Keep a positive outlook and remember to bring it with you everyday, it will help you become more balanced and help you to balance others around you.

Simple actions can be all it takes to be good to someone else and can put a bigger smile on your face as well as your colleagues. A smile is infectious after all!

 20 ways to make someone smile today

1. Try to accept people with an open mind and refrain from making judgments, which are often wrong anyway!
2. Let people know you appreciate them.
3. Any deed done for someone else is a kind one when you don’t expect something in return.
4. Do little things like hold doors open. Little things can make a big difference for someone who’s not having a great day.
5. Accept people for who they are and who they strive to be.
6. Let them know they’ve made you smile.
7. Tell them the truth.
8. Tell them why they make a difference in your life that no one else could possibly make.
9. Help them help themselves and be independent.
10. Believe in them.
11. Give a simple well meaning smile.
12. Spend time listening
13. The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you!
14. Be there for them when they fall and not say I told you so.
15. Give them the space to be.
16. Take a moment to send someone a note thanking them for something they have done for you.
17. Treat each person with respect for their individuality.
18. Acknowledge a job well done.
19. Pay attention. From the lady in the sandwich shop at lunch time to your children at home, most people just want to be heard and acknowledged.
20. Listen to someone without trying to fix their problem.

What have you done to make someone smile today? Let us know on twitter @RoyallAppoint

Lipton Flemming

The third Royall Wedding is finally here!

In true Jenny style she has pulled on all of her resources and many amazing contacts in the events industry to help her organise what will be a weekend of celebrations to remember! Jenny has secured a fantasic venue local to her home in Chichester which has never been host to a wedding before and will be drawing on its natural beauty to transform it in to a welcoming, elegant and inspirational setting for her guests.

Leigh and Hannah will be holding the fort while Jenny and Phil enjoy a well deserved week away starting their married together.

Many Happy Returns.

New websites now mean that online recruitment may be beyond the likes of Monster & Jobsite “CV free for all” in the jobs market that we’ve all experienced but can a site like LINKEDIN.COM which is fantastic  for networking & checking  profiles really be trusted to seriously represent you “The Candidate” in the toughest job market this side of the 1940′s?
Can an “Apply with LinkedIn” button just for your CV really provide the instant career solution you’re looking for?  Is your CV at its very best?

As a specialist and very successful recruiter we of course use every opportunity open to us network with our candidates (including free methods to communicate) and LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for reaching candidates who are not actively out job searching on the open market however, even in the age of web communication you still have to have excellent personal representation, career and  credentials guidance and recruitment consultancy.

You may have heard….
- 90% of employers already use/intend to use social media to help their recruitment in the future.
- Facebook (750 million) & Twitter (200 million) will soon be part of the preferred method of recruiting staff.

We figure only time will tell if these statics are accurate but what we “DO KNOW” is that it presents all the same old problems for candidates….

· your CV arrives somewhere into a companies inbox along with 100’s of other relevant and irrelevant CV’s
· you have no idea if the company you are sending your CV/Profile offers the right opportunity on the market for you, or, whether it represents your needs financially, professionally & personally
· will your CV be taken seriously without an experienced professional whom a company trusts who has worked successfully with previously are proactively explaining why your the right candidate for the job!
· companies don’t trust a random unchecked CV in their inbox any more than you would trust unrecognised email into yours 
Working with a recruiter ensures your CV is still personally represented via social media contacts or directly to a company we are dealing on a very personal level on your behalf.
We only source you on social networking sites (as well as other mediums) but then we work with you to ensure your CV is at its absolute best.  Why? Because your CV does not just secure you an interview opportunity it channels ALL conversations you have when you are in front of that exciting potential employer!
Therefore it’s crucial your CV offers impressive commercial achievements and doesn’t just list day to day job responsibilities.  We EXPECT to see your responsibilities but we also WANT to see your achievements and so do potential employers!
Our LINKEDIN.COM contacts for example are the HR Manager/Hiring Managers that trusts us to give them a CV because we know what they need for their advertised vacancy because we’ve taken the time to learn what their company is all about. We know what they need in a prime candidate’s down to a personality fit for that company. We quite often know our clients so well we know what they like from their favourite drink, sports team, family members and what they enjoy most in their spare time. We know this because we care to get to know our clients and candidates to make the perfect match each time.

What we still also know from our time with our candidates is that TIME is the hardest commodity to come by.
 
The day of printing off your CV on the printer may have gone but the infinite range of the .COM destinations you can send it to means that the more time you spend looking for the relevant job means less time focusing on the things you already don’t have enough time for….the big 5 for us all!

1) Your Career
2) Your Friends
3) Your Family
4) The “To Do” list
…………………….and of course 5) RELAXING AND HAVING FUN!!!

A Balanced Argument
So…..although Social Media is a wonderful ever evolving tool for recruitment and it’s definitely worth looking into if you have never done so. Whether it  will work for you in the way you anticipate will be down to you to decide based upon the results you get amongst the rest of the other people using it.
We highly recommend having a strong profile that compliments your CV with strong and relevant key words.
 Remember you only get 1 chance to make a good first impression and once your CV has gone to a company via a social media source a recruiter CAN NOT represent you so be sure if you do use this method you are completely comfortable with….

- WHO you are sending your CV to.
- WHAT that company needs from their successful applicant.
- WHEN you are going to be able to fulfill all the requirements of their recruitment process
- WHERE you are going to get all the information about the company, job spec and environment you would be joining from.

….and finally of course

- HOW does your CV look!!

Leigh recently relocated back to the UK with her one year old daughter Brooke Sienna after living and working in Vancouver, Canada. 
Leigh’s career began  in the venue sector working as a conference and banqueting sales coordinator then onto manager level at the Heathrow Hilton Hotel. She moved to United Racecourses (Sandown, Epsom & Kempton) as a Sales & Marketing Executive responsible for liaising with corporate clients to organise events from inception to completion to include conferences, exhibitions and all marketing material and experiential activities for all three racecourses. Leigh then immigrated to Canada in 2001 and within weeks started working for Labatt Breweries of Canada as a Sales Executive for the next six years. Responsibilities included organising large scale events, creation of POS, recruiting promotional teams and all communication to the Territory Managers and customers, always promoting key brands at each event for example “Kokanee” at the Whistler Ski & Snowboard Festival & Crankworx Mountain Bike Festival.

 Leigh was then headhunted to work for British Columbia Lottery Corporation as a Channel Manager. She was acountable for all of the one hundred and seventy eight Flagship stores, communication and creativity of promotions, training of new products and equipment. Leigh was also lead project manager for the launch of LottoMax new lottery game and the rollout of Self Serve Terminals at all Hospitality locations across the province.
Leigh has a warm, infectious and positive personality, a love of events and marketing and client servicing. 

Personally, she is very talented singer with a passion for singing and was lucky and gifted enough to get the opportunity to sing in front of a audience of over ten thousand people at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival in BC, Canada several years running and for those of you that have never heard of this festival it’s Country Music’s version of Glastonbury!

Please join us in welcoming Leigh on board.  We wish her the very best of luck in her exciting new role and I am sure she’d love to hear from you soon!

Before They Start
It’s essential to make the new employee feel welcome. Send a note expressing your excitement about the new member of your team. Include the first week’s orientation schedule and new hire paperwork. Be sure to involve HR and other team members (this isn’t just a responsibility of the manager). Set up the employee’s workstation (phone, e-mail, computer, etc.). Getting a head start before the employee is in the office goes a long way to building trust and enthusiasm.

Day One
Simple steps to ensure an employee’s satisfaction early include greeting them, physically being there as the boss, and informally introducing them to the internal team, which includes everyone they’ll need to work with to be successful. Setting up onboarding conversations to acclimate the employee and make in-person introductions rather than just sharing names and e-mails is vital. The activities you have the employee participating in the first day should follow the job details; so if you’re in customer service, get them on the phone with a customer.

The End of Day One
At the end of day one, have a debriefing with the boss to make sure that the employee had a good day. This simple act shows that you care about her and you want to hear her opinions. You might also give her a take-home package, which could vary by organization. If you’re a soap company, give her soap samples, or if you’re a financial services company, a one-page guide to household finances. The idea is to give the new hire something she can share with people at home to answer that question about how the first day was.

Goal Setting
From the beginning set both short- and long-term goals, whether they are professional (actual projects the new hire will be working on) or personal (regarding familiarization with the organization, contacts made, etc.).
 It’s a good idea to give the hire a project early on so he feels like he’s contributing immediately. Also start mapping out bigger projects, which is something that should have been addressed with the candidate before you even made the hire.

Week 1 Assessment
After one week on the job, the employee should begin to feel comfortable with her responsibilities, have met at least one new business contact each day, be familiar with team members (inside her department and outside) and be able to walk into your office with any questions. Arrange an informal session of drinks, cake, or something similar with the other team members at the end of the week so the new hire can assess what she has learned, ask the group questions and hang out in a less formal setting.

15-Day Follow Up
At this point, the manager should check in on the employee’s progress toward the goals discussed on the first day. This gives the manager the opportunity to help the employee identify and resolve any issues or challenges. You can also create a questionnaire for the employee to complete. Issues that should be addressed are: the orientation, objectives set, motivation from the manager, assimilation, adaptation, mentoring, organizational philosophy, feedback, facility tours and more. Provide a 1-5 point scale, 1 being a minimum explanation and 5 thorough, and leave room for them to include questions or comments.

30-Day Check In
The most important thing in the first 30 days is to familiarize the new employee with the company through recruiting and introductions. You shouldn’t expect the new hire to make extreme strides from a business perspective during this time, but you should make them feel welcome as a person and not overwhelmed.
Less intensive, short-term projects are helpful in attaining that balance.

45-Day Benchmark
It takes about 45 days to get the new employee fully acclimated and acquainted with a job. This is a great time to sit down with the new hire not only to assess her familiarity with the organization and her role, but also to see how happy she is. You can assess her performance to this point on some of the shorter projects you assigned while also figuring out where her mind is regarding bigger picture projects. This meeting could go a long way in retaining the employee.

90-Day Review
The 90-day mark is when you should start seeing serious results from your new hire. Anything faster can mean that the employee hasn’t been analytical enough in his assessment of the business, and by this time he should have a thorough understanding of what will need to be done.

–Lou Dubois

Get specific
When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. “Save £1000″ is a better goal than “save money,” because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like and what to aim for. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there and the ability to break the task down into bite sized chunks. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you’ll “eat less” or “sleep more” is too vague — be clear and precise. “I’ll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights” leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you’ve actually done it.

Seize the moment to act on your goals
Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it’s not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., “If it’s Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I’ll work out for 30 minutes before work.”) Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

Know exactly how far you have left to go
Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don’t know how well you are doing, you can’t adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

Be a realistic optimist
When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

Focus on getting better, rather than being good
Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won’t improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.
Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

Be determined and resilient
Have a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty.
The good news is, if you aren’t particularly determined now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack determination more often than not believe that they just don’t have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking …. well, there’s no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

Build your willpower muscle
Your self-control “muscle” is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn’t get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.
To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you’d honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don’t. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur (“If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.”) It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that’s the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

Don’t tempt fate
No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it’s important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don’t try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don’t put yourself in harm’s way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do
Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., “Don’t think about white bears!”) has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like “If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down.” By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

Heidi Grant Halvorson – Harvard Business Review Feb 2011

 Your suppliers are integral to your company’s success. No company can go it alone and your company is only ever as strong as the weakest link in your chain. If you work in the event management, PR, or marketing industries, chances are you’ll rely extensively  on other companies for equipment, manpower and other resources on tap. Design and communication agencies often rely on agencies to provide human resources for specific projects.

 If you’ve got a good working relationship with your suppliers, you’ll get better results.

 The longer you’ve worked with a partner, the more trust you’ll build up. They’ll be able to anticipate your requirements and provide you with exactly what you need. Better yet, you’ll be in a stronger position to negotiate discounts. Everyone enjoys the certainty of repeat business. By building a long-term relationship with your suppliers, you’ll be able to offer a better service and reduce your costs.

 If you’ve got a strong network of interconnected people, everyone benefits.

Most events management, PR and communication companies are highly specialised, offering specific marketing services to a relatively small cross section of the market. That makes it efficient to share contacts and pool resources — helping each other out when you can. By introducing another customer to your supplier, or recommending your supplier to another company,  you can build greater trust with your suppliers, partners (and even your competitors!) and gain future potential contacts. Your new friends may end up recommending you!

Service is often more important than price.

Everyone wants the best, for less. But it’s better to build a long term relationship and reap the benefits of better service than find the cheapest possible option. Price is a good indicator of quality because most people, agencies, companies and suppliers price themselves at what they think they’re worth. ‘Value for money’ isn’t about finding the cheapest option. It’s about getting the maximum ROI out of every transaction. Often, working with a more expensive supplier will yield better results. If you offer a higher quality service, you’ll be able to charge more money for it.

Don’t be afraid to review your suppliers.

Even the strongest partnership benefits from the occasional review. And the best relationships are capable of withstanding a little criticism. What aren’t you happy with? You’ll find most suppliers willing to make changes to their business model to accommodate you, especially if you’ve built up the kind of rapport that comes with a long-term relationship.

 Human resources are essential to your success. 

Ultimately the people who make up your organisation determine the quality of your work and the reputation you have with your clients. You need the best people, whether on a long or short term basis. That’s why it’s vital to have a good working relationship with at least one recruitment consultant. If you work in the events, communication or PR industries, a good recruitment consultant with knowledge of your sector can help guide you to the best people most suited to your niche, ensuring your company’s cogs keep on turning.

 Ultimately, your recruitment consultant is one of your most important suppliers — because people are one of your most important resources. Success starts with having the right people for the job. By building a long term working relationship with a recruitment consultant, you can make sure you get first pick of the best people.

 It pays to build long term relationships in business — and it pays to treat your suppliers like partners. If you look after them, they’ll look after you.

If finding the right people for your company has started to feel like a treasure hunt, we can help by understanding your business.  Our strategic recruitment ability means we’re able to offer the best of worlds; introducing new talent but helping you care for your existing assets also. Are your teams engaged and motivated?  This is crucial in business growth.

Take the Rapport Store’s 15 question challenge and see how you’d fare. http://www.rapportstore.co.uk/hr-health-check.html 76% of small businesses have admitted they can’t keep up with ever changing regulations and reams of red tape. We can help — and at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full time HR manager.

Fifteen questions. Five minutes. Thousands of pounds saved.

HR resources to help your people develop, increasing their value, their satisfaction, and their staying power.

What would you do if a human resources issue arose at your company? Are you aware that a tribunal could award up to £100,000 for a single employment claim? Statistics show such an award would put 2/3rds of SMEs out of business.

Add value to your business.

But it’s not just about saving money. Our partnership is about adding value to your business. We’re able to offer mentoring, coaching, development and psychometric testing to improve the way your employees work, benefiting your organization and enabling your people to grow and develop.

Minimize the risk of non-compliance with HR law. Get the most out of your people. Give us a call today — we’ll help you find new talent. Then, we’ll help you keep them.

Royall Appointments were very quick to understand our specific requirements, and proved to be agile in their responses. We soon found a suitable Senior Producer for our needs and look forward to them starting within a month of first briefing the role for recruitment – an excellent result. It was a pleasure to work with Royall Appointments at every step of the process. Jason Worsley, Director, Lodestar

We believe it’s important for businesses to grow and develop. That’s why Royall Appointments is pleased to announce our strategic partnership with the Rapport Store, a people management and development team that specializes in augmenting and fulfilling typical HR functions, providing small to medium sized businesses with a professional HR resource to solve employment problems and encourage talent to develop within their organization.

If finding the right people for your company has started to feel like a treasure hunt, we can help by understanding your business. Our strategic recruitment ability means we’re able to offer the best of worlds; introducing new talent but helping you care for your existing assets also. Are your teams engaged and motivated? This is crucial in business growth.

Take the Rapport Store’s 15 question challenge and see how you’d fare. http://www.rapportstore.co.uk/hr-health-check.html 76% of small businesses have admitted they can’t keep up with ever changing regulations and reams of red tape. We can help — and at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full time HR manager.

Fifteen questions. Five minutes. Thousands of pounds saved.

HR resources to help your people develop, increasing their value, their satisfaction, and their staying power.

What would you do if a human resources issue arose at your company? Are you aware that a tribunal could award up to £100,000 for a single employment claim? Statistics show such an award would put 2/3rds of SMEs out of business.

Add value to your business.

But it’s not just about saving money. Our partnership is about adding value to your business. We’re able to offer mentoring, coaching, development and psychometric testing to improve the way your employees work, benefiting your organization and enabling your people to grow and develop.

Minimize the risk of non-compliance with HR law. Get the most out of your people. Give us a call today — we’ll help you find new talent. Then, we’ll help you keep them. Because at Royall Appointments, we believe there’s better ways to keep employees satisfied than just feeding them chocolate.

Eat, Live, Love  www.fionakirk.com

Skin

Natural ‘Live’ Yoghurt

Blueberries, Strawberries, Plums

Mackerel, Flaxseed Oil

Turkey, Brazil Nuts

Green Tea

Water

Hair

Salmon

Spinach

Beans + Lentils

Almonds

Chicken/Turkey

Eggs

Whole Grain Muesli Mix

Oysters

Cottage Cheese

Carrots

Nails

Eggs, Onions

Brown Rice, Hard Cheese

Oats, Peppers

Oranges, Asparagus

Walnuts, Avocado

A SKIN, HAIR + NAIL-ENRICHING DAY