Meet the Team: James Dale

1. How do you like to spend your time outside of work?

Spending time with my wife and two children, Clemmie and Otis. This might be swimming, football, art, craft, or whatever crazy game they’ve just come up with. This week was Nature Girl which as far as I can tell just involves dangerously jumping off the sofa.

Outside of family it’s golf, softball, football, visiting friends and snowboarding when I can get to the mountains.

 

2. What’s something you’re learning or have learned recently?

I’ve been learning “the move” at golf which is apparently a thing and I don’t think Dave knows about it so I will keep it that way.

 

3. What are you passionate about?

Passionate about my family and YTS. I’ve put a lot of time, love and commitment into both.

 

4. Are you currently binging any shows?

We’ve just finished The Bear which is incredible. Having worked in hospitality in my younger days this just feels very raw and real and the characters and story is incredible.

 

5. What do you do at YTS, and what would I come to you for help with?

I manage the delivery team and work directly with clients to support their hiring. I’m responsible for working with them to understand who they need and why, who will work best and what type of character excels in a specific environment. I might help with developing their interview process or working with a hiring manager to put together a job description. I’ll then work with the team to find that right person, keeping the client updated throughout and delivering the level of candidate experience our clients expect.

You can come to me for help with any hiring challenges or tricky to fill roles and we’ll work out how to get a solution to your headache.

 

6. What one thing do you wish you knew when you started working at YTS, or what advice would you give the new person?

We’re a small business and we work collaboratively to bring out the best strengths from each other. I wish I’d known that we’re better by being a bit different a little earlier than I did.

The advice I’d give anyone is to ask for help the very second you need it. We work well by supporting and developing each other and that is done best by recognising when we don’t know the answer and leaning on the strength and knowledge of the team.

 

7. What’s your biggest accomplishment?

Balancing running your own business and raising a family is harder than most people realise as both have significant demands on your time and energy. I’m proud of the fact that I’m present at home and love spending time with my family but also manage to dedicate the time into YTS to ensure we can deliver the level of service our clients expect.

 

8. What advice would you give to hiring managers right now?

Create the best candidate experience you can because if you don’t then someone else will. If a top candidate has two great roles to choose from…

One has a simple and clear two stage interview process, gives feedback at all stages within 24 hours and has a wealth of company and new starter information available.

The other has 3 stages, one is a presentation that requires 3-hours of prep, it took 2 weeks from applying to hear back and then a week after the first stage.

Which one would you expect the candidate to choose?

 

9. What advice would you give to candidates?

Be honest, be open about your experience and your shortcomings and keep the companies or recruiters you’re working with in-the-loop about any changes to your situation. If you’re slow to respond or not forthcoming with information, then the client is likely to select a candidate who is hungrier and more engaged.

 

Additional Questions

How The Recruitment Market Has Changed

1. What advice would you give to organisations about the way the recruitment market has changed and evolved in recent times?

There is still the expectation from some people that candidates need to walk bare foot over broken glass to attend an in-person job interview at a time that is inconvenient to them.

Candidates hold more cards than they ever have, and we need to keep a focus on their experience. The landscape has changed completely and if the outlook on recruitment has not changed too, then recruitment will be even harder.

There is more but we’ve covered changes that we think organisations need to be aware of in our latest blog!

 

2. What should organisations do that they maybe haven’t been previously?

They should spend time looking at their Employer Value Proposition.

Additionally, they should evaluate their current recruitment process. Is it up to date, are all hiring managers, HR and Recruitment teams agreed in how to move forwards and does it reflect the EVP. Getting a joined up process, with buy-in from all stakeholders could revolutionise the way you hire. This should set the tone to deliver the best