Aaron Wallis Sales Industry News

Welcome to our News Page. Discover more about the UK Sales Industry and recruitment trends together with links to quick tips and sales advice. Meet the Editorial Team

Tuesday 29 January 2008

What do you want in your next job? FREE checklist

It’s amazing how many candidates that I register want a new job but aren’t altogether sure what they actually want.

After an Aaron Wallis registration meeting our candidates frequently say that the session really helped them to understand what they wanted (and as importantly what they didn’t want) in their next role.

I’ve broken the questions that we typically ask down into our job search checklist. It’ll take 30 minutes to complete but will enable you to articulate to recruiters and employers exactly what you want and why you want it.

We hope that you find it useful,

All the best, Rob

Have a bungee jump on us!

I was published in the Financial Times last week and I was rather proud of it!

The article was about employee referral schemes and how innovative recruitment businesses are offering incentives to gain referrals from their candidate and client base.

The journalist that interviewed me had a great name, Rhymer Rigby, and he was impressed by the range of incentives that we offer including flights over London, white-water rafting and bungee jumping four different locations across the UK in a year!

Read the article here and remember that for every candidate that you recommend to Aaron Wallis that we subsequently place you will qualify for one of our choices of incentive gifts. Find out more here

Do you really want to achieve your goals, dreams and aspirations?

I was talking to a contact of mine the other day regarding goal setting and he said that he’d been following goal setting principals for the last few years and he hadn’t necessarily achieved his desires and dreams. I asked him to elaborate.

He said that he’d set goals of doubling his income, driving a better car, getting into 32” trousers and moving to a better house. I probed further and he explained how he’d followed all of the golden rules of goals setting. He’d written them down, reviewed them regularly, put them in his wallet so they were close to his heart, etc. etc,

However, he’d missed out on a couple of really fundamental points.

Firstly he hadn’t set milestones along the path to his goals or deadlines for each of them. His goals were simply a shopping list of wants; nothing more than a wish list.

Secondly he hadn’t set any consequences, i.e. what he’d do if he didn’t achieve his goals by the dates he detailed.

But the biggest omission was that he didn’t have a deep down, burning desire to actually achieve his goals!

His partner wanted a better, bigger house and for him to lose a little weight. He was quite comfortable with his thirtysomething paunch and his work-life balance that allowed him to keep up with his hobbies and enjoy the odd beer after work. He didn’t want to eat less, exercise more and work harder, smarter and longer to increase his income and lose a few inches off his weight. He wanted a better car, but mainly this was impress his friends and, on a scale of one to ten of burning desires, it was a flicker rather than an all consuming conflagration!

He didn’t have the ‘spring out of bed every morning’, continuously thinking about it, kind of goal. They weren’t even deep down his own goals. They were someone else’s goals that he was half-heartedly looking to achieve. And, this is the main point, they were goals that he thought he should be setting rather than what he actually wanted!

I explained to him in a ‘kind of roundabout kind of way’ that what the ‘heart doesn't desire your hand won't reach for’. And this got me thinking.

How many of us have set goals that our society and our position in society expects us to. How many of us set them for others; our partners, our loved ones, friends, colleagues and peers. How many of us really know what we really want?

I commonly ask at interview ‘what’s your life goal’ and four times out of five it’s answered – “I want to be a millionaire”. Then, when I delve into the ‘whys’ the answer is most commonly ‘it sounds good’, ‘financial freedom’, ‘enjoy a life of luxuries’ and, more often than not it’s largely superficial, largely ego driven and will probably never materialise.

And this got me thinking some more. In order to set goals you have to really, really, want them. A real guttural, almost instinctual hunger, to achieve your goal. A real 9.9 out of 10. Then it needs a deadline, milestone steps and some idea of how to overcome the inevitable obstacles along your path. Then, well armed with it in your wallet, written down and regularly reviewed, you stand every chance of achieving it.

Based upon what my contact had said about how disillusioned he’d become with goal setting I’ve completely rewritten and re-recorded our Goal Setting and Goal Setting Template. I’ve also devised an accompanying workbook to download with it.

I hope that you like the modifications and it helps you achieve everything that you desire.

Rob Scott is the Managing Director of Aaron Wallis, a UK based sales recruitment provider that offers a wide range of career and life tools including a comprehensive goal setting guide and goal setting template. Visit
www.aaronwallis.co.uk for further information.

Wednesday 9 January 2008

Great Links to FREE software and FREE Content from an Open Source Hypocrite

A good friend of mine has a motto – ‘the only thing better than making money is saving money!’ and I hunt high and low to try and get the best possible deals, particularly on software.

However, I’m one of those open source hypocrites. I’m forever informing others of the virtues of Thunderbird and StarOffice yet use Microsoft Outlook and MS Office 2007 myself but hey, ho!

This open source hypocrite therefore details some of his favourite FREE CONTENT and FREE DOWNLOAD sites on http://www.aaronwallis.co.uk/favourite_sites_free_downloads_content.php

I hope that you like them, there’s some brilliant sites here.

All the best and have fun, Rob

Save money on dry cleaning AND make your suits last longer!

I was moaning to a contact last week that after three dry cleans my suits were so shiny that they were no use. He told me that I was getting it all wrong.

He told me to dab any stains on my suits with a sponge dampened with water and then hang them out to dry on the washing line on a dry, blustery day. Of course I scoffed but fed up with buying a new suit every couple of months I thought I’d give it a try.

Sunday was perfect. It was a crisp, dry and gusty day so I pegged my jackets and suit trousers onto the line. I left them outside for a few hours then hung the jackets on good shaped hangers and clamped the trousers by the hems on trouser hangers and weighted them down with a belt. I left them overnight.

The following morning it was amazing. It really works, the suits were clean, fresh as new and had their shape back. Give it a try!

I was once a suit hanging cynic but am now a convert AND with no perchloroethylenes used it’s got to be better for the environment!

Monday 7 January 2008

Are you Going to be a Millionaire?

Have you ever dreamt of becoming a millionaire?

Most people have at some point and why not, I don’t blame you! To help you keep a check on your progress Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment has developed a millionaire calculator to see how long it will be before you become the magic millionaire based on your current savings and your monthly saving habits.

To see where you are on your path to ‘Millionaire Status’ , and how you may need to increase your monthly savings simply visit the Candidate Quizzes and Calculators section of http://www.aaronwallis.co.uk/ and take the dropdown to Career Quizzes

We hope that you find it fun and that you’re not too disappointed with the outcome. If you are disappointed and need to increase those monthly deposits perhaps you might consider increasing your earning potential by landing a new sales job with Aaron Wallis. Search for a new job at http://www.aaronwallis.co.uk/

All the best, Rob

NB Did you know that the only word in the English language that ends in 'mt' is 'dreamt' - well you do now!