Since being announced as the winner of The Apprentice I have been busy building my new specialised recruitment consultancy Hyper Recruitment Solutions (HRS).This is exactly the same idea as what I pitched to Lord Sugar and his business advises, be it with a few slight tweaks to tailor to my new business partner’s area of expertise also.

Most people approach me with the assumption that I already have a successful business and am a major player in the recruitment industry. The reality is that although I have great plans and ambition for the company, we are a start up organisation in a recovering market place. I am working long days and putting in the hours so that my business can stand out as the most professional and compliant recruitment service for the science and technology industry. However this does not happen over night! Our first few months have seen the business go from strength to strength – but there are many more long days of hard work to put in before we make the company the successful business I have always dreamed of.

Being in the recruitment industry one key area of the field is networking. I need to make sure that I know the right people, they know my companies capabilities and we can all add real value to one another! This takes up a significant amount of my time and it is fundamental to the success of HRS.

Networking can come about in so many different shapes and forms and the easiest way to look at networking is the coming together of two parties. In terms of how one may network this can be in so many ways including online, arranged events, a chance meeting etc.

As a recruitment company online networking is something we need to do often and well. A recent study conducted on behalf of LinkedIn has shown that four out of five professionals in the UK are on their site networking. So is it no surprise we are avid users of this online platform and for a business who invests a lot of time networking we need the technology to reach out to people and remain in contact.

Although having a platform to reach out to so many people is very useful to our role, the research also went on to show that a staggering 66% of people are unconfident in their abilities in networking. So for that reason, and the fact we feel we know a few things about networking, we are happy to share with you a few of our top tips to try and restore this confidence in those 66%.

My top tips on networking:

• Ensure you have a strong social media presence. Staggering the study conducted by LinkedIn show that 69% of companies and people look at their social media pages prior to meeting them. So do make sure whatever you put out there on your pages – you would be happy to stand by it if you are sat in front of a potential client or employer!
• Don’t over complicate networking. It is nothing new and nothing to worry about. You are there for a reason and provided it is the right one then don’t panic. Show the person(s) you are meeting, why you are there and what the benefit to them is. Add value to the other party!
• Relax. Whoever you are meeting no matter what their history or job title – they are just another human being like you. There is no need to be shy and in fact by knowing less then the person(s) you are meeting is sometimes a great thing. You may be able to work away with a job / some business and also some new knowledge!

Moving on…..

I am very excited about the future of Hyper Recruitment Solutions Lord Sugar and I will be making some announcements soon with regards the company. We really want to provide a first class service and use our network and abilities to further promote the industries which we are supporting.

You can find more information about what we are up to by following our company twitter page @hyperec_HRS, reading our website https://www.hyperec.com/ or just getting in touch via info@hyperec.com

I am looking forward to speak to technical professionals from the science and technology arena and would welcome the chance to help you find your next ideal role. Please do not hesitate to get in touch.