A Talented Affair
A cup of tea with our Director of Recruitment, Phil Johnston
by Tania Rann
I was lucky enough to share a cup of tea with our very own ‘Master of Recruitment’ last week. Phil Johnston, our Director of Recruitment shared the intricacies of our candidate selection process at SMS.
My first question seemed obvious but I asked it anyway. If you could prep an external candidate, what would you tell them? I have captured his answer below:
Cover letter
- Always include a cover letter when applying for a job at SMS
- Ensure you edit your cover letter and fix any spelling mistakes, its ‘manager’, not ‘manger’!
- A cover letter supports your application and provides an opportunity to showcase your talent and ability against the position on offer
CV
- We have set the benchmark so high at SMS that I reject 80% of CVs due to fundamental errors
- 15 pages is too much and two pages is too little, but four to five pages is just right
- Fancy CVs are so last decade, I’m not interested in colourful headings and a myriad of fonts – it makes me think you are trying to make up for any shortcomings
- Tell me where and when (what year) you completed your degree
- Ensure your work history is listed in reverse order
- List your hobbies and interests, just a snapshot – I want to know about you as a person too
- Don’t leave anything out – if you sailed around the world for 12 months, include it in your CV, it adds character, or I might wonder if you were ‘doing time’ and that’s why you left it out!
Interview
- Arrive on time
- Don’t arrive with a take away coffee, unless you have one for me
- Don’t arrive with a water bottle, I mean, are you going to suck on that while I interview you?
- Dress appropriately, I don’t want to see cleavage and ensure your shoes are polished and wear a tie, you’ve checked out our website – we are all in ties
- Best not to slouch in the chair and act like this is a pushover, because I remind you of your father or be too familiar with me – I’m not your father!
- If you swear, I might ask you to leave immediately
- If I ask you to share a remarkable attribute, don’t tell me you are a great communicator, tell me something I don’t already know
- If your mobile rings and you actually answer it, I probably won’t hire you
- Please don’t bring a laptop in and open it as though you plan on taking notes, I am interviewing you, remember?
While getting the lowdown on how to impress our master of recruitment, I checked my shirt was buttoned up high enough and my pointers were polished, before asking Phil to describe, in his opinion, what SMS has to offer potential candidates.
‘Work/life balance is very important at SMS, we don’t work 80 hours a week and we have a lot of fun. Hong Kong has taken off, we recognise that Asia is a significant part of our growth strategy and we are interested in being part of the Asian market. We have an overseas recruitment program to ensure we inject international talent into SMS and as an organisation we are extremely generous with knowledge sharing. Our knowledge management system is the heart of our IP and source of contact for all consultants. Consultants really are just a click away from support, coaching and sharing a coffee with a like-minded colleague’.
As a corporate community, we recognise that the future of SMS lies in our new recruits, so we provide a range of initiatives including regular Club One events (for staff in their first year at SMS) and monthly Regional Drinks (for all staff), as well as community fundraising events so that our consultants feel engaged and connected to the wider SMS community. We feel our Alumni community closes the loop on recruitment as when past employees attend our quarterly functions; they consistently say ‘the best people they ever worked with were at SMS’.
Not one to say ‘no’ to a social opportunity, I realised that the next two weeks had me heavily committed to my girlfriends and the networking component of my role. With plenty of evenings accounted for, I wouldn’t be heading to the gym any time soon, so I checked out my lunch dates hoping to squeeze in a few walks. No luck there either with coffee catch ups scheduled with new consultants, lunches booked with old consultants and a network lunch on the radar. I started to mentally visualise early morning walks and yoga sessions, in the vain hope that my favourite black dress would fit in time for the Christmas party. The day flew by and with my caffeine count soaring, I headed to The Aquarium for my last Club One* function as my first year at SMS drew to a close. 
