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Blog Post: #Talent 42 a Tech Conference for Recruiters by Recruiters

If you know me, not that it matters, you would know that I have never…

Added by Derdiver at 3:29pm on June 25, 2014

Blog Post: 11 Amazing Insights Google’s People Team Discovered About People: Laszlo Bock is the head of Google’s famed People…; Added by Paul Petrone at 11:59am on October 17, 2014

Blog Post: Does our industry REALLY care about Candidate Experience?: I had an interesting conversation with someone following ERE about the lack of innovation in our industry in terms of Candidate Experience. He suggested that if a vendor really cared - they would…; Added by Sarah White at 10:09am on September 15, 2009

Blog Post: Linked In Whore… Or, ‘Welcome to the 500+ club…’: So, you open up your email and find this waiting for you…

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Norman Timbuktu has indicated you are a fellow group member…; Added by Craig Watson at 11:28pm on November 14, 2011

Blog Post: 9 Pointers for Creating an Engaging On-Campus Career Fair Booth: Business isn't war, but sometimes it feels pretty darn close.

You're constantly fighting to boost the bottom line. You're battling industry competitors for business, often from a…; Added by Chris Martin at 12:31pm on November 4, 2013

Blog Post: 15 HR Influencers Changing the Recruiting Game

Reading recruiting and talent acquisition content…

Added by Jobs2Careers at 2:46pm on June 19, 2017

Blog Post: Technology is doing its best to kill creativity: Browsing Twitter one day I came across a pretty senior level role for a…; Added by Alasdair Murray at 6:36am on September 15, 2017

Blog Post: The One About #Hashtags: TGIF, right? Yeah, that used to be more exciting before they pulled Family…; Added by Matt Charney at 11:33am on October 25, 2013

Blog Post: Overcoming 4 Common Training Hurdles: Everyone knows that …; Added by Sean Pomeroy at 2:10pm on October 11, 2013

Topic: Want to learn something? Then SHUT UP AND LISTEN!: wn, we go on to forget half of what we heard. Pretty shocking statistics if you’re someone who is client facing wouldn’t you say?Here’s how, even though I didn't realise it at the time, I learned to shut up and listen.At the start of my career I got a job working in the advertising department of a well-known national newspaper. My job, as a ‘Tele-Ad Receptionist’, to give it its full title, was to take calls from customers across each one of the newspaper's advertising classifications. That meant everything from recruitment to motors to travel to property and back again. It even included the personal column and the births, marriages and deaths section.“Great”, I hear you cry. “But why is he boring us with the story”? I’ll tell you. That last category, Births, Marriages and Deaths, may sound a bit dull, but it recently dawned on me that an incident that happened one day whilst taking copy over the phone over twenty years ago actually taught me one of the most important lessons in business there is. And that is - knowing when to shut up and listen.During my time there, I often took calls from the recently bereaved, phoning up to place an announcement about their dear departed loved one. Tough as it was hearing them sob their hearts out, you got used to pausing, assuring them that it was OK to cry and telling them they should take their time, sometimes even offering to phone them back. It was the same for the ‘in memoriams’ – the announcements acknowledging an anniversary of a death. Many people still shed tears even years after their loss when reading their messages out over the phone, but again, as sad as it was, you just had to deal with it as sensitively yet professionally as possible.Where I nearly slipped up however, was the day someone phoned through a birth announcement. Whenever we hear news of a birth it’s only natural to say ‘congratulations’, but on this particular day, I was glad that I used all of my listening skills, and not just 25% of them.The man on the other end of the phone started to read out his announcement (I’ve changed the details but here’s how it would have read were it today) “Smith. On 23rd February 2010 to John and Jane, at the local hospital, Anytown, a baby boy, Paul”. Now, hands up, who wouldn’t be tempted to say ‘congratulations’ at that point? However, after a brief pause, presumably whilst he summoned up the courage to utter the words, he then added “…who sadly died 3 hours later”.OK, it does perhaps raise the question of why he wanted to announce that. Maybe he felt it would be easier for people to read about it rather than him have to go through the whole story time after time over the phone or in person. I don’t know. What I do know is that by listening rather than assuming and than instinctively reacting, I saved myself a great deal of embarrassment. The moment has stuck with me ever since, not least as the man in question was, and still is, to a lesser extent, in the public eye. It also dawned on me years later that that job gave me a skill I don’t even realise I am using half the time, and that is the ability to listen attentively, not selectively. It taught me a vital lesson that has stayed with me - never assume you know it all or take anything for granted.So, the next time you’re on the way to a client meeting, ask yourself, when it comes to business, are you focussed? Are you truly making the most of your listening skills? If not, it might not be life and death, but you could just get caught out one day.In short, hone your listening skills and they will look after you for your whole career.…; Added by Alasdair Murray to UK RecruitingBlogs.com at 10:12am on February 26, 2010