members

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Like Angelina Jolie, Eden Ritchie can’t seem to stop welcoming new members into the family.  We welcome to the team:

Jessica Scerri: As part of the ever-expanding IT Division, Jessica joins ERR as an IT Recruitment Consultant. Jessica’s previous position was Corporate Account Manager for a global telecommunications, responsible for the management of global and national accounts, corporate acquisition and growth.

After hours, Jess loves to cook, loves to shop, enjoys going to the beach and has a keen interest in the property market. Hailing from Adelaide’s Barossa Valley originally, Jess enjoys visiting her family there and enjoying the wine country.

Emma Durham: Emma joins ERR in the role of Client Relationship Manager. Emma wound up in IT Recruitment after a night out with friends somehow resulted in Emma getting interviewed for a job with an IT Recruiter. She left her job as a marketer for a top tier law firm and commenced her career in Recruitment. Prior to ERR, Emma was the HR, Talent & Engagement manager at a Software Development Company.

Outside the office, Emma’s life is ruled by her mini schnauzer, Zara Belle-Jolie. When Emma’s not hanging with her pooch, she’s in the gym, or out running, with the odd night out for special occasions.

Belinda Mulé: Belinda is ERR’s new Manager, Operations. Belinda’s background is in Management, in the Professional Services Industry – primarily the Accounting industry where she was 2IC for 5 years.  Belinda has experience in various industries, including Engineering, Property Development and the Construction Industry.

Away from the office, Belinda loves movies, celebrities, reality TV and everything Hollywood. She loves red wine and is trying to get back into fitness, but is having a hard time slotting it in between shopping or socializing (which is fair enough).

Tom Peard: Tom joins the IT Team as a Resourcer, coming to Eden Ritchie from a small recruitment company with a wealth of experience in IT Recruitment. Prior to recruitment, Tom had an eclectic mix of jobs including Store Coordinator for The Works Australia and working as a jackaroo in Roma.

Tom enjoys playing rugby and fishing (even if he doesn’t catch anything). He’s always good for a laugh and enjoys socialising with his friends.

Sue Torenbeek: Joins us in the role of Health Consultant, with 6 years+ in Queensland Health. In her previous role with Qld Health, Sue was a Senior Clinical Recruiter sourcing healthcare professionals from across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Prior to that, Sue worked in London, for London Deanery as a Recruitment Administrator.

Sue has a passion for travelling and has travelled extensively across Europe and Colombia, with another trip planned soon. She loves fishing and whale watching (complimented perfectly by her sea sickness) and her two dogs.

Katherine Melville: Katherine is a new addition to the IT team, joining us as an IT Resourcer. Katherine’s previous role was as a Contact Centre and Customer Service Recruitment Consultant with a global Recruitment company. Before that, Katherine spent over 5 years with an insurance company as a Commercial Insurance Specialist.

Katherine loves socialising with her friends, listening to music and has a passion for cars.

We at Eden Ritchie are extremely pleased to welcome these individuals to our team.

Social Media and Job Seeking

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Job seeking prior to the Internet. I can only imagine what a bleak time it was for humanity – akin to the dark ages perhaps. I have images of street urchins with black coal stained faces going door to door in search of employment, desperately trying to earn enough shillings to support their stricken families. But then again, I’m a Gen Y’er and since my first job, I’ve had sites such as Seek and Career One to simplify the process.

These sites mean a job seeker can browse hundreds of available jobs, find the perfect job for them and apply for it, all in a matter of minutes (depending on how fussy you are). Technology is a blessing for job seekers, however it is definitely a double-edged sword.

While job boards and networks like LinkedIn offer effective tools to find jobs and distribute resumes, people must remain conscious of the fact that their personal lives are also available to potential employers, should the employers choose to search for them. And that’s how simple it is – type in a name, click search and anything from personal images to videos and conversations are presented to anyone who cares to look for them. Thank God for privacy options. However some people just plain forget the basic things like ‘don’t make those pictures of you passed out in a bear suit available to the public’ or ‘don’t add your boss on Facebook’, resulting in situations such as this:
But how far do employers have a right to go? Is it acceptable for them to seek out your personal profiles? Is it acceptable for them to ask you for your login and password so they can enter your accounts themselves? A company needs to know what sort of person they’re going to employ, but not at the expense of individuals right to privacy. But with social media, privacy is becoming more and more ambiguous. It’s a wonderful tool, useful in so many different ways, but people need to bear in mind during their use of it that their personal information is about to be projected into the Internet ether and that it will be available for access to millions of people and that, for the most part, your privacy is controlled by you.

Are you a recruiter or responsible for hiring decisions? What do you think? This is an open debate – do any job seekers out there have experiences they want to share?

Change brings the certainty of more change.

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Linda ParkerSo we have a new Government, no surprises there, although the landslide victory was probably even more ‘shocking’ than many predicted.

But how does this effect where the employment market is heading in the short term?  We know that there is going to be a change of power at the senior levels. We have already seen a new Director-General appointed for Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the word on the street is that a new Under Treasurer will soon be named, but what does it mean for the thousands of public servants across Queensland, who are simply focused on delivering outcomes for the State, whether it be related to health services, education or roads.

One guarantee these changes will bring is with it even more change.

Changes to department names, changes to reporting structures, and changes to policies, to name but a few.  It will be a matter of time before Machinery of Government changes are announced and the flow on effect begins.

For those of us providing recruitment services to Government, our job will be to very quickly gain an understanding of what the mandate will be for each new Department, who is in charge, and what the strategic vision so we can identify what skills are going to be in demand and work proactively to meet that challenge. Yet another flow on effect from change at the top!

Change has many meanings, some may say “it’s a cause to be different, a transformation, others may say it’s seasonal, to move from one phase to another (Anna Bligh herself referred to the cycle of politics and the momentum for change in her concession speech).

Whatever spin you want to put on it, change is inevitable and shouldn’t be feared.  Change brings opportunity, the chance of doing things better, or smarter. After all, we call ourselves the Smart State don’t we? Or perhaps the new Premier will change that strategy too.

Company Culture and The Recruitment Process

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What you experience as a applicant during a recruitment process is generally reflective of that organisations culture…

True or false?

It is a fact that many applicants still have a less than favourable experience when they apply for a new job, be it a direct application to an employer or through a recruiter…

In this employment market where skill shortages do exist in particular areas, many employers are still acting to their detriment in the way they treat potential employees.

The “sins” are many – with the most common including:

  • Not acknowledging applications received
  • Taking months to fill a vacancy
  • Not providing a contact person and phone number on a job advertisement
  • Outdated and irrelevant position descriptions (sometimes none at all)
  • Advertising a role when you already have someone earmarked to appoint
  • Interviewing and never providing feedback

If an applicant does get to sit across the interview table, often the way an interview is conducted is enough to drive the conclusion home that this organisation, isn’t culturally a good fit.

An interview needs to be a two-way dialogue, where the applicant demonstrates the expertise they bring and how the organisation will benefit from their appointment.

The organisation in turn has to demonstrate what benefits the applicant will get from joining them over a competitor – whether it is training, challenge, growth or development…

I believe that a recruitment process where the opportunity is not provided to talk to someone about the role from the outset is a flawed one.  I believe that any employer not prepared to interview within 4 weeks of advertising is crazy.  I also believe that not acknowledging an application or providing feedback post interview is rude.

I also believe that if you are a serious job seeker – thinking that you can just hit the apply button and stand out in the crowd is laughable…

I’d be interested to hear your experiences… Please share your thoughts in the comment box below!

Starting a new job

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Starting a new job?!
What’s your plan of attack?

One day while casually trawling through job ads your spot your dream job… So you write a great application, get an interview; impress them enough in an hour to hire you and your referees stack up.

But that’s not the end of the process…..  Although for many it is.

No!  It’s only part way through the process.

Think about the last time you started a new job, how did you approach it? How did you plan, research? How clear were you on what you wanted to achieve in your first day?  First week?  First month?

Or did you just sit back and let on boarding take its course?  Ease through the first week and amble through your first month, hoping your team would like you and your boss would be impressed?

You only get a short time to make a strong first impression.  Coming new into a role and a new organization you have a unique opportunity to see things in perspective, you have an open mind and a higher level of energy and engagement.

This is not to say that you need to come into this with a level of aggression that will intimidate and aggravate your new work colleagues either.  There has to be a fine balance between energy, drive and questioning the status quo.

Do you consider the “unwritten ground rules” of this new team and organization?  Often these rules are subtle but the easiest damaged when you are new…

Often its not always what you do – its how you do it.  Actions speak louder than words and once you have built a perception of a person – it seldom changes.

How will you gain the respect of your team?  How do you ensure that you have the skills and capabilities on board to support you?

And how do you navigate through a new organization to determine who the key players are that you need to align your self with?

It’s a 2 way street both for the employer and the new employee.  On boarding is often an overlooked process by many employers, leading to lower performance and potentially disengagement of new recruits.

I’d be keen to hear your experiences – leave a comment in the box below telling us your story.

Update – Gregory Clark

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What a difference in a few weeks determination and a fighting attitude can make!

We are SO thankful to report that Greg is making a rapid recovery since his horrific accident Christmas morning when he went kite surfing.

As you may recall, Greg was lifted many meters into the air by strong winds and dumped onto the ground, fracturing and dislocating his hip, breaking his nose and sustaining severe head injuries.

After 16 days in an induced coma and near death, Greg slowly emerged and has since made a progressive improvement each week.  It is so gratifying to see Greg so quickly returning to his old self, with his sense of humour, quick wit and steely determination.

Greg has recently left the Gold Coast Hospital and has relocated to the PA Hospital in Brisbane in the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit for further treatment and to begin the next step on his road to recovery.

It makes you realise how strong the human spirit is and how important it is to have both your good health and loved ones to support you, and Greg is fortunate to be blessed with both.

Thank you for all of your support during this time – we have passed this on to Greg and his family.

Greg’s parents, John and Jenny, and his sister Jessica have asked us to pass on their thanks for all the kind thoughts, prayers and support from everyone. Greg will continue to need this support in the near future please keep him in your thoughts.

Justine Eden and Kim Ritchie
Directors
Eden Ritchie Recruitment