About Niamh Kennelly

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So far Niamh Kennelly has created 40 blog entries.

WFH meetings are becoming VIRTUALLY Impossible!

By |2020-08-20T20:06:48+01:00August 20th, 2020|HR Tips, Remote Working|

  While a lot of the strangeness of working remotely starts to become more familiar, the shaping of the new normal is a real focus point for us. We are sharing our thoughts now on what is working for us and what is not and what we want to bring forward and what we want to discard forever. Crisis has always been a catalyst for change and the Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated change at a significant level on how we are working together, not least of all in our meetings.   The virtual team meeting is up for a lot of discussion and the word on the web is that it has become a forum of frustration for lot of home workers. From my discussions with clients it seems that Video Team Meetings in the shape of Team meets, Zoom or Google Hangouts are set to recur at least weekly in everyone’s calendars and they rarely have an agenda. They might have a title like ‘Team Check In’ or ‘Update’ but other than that there is no real sense of their purpose.   Managing meetings is a skill, most of the meeting leaders already have this skill and have proven their prowess in the office meeting room for years. Why then in their transition to the web meeting have they lost their know-how along the way ? Yes there are few additional technical points to consider and you might need to upskill yourself on screen sharing, polling the group, breakouts and the valuable skill of muting participants but [...]

HR Search’s Guide to Remote Recruiting & Onboarding

By |2020-05-06T17:03:19+01:00May 5th, 2020|HR, Remote Working, Uncategorized|

  Everyone in the world is getting a crash course in working from home now but this is underpinned by a greater business challenge, that of Business Continuity. Initially, for most organisations, the Covid 19 pandemic triggered a hiring freeze and even hiring processes which were mid-way or close to closure were put on hold. However, here in HR Search we are working closely with our client partners and candidates to keep the recruitment assignments moving forward and together we are embarking on an interesting collaborative journey indeed. HR Search has gained real insights from our client partners on how they are making this remote interviewing and on-boarding happen and we wanted to share these with you to help show how it can work. If you would like a full copy of the case studies please get in touch with with us here. Hopefully it will help you navigate through the uncertainty of Covid-19. It may also be an opportunity to trial, what might become the new normal. We hope you find it useful!   Niamh & Jess | HR Search Case study findings The most surprising thing for me is the speed of the hiring process from shortlisting, interviewing and job offers! Some previous recruitment projects would have taken 6-8 weeks and beyond, but we have in recent hires, reduced that to 3 and 4 weeks. What systems are HR using to recruit & onboard? We also see our successful hires joining organisations remotely, getting an opportunity to understand the policies, structures and culture at the outset and [...]

The Coach Recruiter

By |2020-11-05T21:42:01+01:00May 23rd, 2019|HR|

Last year I contributed to a feature in the Irish Times Saturday magazine titled ‘How to Change your Life’. My piece (linked here) was on coaching, how I help clients create awareness around what needs to change for them, to understand what’s getting in their way and to help them take meaningful steps to get to where to where they want to go. At the core of all our decision-making is choice. During the piece Una Mullally, the feature writer, asked ‘so! are you more of a Life Coach or a Career Coach?’ A fair question, as I work for HR Search, a specialised Human Resources recruitment company, but I am also a qualified and practising personal coach. For anyone who has trained to be a Coach and passionately embraces coaching, they will recognise the truth in my answer, I said that “recruiting is what I do, being a Coach is who I am”. Coaching is integrated into how I do everything.   “Recruiting is what I do, being a Coach is who I am”   As a supportive mechanism, to help people forward in their lives, personal coaching is now widely accessed. Executive and job performance coaching has been a norm in the corporate world for some time and in-house coaching practice is growing in the SME and public sectors. One place that you don’t see a lot of coaching practice, is in the recruitment area. It tends to weigh more on the transactional side by its nature and model. However, to my coaching mindset, it is where [...]

What does the role of HR look like in 2019?

By |2019-04-17T15:06:29+01:00April 11th, 2019|HR, HR Trends|

What does the role of HR look like in 2019 – Have you positioned HR to allow strategic contribution to the future success of your organisation? On a daily basis, the most common conversation I have with prospective senior candidates is about the content of a role profile and how Operational vs Strategic the role is (in reality). From a recruitment perspective, I decided jot down some of my observations about the direction HR is taking, and what I am seeing on the marketplace currently when sourcing for Senior HR Manager/ BP/ Director roles. It has really changed drastically during my time in recruitment. What is a strategic HR role? This is where HR has moved away from the tactical, hands on work and no longer working in the day to day. It is a true focus on aligning business objectives to the people strategy, an identification of long-term or overall business aims and interests and the means of achieving them through people. It takes shape in an environment where leadership feel passionately about having people number 1 on the agenda to drive the company to success. Strategic HR work involves expertise in talent management, brand values, attraction and retention capabilities, workforce planning, organisational design and effectiveness. There is a huge movement away from a tactical and reactive HR towards being strategic, deliberate people teams who take a fully rounded, holistic view of HR that add value at a C-Suite level. “It is almost impossible to achieve sustainable success without an outstanding CHRO who should be a key sparring [...]

Is your Company Ghosting Candidates?

By |2018-10-11T16:51:56+01:00October 11th, 2018|Uncategorized|

I work with both passive and active candidates on the market, at different levels and junctures of their careers. As part of my role on a weekly basis I must regret candidates when they have been unsuccessful after interview. These calls are never enjoyable; some people are pragmatic, some disappointed, but generally all are happy to close out on a process and get some feedback. Unfortunately, “candidate ghosting” is still a regular occurrence, and by this I mean candidates who have attended an interview and then hear nothing following their meeting from the employer or the recruiter. On a personal level, I think we can all sympathize with the frustration and bad-will that develops when an interviewer doesn’t follow through with any sort of feedback following a meeting. From having the birds eye perspective on the market, across many industries and companies, I get to hear and see the brand damage that this does to a company when it happens. I do understand that recruiters and hiring managers don’t do this on purpose, and there are many cogs in the wheel that delays or confuses processes, leading to an “ostrich in the sand” mentality of just doing nothing.   These challenges are most commonly: High volume of interviews Lack of systems or controls in place Company cultures that don’t properly value the time invested by candidates Chasing line/ hiring managers for feedback Changing internal structures or the job itself Other priority roles taking over Lack of decision at senior level   However, as a business if you can find [...]

Guinness for a Monday – thanks to ConsenSys Ireland

By |2018-07-02T13:58:08+01:00June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|

So I have of course heard all the buzz words – crypto currency, bitcoin, blockchain etc., however yesterday was an education in itself to attend the launch of ConsenSys Ireland with Kerri & Adrian, and to hear Joe Lubin, Lory Kehoe, Kean Gilbert, Sydney Lai and the rest of the team speak about the company and their work. If I was to attempt a brief explanation; ConsenSys is part of the Ethereum family blockchain with the aim to be “the new internet”. Ethereum is the base – a type of opensource blockchain ecosystem that can easily plug into an area of relevance and unlock value through creative thinking. Fantastically exciting stuff. ConsenSys was founded by Joseph Lubin, who also co-founded the Swiss-based Ethereum cryptocurrency, was fantastic to listen to – my favourite part being when he mentioned that Satoshi (anonymous creator of Bitcoin) is in fact a woman! It was as surely an evening of learning, (as well as Guinness) and the energy and excitement in the room was palpable –a sense of looking at what very well may be the future. If things work out in some form of what was described, blockchain will become part of our everyday and we won’t imagine a world without it (similar to pre-internet or pre mobile phone)! Minister Paschal Donohoe spoke about how this is fully government backed and highlighted how proud we should be that Dublin has been chosen as a growth hub, progressive and developed in terms of tech talent. The turnout of some three hundred people was a glowing indication of the the interest people hold in this [...]

Compensation and Benefits – All about the Carrot, not the Stick!

By |2018-07-02T14:30:12+01:00April 30th, 2018|Uncategorized|

To understand the whole area of Compensation and Benefits (C&B) you really need to understand the evolution of administrative and passive “Personnel Management department” to a more dynamic and specialised “Human Resource Management” team. With increased free market competition at global level, the proliferation of technology and knowledge-based industries, Human Resource Management has become a critical function of most large organisations.The Human Resources team has evolved one stage further - If you review larger companies you will find that they are typically divided into three sub-divisions: HR business partners (HRBPs), HR centers of excellence, and HR shared services.C&B is one such center of excellence and is being given an increasing amount of attention and with good reason! And what exactly is C&B? As a sub division of HR, C&B it is focused on employee compensation and benefits policy-making. While compensation and benefits are tangible, there are intangible rewards such as recognition, work-life and development. Combined, these are referred to as total rewards. Employee compensation and benefits are divided into four basic categories: Guaranteed pay – a fixed monetary reward paid by an employer to an employee. The most common form of guaranteed pay is base salary. Guaranteed pay also includes cash allowances (housing allowance, transport allowance, etc.), differentials (shift differentials, holiday differentials) and premiums (overtime, night shift, etc.) Variable pay – a non-fixed monetary reward paid by an employer to an employee that is contingent on discretion, performance, or results achieved. The most common forms of variable pay are bonuses and incentives Benefits – programs an employer uses to supplement employees’ compensation, such as paid time-off, [...]

How not to conduct an Interview!

By |2018-07-02T14:30:22+01:00April 11th, 2018|Uncategorized|

One morning last week, I sat drinking a coffee in a well-known County Dublin hotel preparing for a client meeting that I was attending around the corner. It was early, and the place was relatively empty, and I worked away on my preparation. Shortly after, two tables of two people arrived. I quickly worked out that one was an interview and the other was two colleagues from a nearby company having an early morning chat. Whilst you might think that voices do not travel – they most certainly do! Both conversations were fully audible! The first table of 2 was conducting a first round interview and I heard significant background and details of both parties and their employers. The second table was discussing an employee in detail – how inappropriately they dress coming into work every day and what should be done about it. As someone who regularly interviews off-site, I walked away that morning making a commitment to myself as follows: I would encourage people to come into our lovely, private offices as much as possible I would book a room for meetings if interviewing off-site, particularly if more than one meeting I would find an appropriate venue for off-site interviews and ask hotel staff to point me to a quiet, tucked away area where I cannot be overheard Keep my voice down and be cognizant of the fact that a lot of sensitive, private information is about to be discussed This all seems very basic, but as someone who has been interviewing for a long time, it [...]

How to make it work post Mat Leave..

By |2018-07-02T13:59:50+01:00March 21st, 2018|Uncategorized|

  HR Search sponsored and collaborated with the DCU Leadership and Talent Institute who undertook a large qualitative study focused on the barriers and enablers that impact re-integration into the work place post Mat leave. This research was led by Yseult Freeney, David Collings and Lisa van der Werff who started by surveying over 300 women and who interviewed over 90 people across 30 industry leading organisations – a huge undertaking! We launched the findings last week in the Shelbourne hotel, whereby over 150 HR professionals gathered to hear from the researchers and a panel conversation.     Why did this topic gain such huge interest from our network? The big picture… The talent agenda is one of the most pressing challenges for organisations and HR leaders globally. With so much time and money invested into TA and Talent Development to attract and retain strong people, based on this research, companies are missing a beat when it comes to positively communicating pre,during and post mat leave to retain engaged and positive employees. When a woman comes to this career juncture of having a family – Is this just a brief interlude in a 30-40 year career? Yes (is the right answer!). However, this study showed that often this a time whereby a woman’s career may be derailed and talent is lost as a result of unconscious bias, professional relationship challenges, or a lack of open communication around expectations. Ultimately firms should not allow their top talent to become “corporate refugees” and to allow them to walk out the door for various reasons. [...]

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