Excel Recruitment’s Post

You guys are amazing! 🎉 It was so fun meeting great people over at the lunch! - The definitive event for the café, coffee shop & food-to-go sector. exhibition last week! 🙌 We went round asking just one simple question: “If you could have anything made GIANT, what would it be?” 💭 What a great range of responses we got! 😭 Which one was your favourite? #interview #shortvideo #fmcg #tradeshow #londonexcel #foodanddrink #snacking

🥯While starting #CaliBagels, Phil Gorman learned how little leeway new #CPG companies have in the cutthroat market. It taught him everything. Exclusive #interview - https://lnkd.in/eVuVEXdk #bagel #foodservice #retail #businessintelligence

Is it ever OK to walk out during a media interview? As someone who has been conducting media training for more than 30 years I've been asked this question countless times by CEOs and senior executives. I've always given the same answer: Don't do it. You'll regret it. My advice was reinforced this week after watching an interview that Brad Banducci, the CEO of Woolworths, gave to the ABC's 4 Corners programme. The interview was about supermarkets' pricing practices - aka gouging - which is a hot political potato in a cost-of-living crunch. As expected, the reporter asked the CEO plenty of loaded questions, including this one: Was Rod Sims, the former head of the ACCC, lying when he said Australia has one of the most concentrated supermarket sectors in the world? In his response the CEO disagreed, and referred to Rod Sims as “retired”, which is true, but a little gratuitous. Realising his faux pax, he asked the reporter to edit this out. The reporter rightly refused - the CEO was on the record. The CEO replied, "I'm done" and ended the interview. Sensibly, he returned after his media minder convinced him it was a bad look to stage a petulant walk out. The result was the ABC reporter had a juicy promo for his story; the CEO came across as thin-skinned, flustered and unprepared. Having agreed to be interviewed, the CEO broke several cardinal media engagement rules: * Never say something on the record you may regret later * Never stage a walk out; that becomes the story  * Never say “no comment” * Never demand to edit, vet or approve a story. However, you can offer to fact check * Never show annoyance, or lose your temper during an interview When preparing a client for a media interview I always remind them they are the experts and know far more about their business than the journalist. To be “good talent” their role is to be knowledgeable and deliver their key messages in an engaging manner. It’s OK to disagree with the journalist, or even be combative, depending on the issue and the questions. But you should never stage a walk out. Today Brad Banducci announced he would be retiring from Woolworths in September after 8+ years as CEO. In fairness his departure probably has more to do with the net $781 million loss in Woolies' first half year result, and his longevity in the job, rather than a brain snap during an interview. But the optics of walking out on the interview may have triggered his early departure. #CEO #mediatraining #mediarelations #interviewpreparation  #mediastrategy

Add this one to the list of essential media training case studies. Woolworth's CEO Brad Banducci has given us the perfect case of what NOT to do. And now he’s stepping down. It's been a lively topic with the BBS Communications Group team and clients over the last day or so, and quite the example of how quickly things can go south in an interview if you aren’t prepared …or panic and forget your training. Most of the time things don't go this sour, but if nothing else is certainly proof that preparation is key and ‘going viral’ isn’t always a good thing. 😉 #reputationmanagement #mediatraining

“Can we take that out, is that OK?” Believe it or not that’s what Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said in the middle of an ABC Four Corners television interview. What followed was a mid-interview walk-out by Banducci with “I think I’m done guys”, only for his team to suggest off camera he just needed a break. What a gift to the ABC. What caused this trainwreck media interview was not much at all -  a predictable line of questions around the lack of competition in Australia’s supermarket industry. The fact he bristled so badly when pushed on something so simple demonstrates a lack of preparedness. And it could have been easily avoided. You would have thought Woolworths and their CEO would be better prepared. Banducci’s response showed a complete lack of understanding of the medium of television interviews – and how it all works. Whether he got poor advice, ignored good advice, was not prepared for the interview, or internally no one suggested he was not the right person to handle it, is unknown. What are your thoughts on how the interview was handled? #crisiscommunication #mediainterview #woolworthsceo #woolworths #fourcorners #abc #mediainterviews

Is it ever OK to walk out during a #media interview? Here's the advice of our Director, Patrick Southam: "As someone who has been conducting media training for more than 30 years I've been asked this question countless times by CEOs and senior executives. I've always given the same answer: 'Don't do it. You'll regret it.' " Patrick's advice was reinforced this week after watching an interview that Brad Banducci, the CEO of Woolworths, gave to the ABC's 4 Corners programme. The interview was about supermarkets' pricing practices - aka gouging - which is a hot political potato in a cost-of-living crunch. As expected, the reporter asked the CEO plenty of loaded questions, including this one: "Was Rod Sims, the former head of the ACCC, lying when he said Australia has one of the most concentrated supermarket sectors in the world?" In his response the CEO disagreed, and referred to Rod Sims as “retired”, which is true, but a little gratuitous. Realising his faux pax, he asked the reporter to edit this out. The reporter rightly refused - the CEO was on the record. The CEO replied, "I'm done" and ended the interview. Sensibly, he returned after his media minder convinced him it was a bad look to stage a petulant walk out. The result was the ABC reporter had a juicy promo for his story; the CEO came across as thin-skinned, flustered and unprepared. Having agreed to be interviewed, the CEO broke several cardinal media engagement rules: * Never say something on the record you may regret later * Never stage a walk out; that becomes the story  * Never say “no comment” * Never demand to edit, vet or approve a story. However, you can offer to fact check * Never show annoyance, or lose your temper during an interview When preparing a client for a media interview, I always remind them they are the experts and know far more about their business than the journalist. To be “good talent” their role is to be knowledgeable and deliver their key messages in an engaging manner. It’s OK to disagree with the journalist, or even be combative, depending on the issue and the questions. But you should never stage a walk out. Today Brad Banducci announced he would be retiring from Woolworths in September after 8+ years as CEO. In fairness his departure probably has more to do with the net $781 million loss in Woolies' first half year result, and his longevity in the job, rather than a brain snap during an interview. But the optics of walking out on the interview may have triggered his early departure.  #CEO #mediatraining #mediarelations #interviewpreparation  #mediastrategy #reputationmatters #reputationiseverything #PR #publicrelations

Are you lovin' your current recruitment mac-eting strategy 🍔? If not, it might be time to think outside the bun and let our team help you supersize your results! 📈 We'll bring all the special sauce - an innovative approach that drives eye-popping ROI, all while being more cost-effective than hiring in-house. With our team of mac-eting specialists on your side, you'll be able to attract top-tier talent faster than you can sing "ba da ba ba bah"! So don't just let your recruitment efforts stagnate - put our services to work for you and watch your candidate and client pipeline sizzle like a fresh batch of fries. Trust us, with results this juicy, you'll be shouting "I'm lovin' it!" in no time. (Oh, and if you're reading this outside the EU, then our service is just called "recruitment marketing" - 😉) #recruitmentmarketing #bandwagon #mcdonalds https://lnkd.in/eVjXt8Gi

I work in the meat department — stay with me, I promise it'll make sense. I work in the meat department of a large grocery store. I know the different cuts of meat and can make the best recommendations. You walk up to my counter and say, "Hey there, here's my shopping list. Let me know what you've got for me." There's no meat on your list. Just a random assortment of things that I don't know where they’re located or if we even sell them at this store. Since I run a busy meat counter, I'll most likely hand your list back to you and explain that I have other customers to attend to — after all, a small line has likely formed. Now, if you were to come up to my counter and say, "Hey there, I saw on your weekly newsletter that you have [specific product], do you know what aisle that's on?" I can quickly look it up to see where it's at or let you know when it’ll be in stock. It’s clear, direct, and helps both of us. Do this with your job search. If you reach out to a recruiter without specifying a role or aligning your skills with their open positions, it's much harder for them to help you. But when you know what you're looking for, you're more likely to get a response that’s meaningful and useful to your job search. Oh...and ribeye. That's the best cut of meat. :) #JobSearchTips #RecruiterAdvice #RibEyeForDinner

Perfect advice…

#prtips Everything after hello is on the record! So many lessons here for #pr teams and those in the media spotlight. I think most important is the role of journalists - they are not there to make you look good, to give you another crack at your approved messaging or to cut stuff out when you stumble. In a time when we can’t always be sure of the truth, can’t easily tell what is spin or even what is actually real (thanks AI!) we need journalists to be able to ask questions without fear or favour and report the answers accurately and ethically. I’m not here for the pile on - there is a lot of pressure facing the cameras to be grilled and sometimes it doesn’t go the way you expect - but never ask a journalist to cut something out (unless it is factually wrong - noting that getting the facts wrong is a whoooole other story!) Nothing burns relationships faster in PR than asking. Same goes for walking out of an interview - perhaps “If it’s ok I just need to chat to my team quickly” might have been a better exit line? It makes the walk out the story! And remember everything is “on the record” - even when the cameras and tapes aren’t rolling journalists are trained to watch and listen because you never know where or when the real story will pop up! On our It's PR Darlings podcast Greer Quinn and I have discussed “on the record” PLUS #mediatraining tips and bridging techniques with a range of industry leaders. You can find those episodes on all the apps.