Geeza job

Cicero is pleased with you this week. I know that that will put a spring in your step, a smile on your face and bring joy to your heart. It is for Cicero great to see the increasing levels of interest and engagement and even sensible comment being left on this corner of the blogosphere.

And Cicero would like to thank in particular those correspondents adding to and developing ‘5 Why’ theory. Hopefully this week’s thoughts will inspire similar levels of interest.

Now I would like you to ponder on this.

Does your business routinely ignore its customers? Or does it employ third parties who might do same while acting in your name? Or does it refuse to justify decisions to its customer even though these decisions might have a significant effect on their lives?

I am hoping that as a devoted reader of this column and as a disciple of Cicero that the answer to all three questions might be no and if it’s not then I am ashamed of you and you ought to be too.

But do you know what happens when you recruit people to join your business?

I ask this because all too frequently in these hard economic times, and I’m sure the practice also went on in the times of plenty, I hear of businesses, either directly or through agencies, who don’t let applicants know the fate of applications; where applications disappear into black holes never to be heard of again; or where the feedback to rejected applicants is pitiful and derisory.

This is not on.

Now you may wonder why this is important. It is important because this is your brand we are talking about and your brand promise must be consistently delivered through your recruitment processes for staff as much as for customers. It must surely occur to you that people wanting to join you might be customers. That their friends and family might be customers too, And what kind of message does it send to existing staff when they see or hear how applicants are treated? Either way bringing people on board can, if done poorly, have a real effect on the reputation of your business and your brand. And brand reputation must be the most important thing to worry about.

I know that recruitment is normally the domain of HR people but do you know how it gets done? How do applicants get treated? Do you ask them?

And if these processes are not up to scratch your HR people need to be told in no uncertain terms that the way they do recruitment is seriously having an impact on the brand and reputation of the business. Tell them to get a grip. This is serious and for real.

Now it might surprise you that no matter how hard I might try Cicero is not always a solid gold exemplar of good management and marketing practice but on this I am passionate.

And so, should you be given the chance to work for Cicero, you can be assured that all applications will be acknowledged, that all people not interviewed will be communicated with, and should you not be offered the choice, an unlikely prospect, I know, you will be given the opportunity for full and frank feedback. And anyone recruiting in my team and any third parties will work to the same principles. Guaranteed.

It is the least we can do. It is not just a job. It is your career and life. It is my brand and its reputation. And I don’t want to damage any of it. Maybe, just maybe, we could all adopt similar principles if and when we recruit. And maybe just maybe, we can become the change we want to see in the world.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

Is it only me?

Men hate shopping. I think I can say that with a fair degree of certainty and I would challenge anyone to question this. Men shop when they need to and they will shop for exactly what they need. To a man, shopping is a necessity to be endured.
Women on the other hand see shopping as a leisure activity to be enjoyed. For them it is a pleasure.

Now Cicero is a man. Ergo shopping is a chore. And the other day while perambulating along a major retail thoroughfare Cicero passed some major retail emporia and it was evident that in just about every one of these emporia women’s goods were always positioned at the front. No matter the shop women’s clothes, lingerie bits and bobs and make up were without fail the first things you saw.

Now it might only be me but surely this is wrong. A woman wanting to shop will investigate every nook and cranny to find what she wants or thinks she wants. Women need no temptations or bait to be seduced into shopping. Men on the other hand do. Men are not going to spend any more time than they need to shopping. Men are not going to make the effort to search out their stuff. It is men who need tempting inside not women.

So why is it that it is always women’s baubles at the front of the shop and not men’s must-have necessities? Think of it for a nano second. You know Cicero is right. Again. And I am sure that should this insight be adopted along the High St, retailing in this country will be transformed and will not just survive the recessionary onslaught but will prosper.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.