Be it Rugby or Recruitment – being ethical ensures long-term success

Be it Rugby or Recruitment – being ethical ensures long-term successWritten by: Janis Kinnear After a nail-biting match, the 2023 Webb Ellis Trophy came home to South African soil. The victory is greatly attributed to SA Rugby Team Captain Siya Kolisi’s leadership. in the realms of Rugby or Recruitment, Kolisi exemplifies how being ethical ensures long-term success. South Africans continue to beam with pride after the SA Rugby Teams’ triumph having won this year’s World Cup trophy. Team Captain Siya Kolisi has been lauded for being an ethical leader who genuinely cares about his country’s people. The battle on the rugby field is refereed by strict rules of the game. If you opt to play dirty it can be costly (sorry All Blacks). Our national Rugby team tried to maintain fair play. And this display of sticking to the rules, plus their mad Rugby skills of course, proved that being ethical ensures long-term success and victory. When people are your business, you deal with the element of unpredictability. Practicing ethical recruitment helps avoid bulldozing tactics. It also presents a show of understanding. Particularly during the recruitment process when candidates or clients’ circumstances change at the drop of a hat. Here…

Joint partnership to get Tech Grads more “industry ready”

Datafin and EdTech company HyperionDev are set to enter a joint partnership To get Tech Grads more “industry ready”. And, not only get Grads struggling to find work a foot in the door but equipped with staying power to secure a job. The struggle to find work is realer than ever before. Despite Grads being fully qualified. They either can’t find a job or keep one. That’s why Datafin and HyperionDev have decided to enter a joint partnership to get Tech Grads more “industry ready”. This partnership aims to not only get Grads into the workforce, but secure and keep jobs. Grads come armed for what they believe will be success in the job market. Course Degree or Certificate. Check. CV drawn up. Check. And an ambition to join teams at the forefront of cutting-edge tech. Using code and science to make our lives easier by conjuring up the latest software and gadgets. But despite being prepped for what they hope will guarantee them a job, qualified Grads are still struggling to secure jobs. Even after an Internship – they are not always being kept on. Left back to a LinkedIn status of “Open to work”. Collaborative efforts between field…

Preparation will keep the light on your dream job

Be Properly prepared and load shedding will not shed darkness on the Career path to the job you want Be Prepared to fight for your dream job WE as a country have managed to battle through what we hope was the worst wrath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now with load shedding rearing its ugly head again, we at Datafin believe we are more resilient and equipped to deal with crisis situations. And only adequate preparation will keep the light on your dream job when it comes to dealing with power outages. Job hunting and having job interviews can be trickier to navigate when the lights are out but preparation with a capital P, will see you through. Surprise power outages affect us all When load shedding will hit, is still mostly unpredictable and it greatly impacts businesses, homes and you as our candidates seeking a new work environment or a more challenging role. Preparation is crucial to continue applying for jobs Being prepared and equipped when dealing with power outages or any unexpected eventuality, remains key to ensuring you don’t miss out on bagging the career you have been waiting and working towards. This preparation not only keeps you from…

My Reflection on COVID

If there’s one pertinent aspect of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that it has virtually left no person on this planet we call home, untouched in some way, shape or form. Even if you haven’t fallen ill or been an asymptomatic person who has actually had the virus or have had to live under the restrictions of several lockdown levels, you will know someone out there who has. Here at Datafin, one of our own colleagues, Michelle Roberts, is now thankfully on the mend and going through the recovery process after she became infected and was hospitalized. It definitely rings true when they say you don’t really become fully aware of the wrath of this deadly virus, until it hits home. Below is a reflective piece written by Michelle about her personal insight and fighting spirit as she takes it day by day to regain her strength to eventually fill the missing spot in our Recruitment Family. “As I sit in my hospital bed after a week here, with an almost clear mind for what feels like forever I reflect upon what this devastation means to all of us. The lives changed forever; the lives forever altered never…

Like voting, give the recruitment process the benefit of the doubt

Recently many of us, some reluctantly no doubt, took to the polls in the local government elections, to make our mark in what remains a powerful exercise in our fragile democracy and hopeful that your contribution will see your favoured political party govern your local municipality. The logistics and coordination at the voting stations was not merely as smooth as hoped. Many of us had to endure hours of queuing and for those in Cape Town, even getting wet during sporadic bouts of rain. But people continued to wait to ensure they did their bit. There’s a level of trust you have when voting in the hope that the party at the helm will meet their rhetoric of promises for better service delivery, or at the very least, that our refuge bins get collected on the day it’s supposed to. Much like voting, applying for a new job too requires an allowance to trust the process. As a Recruitment Agency, we deal with people and people have their doubts. But our Recruitment Consultants have expertise in the waging war of minds battling uncertainty, confusion and, the often-daunting emotion and hesitation to take a leap of faith when changing careers. Delivering…

The Sticky Middle

As a Recruiter, you play a crucial role between candidate and client, wading back and forth to try and marry the two successfully and send them on their hopefully blissful and lasting work marriage. Being in the middle often means a “tug-o-war” trying to meet the pressures of ensuring culture fits, salary negotiations and making that career match in heaven. And any Consultant would attest to the fact that this process also demands a humungous dose of patience and constant feedback between the two.Sometimes it requires only one interview like that perfect first date, for the employer to decide the person we presented them, is indeed “The One”. This is of course, any Recruiter’s dream placement when no further dates for second or third interviews or technical or psychometric tests would be required. But for the most part, this scenario does not happen. Instead, it involves numerous emails, phone calls or Zoom’s or WhatsApp video chats, as you screen the candidate and liaise with the client to reach your end goal of them tying the knot of a loving working relationship.And as with every date and every job, there are disappointments and let downs. You have found that amazing CV…

Romanticize your existing job until you find “The One”

If you’ve been at the shops recently, I’m sure you have been unable to ignore the sea of red paraphernalia strategically placed to remind you of that certain day in February some of us might not be so fond of. Yes, the Valentine’s Day fever is upon us and it got me thinking about the idea of romanticism but not the “lovey dovey” kind. Instead, how can we apply this philosophy when it comes to the daily grind of our jobs, something I’ve touched on before in a prior blog.According to Wikipedia, the term Romanticism originated towards the latter part of the 18th century in Europe and was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement. Not much ado about chocolates, flowers, heart-shaped eye emoji’s, and mugs with phrases like “One in a Melon”. It came up on Google, you can go verify for yourself.I stumbled upon this call to action to jumpstart and rejuvenate our every day while perusing YouTube, when I should have been sleeping of course, on one of these motivational videos titled “Romanticize Your Life”. It suggests that you tackle your day-to-day activity with renewed enthusiasm. You must believe your morning commute is “cute and fun” and…

Remarkably Resilient

There’s no doubt that almost every person who has felt the strain of the year that has been 2020, when a deadly pandemic mimicking the age-old Flu virus made its appearance and left many impacted by its wrath, perhaps feeling only too relieved that we will soon embark on a new year. We cannot however fool ourselves into thinking that things are going to drastically improve. Restrictive state measures and masks may well stick around for quite some time to come – the “new normal” – an existence we have now become accustomed to. When it comes to business, the economy was brought to its knees. Many industries including our specialist service of recruiting, took a hard knock. We have had to adapt around remote working, MS Teaming, Zooms and WhatsApp video calls, as we embrace our ever-changing way of work and world alike.Many of you had to continue braving it out there and going into the office either on a rotation basis or still the daily commute as before lockdown. My heart went out to parents who had to juggle homeschooling and kids now more homebound. It has been a rough year. But equally so, a deeply significant one,…

Changing the game for Women in Tech

It’s no secret that when certain jobs come to mind, whether it be an electrician or rugby coach, some of us still have a stereotypical picture of it being something only men are engineered to do. This has long been the case when it comes to the sphere of IT. The IT guy – donning a messy or intentional bedhead of hair, bearded and trendy spectacle-wearing man from those long hours in front of the PC, is typically what pops into many of our heads when we think of those working tirelessly writing complex code which breathes life into the websites and apps we in this day and age, virtually cannot live without.And, even more so now during this trying time of Covid-19, all things technological have become so crucial to our daily existence. From working remotely to having groceries and other deemed “essentials” (like curly hair detangler or non-alcoholic beverages, each person’s necessity to their own) delivered to our homes. But most importantly, tech has allowed us to stay connected – that phone call, WhatsApp or video call – instantly giving you that fuzzy warm feeling when you get to hear or see gran or your parents, “cuzzies” or…

Mastering the Mundane

As with most jobs, there are often tedious tasks to wade through before getting to the exciting bits that challenge and motivate you to be a more productive worker bee. Recently I was tasked with compiling a list which felt like it went on for days. Its completion haunted my every waking moment and I vowed to do whatever it took to get it done. I told myself like some of us do, even exclaiming out loud for extra effect, that there was purpose to this list aka “method to the madness”. With that front of mind, I “slayed” that list. And eventually, as I drew closer to the finish line, all initial feelings of “why me” was pleasantly replaced with a real sense of accomplishment.Anyone whose had actual success on a diet or perhaps changed to a vegan lifestyle or made a drastic career change, let’s say from Accountant to Fitness Guru or perhaps from Teacher to Web Developer, will tell you it wasn’t easy at first. They will probably also profess, that consistency is key. Intentionally choosing to eat mostly leaves or get up at 5am to do squats, must if you ask me, entail a good scraping…

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