Articles From the Team

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Last week a report was published that said despite spending around 48 weeks per year in the office, candidates spend six times as long researching their holiday compared to potential employers.

Glassdoor’s study revealed that despite the average full-time UK employee spending 1,680 hours a year at work, they invest a meager four hours researching potential employers.

In stark contrast people spend 24 hours researching their annual holiday.

The research also showed that more than one-in-three (35%) UK employees admit they didn’t invest any time researching their new employer before accepting a job offer.

Around a fifth of employees claimed they did not have enough information to make an informed decision about whether or not they should accept the job, rising to 39% of those that have been in their job less than six months.

Candidates are under-using the resources available to them with an amazing 55% saying they didn’t look at the employer’s website, 78% failed to check if the business was making a profit and 80% didn’t explore company reviews shared by employees.

With that in mind it’s hardly surprising that less than six months into the honeymoon period of a new role, 31% of UK employees admit they are disappointed.

At BCL Legal we help candidates to prepare for an interview, way before they even secure an interview. We will encourage them to research the market and we give them our insight into the firms after 11 years of working the sector. We would rather a candidate didn’t attend an interview if they are unprepared. We regularly hold mock interview sessions for those who are nervous and talk to them about what they want to know and how they can find it out. We will always know some of the staff at a place they are interviewing, we may have placed them in their jobs already or if not we will have met them or interviewed them ourselves. Speaking with an intermediary will give a candidate much more information than if they are to apply directly. Our success rate speaks for itself. We have over 80% of the CVs we send out to a client invited to interview. The old cliché is true – fail to prepare – prepare to fail.

For more information please contact Vicky Clark or visit our website BCL Legal.