Personal Insight on Recruitment Trends: Deakin University Report

This report provides a personal insight into current recruitment trends within the professional services industry. It begins by outlining key trends such as the adoption of social media platforms, the importance of delivering a quality candidate experience, and the use of semi-automatic referrals. The report then discusses the significance of cultural fit and diversity in recruitment, as well as the importance of soft skills. The author then details their application for an accounting position, including their cover letter and relevant experience. The report further analyzes the author's interview preparation, including strengths, weaknesses, and action plans. The author highlights their knowledge of accounting, ability to handle difficult situations, and interest in accounting as key strengths. Weaknesses include communication style and lack of familiarity with specific software. The report concludes by reflecting on the recruitment process.

Running head: PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
Personal insight on recruitment trends
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
Table of Contents
Recruitment Trends....................................................................................................................2
My Application..........................................................................................................................5
My Interview Preparation..........................................................................................................7
Reflection...................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Recruitment Trends
The professional service industry has been rapidly growing over the past few years
since the demand for services are growing rapidly among the consumers. Therefore, demand
for services such as accounting, advertising, legal and others from various companies are
growing day by day. It has been observed that those who are employed in this industry are
paid highly depending upon their knowledge and expertise (Bello, Radulovich and Javalgi
2016). The professional service industry being in the competitive market have to abide by the
current trends that are making an influence in various aspects of the industry. Some of the
current trends of the professional service industry are as follows –
Adopting Social Media Platform – With the popularity of social media platforms among
majority of individuals across the globe, professional services firms are adopting the use of
social media for various range of aspects that benefit the firm to attract skilled candidates for
recruitment in their firms. It has been observed that the professional service firms that have a
developed and advanced presence of social media in their functioning, have an advantage of
hiring quality professionals towards the firm compared to those that do not utilise the social
media platform (Melanthiou, Pavlou and Constantinou 2015). The reason behind this is that,
nowadays, majority of candidates use social media for the purpose of job search. This
provides firms to hire suitable candidates as they utilise social media platform for the
announcement of hiring for their firm.
Delivering a quality candidate experience – Providing a quality and great candidate
experience have become one of the trending recruitment criteria for staffing firms in all major
industries including the professional services industry as well. It has been observed that talent
shortage and is one of the key challenges that the management of top professional services

3PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
firms face however, this issue can reasonably be decreased with the implementation of an
improved recruiting candidate experience (Allden and Harris 2017).
Setting up semi-automatic referrals – Recruiting with the help of referrals is another
trending recruitment process that various organisations adopt (Sinha and Thaly 2013). With
the changing organisational structure and procedures, referral programs are regarded as one
of the key sources of placing new candidates into organisations and firms. It has been
observed that referrals are regarded by many organisations and firms as one of the best
derivation of high skilled employees or staff members for the firm or organisation (Brown,
Setren and Topa 2016). In addition to this, it can also be said that a good candidate
experience delivered by the firm during recruitment process could not only fill up the current
job role instead can also contribute for sourcing other candidates in future with the help of
positive referrals from the hired candidates.
In accordance to the current recruiting trends of organisations, more and more
organisations apply full proof recruitment process in order to select the most suitable
candidate for their organisation. During the hiring procedure, organisations look for certain
factors such as diversity and cultural fit level among candidates. The presence of these factors
in candidates are considered to be beneficial for the organisations in various ways. Cultural
fit can rightly be described as a concept in which the candidate’s values, beliefs and
behaviours aligns with that of organisation’s core values and culture (De Leersnyder et al.
2014). Now, this factor is considered by majority of firms and organisations as an essential
factor that must be present in the candidate. Now, it is evident that every individual have a set
of values and beliefs that drives them towards achieving a goal and accomplishing a task
(Endsley, 2017). However, if these values and beliefs in any way appears to be contradictory
with that of an organisations values of beliefs then it possess to have a negative impact on the
individual’s performance. This scenario ultimately results in increased employee turnover

4PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
rate that costs an organisation a heavy loss. Henceforth, more and more industries such as
professional service industries are considering this factor in candidates during the recruitment
process. In addition to this, another factor that are majorly determined by organisations is
recruitment of diverse candidates. It has been observed that a diverse team of individuals
have the ability of solving problematic circumstances more efficiently compared to those
teams that have similar group of individuals (Reynolds 2018). Additionally, a diversified
working environment boost up the brand of the organisation as well.
From the above discussion it is evident that there are many trends and factors that
organisations adopt and consider these days in recruitment procedure. In addition to this
discussion, soft skills are regarded as another requirement that the organisations these days
seek in candidates. Soft skills are even regarded as emotional intelligence that an individual
possess with the help of which an individual communicate efficiently with others (Kyllonen,
2013). Organisations seek for candidates that possess an ample amount of soft skills such as
negotiating power, working under pressure, ability to solve conflicts and others. Presence of
soft skills among candidates makes them efficient to attract and impress clients and
customers that are one of the key stakeholders of any organisation or a firm (Deepa and Seth
2017).
All the above mentioned recruitment trends and requirements makes a great impact on
the application and interview process for my selected job role of accounting. Accounting is
one of the categories of professional services industry and like any other industry, this
specific industry follow these trends and considerations for the recruitment of suitable
candidates.

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My Application
Karan Bahri
91 Coleman Road, Wantirna South, 3152
T: 0469873520, E: [e-mail]
-------------------
Hiring Manager
Sydney, NSW
30th September 2018
Dear Mr._____________
In response to your recent advertisement regarding the vacant position in Accounting
category, I would like to consider myself for this vacancy and enclose my CV for review.
Currently I am pursuing my undergraduate degree in Bachelor in Commerce at Deakin
University, Burwood. Whilst pursuing my undergraduate course, I have also worked as an
intern in Millburn Investments, Australia for the period of April 2018 to July 2018. Apart
from this, I also worked as an intern for Book keeping of accounts for Sanjay Bansal &
Associates (Chartered Accountant) in India. I gained valuable knowledge in the field of book
keeping, tax accounting and other essential accounting related job. The course that I am
pursuing at the moment along with the past experience I have in the field of accounting has
provided me with both theoretical and practical knowledge that is required to efficiently take
on any future position in this department. I now have an extensive range of experience that
allows me to work in tough working situations with ample amount of confidence. I even
possess the quality of undertaking my job roles and responsibilities efficiently and honestly.
However, I have a keen interest in Accounting and a thirst to acquire more knowledge that
this internship shall offer.
As the position that you are offering is predominantly related to Financial Accounting, I am
confident that I can make a considerable contribution to your company. I have acquired all

6PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
the essential professional skills that is essential for this position. I even have the potential of
adapting and learning new technologies that are essential to work efficiently for this job role.
Apart from this, some of the key strengths that I can deliver includes:
 Excellent communication skills in English
 An expertise knowledge in Microsoft Office Suite
 Excellent ability to perform research work
I believe that this internship programme would be a great opportunity for me to further
expand my knowledge in the field of accounting. However, with the prior internship
experience along with my skills, I can prove to be a worthy addition in your company. In
addition to this, I would even like to state that prior to applying for this job vacancy, I
conducted a thorough research on your company. I was greatly impressed by the reputation
and status that this company has upon its competitors but also among the associated
customers. This job role would be a delightful opportunity that would satiate my interest and
shall also fulfil my career objectives.
Kindly accept the enclosed CV and feel free to communicate with me at your earliest
convenience. I would be extremely delightful to have an opportunity to personally interview
with you. I appreciate your time and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
KARAN BAHRI

7PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
My Interview Preparation
In order to prepare for the interview I had listed down some of my strengths and
weaknesses. This would help me to analyse the areas where I require improvement and
develop my skills for the purpose of excelling the interview. Additionally, the necessary
action plan are also discussed in order to overcome the challenges that I faced during the
preparation for my interview. The actions that I took for the preparation of this interview, did
not only help me in to complete this interview efficiently instead, shall also help me in my
future interviews as well.
However, I lack in some areas that may come in way for securing this job role. These
weaknesses may have a negative impact on my career for the long run. Firstly, even though I
excel in English communication, my habit of speaking in lower voice acts as one of the
weakness. Therefore, one of the weakness that I possess is to communicate with the
interviewer with confidence. Another weakness that I have to overcome is that I lack the
ability to analyse and or foresee any difficulty situation beforehand. In today’s world,
majority of companies seek for candidates that excel in this area of soft skills and I happen to
lack this attribute. Lastly, I am not acquainted with some of the software knowledge that have
been demanded for this job role such as XERO, MYOB. Therefore, this may come in way for
achieving the job for this interview.
One of the key strengths that I possess for this particular interview is that I have
ample amount of knowledge and experience in the field of accounting due to my past
experience as an intern in various companies that I was associated with. As the job role for
this internship seek for a candidate that have good knowledge of accounting related tasks, my
prior internship experience will help me significantly in order to fulfil this criteria. Another
significant strength that shall help me to excel in this interview is the ability to handle

8PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
difficult situation and my ability to work under pressure. In any job role, there are bound to
be difficult circumstances and in such tough situation I am capable enough to deliver my
performance efficiently. In addition to this, the job role seeks for a candidate that have an
interest for accounting and I do have a keen interest for accounting. This shall help me learn
new skills efficiently since my interest in accounting will act as an advantage for securing the
position for this internship.
Situation One of the major challenge that I faced during the preparation for my
interview was my inability to communicate in a suitable voice as I
have a habit of speaking in a much lower voice. In addition to this,
the job role specifically mentioned that the candidates must have a
basic knowledge regarding software such as MYOB, XERO and I
am not acquainted with these software knowledge.
Task In order to overcome these challenges I was told to take some
significant steps that would help me not just to excel in this interview
instead for future interviews as well. In order to improve my
communication skills I was suggested vocal exercises that shall
improve my speaking voice. Additionally, I was suggested to learn
the software that would further enhance my professional skills.
Action The first action that I took regarding to enhance and improve my
communication skills was to practice vocal speech aloud alone. This
helped me to find out the perfect speaking voice and further
enhanced my pronunciation of words. Secondly, I practiced the same
vocal speech exercise but in front of my friends and family. This
gave me the confidence to speak aloud as they helped me with their
honest feedback. Lastly, I took the step to enhance my non-verbal

9PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
communication as well since it is significant to have a good body
language.
For the purpose of learning the software efficiently I did some
research upon the software. The research helped me to understand
the basics and also provided me the option to take online lessons to
learn the software knowledge. The online course helped me
systematically to learn the software knowledge that was required for
achieving the job role for this interview.
Result The vocal speech exercise that I practised daily helped me
significantly to enhance my verbal communication skills.
Additionally, I gained the confidence to speak in a comparatively
large audience group.
The online course that I took for the purpose of learning the software
such MYOB, XERO helped me significantly to enhance and develop
my professional skills that shall help me in my future career as well.
Reflection
The actions that I took in order to prepare for this interview were significantly focused
to enhance my communication and professional skills that was chiefly demanded by this job
role. The vocal speech exercise along with non-verbal communication practice helped me to
overcome my weakness of speaking in a lower voice and enhanced my ability to
communicate more efficiently. Another major action that took for securing the job role for
this interview was to acquire the software knowledge of MYOB and XERO. The online
courses that I took helped me significantly to learn the basics of this software. In fact, the
course proved to be significant added attribute in my CV for my future career. These two

10PERSONAL INSIGHT ON RECRUITMENT TRENDS
major actions were significant to take for the preparation of my interview. Both the steps
were aimed for excelling in this interview as the job role specifically seek for candidates that
have excellent communication skills and have the basic software knowledge of MYOB and
XERO. These actions for enhancing my skills helped me to further enhance my CV.

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References
Allden, N. and Harris, L., 2017. Building a positive candidate experience: towards a
networked model of e-recruitment. Journal of Business Strategy, 34(5), pp.36-47.
Bello, D.C., Radulovich, L.P., Javalgi, R.R.G., Scherer, R.F. and Taylor, J., 2016.
Performance of professional service firms from emerging markets: Role of innovative
services and firm capabilities. Journal of World Business, 51(3), pp.413-424.
Brown, M., Setren, E. and Topa, G., 2016. Do informal referrals lead to better matches?
Evidence from a firm’s employee referral system. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(1),
pp.161-209.
De Leersnyder, J., Mesquita, B., Kim, H., Eom, K. and Choi, H., 2014. Emotional fit with
culture: A predictor of individual differences in relational well-being. Emotion, 14(2), p.241.
Deepa, S. and Seth, M., 2013. Do soft skills matter?-Implications for educators based on
recruiters' perspective. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(1), p.7.
Endsley, M.R., 2017. Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems.
In Situational Awareness pp. 9-42. Routledge.
Kyllonen, P.C., 2013. Soft skills for the workplace. Change: The Magazine of Higher
Learning, 45(6), pp.16-23.
Melanthiou, Y., Pavlou, F. and Constantinou, E., 2015. The use of social network sites as an
e-recruitment tool. Journal of Transnational Management, 20(1), pp.31-49.
Reynolds, A. 2018. Teams Solve Problems Faster When They’re More Cognitively Diverse.
online Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2017/03/teams-solve-
problems-faster-when-theyre-more-cognitively-diverse Accessed 30 Sep. 2018.