I spent last Thursday evening in the company of James Caan, of Dragon’s Den fame.  The evening was set up and organised by the recruitment website Monster.  James shared his experience of setting up and running successful recruitment companies with an audience drawn from across the spectrum of recruitment and employment.  

Unsurprisingly, questions and discussion focussed on the recruitment industry and in particular the state of the economy and how that is affecting the job market.  I was surprised, however, to hear James say that in this economic downturn it is the talented people in any business who are the most vulnerable; vulnerable to being headhunted by other businesses, looking for the best talent to bring into their business.  To protect against this, James’ advice to us all was to think about better rewarding our best people.

James Caan’s advice got me thinking about the time, a couple of years ago, when SaBRE teamed up with Monster to develop advice for members of the Reserve Forces when speaking to their employer or prospective employer.

The focus of this advice was to encourage Reservists to talk about the value of their military training and the corresponding skills they gain in ways which their employers can appreciate.  Together we developed a series of fact sheets and videos on subjects such as handling job interviews and asking for time off for training or mobilisation.  Critically, the consistent theme running through the advice was the benefit that Reservists bring to their civilian workplace.

Like all advice though, it only has value if acted upon.  I don’t know about you, but I’m just off to review that my talented team at SaBRE are being properly rewarded.  For those Reservists out there, you might like to visit www.sabre.mod.uk/monster to check that you can explain to your employer the talents you bring to them, in a way that they can relate to and understand.