Recruiter- November 2014

November 2014

www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

Inspiring recruiters Meet the winners in the ina augural g Recruiterr Investing g in Tale ent Awards and read about their winnin ng ways SORCERY OF SOURCING

THE CHALLENGE

Discover what makes a great online Sourcer – arguably one of the most critical roles within talent acquisition

Search Consultancy seeks talent from Sweden to find the answer to a tough solution for a client

INCORPORATING 01_Recruit_NOV14_Covers.indd 1

WITH THIS ISSUE:

RECRUITER HOT 100 2014 SUPPLEMENT OF THE UK’S MOST PROFITABLE RECRUITMENT COMPANIES

50 SHADES OF FREE-FOR-ALL Recruiter-turned-author Alex Dawson on the rise of the novice consultant

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Contents

The end of 2014 may be near but the energy and dynamism of the year continue to build momentum!

For evidence, we present two exciting new landmarks in this issue of Recruiter. First, our inaugural Investing in Talent Awards culminated in a memorably successful lunchtime ceremony on 22 October, which we share with you here. Second, our prestigious Recruiter HOT 100 of the most profitable recruitment companies is shared not only with this audience in 2014 but also with the wider world — more than 200,000 readers of the Guardian in a separate supplement, which is included with this magazine.

You’ll also hear from recruiter-turned-author Alex Dawson and about how investing in talent is important to the new chief operating officer of Eames Consulting.

Akin Falope

And for us at Recruiter, it’s all about you.

NEWS 5

Investing in Talent Awards

Guy Day, new COO of Eames, on Asia expansion and leadership development

28 COVER STORY Top recruiters leading by example The three individual winners at the Investing in Talent Awards share their secrets of how they inspire their people — and promote recruitment 34 Selected winners

6-9 Recruiter’s Investing in

Talent Awards 2014 Special Report The presentation ceremony for the inaugural year of these honours took place in London last month to congratulate the achievement of agencies and individuals in recognising and rewarding the people who make their businesses 10 Tech & tools: the ABCs

of gamification

ANALYSIS 14 Sector Analysis Executive search 17 Global Spotlight on Nigeria 27 Insight The sorcery of Sourcing 2014

DeeDee Doke, Editor

FEATURES

New day dawns for Eames

Recruitment goes on stage

5

Early this month I was honoured to attend the 2014 congress of Turkey’s leading HR association Türkiye Insan Yönetimi Dernegi as a speaker and, best of all, to meet some very forward-thinking recruiting professionals. There will be much more from Turkey in our December issue, but for an early look, see our story about Denizbank on p5.

Enjoy a dynamic and energy-filled November!

34

28

showcased We talk to Award winners 360 Resourcing, Grovelands and DP Connect

REGULARS 12 Tumblr 19 Interaction

Soapbox: Lee Biggins Emma Mirrington Soundbites 41 Movers & Shakers 19 19 21

Industry moves 42 Bloggers with Bite:

Alex Dawson

WHO’S HIRING?

Scan here to get your own copy of Recruiter

38 LA International, Morgan

Law 6

39 Jark 40 Recruiter Republic

EDITORIAL Editor: DeeDee Doke T: +44 (0)20 7880 7601 deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk Reporters: Sarah Marquet T: +44 (0)20 7880 7606 sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk; Nicola Sullivan T: +44 (0)20 7880 7603 nicola.sullivan@recruiter.co.uk Contributing writers: Sam Burne James, Colin Cottell, Sue Weekes Production editor: Vanessa Townsend T: +44 (0)20 7880 7602 vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk Art editor: Adrian Taylor ADVERTISING Business development manager: Tom Culley T: +44 (0)20 7880 7607 tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk Senior sales executive: Lisa-Jane Parker +44 (0)20 7880 7608 lisa-jane.parker@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment advertising: Amalia Zafeiratou T+44 (0)20 7880 7608 amalia@redactive.co.uk Fax +44 (0)20 7880 7553 PRODUCTION Production executive: Rachel Young T+44 (0)20 7880 6209 rachel.young@redactive.co.uk PUBLISHING Publishing director: Aaron Nicholls T: +44 (0)20 7880 8547 aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk RECRUITER AWARDS Events: Juliette Bond T: +44 (0)20 7324 2771 juliette.bond@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@abacusemedia.com • Recruiter is also available to people who do not meet our terms of control: Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £29.99 UK £35 Europe and Rest of the World • To purchase reprints or multiple copies of the magazine, contact Ryan Hadden T: +44 (0)20 7880 7618 ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2013 & 30 June 2014 – 18,994. Recruiter is also sent to all REC members

Redactive Media Group 17-18 Britton Street London EC1M 5TP

CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2014 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group. Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

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NOVEMBER 2014

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News

A NEW DAY DAWNS AT EAMES CONSULTING The new chief operating officer of Eames Consulting Group says he wants to further the development of leaders within the 12-year-old company, while at the same time playing a leading role in its Asia growth.

Guy Day, previously the Asia-based chief executive of finance and technology recruiter Ambition Group, joined Eames, the risk, audit, insurance, IT and financial recruiter, at the end of October. Having spent 18 years in Asia, Day was brought on board in part for his “intimate knowledge” of the region, Eames founder and chief executive Matthew Eames told Recruiter.

Building on the success of Eames’s Singapore office, the company will ‘hard launch’ a new Hong Kong office in January.

Day told Recruiter that he viewed Eames’s opportunity in Asia as “significant”, given his own past experience in taking Ambition “from nothing in 2001 to [having] offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and very recently in Japan”.

He went on to say: “I thought we [Eames] could really leverage from the Singapore success to fast-track a Hong Kong business.”

However, Day’s responsibilities in Asia will also be part of “a wider piece” of Eames’s company development. To advance a business, he said, “certain changes in philosophy, the way you communicate internally, the way you brand the business — these are the investments you’ve got to make to take it to the next level of profitability”.

To “grow it more significantly, you can only do that by investing in learning & development”, Day added. “That’s something we’re very cognizant of. Investment in people is critical for us to get to the next stage.”

Part of that investment will be made in developing the company’s leaders. Day invested in his own development during garden leave from Ambition by completing an executive coaching qualification at Henley

Business School. “That had been on my list of ‘to dos’ for some time. I’m very passionate about leadership development. Sometimes it’s very easy to overlook ourselves and the development we need,” Day said.

Adding to its growth and development agenda, Eames recently launched wealth management and finance offerings. CEO Eames said the company will continue to consider adding “complementary disciplines” to its services.

DEEDEE DOKE deedeedoke@recruiter.co.uk

A former recruiter this month brings Saxon Court Financial Recruitment-to-Recruitment Services, a fictional rec-to-rec, to the stage of London’s Southwark Playhouse.

Daniel Andersen’s satire Saxon Court premieres on 19 November, running to 13 December.

The action is set in Christmas 2011 in the City, with the financial crisis at its height, and the Occupy London movement’s tent city standing firm outside St Paul’s Cathedral. Saxon Court is floundering, and everything is going wrong for Donna Saxon, its founder: the office toilet is blocked, her business partner has cancer and the firm is going under, a fact her staff, who just want to get the Christmas party started, are oblivious to. One of them, she decides, will have to be fired.

Andersen, who worked in a number of industries before turning his hand to drama, spent time working for a London recruiter in 2011. He said it was an industry ripe for dramatic adaptation. “I was interested in the particular effects of the financial crisis in 2011; in a financial services recto-rec, they would have been on the frontline in terms of job cuts and the knock-on effects. The other reason I find recruitment interesting is that because it’s all about people; you’re dealing with psychology, always reading people, trying to mediate between them,” he said.

The playwright is keen to make clear that his work is not an opportunistic swipe at the industry. He said: “I thoroughly enjoyed recruitment, had a lot of affection for my co-workers, and didn’t come away with bad feelings at all. When you do parody, it’s often done with affection.”

Andersen said he thought of Saxon Court as recruitment’s version of the political satire The Thick of It. “Politicians watch The Thick of It and have a good old laugh at all the most ridiculous aspects of their job. Saxon Court will entertain recruitment consultants in the same way.” Visit southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Debra Baker plays Donna Saxon

SCHOOL LEAVERS is paying off for Turkey’s Denizbank •[SeaRECRUITING Bank] with a highly popular employer brand and low employee

churn, the bank’s top human resources leader has told Recruiter.

School leavers are creating many of the bank’s career success stories, Yavuz Elkin, executive vice president of HR and the Deniz Akademi Group, said FOR MORE NEWS AND in an interview in Istanbul.

COMMENTS GO ONLINE Examples of such career success include the former bank security guard and the

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Guy Day

RECRUITMENTTAKES TO THE STAGE

YOUTH DIVIDENDS AT DENIZBANK

RECRUITER.CO.UK

Matthew Eames

To win a pair of tickets to see Saxon Court for a date of your choosing (subject to availability), email recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk by 5.30pm on 18 November. A winner will be chosen by random draw.

SAM BURNE JAMES

former call centre agent who rose through the ranks to become branch managers. Of the bank’s 1,500 branch managers, 100 are school leavers, or high school graduates as they are referred to in Turkey.

“We trust them, we train them, we retain them,” he said of this population. Their stories are shared on social media platforms. Their success inspires others to want to work at Denizbank, Turkey’s fifth largest bank, Elkin said.

“Many talents don’t have the chance to go to university. We’d like to create a chance for them,” Elkin said. “Their engagement is higher than the graduates’.”

• Elkin will speak at LinkedIn’s Talent Connect conference in London this week. Read more about recruitment in Turkey in the December issue of Recruiter.

DEEDEE DOKE

RECRUITER

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News

RECRUITERS SHOW A PASSION FOR PEOPLE RECRUITER’S INAUGURAL INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS 2014 TOOK PLACE AT THE CONGRESS CENTRE IN CENTRAL LONDON ON 22 OCTOBER The lunchtime awards ceremony showcased the investment and innovation of the UK’s top recruitment agencies and individuals, highlighting the industry’s professionalism and understanding that the people they employ or contract are valued and appreciated.

It was hosted by Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke (below, left) with social entrepreneur Lord Andrew Mawson OBE (right, middle) as guest speaker.

There were winners and highly commendeds in 16 varied categories including Best Temporary Workforce Care, Best Workplace Environment, Most Effective Team Motivation Event and Most Inspiring Recruitment Leader.

A total of £1,149.90 was raised for Recruiter’s charity of the year, the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, thanks to the generosity of Scottish craft brewers BrewDog, who donated a brewing and tasting experience, and Morson International, who gave a football signed by the current Manchester United team. A Kindle was also among the prizes.

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

RECRUITER.CO.UK

“A great day celebrating great people” BROOKSON ACCOUNTANCY VIA TWITTER

“We spend so much time investing in our talent; it’s imperative to our business” OHO GROUP DIRECTOR ROGER WILKINSON

ALL PHOTOS: AKIN FALOPE

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INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS SPECIAL

News

Winners Best Contractor Care (International/Global) Oil Consultants Commended: Tangent International Best Contractor Care (UK) Grovelands Sponsored by: Brookson Best Employee Share/Equity Scheme Pertemps Network Group Best Temporary Workforce Care (Specialist) RIG Locums Best Temporary Workforce Care (Volume) Special Commendation: Team24 Best Workplace Environment Goodman Masson Most Effective Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Special Commendation: SThree Most Effective Flexible Working Strategy DP Connect

Above: Winners and representatives of winning companies take to the stage with their trophies.

Below: Awards sponsor NumberMill Consulting’s CEO Louise Rayner prepares to present the Most Inspiring Team Leader/Manager Award

Most Effective Pay & Benefits Strategy (UK) Goodman Masson Most Effective Professional Development for Managers and Executives HCL Workforce Solutions Most Effective Professional Development for Newcomers Eden Brown Highly commended: Amoria Bond Most Effective Team Motivation Event 360 Resourcing Solutions Most Innovative Benefit Goodman Masson Most Inspiring Newcomer Adam Knight, TXM Recruit Most Inspiring Team Leader/Manager Tom O’Loughlin, Nicoll Curtin Technology Sponsored by: NumberMill Consulting Most Inspiring Recruitment Leader Guy Hayward, Goodman Masson Commended: Ricky Martin, Hyper Recruitment Solutions Sponsored by: Recruitment Entrepreneur

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RECRUITER

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INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS SPECIAL

PHOTOS: AKIN FALOPE

News

Winners and those on the shortlist heard an inspiring address by Lord Andrew Mawson OBE (below right). Right: Julie Whelan, CEO of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, Recruiter’s charity of the year, presented COO Tim Vye of Eden Brown with the award for Most Effective Professional Development for Newcomers

“Without the right talent coming through the industry, we don’t have a future” LOVEWORKLIFE MANAGING DIRECTOR AND INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS JUDGE PETER LOWMAN

“Investing in talent and in our people is a cornerstone of what we do, so to be recognised is kind of a confirmation of what we are doing. Our people remain our number one priority. I am thrilled we have been recognised” GOODMAN MASSON CEO GUY HAYWARD

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INVEST IN TALENT FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS Business success co omes dow omes down o to in investin ting tin g in tal tale alent nt, t so s cia ciall entr entrepr epr prene eneur ene ur Lord Andrew Maw wson son OB BE told t Recrui uite iter t r ah ahead ead d of th the e inau ina naugur gural al Inv In est sting ing in n Ta ent Aw Tal Award ardss wher ard wher here e he he was guest uest spe peake aker. r He e sa s d he thou sai thou hought ght co omp mpanie mpa niess were nie re “incre “in cre easi asingl ng gly unde unde nderst r and rst anding ing”” ju just ust ho ow impo imp ortant nt in inves vestin tin ing g in i tale ent n was was.

“And d actu actuall ally iff you don on n’t inv invest in th tha at and you don’t get that right, your business doe doesn’t go righ g t.

“You’v u e even had poli oli litic t ians talking about abo ut th he impor ortan t ce off leadership and ta d t ent wh tal which ic iss a mov m e in the right direct ection.”

He e sai said busi usiinesses which were ultim ult imatel ely y driven d by just the bottom lin ne “have hav av to get real … or they go ou ut of business”.

He add He added: ed “IIt’s all about people at th people he end of the day. y.”

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“We invest quite a lot in new and emerging talent to make sure we’ve got fresh ideas coming into the business” TONI COCOZZA, FOUNDER AND CEO OF DP CONNECT

“Fab speech @ RecruiterMag ‘top employers understand the value of the people they employ’ let’s embrace diversity recruiters!”

ALEX GWYNNE, STONEWALL, VIA TWITTER

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News

Tech & tools

USING GAMIFICATION IN A RECRUITMENT STRATEGY GAMIFICATION PERSONALISES, HUMANISES AND ADDS FUN TO THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS AND, IN DOING SO, ENCOURAGES CANDIDATES TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR ORGANISATION. HOWEVER, ITS USE IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD

Embed and engage Build gamification into a number of candidate touchpoints and exploit its use to inspire engagement with, for example, social media channels and careers sites. “People want to have fun, they want to comment, share, like and rate and want to know what other people are doing,” said Jeffery. “Make sure your content is simple, interactive, stimulating and entertaining and uses the principles of gamification.”

Opinion polls, candidate surveys

encouraged to reach a new goal and improve your profile strength by performing different tasks to provide them with better quality information about you.”

Look beyond recruitment Gamification can be applied across the employee lifecycle and HR is recognising how it can be used in areas such as performance management, engagement and development. Share ideas and knowledge with colleagues but also look at more holistic strategies. Lasky explained that progressive corporate HR departments are already thinking about gamification from a strategic point of view, while Hamilton added that there were a number of software companies producing “cool apps” centred on the broader HR environment.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Why you need to explore the use of gamification Gamification refers to the use of game theory, mechanics and design in non-game situations and environments. The term started to be bandied around in business circles several years ago and the analyst Gartner claims that organisations aggressively adopting gamification have multiple gamified solutions in place to support different business areas.

Recruitment was quick to latch on to it as a buzzword.

However, Matt Jeffery, SAP vice president, global head of sourcing and employment brand, HR talent acquisition, believes gamification is still widely misunderstood. “People rushed in and thought it was about adding a game to the recruitment process, which wasn’t quite right,” he said, describing gamification as one of the most powerful tools in talent acquisition today.

“What we are really talking about are the dynamics of engagement. A great computer game ingrains itself into the consciousness and subconscious of the player to make them have one more play. We need to take that philosophy and work out how we can apply it in recruitment.”

and page ratings can all be used to increase the impact and interaction, while league tables and leaderboards ensure an element of competition.

Lose the gimmicky image Gamification had a high level of novelty value when it first appeared. While this helped to get it noticed, Richard Hamilton, marketing director of Guru Careers, said many companies find it hard to maintain longterm engagement after the initial enthusiasm wears away.

Recruiters need to ensure it has champions across the organisation. “Outside-the-box ideas need to achieve a strong level of buy-in from people across the company so ensure they understand the benefits first hand,” he explained.

Tell great real-world stories Games draw the player in and feature characters that the player identifies with. Applying this in

a recruitment context means letting employees tell their stories. “It’s an authentic point of view. People then think, ‘I like those people, they are like me and I’d like to join the company’,” said Jeffery, who adds that the mistake some companies make is to “broadcast” what they see as their selling points to potential candidates. “They say ‘look at us, we’re a great place to work’ or ‘look at how great our results are’.

But they don’t engage, listen or join the real conversation.”

Build in targets Gamification strategies must have targets built into them and the candidate must be encouraged to meet them. Matt Lasky, creative team leader at recruitment marketing and digital branding company 4MAT, believes LinkedIn is the master of this: “When you go onto your LinkedIn profile you have a profile strength bar on it. You’re constantly being

Gamify your referral schemes Many recruiters and employers have referral schemes linked to reward but Lasky believes gamification can increase their effectiveness: “I have recently implemented a gamification version of a referral scheme and this works by receiving points every time you refer someone, and if that person gets an interview you get more points.”

Consider your metrics Many elements that can be used in gamification are trackable such as likes and shares and leagues and leaderboards but it’s vital to understand what you want to measure. “Is it about creating buzz and brand awareness and driving traffic? But is it also about encouraging people to go through to the career sites and explore opportunities offered by the company?” said Jeffery. “It is important to have clear goals about what you are measuring.”

SUE WEEKES

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%

80 TOP

of finance professionals have felt stuck within one particular industry, as employers opt for specific skills sets, according to a UK-wide workplace survey of finance directors carried out by FD Recruit

5

MOST VIEWED JOBS ON OUR WEBSITE

1. Teacher Active,

Resourcer, Liverpool

2. gap personnel,

Consultant, Leicester

3. Expedient Recruitment Consultancy, Consultant, Manchester

4. Bretherton Associates, Consultant, South Wales

5. The SR Group (Brewer

TOP

Morris), Consultant – tax legal, City of London

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MOST VIEWED ARTICLES ONLINE

1. A runner-up in The

Apprentice launches recruitment business

2. Half of recruiters

no longer happy to engage with selfemployed contractors

3. Reed’s former finance director jailed for swindling £300k

4. Investing in Talent Awards winners announced

5. Michael Page

International posts profit warning

On tumblr this month On recruitermagazine.tumblr.com, Recruiter magazine’s tumblr feed, we showcase what recruiters — and a few others — get up to when they’re not recruiting Cobalt Recruitment Back in October, Cobalt Recruitment wanted to mark its 13th anniversary by raising money for its charity partner the Red Cross. Staff would commute to work — but with a difference. In one day, the challenge was to cover the 409 miles from the London office to its international office in Frankfurt. The Cobalt team managed to run, climb and cycle the distance and raised more than £1,000 for the Red Cross. Well done to all the staff for your unusual ‘commute’!

Jobshop UK Jobshop UK’s Back to School Quiz 2014 saw the recruiter’s staff, local businesses and supporters of the Lewis-Manning Hospice join together to raise funds for the charity. The evening smashed last year’s amount by raising nearly £500 more to reach a grand total of £3,284. Headmaster for the night, management trainer Chris Croft, was cast in the role of quiz master. We think Jobshop UK can go to the top of the class for their fundraising efforts.

Michael Page Sales Staff at Michael Page have helped raise over £5,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK in one day in an Apprentice-style fundraising contest. Inspired by the popular BBC show, employees from Michael Page Sales, part of recruitment company PageGroup, were challenged last month to raise as much as they could for the UK’s leading dementia research charity, through whatever means — including car washing to collecting unwanted clothes to exchange for cash. As far as we’re concerned, you’re all hired!

Back Office Support Services The staff from Back Office Support Services in Congleton, Cheshire, decided to continue with the ice bucket theme but to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. So because they love their boss Ian Humphrey (right) so much, they threw 50 (yes, count ’em) buckets of ice over him — each bucket costing friends, family, clients and staff £5.

However, we’re sure the cakes and biscuits at the Macmillan Coffee Morning must have made up for his soaking — as well as the staggering £1,200+ the staff raised for Macmillan Cancer. Well done everyone at Back Office — and well done Ian. Have you thawed out yet?!

Athona Recruitment Essex-based Athona Recruitment put on a charity quiz night for Hopefield Animal Sanctuary. With six teams of 12 taking part, as well as a raffle and a dress-down day, Athona made over £995 towards the animal sanctuary located in Brentwood, Essex. Athona director Tina London (far right of the picture) along with senior marketing executive Candice Marnell (far left) visited Hopefield to present Hopefield fundraiser Christine Hampton (middle) with the cheque.

Don’t forget to send us your lighter news with pictures to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

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WARNING TO DIRECTORS Z ^ 'ƌŽƵƉ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞƐ ƚŽ ǁŝƚŶĞƐƐ ŚŝŐŚ ƌŝƐŬ ŽƉĞƌĂƟŽŶĂů ƐƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐ ďLJ ƌĞĐƌƵŝƚŵĞŶƚ ĂŐĞŶĐŝĞƐ͕ ĚĞƐƉŝƚĞ ƚŚĞ ƌĞůĞŶƚůĞƐƐ ĂƩĞŵƉƚƐ ďLJ ,D ZĞǀĞŶƵĞ Θ ƵƐƚŽŵƐ ƚŽ ŚŝŐŚůŝŐŚƚ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶĐĞƐ ŽĨ ŶŽŶͲĐŽŵƉůŝĂŶƚ ƉƌĂĐƟĐĞƐ͘ ^ŽŵĞ ŝƌĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƉƵƚ ƚŚĞŵƐĞůǀĞƐ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞŝƌ ĂŐĞŶĐŝĞƐ͛ ĮƐĐĂů ĨƵƚƵƌĞƐ Ăƚ ŚƵŐĞ ƌŝƐŬ ďLJ ŶŽƚ ĐŽŶĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƚŽ ůĞŐŝƐůĂƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶƟŶƵŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƵƐĞ ŶŽŶͲĐŽŵƉůŝĂŶƚ ŝŶƚĞƌŵĞĚŝĂƌŝĞƐ͖ ŝŐŶŽƌĂŶĐĞ ŝƐ ŶŽ ĞdžĐƵƐĞ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ƵůƟŵĂƚĞ ƌĞƐƉŽŶƐŝďŝůŝƚLJ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ŝƐƐƵĞƐ ƌĞŵĂŝŶƐ ǁŝƚŚ ŝƌĞĐƚŽƌƐ͗ 1. BREACH OF NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE (NMW) KīĞŶĐĞ Not paying contractors the legal NMW rate of £6.50 ƉĞƌ ŚŽƵƌ ĞǀĞŶ ĂŌĞƌ Ăůů ƚŚŝƌĚͲƉĂƌƚLJ ĚĞĚƵĐƟŽŶƐ͘ DŝŶŝŵƵŵ ƵŵďƌĞůůĂ ĐŚĂƌŐĞ ŽƵƚ ƌĂƚĞ ƐŚŽƵůĚ ŶŽƚ ĨĂůů below £8.80 per hour.

WĞŶĂůƚLJ EĞǁ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĮŶĞƐ ŽĨ ƵƉ ƚŽ άϮϬ͕ϬϬϬ ƉĞƌ ƉĞƌƐŽŶ ĂŶŶŽƵŶĐĞĚ ŝŶ &ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ ϮϬϭϰ͘ Ϯ͘ D^ ;DĂŶĂŐĞĚ ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞ ŽŵƉĂŶŝĞƐͿ KīĞŶĐĞ WůĂĐŝŶŐ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ƚŚĞ D^ ŵŽĚĞů ƐŽ ƚŚĞLJ ĐĂŶ ĐůĂŝŵ ƐĂůĂƌLJ ĂŶĚ ĚŝǀŝĚĞŶĚƐ͕ ǁŚĞŶ ĐĂƵŐŚƚ ďLJ /Zϯϱ͘ WĞŶĂůƚLJ &ŝŶĞƐ ĐĂůĐƵůĂƚĞĚ ďLJ ĐŽŵďŝŶŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ĨƌĂƵĚƵůĞŶƚ ƚĂdž ďĞŶĞĮƚƐ͕ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĂŶĚ ƉĞŶĂůƟĞƐ ƉĞƌ W^ ͘ 3. PENSIONS ACT & AUTO-ENROLMENT KīĞŶĐĞ EŽƚ ƐƚĂŐŝŶŐ ŝŶ ƟŵĞ͕ ŶŽƚ ũŽŝŶŝŶŐ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚŽƌƐ ĐŽƌƌĞĐƚůLJ Žƌ ĞŶĐŽƵƌĂŐŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞŵ ƚŽ ŽƉƚͲŽƵƚ͘ WĞŶĂůƚLJ &ŝŶĞƐ ĐŚĂƌŐĞĚ Ăƚ άϱϬϬϬ ƉĞƌ ƉĞƌƐŽŶ ĂīĞĐƚĞĚ͘ 4. AGENCY WORKERS REGULATIONS (AWR) KīĞŶĐĞ Not paying comparator rates or ‘pay between ĂƐƐŝŐŶŵĞŶƚƐ͛ ƵŶĚĞƌ ^ǁĞĚŝƐŚ ĞƌŽŐĂƟŽŶ ;ZĞŐ ϭϬͿ ŵŽĚĞů͘ WĞŶĂůƚLJ hƉ ƚŽ άϱϬ͕ϬϬϬ ƉĞƌ ĐĂƐĞ͘ 5. RIGHT TO WORK IN THE UK KīĞŶĐĞ ĂƵƐŝŶŐ ůŽƐƐ ŽĨ ƚƌĂĚĞ ďLJ ĞŵƉůŽLJŝŶŐ ƚĞŵƉŽƌĂƌLJ workers without visas or the right to work in the UK. WĞŶĂůƚLJ WŽƚĞŶƟĂůůLJ ƚŚŽƵƐĂŶĚƐ ŽĨ ƉŽƵŶĚƐ ŝŶ ĮŶĞƐ ĂŶĚ ĞǀĞŶ ŝŵƉƌŝƐŽŶŵĞŶƚ͘

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06/11/2014 16:17

Sector Analysis

Executive search WITH DIVERSITY STILL TOP OF THE AGENDA, EMPLOYERS ARE ALSO INCREASINGLY DEMANDING TALENTED EXECUTIVES WHO CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF THE DIGITAL WORLD Multiple factors are shaping the executive search market, with diversity, digital knowledge and an increasing focus on long-term business strategies all vying for demand.

Luke Webber, head of search at Executives Online, told Recruiter that clients are hiring executive talent “for tomorrow, not just for today”. He said executive search firms are not just concentrating on the “here and now skills” of the candidate.

Executives Online is increasingly aligning potential candidates with five-year strategies and business plans as part of efforts to “de-risk” the hiring process for the future, he explained.

According to Nigel Parslow, managing director UK, Harvey Nash Executive Search, hirers are looking for candidates who are not the “usual suspects”. He said: “They are looking for people who can work in, and reflect, the increasingly global and digital world they are operating in.”

Shaun Ayris, associate director of Jonathan Lee Executive Search, said when it comes to senior candidates, clients expect the firm to fully understand their requirements. The pressure for clients to increase transparency in business management and operating procedures, as well as tighter regulatory controls, means Jonathan Lee has to thoroughly evaluate the social, technical, economical and legal aspects of a candidate’s skill set.

Another issue also being taken up by executive search firms is diversity — an issue that has been an ongoing concern of business secretary Vince Cable, who is putting pressure on companies to increase the number of women on boards.

When it comes to succession planning, executive search firms are increasingly advising employers on diversity issues. Some have become active campaigners in this space. Egon Zehnder, for instance, has launched a drive to get 25 female chief executives into FTSE 100 companies.

Karoline Vinsrgg, consultant and head of diversity at Egon Zehnder, told Recruiter: “Most people now believe this argument that a diverse

Views from the market

team is a better team for all sorts of reasons.”

She says people from diverse backgrounds “bring different kinds of energy to the room”. She added: “It may be bit more challenging to make those teams work well together initially. It may need a different kind of leadership.”

Despite an improving economy, many organisations are still concerned about the cost of recruiting, which has led to a significant growth in in-house recruitment, said Parslow: “With the amazing potency, availability and growth of tools like LinkedIn and specialist databases, clients are quite rightly are asking: ‘could we do this ourselves?’ and in many cases — particularly for larger corporates looking for generalist skills — the answer is often ‘yes’.”

Parslow reports a general uplift in executive recruitment. Among the areas that are particularly buoyant is the NHS, which is under increasing pressure to reduce waiting lists and improve services. Higher education, he said, has also seen a lot of activity as far as executive recruitment is concerned. This has been driven in part by greater commercialisation and the need to attract revenue from multiple sources, including corporates, the state and students. Roles include marketing director, director of education and CEOs of research centres.

Other sectors that have experienced more activity in this area include digital and manufacturing.

However, Ayris told Recruiter that while the outlook for manufacturing was positive a lack of growth in major economies like the EU may affect the long-term success of the sector in the UK. The fortunes of financial services are also set to change, although at the moment still “feeling the pinch of the recession”, said Parslow. One industry, however, that is quieter is oil & gas, which has been hit by falling prices.

The stakes are always high when it comes to executive recruitment — especially when companies need the best talent in place to help them make up lost ground during the upturn.

Nigel Parslow of Harvey Nash Executive: “Executive search firms need to become true consultancies … I mean providing advice that actively makes a difference to the outcome.

If you aren’t able to do this, then your recruitment firm isn’t long for this world.”

Shaun Ayris of Jonathan Lee Executive Search: “We have seen a bigger uptake in clients wishing to maximise operational efficiencies and increase financial governance and payback in their business.

Consequently, there has been a rising number of assignments to recruit a vast spectrum of key executive appointments.”

Luke Webber, head of search at Executives Online: “I’m seeing a glut of positions for MDs for venture capitalist-backed tech start-ups due to recognition of the tech boom. I’m speaking to a lot of entrepreneurs who were in the last tech boom and they are resurfacing and investing.”

NICOLA SULLIVAN

Applications 45,348 Applications per job

14

RECRUITER

12.5

NOVEMBER 2014

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Jobs

Applications 41,547 Applications per job

12.7

3,636 Jobs

Applications 37,204 Applications per job

10.2

3,712 Jobs

Applications 40,244 Applications per job

10.8

Figures from Totaljobs

3,259

Q3 2010

Jobs

Q3 2011

3,639

Q3 2012

Q3 2013

Q3 2014

SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

4,016 Jobs

Applications 40,449 Applications per job

10.1

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06/11/2014 16:18

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06/11/2014 16:18

Market Indicators

Global Spotlight on Nigeria ALTHOUGH CHALLENGES PERSIST, RECRUITERS WILL FIND IMPROVEMENTS IN MANY ASPECTS OF BUSINESS IN THE COUNTRY, INCLUDING THE SUPPLY OF HOMEGROWN TALENT “The perception of Nigeria is not always the reality,” says Sarah Fitzgerald, managing director of Executives in Africa. Fitzgerald is referring to the teeming city of Lagos, describing it as “one of the best kept secrets for expatriates”. But it could just as well be said about Nigeria as a whole.

While the murderous activities of terrorist group Boko Haram in the north and the outbreak of Ebola have “damaged the reputation of the country”, Fitzgerald says they have “not affected candidates”, particularly those attracted to well-paid positions in Lagos. “Expatriate candidates are relatively openminded, and we are not seeing them pulling out.”

“People are going about their business,” says Amina Tukur-Tarfa, Pedersen and Partners’ country manager for Nigeria. However, that doesn’t mean that recruiters are short of challenges. Even in a country that is home to world-class companies such as Unilever and Coca Cola and many of the world’s energy giants, “it can take as long as five years to verify whether someone has a valid degree because university record keeping is atrocious”, she says.

And in a country “where everybody is looking for the next job either because they are not paid enough, or because the benefits are not 100% what they want”, Tukur-Tarfa says the volume of applications creates its own problems. “As soon as they see anything, every Tom, Dick and Harry sends their CV, so where do you start from?” Particularly, she says, “as many of the CVs gild the lily to a far greater extent than elsewhere”.

Ray Murphy, interim managing director for a FTSE 100 food manufacturing company in Nigeria, who wishes the name of his employer to remain anonymous, says the winds of change are blowing across Nigeria’s talent landscape. Where traditionally expats have filled many of the top corporate jobs, “when it comes to hiring locals, the talent pool is getting a lot better”, he says.

Not only do Nigerian nationals now have the necessary experience, but they are also highly educated, many to MBA level outside Nigeria, says Murphy. “We will see fewer and fewer expatriate names on boards, driven by an increasing number of well-educated Nigerians,” he predicts. Nengi Olumolu, director of HR at not-for-profit human development organisation FHI 360 in Nigeria, says that in her own organisation, field experts from Nigeria “are called to help other countries”. “That speaks to the quality and calibre of people here,” she says.

Fitzgerald says the move to hire more Nigerians that she has noted in the past 18 months to two years has been driven by a mixture of access to contracts depending on local content in the supply

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Key facts – Nigeria In 2013, Nigeria became Africa’s largest economy with a GDP of $502bn (£321bn) In 2012, Knight Frank/Citi Private Bank predicted Nigeria would be the world’s sixth largest economy by 2050 173.6m population (2013) GDP growth 5.4% (2013) Source: World Bank

GDP by sector Agriculture Services Manufacturing Oil

Source: Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (2012)

11.4m child labourers aged 5-14 62% of the population in extreme poverty 43.2% of the population aged under 14 Source: CIA World Factbook

chain, and quotas on the number of expatriates.

Murphy says the trend towards hiring more locals would have happened anyway.

However, the two agree that there is still a role for expats where skills are rare in Nigeria. One example is modern retail account management, says Fitzgerald. A halfway house adopted by one of her clients was to place an expat in the top role and a Nigerian high-potential candidate into the number two job, with a plan for the latter to succeed the former within a couple of years.

While the quality and depth of the local talent pool continues to improve, it is not all good news for employers, says Murphy. “Senior Nigerian talent have a desire to move out of Africa into Europe, the US or Asia. Africa just doesn’t appeal,” he says.

However, at the same time as some of its best talent are upping sticks, Fitzgerald says the situation has been helped by members of the Nigerian diaspora returning to the country.

Typically educated abroad, before gaining valuable experience overseas, “Nigeria is exciting for them from a career point of view,” she says.

“Even local companies are looking for top managers,” adds Wladimir Topaloff, executive manager of Michael Page Africa. He paints a sunny scenario for Africa’s largest economy, with more jobs created as “more nice companies” look to take advantage of Nigeria’s undoubted opportunities, particularly in the area of consumer goods.

Despite its various problems, perhaps it is this optimism and opportunity that is most striking.

Tukur-Tarfa says: “You ask any Nigerian, ‘can you do this?’ and the answer is inevitably ‘yes’.”

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06/11/2014 16:22

Interaction

SOAP

BOX

We all need to cultivate talent

The UK is witnessing an ever-widening gap between the skills of those looking to secure work and those required for the jobs that are available. We are constantly told of the reported shortages of qualified candidates ready and able to enter employment, and as this gap continues to grow, the nation is seeing more and more under-qualified jobseekers unable to land work. Of course, skills shortages don’t just affect those looking for work — employers and recruiters up and down the country are finding it tough to attract suitable candidates for the vacancies that they desperately need to fill in order to thrive and grow.

We are being told the worst of the recession is behind us. But could it be that the next challenge to economic growth is our younger generation’s lack of preparation for entering the workplace?

I founded CV-Library 14 years ago with no formal qualifications to my name. I was fortunate to have experienced the challenges and rewards of running my own businesses years before job boards even existed. I sold cold drinks to thirsty fishermen on hot days; I ran a mobile carwash (me, my bucket and a bike) in the local area; and I worked with my father at his carpet-fitting business.

You could say that before CV-Library was conceived, I was pretty much always destined to work for myself. But what about those who don’t want to be their own boss? Is there anything we can do to help improve their chances of landing a decent job?

While there are many influencers in the lives of those looking to enter the workforce, recruiters and employers can all play their part in helping jobseekers and the next generation of British business people looking for a new role. After all is it not in their interests to propagate a healthy, well-prepared talent pool to delve

EMMA

MIRRINGTON

into when called upon? Not only will recruiters benefit from having work-ready candidates at their fingertips (which equals money), but the entire employment ecosystem will benefit from an industrially progressive nation (which equals opportunity).

But what can be done?

Schools and colleges often welcome those who can add value to the development of their pupils outside the national curriculum.

Many offer pupils the chance to take part in career days, where external professionals spend time giving advice, replicating interview situations, and helping to guide pupils with career decisions and training opportunities. Why not speak to some local education institutions, and ask if they would be interested in hosting you as part of a youth-development programme? Some might turn their nose up at CSR [corporate social responsibility] as it can be self-serving, but if it is done for the greater good, there is every reason to get involved.

Solutions for more mature candidates could include simply explaining that they lack the skills for a role and guiding them towards suitable courses. Many of these courses are free to undertake, owing to government support, and can empower the candidate with additional, transferable skills, a new mindset for being employed and, most importantly, an ethos of working hard.

Sustainable employability is critical to the future of the UK workplace. Rather than bemoan the lack of suitable candidates available at any given time, why not investigate opportunities for your business to cultivate a talent pool that will benefit not only your business but the entire economy?

LEE BIGGINS is the managing director of CV-Library

What is the recruitment X factor?

I have a guilty secret. I love the television series The X Factor, and the drama and excitement of one of the longest recruitment processes around.

However, it got me round to thinking how this could apply to recruitment. What is ‘the X factor’ for recruiters? What takes a recruiter from good to great? I think it’s about energy, passion, curiosity and taking personal pride in their work and how they manage their stakeholder relationships. I’d rather have these traits than raw technical recruiting skills any day.

My friend Kevin Hough, group head of resourcing at LV= differentiates between in-house and agency. For the in-house recruiter, he says: “First and foremost it’s passion, passion, passion.

This is followed by commerciality — ability to do the right thing by the business (which may be using an agency) and being a team player, willing to roll their sleeves up.” For the agency, Kevin believes the factors that make a fundamental difference are great partnering skills, being a good listener, and being a challenger.

I’ve also spoken to other fellow recruiters, and people’s views of the X factor can be summarised as follows: • A genuine interest in people, lateral thinking and the ability not to take things too seriously.

• Active listening skills — the ability to really listen to what your stakeholders and clients need. Too often, recruiters feel they need to be the adviser. This is important, but to do this successfully you need to have listened and understood exactly where your client/stakeholder is at. Understand, question and push back when necessary to ensure realistic objectives.

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• Customer focus — to be able to partner, to get into the DNA of the business and stakeholder, to build a robust relationship so that you can influence when required and gain that trust.

• Commercial acumen — the ability to understand how any particular role and the individual ‘doing that job’ affect and add value to the way in which a business is run. The ability to build on this and run smart, measurable recruitment campaigns is key.

• Candidate management — candidate care is so important, as the repercussions of poor candidate management are huge. A sensitive and empathetic approach is crucial. To understand candidate care, to never leave a candidate wondering what is happening, to never break promises made to candidates in terms of contact/timescales, and to always deliver full constructive feedback.

• Being swanlike. Being cool, calm and collected at all times, offering solutions rather than creating problems. Never appearing frazzled, despite the fact your line manager has changed their requirements for the umpteenth time, your prize candidate has dropped out and the snow is ruining your assessment centre.

• Honesty and integrity — to build that rapport and relationship with a client, it is essential that you are upfront and diplomatic, even if you are struggling to fill a role. Just be honest and manage expectations.

• A passion for direct sourcing — a passion for networking, social media recruiting and for seeing every vacancy as an opportunity to unleash the powers of creative direct sourcing.

So what do you think?

EMMA MIRRINGTON is talent director for Capita’s Write Research and co-

manager of The FIRM (The Forum for In-house Recruitment Managers)

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Interaction

SOUND

WEB

BITES

COMMENT

“How can recruiters do more to help with the problem of youth unemployment?”

Jennie Dawson Global head of life sciences, BWPenman

With nearly 1m of our youth currently unemployed, recruiters are a key stakeholder with a shared social and economic responsibility to make a fundamental contribution to the solution. As recruiters it is easy to say that we should encourage employers to be flexible with their recruitment methods, adopting internships and apprenticeship schemes and whilst this is one strand in tackling the issue, this is not always a practical solution to address an employer’s skill gap. Recruiters could contribute more effectively by developing the links between educators, local businesses and business leaders who have a genuine passion for shaping entrepreneurs and industry talent of the future. As recruitment experts we should be harnessing our skills in advising the educators and inspiring our youth how to develop their employability, partnering and mentoring to highlight career routes, and motivating them to achieve the practical as well as academic experience to get there.

David Leyshon Managing director, CBSbutler

For some years now we have been very active in supporting a variety of STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] initiatives, which are absolutely vital in addressing the shortage of technical skills in the UK workforce. As a leading recruiter we have an obligation to open the eyes of future generations to the fantastic wealth of opportunities available to them in STEM-based careers.

Kate Shoesmith Head of policy, Recruitment & Employment Confederation

Hundreds of recruiters go into schools and colleges to run sessions on the sort of jobs that are out there and the skills and attributes needed to get them. They coach young people on CV writing and interview techniques. In fact, REC members have helped more than 20,000 young people through careers advice, mentoring and work experience in the past three years. Building on that, we’re now backing Primary Futures which is aimed at raising aspirations and helping younger children understand the link between the world of work and what they learn in school.

With nearly three-quarters of a million unemployed 16-24-year-olds there’s clearly lots more to do, but those figures are improving and recruiters deserve credit for some of that.

Richard Taylor Senior divisional director, REED Education

It is important that recruiters take a direct approach to tackling youth unemployment. At REED Education, this ranges from providing free workshops for students within schools to paid internships within our organisation. In addition to this, we recently expanded the headcount of our business by 45% and a large proportion were recent graduates. We made the decision to attract raw talent, focusing on spotting the right behaviours, as we were confident our training would fully equip those recruited with the right skills. By doing this, we are helping to safeguard against future gaps in expertise and will be recognised as an organisation who facilitate ongoing development.

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‘Review looks at possible sale of NHS Professionals’ (23 October) The only way for NHS Professionals (NHSP) to stay alive is two-fold: 1. They compete with competing agencies and MSPs [managed service providers] either using higher margins (completely against their USP of Department of Health internal lower pricing) or by heavily investing in better resources which will make them a massive loss (again) to get them up-to-scratch with competitors.

2. The DoH makes it mandatory to only use NHSP, who will run a principal model MSP using a better reduced fee framework for the suppliers to be a part of, and fining any trusts who are not compliant.

Chris Manning Surely privatising NHS Professionals won’t help the NHS rely less on expensive agency staff? It seems like all it will achieve is to sell the NHS agency contract to an external agency so that one of the big multinationals gets their hands on the biggest care agency contract in the market. It’s the contract for the business that they would want to get their hands on more than the organisation itself. Perhaps a series of tenders would be a better option?

Dan Midwinter

‘Overtime should be included in holiday pay, rules Employment Appeal Tribunal’ (4 November) Absolutely ridiculous — is anyone in government trying to help UK businesses? I can see the rationale behind paying staff who are on holiday an average commission if a large proportion of their wage is based on this, but overtime as well — absolutely barmy!! When will we see sense?

Steve Shaw ‘Jobs stimulus package to create thousands of apprenticeships and jobs across London’ (30 October) This is excellent news for all of us, particularly within this industry of ‘The World of Recruiters’.

Lorraine Brown

RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2014

21

06/11/2014 15:33

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06/11/2014 16:23

Recruitment Matters Issue 30 November 2014

Trade Association of the Year

What’s inside The 2-3 Intelligence and REC Talk What does the latest Recruitment Industry Trends survey show about permanent recruitment?

season 4-5Party opens What do the big three parties have in mind for the jobs market?

Recruiters have key role in new youth scheme The Recruitment & Employment Confederation is in a unique position to help build the nation’s young workforce.

That is according to the head of the Education and Employers Taskforce, who launched a plan in October to bolster young people’s job awareness.

The new Primary Futures initiative will give schools access to a network of volunteers from a number of backgrounds to promote careers and apprenticeships.

They will speak to primary schools about the importance of linking school work with building a career.

Director of the Education and Employers Taskforce Nick Chambers says recruiters are important for fostering relationships between schools and businesses.

“REC members are very well-placed to help given their wide range of knowledge of jobs and sectors,” he said.

Director of policy and professional services Tom Hadley says the REC’s Youth Employment Charter will help to direct recruiters and businesses to the new scheme.

“The charter plays a key role in improving awareness and perceptions of our industry as a whole,” he said.

The plan has also received backing from the government.

Secretary of state for education Nicky Morgan said: “We want schools to connect with industry and the business community in order to inspire children to consider the vast array of different opportunities available to them.

“These visits will help to show children what they could achieve and that no occupation should be closed to them.”

Recruiters who are interested in learning more about the Primary Futures initiative can visit www.rec. uk.com/youth

6Legal lowdown

Should you buy clients presents this holiday season?

Institute of 7 Recruitment Professionals Becky Lawrence-Webb from Covent Garden Bureau and Michael Bennett from Rethink Group

8 Start Up course

Why the RBA’s Start Up course can help to launch your business

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06/11/2014 14:34

Leading the Industry

the intelligence Permanent growth

By Nina Mguni, senior researcher at the REC

Fig 1: Recruiter revenue growth ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile

40 30 20

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0

-10 -20 Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul 12 13 14

Fig 2: RIB recruiter annualised turnover per employee 550 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile 500 450 400 350 £,000

45% of recruiters stated that the availability of permanent candidates was worse than the previous month. Clearly supply side factors are at work, which will impact on the volume of placements in some sectors.

One response to supply side shortages is an increase in starting salaries.

A recent survey showed that higher earners are not only more likely to have a pay review, when they did have a review they are more likely to have a pay increase. This suggests that businesses are willing to pay more to not only entice a potential candidate to join an organisation, but also to retain a valued employee.

This shift in employer willingness to be more generous on pay is evident in the average permanent placement value, which has increased by 5.7%. Data in Recruitment Industry Trends suggests that margins haven’t changed sufficiently to account for the increase in placement value which suggests improved starting salaries are filtering through to permanent placement values.

Variation in hiring across sectors is also at work.

Recruitment Industry Trends shows that accounting/financial and computing/IT have seen the largest increase in number of placements since 2007/08.

Other sectors, such as drivers and construction, have seen annual volumes of permanent placements fall over the same period.

%

10

We recently published our annual report on the state of the recruitment industry, the Recruitment Industry Trends Survey 2013/14. The data shows there is reason to be confident.

The value of the industry now stands at £28.7bn, the highest on record, and growth in revenue from permanent placements is comparable to that of growth in revenue from temporary/contract placements. In the previous financial year (2012/13), revenue from permanent placements grew by 2.2%. In 2013/14, the growth rate was 8.7% and revenue stood at £2.68bn in total.

Recruiters helped more than 634,000 people secure a new permanent job in 2013/14 with secretarial and clerical, accounting and financial, and computing and IT the three sectors seeing the highest number of permanent placements.

Both supply and demand factors are at work. One of the main concerns identified by recruiters working in permanent placements was sourcing sufficiently skilled candidates. In the October edition of the REC/ KPMG/Markit ‘Report on Jobs’,

300 250 200 150 100 Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul 12 13 14

Recruiters are growing faster The great news this month is that the strong revenue growth that we have talked about for several months continued to accelerate in August.

Recruiter revenue growth has been steadily accelerating since October last year, with the median recruiter revenue growth standing at nearly 20% in August. The top quartile of recruiters have done even better with stunning revenue growth of over 35%. On the other hand, more than a quarter of recruiters are still seeing falling revenues, with the lower quartile revenue growth being down more than 5% on a year ago, demonstrating the importance of understanding your key performance indicators that drive profitable growth.

Growth is becoming more evenly based, with permanent and temporary revenues now growing at similar rates.

Fig 2 shows that accelerating revenues mean recruiters are having to take on additional employees, so that revenue per employee was slightly down in August 2014, by around 1%.

Those recruiters with the lowest revenue per employee saw much steeper falls, with revenue per employee down 15% on a year ago. Although this may be due to recruiters taking on new staff to cope with increasing demand and it taking a while for those new employees to become fully effective.

Despite the strongly accelerating top-line revenue growth we are concerned that this fall in employee productivity is causing recruiter profitability to fail to benefit from strong revenue growth, with median net profit margins actually falling in August to their lowest value in more than two years, barring months affected by the Christmas break.

• Chris Ansell is Chief Financial Officer at Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry trends. See www.ribindex.com; info@ribindex. com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.

www.rec.uk.com 06/11/2014 14:34

Leading the Industry

The UK’s industrial policy and skills strategy must find ways to move forward together, says REC director Tom Hadley

Skills, thrills & industrial strategy There was a flurry of pronouncements at the political party conferences this autumn about ramping up the UK’s industrial strategy. Subsequent meetings have confirmed two important truths: firstly, that successful industrial policy is indelibly linked to an effective skills strategy; and secondly, that the debate on both skills and industrial strategy presents real opportunities for recruiters On a soggy Monday morning last month, we took part in the CBI’s Industrial Strategy Conference with big hitters from all the major parties.

Vince Cable talked up success stories like the automotive industry, BIS minister Matthew Hancock shared his vision of ‘making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business’ and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna flagged the ‘need to improve the performance of Local Enterprise Partnerships’ to deliver tangible progress on the ground.

What does all this mean for recruiters? The focus on industrial strategy will drive growth and hiring needs in specific sectors. This is already happening – from oil & gas in Aberdeen, to life sciences in Cambridge and aerospace in Portsmouth. The work of the REC’s sector groups will increasingly focus on identifying opportunities linked to this growth agenda. Which brings us to a related hot topic – skills. CBI deputy director general Katja Hall recently issued a call to arms on ‘getting to grips with the skills crisis’ and there is now broad recognition that this is a major barrier to growth. In the short term, part of the solution is to encourage employers to review hiring procedures and criteria. This is an aim of our Good Recruitment Campaign and it was encouraging to hear the shadow business minister recognise the importance of ‘shaking up’ hiring procedures at the CBI event.

And long term? Our plan is to inform skills policy and use our Youth Employment Charter to feed into new initiatives like Primary Futures from the Education and Employers Taskforce. As well as the indefatigable ‘celebrities’ at the forefront of the youth employment agenda (Robert Peston, Michael Grade, Miriam González Durántez et al), the launch featured a parade of school children in job-related outfits – judges, doctors, engineers, chefs and even an astronaut. It was like a cat-walk of REC sector groups and a visual demonstration of how important sector expertise will be as we do our bit to help new generations of candidates.

We are in a great position to inform and inspire the future workforce – including budding astronauts.

• For more, visit www.rec.uk.com/goodrecruitment • You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

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The View The candidate experience is getting worse, despite all the data showing that employers spend a huge amount of time creating their brands, streamlining recruitment processes and using technology.

Why does this matter?

• Recent data from the CEB showed that those successful candidates who have a good experience outperform those that have a poor time getting a new role.

• Employees who had a positive recruitment experience were 38% more likely to stay with that employer than those that didn’t.

• Candidates share their poor experiences with others. An amazing 83% tell friends and family, while 64% take to social media to spread the word.

It’s important we seek to get the whole experience right.

However, only 5% of candidates would say they had an excellent experience, while a whopping 48% said they had a poor or very poor time when seeking a new role.

The question for recruiters is are we part of the answer or are we in fact part of the problem? The two areas where businesses seem to keep getting it wrong is keeping candidates informed during the process, and whether candidates feel they are treated as individuals during the journey.

It’s clear that recruiters can add huge value to the recruitment experience, which I think can be boiled down to the five essentials of great candidate management: 1) Be explicit to potential candidates about the whole recruitment process if we decide to put them forward for a role.

2) Screen out those that have no realistic chance of getting the the role so that the candidate does not invest a significant amount of time writing a CV and preparing for the selection process.

3) The agency should take responsibility for flagging up risks to the client if their line mangers are not delivering against predetermined standards and timelines in relation to the candidate experience.

4) The recruiter’s main role once the process is underway is to keep all candidates informed of progress throughout.

5) Finally, ask the candidates what they thought of the recruitment process! It sounds straightforward but only 11% of employers currently ask for candidate feedback.

• You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevingreenrec

Recruitment Matters November 2014 3

06/11/2014 14:34

The Big Talking Point

Party season has just begun The party conference season gave recruiters much to think about.. Michael Oliver looks back.

T

he last party conferences ahead of next year’s General Election have given the recruitment industry much to think about. The three main parties have laid out plans to build upon improving job numbers, buoyed by unemployment falling below two million for the first time since 2008.

We analysed the debates from all three conferences and examined what the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems have in store for the jobs market.

Conservatives Jobs were at the forefront of Tory thinking, as the Prime Minister laid out his vision for the next five years.

David Cameron was keen to celebrate the growing jobs market, saying it wouldn’t have been possible with Labour holding power. He promised a new Tory government would push through job reform, which he says will give UK workers more choice. He singled out zero-hour contracts for attention, assuring workers on such contracts will be able to pursue other work without being bound by any kind of exclusivity clause.

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But the spectre of immigration was also brought into focus.

The PM promised a Tory government would look at EU migration levels, with some calling for caps or a pointsbased system. But the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) was disappointed by suggestions from the PM that agencies were targeting foreign workers at the expense of home-grown talent.

REC director of policy Tom Hadley challenged the assertion.

“The Equality Act already prevents discriminatory recruitment practices against British workers, a fact we continue to emphasise in our conversations with politicians of all parties,” he said.

And the benefit of a skilled migrant workforce wasn’t lost on attendees. Tory policy advisors and MP David Willetts spoke at the CIPD’s fringe event alongside the main conference hall, where the positive impact migrants have made to the UK economy was celebrated. But they recognised more must be done to improve the skills of UK workers.

The Conservatives were concerned

about the number of young people on benefits, and promised to institute a ‘learn or earn’ policy. People aged between 16 and 18 would either take up jobs or enter into a training programme to continue receiving government allowances. While this spelled good news for trades keen to take on more apprentices, there were warnings it could backfire.

“If this age bracket is forced into training or apprenticeships, they may do so under duress and not be 100% committed,” said Institute of the Motor Industry chief executive Steve Nash.

“It could deter employers who take on apprentices who do not have their heart in the vocation.”

Labour Labour leader Ed Miliband singled out six major points in his keynote address, four of which are of interest to the recruitment industry.

The Scottish independence vote has everyone talking about devolution, and Labour are keen to pursue that with haste. Miliband said it was in the country’s best interest for local areas to have more control over budgets and services. The party is promising to retain Local Enterprise Partnerships should it win a majority. This gives recruiters a great opportunity to build relationships within those local circles.

“They are likely to have a greater say over local investment budgets for skills training, business development and

www.rec.uk.com 06/11/2014 14:39

When companies employ staff on zerohours contracts and then stop them from getting work elsewhere, that’s not a free market – it is a fixed market. In a Britain that everyone is proud to call home, people are employed.

They are not used.

David Cameron

We mustn’t allow coalition to be caricatured either. This government has provided the country with the political stability without which the economic recovery and hundreds of thousands of new jobs would never have materialised.

We will give employers the money for apprenticeships for the first time and we will say to every big company that wants a government contract: you must provide apprenticeships to our young people.

Ed Miliband

Nick Clegg

infrastructure projects,” said Tom Hadley.

Labour is also promising to reform the department of UK Trade & Investment, which it says will make it easier for UK businesses to invest overseas.

Unsurprisingly, the party is eager to keep the UK in the EU, recognising what it calls strong economic and social ties.

The party pledged to create 36,000 new NHS jobs and crackdown on tax avoidance from umbrella companies.

And there was interest in Labour’s promise to increase the National Minimum Wage to £8 by 2020 and to end what Ed Miliband called “exploitative zero-hour contracts”. He singled out a “growing army of self-employed” who would be assured equal rights under a Labour government. Shadow secretary for work and pensions Rachel Reeves says it would mean a simpler benefits system and better access to pensions.

The REC is eager to see recruiters play a

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role in shaping those policies.

“Recruiters are not only going to be a great source of information for policy-makers in explaining how selfemployment works now and what needs to change, they are also going to be important conduits for explaining any new employment rights to their candidates and clients,” said Tom Hadley.

Liberal Democrats: Business secretary Vince Cable announced a government review of employment status, hard on the heels of the recent zero-hours contract review.

The Lib Dems are concerned about the lack of clarity regarding workers’ rights in some freelance and independent jobs.

Employment relations minister Jo Swinson says any review must avoid any kneejerk reactions that will discourage employers from taking on freelance and temporary workers.

The Lib Dems were also looking to bolster the UK’s fledging teacher numbers. Education minister David Laws called teacher recruitment one of his five main priorities, and wants to see the launch of a Royal College of Teachers to professionalise the industry.

One point the party agreed with both Labour and the Conservatives on was the need to fix the UK’s careers service.

Cable has pledged to increase the minimum wage for apprentices from £2.73 to £3.76 an hour. REC head of policy Kate Shoesmith says it’s important recruiters help businesses and educators help young people find as many viable options as possible.

Once the talk had settled over all three conferences, one thing remained clear: 2015 will be an election fought on the jobs front. All three parties will want to be the voice of the worker, and recruiters will be vital in helping those voices be heard.

Recruitment Matters November 2014 5

06/11/2014 16:07

Legal Update

Christmas conundrums

By Lewina Farrell, solicitor and head of professional services, Recruitment & Employment Confederation

Christmas is just around the corner so it is worthwhile reminding ourselves that whilst it is a time to be joyful and have fun we still, as employers and employees, have a responsibility to our colleagues and our businesses. Issues which may arise include behaviour at or following the staff Christmas party, or providing gifts to clients. Let’s take each one in turn: The staff holiday party. We wait all year for it – the free food and drink, the chance to dress up and maybe even misbehave a little. Still, there are some key things we need to remember.

1. The party must be open to all staff – don’t assume someone won’t come because “they never go out” or don’t drink.

Remember to ask staff who work remotely, part-time or who have been absent eg. on maternity leave.

2. Provide a range of food and drink, including non-alcoholic, to cater for all. Consider whether to limit the free bar so as not to encourage excessive drinking.

3. The employer is ‘vicariously’ liable for the acts of its employees – so remind staff that while you want them to enjoy themselves, the contract of employment remains in place. Remind them about behaviour – what is and is not acceptable (relevant policies include anti-bullying and disciplinary). Remind them about your social media policy and if or how you consider it appropriate to post pictures online of themselves at or after the party. Remember though that there is a balancing act between protecting the business’s reputation and the employees’ right to a private life.

4. Remind staff that if the day after the party is a normal working

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day you expect them in and on time, unless they have booked the day off as annual leave, and that you will be monitoring unauthorised absences carefully.

Buying presents for clients. Businesses can of course continue to offer hospitality to or buy presents for clients, provided these are reasonable, proportionate and offered in good faith ie. provided they do not fall foul of the Bribery Act 2010. ‘Reasonable’ and ‘proportionate’ are not legally defined but we are talking about gifts or hospitality of a financial level that could not be considered a bribe eg. a hamper versus a Ferrari! Take particular care with public sector clients. Public sector contracts will usually have a clause prohibiting any sort of gifts or hospitality and if your business is found to have offered a gift or hospitality (however innocently) to a public sector client it may find itself banned from further procurement exercises. There are four criminal offences under the Bribery Act including: bribing another person, receiving a bribe or failing to prevent bribery by a relevant commercial organisation. The penalties for committing any of these offences can be imposed on the company or any of the company directors. It is essential therefore that all staff in the business understand the business’s line on gifts and hospitality and the repercussions for failing to comply with company policy.

The REC covers each of these issues in more detail in its legal bulletin and has produced a range of policies on topics including anti-bribery for its members to use. These are all available here: www.rec.uk.com/legal-resources

www.rec.uk.com 06/11/2014 14:39

Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals

Top Diploma student Becky Lawrence-Webb is a permanent recruiter at Covent Garden Bureau in London and was the top student in September’s Diploma of Recruitment Management class Congratulations on being the top student – how has your year been?

My year has been really, really busy. It’s been challenging, but very good.

Tell us about the sectors you cover We recruit for everything from policy to communications to marketing and research. No two days are ever the same.

How did you find the diploma?

I really enjoyed the diploma. It was a massive challenge because it covered a lot of topics. But it was really good to see a framework of things I do on a daily basis and understand the full scope of my job. I found the webinars comprehensive and they really helped to back up the learning. But I found the legal modules really engaging, because that’s part of the industry I haven’t had much experience in dealing with.

What is the most interesting part of recruitment?

The people – it’s a people-orientated role and you get to meet a really interesting mix. Covent Garden has an open door policy, so I interview people every day and talk to clients every day. What’s clear is that there’s no such thing as a normal day, and I love that.

What is the biggest challenge?

The market is improving. I’ve noticed a real upturn in the past six months but there are fewer applications coming through for roles. We have to look broadly and interview the right people. In recruitment, you have to be aware of these changes and utilise everything, especially tools like LinkedIn. We have to use best practice even when we are incredibly busy.

How do you find using online tools and databases like LinkedIn? They are an incredibly useful way of finding contacts but it doesn’t take away from providing services to clients. If you’re providing a tailored all-round service, people will come to you. People tend to buy from people, especially those they get along with. There’s no substitute for building a nice working relationship with others.

What would you say to your younger self on her first day?

I would say “Don’t worry too much about the sales label”. You’ve got to make sure everybody – clients and candidates – are getting what they want. Bashing out 100 cold calls a day won’t achieve that.

What I know Michael Bennett is the director of Rethink Group. He explains what steps they’ve taken to attract talented recruiters and keep them on their books You must attract quality people to work with.

We like to think of things from a holistic point of view. We want to attract people to come and work for us – good quality people. We want them to see what good recruitment is. We want people to believe that, see that and feel that. We provide the best environment for someone who wants to come and work in recruitment. And we also want clients and investors to feel that as well.

Don’t underestimate the importance of education.

We are a pro-recruitment organisation. We know what some of our clients think and want to commit ourselves to quality. Anyone who wants to work for us will know that we are a professional recruitment organisation which wants to move the industry forward.

Most importantly, it’s about attracting people to work with us, and demonstrating we are driving to professionalise our sector.

I want people to demonstrate their commitment to the industry and the best way to do this is by getting qualified. The IRP’s qualifications are a great way of achieving that because they cover all the bases.

People are always a great investment.

We want our recruiters to want to come to the office.

So we measure our commitment to them by making Rethink one of the best places to work. We always enter ourselves in the IRP Awards for Best Place to Work. I want to measure that kind of quality – and I want to encourage my staff to put themselves forward as nominees too. By doing this, we’re letting them know we value them and we want their achievements to be celebrated.

To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com

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06/11/2014 14:45

Events and training

Recruiting startups get ahead with the RBA Geraldine Gobbi, founder of Evolution Law, shares her experiences of Start Up Are you thinking of starting your own recruitment business? Recruitment Matters talked to Evolution Law’s Geraldine Gobbi, who recently finished the Recruitment Business Academy’s Start Up course, about her experience of the training.

How did you find the course?

I was very impressed. Over three days, we managed to pack in a staggering amount of practical material, covering all the aspects of starting up a business.

From the first day, we were taught how to build sales, given tips on how to best market and develop our businesses and build strong client relationships.

By the end we felt that we had gained a good understanding of the legal framework, without our brains being completely scrambled.

The class was small and very much tailored to our particular businesses. My classmates offered helpful suggestions,

advice and comments along the way which created a lovely, supportive environment.

of law into one day. It could have ended up being very dry but she managed to make it clear, informative and relevant.

What did you get out of it?

When I left, I felt that I had been given the answers, a sense of clarity and a great structure on which to continue building my business.

Membership of the REC has also given me access to a large number of contract templates, essential to creating the legal relationship with new clients and a legal helpline staffed with cheerful and knowledgeable lawyers.

How has it helped you with setting up your business, and how is that progressing?

The course has helped me massively in setting up my business. I always had a clear idea of what I was trying to do, however the REC Start Up course taught me about all the practical steps I need to take in order to make it happen.

How did you find the trainer?

I was lucky enough to have not one, but two, great trainers: Jeff Brooks and Lewina Farrell. Jeff has a lifetime of experience in the industry and was happy to share this with us. Lewina was also very experienced and somehow managed to condense a huge amount

Would you recommend the course to others?

Definitely. I already have!

If you’re thinking about launching a recruitment business, sign up for one of the RBA’s upcoming Start Up courses at www.rec.uk.com/training or contact our training team on 020 7009 2100

Download the latest REC research The 2013/14 Recruitment Industry Trends Survey is a comprehensive look at the state of the recruitment market in the UK. This year’s survey covers the financial year to the end of March 2014, a time when the industry saw important gains in turnover and placements, as well as an increase in the number of people pursuing recruitment careers.

The industry reached £28.7bn in

turnover for the year, a rise of 8.2%. A record £26bn (91%) of the market comes from temporary and contract business – an 8.2% rise year-on-year – and more than 14% above the pre-recession figure from 2007/08.

Revenue from permanent business rose by 8.7% to £2.7bn, but still 37% below its pre-recession peak of £4.3bn.

The recruitment profession continues to grow, with more than 96,000 people

Recruitment Matters The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com

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working in the industry. This is the fourth consecutive rise, but still more than 12,000 short of pre-recession numbers.

To find out more, download your copy of the RITS report at www.rec.uk.com/trends

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 8547 Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7009 2173. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young. rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Woodford Litho © 2014 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com 06/11/2014 14:47

Friday 5th December 2014 Park Plaza Westminster Bridge

Celebrity host Reverend Richard Coles

THE IRP AWARDS 2014 NETWORK WITH

OVER 500 PROFESSIONALS

For more information and to book your table, please contact: Email: emilia.tosner@redactive.co.uk Telephone: 0207 880 6226

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN RECRUITMENT

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06/11/2014 16:25

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06/11/2014 16:26

The Challenge

Sykes’ search for Nordic talent Jill Patterson Senior manager HR, UK

WHEN SYKES GLOBAL SERVICES NEEDED TO FIND STAFF FLUENT IN NORDIC LANGUAGES FOR A CONTACT CENTRE IN SCOTLAND, IT TURNED TO SEARCH CONSULTANCY TO HELP THEM WITH THIS CHALLENGE

THE CHALLENGE Sourcing 14 people for a contact centre in Edinburgh doesn’t sound much of a challenge.

However, when you factor in the requirement that they all had to be fluent in Nordic languages, display excellent customer service skills, plus the fact that the recruiter is solely UK-based, then this particular recruitment exercise becomes slightly more demanding.

Sykes Global Services, a customer contact management solutions firm working in the business process outsourcing (BPO) arena, began working with a new client, a consumer electronics company. Jill Patterson, senior manager, HR, UK at Sykes, told Recruiter: “Our challenge was attracting quality candidates with excellent language and customer service skills within tight deadlines…

Nordic languages are particularly difficult to recruit [for] and we

“The event had stirred up so much interest that we even had journalists on the day itself” JULIE CALISIR

had a significant requirement for [this] new client.”

Sykes had worked with Edinburgh-based Search Consultancy for around seven years. One of two recruitment suppliers used by Sykes, Search’s Julie Calisir, director of call and contact centre and office services, suggested using an in-country campaign in Sweden to attract quality candidates.

“The main challenge was a lack of candidate availability in the local market,” Calisir told Recruiter.

“We also had a limited timescale in which to recruit the required number of candidates in line with the deadline set by Sykes.

Sykes also had to comply with the timescales set by its own client, as this was a brand new client launch for them also.”

Calisir explained that with the need for multilingual staff on the rise, consultants already have to use a variety of methods to reach out to multilingual talent across the UK and beyond. “At Search, we make use of multiple means of contact to get in touch with the best candidates, from using UK and international jobs boards and language-specific job boards to liaising with universities and colleges, broadcasting across social media and circulating flyers in hotels and hostels,” she said.

The firm has a UK-wide internal database of contacts but in addition contacts local job centres, operates a candidate referral programme and ensures

Search has a presence at online international jobs fairs — as well as using traditional newspaper campaigns. “However,” Calisir admitted, “the Sykes campaign required us to take an even more innovative approach over and above this.”

THE SOLUTION Previously, through networking in Sweden and the recruiter’s relationship with EURES, a European jobs network run by the European Commission, Search had built up strong contacts in Sweden. “These contacts also had expertise in international relocation and had carried out a similar process on many occasions previously, albeit not for relocations to Edinburgh,” Calisir said. “We worked in partnership with our newlyestablished contacts in Sweden and arranged to visit the country with Sykes in April to hold an open day/jobs fair.”

The jobs fair was advertised across the whole of South Sweden, targeting more than 9m Swedes by post, email, official Swedish government websites, social media outlets such as Facebook, direct contacts and even television advertising. Calisir added: “On the day, the event had stirred up so much interest that we even had journalists at the event itself.”

Patterson was impressed. “The trip was a huge success,” she told Recruiter. “Presentations were

Julie Calisir Director

shown, interviews conducted and offers made. In addition, the [Swedish] agency Search worked with was able to offer relocation expenses to the candidates which supported their decision to move to Edinburgh. The results ensured we were able to deliver to our client’s expectations.” Patterson said that Sykes then provided training to upskill Swedish candidates to support Norwegian customer calls.

Search also helped manage candidate relocation to Scotland, which required additional support in terms of ensuring candidate commitment and understanding about the company, the city, the culture and costs of living in Scotland, Patterson explained.

“Our client required the intake of candidates to coincide with planned training dates, and all successful candidates had to go through our own screening tools, in addition to the screening tests Search conducts.”

So despite not having an office in Sweden, thanks to Search Consultancy’s Swedish open day, within 10 days Sykes had 10 candidates starting for the client company. Patterson said: “In the early stages, Search was primarily our supplier for UK positions.”

However, “given the complexity of our clients’ business and our varied language requirements”, Search “quickly took strategic action to conquer the multilingual market and is now highly experienced in this sector”.

Would you like to be involved in The Challenge? Contact Vanessa Townsend at vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2014

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06/11/2014 15:33

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Insight

Revealed: the sorcery of Sourcing 2014 ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL ROLES WITHIN TALENT ACQUISITION IS THAT OF THE SOURCER, WHO FINDS SUITABLE, QUALIFIED AND INTERESTED TALENT AND BRINGS THEM TO THE TABLE.

A survey of 328 Sourcers around the world was undertaken this year by online and social media training firm Social Talent and Alexander Mann Solutions, provider of talent acquisition and management services. Here’s the lowdown on Sourcing, taken from the 2014 Global Sourcing Survey.

What makes a great online Sourcer?

2-4 Years

3% 26%

Sourcers with 2-4 years’ experience performed most consistently

Sourcers using paid LinkedIn accounts scored 26% higher than those who don’t

12% 7%

On average, third party Sourcers scored 3% higher than those who work In-House

Sourcers from the Asia Pacific region scored higher than the global average

Sourcers in the IT sector scored up to 12% higher than those in other sectors

Which social networks are Sourcers using?

SURVEY BY SOCIAL TALENT AND ALEXANDER MANN SOLUTIONS. DESIGN: CRAIG BOWYER

96%

37%

52%

55%

How many LinkedIn Connections does the average Sourcer have?

20%

Less than 500

53%

501 - 2,000

23%

Are Sourcers using instant messaging?

27%

<M

2,001-10,000

essages

essaging

Instant m

Contact

ular

pop The most tools are:

How are Sourcers engaging with passive candidates?

38%

21% 6%

30% InMail WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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Connect (LinkedIn)

4%

(13%) 1. WeChat (8%) ge 2. iMessa pp (7%) 3. WhatsA ) % (4 er ib V .

4 %) 5. Line (4

Email

Phone RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2014

27

06/11/2014 16:09

Investing in Talent Awards 2014

Top recruiters lead by example

Recruiter’s inaugural Investing in Talent Awards 2014 recognised the vital role that individuals at all levels in the recruitment industry make to the success of their organisations through inspiring others around them, by building a workplace environment in which everyone can thrive and making a difference to the reputation of the industry.

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PHOTOS: AKIN FALOPE

THE THREE INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES AT THE INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS ARE PROOF POSITIVE THAT GREAT COMPANIES ARE LED BY GREAT PEOPLE. COLIN COTTELL MET UP WITH THE WINNERS AFTER THE EVENT

Cream of the recruitment crop: (l-r) Adam Knight (TXM Recruit), Tom O’Loughlin (Nicoll Curtin Technology) and Guy Hayward (Goodman Masson)

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Investing in Talent Awards 2014

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RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2014

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06/11/2014 16:28

Investing in Talent Awards 2014

MOST INSPIRING LEADER GUY HAYWARD, CEO, GOODMAN MASSON Guy Hayward, chief executive of finance recruiter Goodman Masson, won the award for Most Inspiring Leader. According to the judges, Hayward “stands out as a leader who is visionary, strategic and seeking to differentiate his business as a place where people want to work and give of their best”.

Hayward was recognised for championing employee engagement internally and externally, and for his commitment to treat the firm’s employees better than any other business in the UK. “There is no doubt in my view that there is a correlation between high levels of employee engagement, retention and therefore business performance. And so you have to ask yourself, ‘how does one create employee engagement?’,” Hayward tells Recruiter after picking up the Award. Among myriad ideas and initiatives, driven from conception to reality by Hayward, was the unusual step of registering The Experience ® — his approach to employee engagement — as a trademark.

By his own admission, many of Hayward’s ideas are “quirky”, though he prefers the word “unconventional”. And not all go unchallenged. The idea of closing the office at 3.30pm on Fridays prompted the “biggest discussion” along the lines of “hang on a minute”, he says. However, 18 months on, Hayward can look back on this as an example of how he was able to take the company with him — his hunch that there would be no loss in productivity or performance confirmed

by rigorous business performance metrics before and after.

When asked what constitutes leadership, Hayward highlights the importance of openness. “In our industry, the more open you can be, the more trusting your staff are of you, and the more they will do for you,” he says. Not for him “the obvious answers” of working hard, which is a given, and leading by example. “Those are a bit dated,” he says.

Openness and honesty are also qualities he looks for in his management team. “By being open and honest about their performance you can identify the good things they have done and the skills gaps they have, and then the person improves,” he explains. “If the boss can help their career, that is real leadership,” he adds.

Comments from Goodman Masson staff, taken from Hayward’s Award entry, are testimony that his passion for their development and well-being is recognised inside the company. “Guy is unique in how he operates, his vision to treat his people better than any other business in the UK inspires me,” is a typical comment.

There is certainly a paternalistic aspect to how his staff see him. Or as Hayward himself summarises it: “It is not just ‘let’s make some money’, it’s actually ‘Guy will look after you’.”

The judges noted Hayward’s role in demonstrating the link between treating staff well, employee engagement and business performance, beyond the confines of the recruitment industry, including through speaking and lecturing.

If inspiring leadership is about having a dream, and spreading it far and wide for all to hear, no one can accuse Hayward of falling short in that regard. “I would love everybody to wake up every morning and think ‘My god, I am going to work, how good is that going to be’. I do think the industry has a role to play in that,” he says.

“I WOULD LOVE EVERYBODY TO WAKE UP EVERY MORNING AND THINK ‘MY GOD, I AM GOING TO WORK, HOW GOOD IS THAT GOING TO BE” GUY HAYWARD

MOST INSPIRING NEWCOMER ADAM KNIGHT, CONSULTANT, TXM RECRUIT After just two years at global engineering recruitment firm TXM Recruit, Adam Knight is already a role model within the company, according to the judges, who praised his willingness to help colleagues to achieve their targets, even those outside his immediate team. They also praised his commitment to going the extra mile for clients and candidates, and colleagues.

In a highly competitive category, Knight’s achievement is even more remarkable given that after his first day he almost gave up the job in despair at his inability to work his

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“I DON’T THINK IT IS JUST HOW MUCH WE BILL, YOU NEED TO BE PUTTING BACK INTO THE BUSINESS AS WELL” ADAM KNIGHT

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Investing in Talent Awards 2014

new computer. It was only thanks to the efforts of his wife,who persuaded him to complete his first week, that he stayed. He has never looked back, and two years on, it is not simply the fact that he is on target to deliver £380k net fee income this year that marks him out and inspires his colleagues.

One of his ideas, to shadow successful candidates in order to understand what they do, has been adopted by colleagues in other parts of the company. “I don’t think it is just how much we bill, you need to be putting back into the business as well,” he says. Knight himself has taken that to heart, sitting new recruits down on their first day, and explaining what he has achieved and how he has done it. “Not in a big-headed way,” he hastens to add. He says he tells new recruits ‘I don’t want you to be a mirror image of me, this is what I believe, take what you want out of it’.

Knight puts his success down to his ferocious work ethic. “I do a good shift,” he says modestly of his regular 13-hour days. He also mentions his willingness to learn and improve himself. And he is happy to accept that he epitomises the company name T (The), X (Extra), M (Mile). But perhaps it is his stock phrase “if I can do it anybody can” that best sums him up and the effect he has on those around him.

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MOST INSPIRING TEAM LEADER/ MANAGER TOM O’LOUGHLIN, SWITZERLAND MANAGER, NICOLL CURTIN TECHNOLOGY Since Tom O’Loughlin, Nicoll Curtin Technology’s Switzerland manager, took over the Zurich-based team just over a year ago, the office has moved from a £200k loss in 2013 to a £210k profit in the first six months of 2014. However, as the judges note, it is not just the financial transformation of the Swiss business but the way that O’Loughlin has inspired others to deliver it that marks him out as an inspiring team leader. The judges highlighted his “great leadership presence”, his focus on people development and on collaborative working.

Speaking to Recruiter, O’Loughlin described his approach to turning around the Swiss business. “The most important thing I did was to strip back to the fundamental things we needed to do in the business,” he says. After that came the vision of where the company wanted to get to, and a plan. “We make sure that everybody knows the plan, and are bought into it, and that they move along within the plan as well,” he says.

The hallmark of O’Loughlin’s leadership style is that it is consultative and open. “The best way to get people bought into tough decisions is to get them involved in the decision-making process in the first place,” he says. And staff are much more likely to buy into the vision if they are given reasons for decisions that affect them.

Leadership is also about knowing each of your people as individuals. “Rather than ‘I am going to lead the team in this way, and everybody needs to be on board with that’, it is more ‘how will soand-so react if I do that’, and ‘how can I do that in a different way’,” he says.

The judges remarked on how O’Loughlin showed a willingness to trust his staff and to let go. “We try to give people at whatever stage the autonomy to run their own day, their own week and their own strategy in the way they go forward, albeit under guidance.”

This is something he says he himself has benefited from in his stellar rise in the company, and that now through his leadership he is passing on to others.

“WE MAKE SURE THAT EVERYBODY KNOWS THE PLAN, AND ARE BOUGHT INTO IT, AND THAT THEY MOVE ALONG WITHIN THE PLAN AS WELL” TOM O’LOUGHLIN

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/11/2014 16:12

THE GLOBAL SAP SOLUTIONS PROVIDER www.redsapsolutions.com

WorkForRED@redsapsolutions.com

IS IT YOU WE’RE LOOKING FOR? Good recruitment specialists are rare. Great ones are even rarer. We know, because we already employ many of the best in the industry. At RED, our employees have a unique and infectious passion for the business, and we’re as committed to our colleagues as we are to our clients. We make sure that all of our people are able to focus on doing what they do best, whether it’s delivery, sales, account management or people management.

Hard work never goes unnoticed and success is rewarded with fast-track career progression and bonus benefits that are the envy of our competitors.

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Is it time for a change? To find out, ask yourself these three questions: • Do you want to earn more money?

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06/11/2014 16:35

Investing in Talent Awards 2014

Flying high THE JUDGES WERE IMPRESSED BY A MOTIVATION SCHEME THAT TREATS HIGH PERFORMERS LIKE ROCK STARS, WITH REWARDS INCLUDING TRIPS TO LAS VEGAS It is no exaggeration to say that 360 Resourcing Solutions treats high-performing staff like rock stars.

The retail and hospitality recruiter’s motivation scheme, which won it the prize for Most Effective Team Motivation Event at Recruiter’s inaugural Investing in Talent Awards, is inspired by the glamour and excess of Las Vegas.

Awards judges praised the firm’s motivation scheme for being inspirational and exciting, while containing easily understood targets geared to the individual.

Open to all employees, the scheme comprises of two main elements: monthly awards, including meals out, a Porsche for the weekend and leisure and retail vouchers; and company-wide rewards – the latest of which is a five-star luxury trip to Las Vegas in Nevada. The sales teams have to generate a gross profit of £12,000 to qualify for the monthly Elvis-themed awards, and achieve £100,000 over the year to board the plane to Las Vegas in March.

Meanwhile, non-sales staff can earn can earn ‘rock star’ points for monthly and company-wide awards by hitting five key performance indicators (KPIs) each month. They need to accumulate 100 over the financial year to secure a place on the Las Vegas trip. Managers can also award extra bonus points for employees who go above and beyond the call of duty, come up with good ideas or get great feedback from clients.

Stephen Rundell, chief executive of 360 Resourcing Solutions, tells Recruiter he wanted to ensure the motivation strategy included all staff and not just those that worked in sales. “I was trying to make it inclusive.

At every agency I’ve worked before, [motivation] was all about sales people. [In recruitment] we have got 70% sales people, 30% non-sales. I’ve always felt a bit guilty when [non-sales] were left out of some of the fun stuff,” he says.

Rundell adds it is typical in recruitment to reward the top 5% of the workforce, and he wanted the 360 scheme to recognise the achievements of a much larger group. “It was about trying to make the incentive and target achievable for everybody,” he says.

A lot of effort was made to communicate the motivation scheme to staff. A cinema was booked to present what was happening to employees, who could also go to a rock-star themed party and take part in an air guitar competition. Banners and posters promoting the scheme are also on display in the office.

Planes representing each staff member are used to chart their progress – in terms not only of targets but also across the Atlantic – on a board in the office.

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Meanwhile, monthly leader boards show who is ‘on time’, ‘delayed’ or ready to ‘go to gate’.

“Every month we look at people’s figures, activities and KPIs [key performance indicators]. They then get moved through 12 time zones, which reflects the 12 months of the year and shows how much closer they are to Las Vegas, whether they are on time, ahead of time or behind and need to catch up,” says Rundell.

360 Resourcing Solutions may have ploughed £20,000 into the initiative, but the firm is already starting to see a return on investment. During a six-month period, average billing per recruitment consultant has increased by 20% and the speed to competency of new hires has increased by 40%.

Full financial return on investment will be measured by comparing the performance of staff during 2014/15 with what was achieved in 2013/14. The firm will also measure whether staff retention rates have improved, and conduct an employee engagement survey to find out which incentives motivate staff most effectively.

While employees’ success in the casinos will depend on good luck, their employer has certainly not taken a gamble when it comes to developing an effective workplace motivation strategy.

NICOLA SULLIVAN

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/11/2014 15:35

Investing in Talent Awards 2014

In it for the long term Grovelands works hard to form long-term relationships with its contractors and where possible offers them the kinds of benefits and support services that are on par to those enjoyed by permanent employees.

The recruiter’s strong approach to relationship management and an impressive range of support for contractors grabbed the attention of judges at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards. It took the top prize for the Best Contractor Care (UK) category. Although only five years old, the firm was thought to have a package that matched ‘more seasoned’ companies operating in the same market.

From the get-go, Grovelands, which specialises in financial services, consultancy and technology roles, finds out what a contractor’s career aspirations are so that it can place them on projects that are aligned with their long-term goals.

Once a suitable project has been identified, candidates are guided through the application process and as soon as possible undergo a preemployment screening conducted by the firm’s compliance team. This means they are ready to start work straight away if they are selected for a position.

Once in role, the contractor is supported by Groveland’s dedicated relationship management team.

There is a manager for every client site to address queries relating to several issues, including umbrella companies and career development. The relationship manager also provides HR services for the contractors.

Lauren Maidens from Grovelands tells Recruiter: “Typically each week I’ll go up on site. I’ll let people know I’m coming so if they have any issues they

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can book in a meeting with me and we can go through what it is that they need.”

She adds: “I work very closely with graduate contractors, who nine times out of 10 are with umbrella companies, and that’s when they really need more support. It is really new to them.”

The relationship management service was found to be so beneficial that a manager works with one of the recruiter’s largest clients on a permanent basis.

This arrangement has improved the performances of contractors and resulted in multiple extensions to their contracts.

When it comes to benefits, Grovelands has got it covered. Not only does it organise welcome drinks, lunches and Christmas parties, but it also offers non-monetary target-based incentives, such as trips to Thorpe Park theme park or bowling. The incentives vary according to job role.

Salary increases are closely tied with career progression. Grovelands has implemented a competency plan for one of its largest clients which is designed to help graduates move from telephone roles to case-handling roles.

Through its ‘graduate academy’ programme, Grovelands provides long-term contracts, which allow graduates to gain a professional qualification.

Maidens says: “The relationship with both our clients and contractors is something we are proud of. We have contractors who have been working on completely different projects for years and years and will continue to do so. They come off a project and we will automatically place them on another, because they are so trusted.”

NICOLA SULLIVAN

PHOTO: AKIN FALOPE

STRONG RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AND A WIDE ARRAY OF SUPPORT WON GROVELANDS ITS PRIZE FOR BEST CONTRACTOR CARE (UK)

Kim McInally received the award for Grovelands at the ceremony

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Bouncing back ‘DISGRACEFUL’ TREATMENT AT AN EARLY EMPLOYER INSPIRED THE FOUNDER OF DP CONNECT TO FOCUS ON FLEXIBLE WORKING AT HER OWN COMPANY

PHOTO: AKIN FALOPE

When Toni Cocozza, then a sales manager at an IT recruiter, fell pregnant, she suffered “shocking and disgraceful” treatment from her employers.

Her response: to leave and set up her own awardwinning IT recruitment company, DP Connect.

36

Her experiences, and the creation of a flexible working policy in her own business, saw the company pick up the Most Effective Flexible Working Strategy at Recruiter’s inaugural Investing in Talent Awards.

The company has progressed from humble beginnings – a converted room above a garage – to a company with a turnover of £18m, and a presence in three UK cities, on the brink of European expansion. It is also going through “quite a lot of internal growth with new team leaders that we’re bringing on and new divisions that we’re expanding into” Cocozza says.

Speaking to Recruiter, Cocozza says her first employees were a mother returning to work, a young YTS (apprentice) and two women who did canvassing from their homes.

Flexible working was something rooted in the company from day one, she says. “Today, out of our top 10 sales people, five are part-time, flexible workers who are still very successful . Out of our sales consultants something like 15% are made up of part-time or flexi workers, and 15% are on our apprenticeship scheme.”

The strategy is available to all staff and includes parttime and remote working, compressed working weeks and job share, as well as flexible hours. It not only aims to remove traditional restrictions and expand the choice of working arrangements but to improve diversity and inclusion as well.

“A lot of people say to me that flexi working is all about females but I’m talking about males there as well.

So, we have a lot of men who get involved. The wives might think they work too hard, so if they work

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four days instead of five, it seems to encourage that work-life balance and the reason we do it is it makes happy staff. Happy staff stay with us and happy staff make us more money, so it’s a win-win situation,” Cocozza says.

This approach leads to greater staff retention too – staff working flexibly stay in post for an average of 14 years, compared to the industry average of 5.4 years.

Another good thing about DP Connect, Cocozza says, is that the “organisation chart is upside down”.

“We think of management as pushing staff forward to be the best people that they can be, but also supporting them in those hard times. We’ve been through three recessions, and we made tough decisions to hold onto people when they were having a tough time if they’d been with us for a long time.

“It’s all about realising that [a] recruitment agency is only as good as the people that are out there speaking to your clients every day. It is a competitive world at the moment. Everybody is looking for good consultants, so we make sure that we value them for being the people that pay my mortgage and send my kids to good schools.”

Cocozza, the company and consultants were previously winners of the Best IT Recruitment Firm category at Recruiter’s inaugural Recruiter Awards for Excellence in 2002 and again in 2007.

Judges said that the company was the clear winner in the category and stood out for “having an approach to flexible working that is part of the company DNA”.

SARAH MARQUET

“THE REASON WE DO IT IS IT MAKES HAPPY STAFF. HAPPY STAFF STAY WITH US AND HAPPY STAFF MAKE US A LOT MORE MONEY SO IT’S A WINWIN SITUATION” Toni Cocozza

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Be a part of our success story In 2014 Morgan Law is entering its 15th year of trading and the next phase of our growth strategy. We have grown consistently since being established and over the previous two years we have grown 50%. Since the incepƟon of the Hot 100 award Morgan Law have been in the Top 10 every year and we were awarded the No 1 Public Sector recruiter in 2012 and 2013. Our consultants consistently generate more fee income per head than our compeƟtors.

Our growth has been achieved by delivering the best service possible to our clients by employing the best consultants available on the market.

We retain our consultants by valuing each and every one of them, rewarding them highly and providing them with a career path. We have an enviable record of retaining our staī and oīer an aƩracƟve beneĮts package.

We are an approved supplier across the Public and Not for ProĮt sectors via the Crown Commercial Services recruitment frameworks. In our previous Įnancial year we successfully appointed to over 2000 vacancies across 500 individual clients.

Having completed our most recent Įnancial year, and having recorded annual growth of 35% we have promoted a number of individuals internally which has subsequently created opportuniƟes, on previously worked desks, across the following divisions: • • • • • • • •

Finance Human Resources MarkeƟng & CommunicaƟons InformaƟon Technology Project & Change Management OperaƟons Management Procurement & Estates NHS ContracƟng & Commissioning

If you feel that you would thrive in an environment that encourages Consultants to view their desk as their own business; a culture that rewards hard work and performance and can work as a member of a dynamic, high performing team then we would be very interested in meeƟng you. For an iniƟal discussion regarding any of the areas above please contact Gareth Elwin, Managing Director, on 0207474928 or email garethelwin@morgan-law.com

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NOVEMBER 2014

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06/11/2014 15:55

Operations Manager Remuneration Package negotiable depending on experience.

Jark plc is one of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading and largest independent recruitment consultancies. Established in 1996 and operating from 28 locations, we are looking for a forward thinking, passionate and empathetic recruiter to head up our Industrial and Driving sector in Scotland.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a capable and highly credible recruitment professional with a proven track record of sustained business growth. Reporting directly to the Group Managing Director you will be responsible for managing all aspects of the Business, including full P&L accountability, within a flexible, forward thinking and supportive management structure.

Ideally, you will have a comprehensive knowledge of both driving and industrial sectors along with a strong intellect to operate effectively in this role. In addition you will need well developed management skills and have the ability to lead, motivate and inspire to promote sales and growth.

This role will offer the successful applicant a market leading salary and benefits package in addition to an exceptional career development opportunity.

Please apply in the first instance with CV to Julie Gover, PA to Group Managing Director at jgover@jark.co.uk or telephone 01362 656136.

All applications will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.

Deadline of 28th November 2014.

www.jark.co.uk

PLAN YOUR NEXT MOVE

on the move See latest job listings Create job alerts by email Save and email jobs from mobile Apply for jobs by saving your CV to your profile Keep track of your activity

Âť Go to www.recruiter.co.uk/jobs WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2014

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TAKE DECEMBER OFF!

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06/11/2014 15:55

Movers & Shakers

ADVANCED RESOURCE •MANAGERS: The specialist

ALLEN ASSOCIATES: The •Oxfordshire-based recruitment

consultant has promoted Jacqui Dalziel and Hannah McIlvennie to managing consultants.

•

BIE EXECUTIVE: The executive •search firm has appointed

Richard King to its board.

Lynsey Dellet as its first marketing executive.

•

BUPA GLOBAL: The healthcare specialist has appointed James Dowling as head of resourcing.

CAREER MOVES: The multi•sector recruiter has hired Sara

Idris and Louise Sloane as account managers.

•

CONNECTIONS EMPLOYMENT AGENCY: The multi-sector

recruiter has appointed Tricia Bullman and Jonathan Dobkin as partners for its new brand, Halecroft Recruitment.

CT PARTNERS: The global •retained search firm has

appointed Michel Deschapelles as partner in Miami.

CONSULTING GROUP: •TheEAMES financial and professional

services recruiter has hired Guy Day as group chief operating officer and promoted Daniel Warwick to MD of its Singapore office.

• EXOTIX: The specialist merchant bank has hired Mica Palmstierna as global head of HR. JAMES: The global IT •salesFINLAY recruiter has promoted

James May to director of operations, Richard Gibbard to Manchester branch manager and Daniel Halkyard to a junior management position.

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

Expedient Recruitment Consultancy Recruitment or senior recruitment consultant IT sector £25k-£35k + commission Manchester

Amey, the public and regulated services provider, has appointed Ian Deninson as group HR and communications director.

He has been tasked with delivering the group’s HR strategy as well as driving the growth targets, maintaining high levels of employee engagement and developing the company’s talent management strategy.

He joins the company from his position as partner with April Strategy, which works with public and private organisations on specific projects including defining and embedding company values.

BEYOND SEARCH: The executive search firm has taken on John Doddrell as non-exec director.

BRIGHTWORK GROUP: The •Scottish recruiter has appointed

Your next move?

AMEY APPOINTS DENINSON HR DIRECTOR

technical recruiter has promoted John Dunaway and Leon Howgill to managing director roles in the specialist markets and corporate services divisions respectively.

•

FUTURESTEP: The subsidiary of recruitment group Korn Ferry has appointed Chong Ng president of Futurestep Asia Pacific, Sue Campbell MD for Asia and Tim Powell MD for Futurestep ANZ (Australia and New Zealand).

•

OPUS: The specialist IT and oil & gas recruiter has appointed Garie Dale as regional director for London.

HARVEY NASH: The executive •search firm has appointed

Andrew Simmonds associate director of its consumer practice in Asia.

CONSULTING GROUP: •ThePHARMA pharmaceutical recruitment

•

global executive search firm has appointed Angela Gardner as Los Angeles-based partner within the global consumer markets practice.

•

HYDROGEN GROUP: The global recruiter has appointed James Parker as associate director in its financial practice.

•

JWC: The risk professionals recruiter has hired Gary Dymant to head its permanent life sciences team.

•recruitment and leadership

LIVINGSTON JAMES: The global

advisory business has appointed Douglas Adam as practice lead for the public and not-for-profit sectors.

•

MACMILLAN DAVIES: The HR specialist recruiter has promoted Noreen Curtin to director and Catherine Osaigbovo to associate director.

Simply Executive Search Associate recruitment consultant Sales sector £20k basic OTE £40k in the first year South-East

•

PAGEGROUP: The global recruiter has promoted Paul Skyes to senior MD of Michael Page. It also appointed Jonathan Wiles MD of Page Executive.

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES: The

Pareto Law Recruitment manager/ team leader Medical/pharmaceutical sector £40k-£50k+comms+bens Hertfordshire

For more jobs, people moves and career advice go to

consultancy has hired Leslie Reeves as director of clinical recruitment.

• recruiter.co.uk/jobs • inhouserecruiterjobs.co.uk • internationalrecruiterjobs. com

RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYMENT •CONFEDERATION: Trade body REC

has appointed Ed Bates as a regional director for REC Wales.

•company for the in-house

RECONVERSE: The events

recruitment sector has appointed Melanie Hayes as non-executive director.

•

RUTHERFORD BRIANT RECRUITMENT: The accountancy

and HR specialist recruiter has appointed Stuart Allsopp as temporaries manager and Nicola Cutts as manager of the Essex permanent division.

•

talent acquisition EMEA/MEE.

•

SECURITAS: The security firm has appointed Valerie Dale as HR director.

•

SEVEN STEP RPO: The global recruitment process outsourcing provider has hired Amy Bush as vice president of global client services.

•

THE WORK SHOP: The multi-sector recruiter promoted Sammy Baker to manager of the Ringwood branch.

SAGE: The accounting software provider has appointed Andy Hill as global talent director.

VMA: The corporate •communications recruiter hired

•

WHITBREAD: The multinational •hospitality firm has hired Bridget

SAP: The software solutions provider has hired Ian Dykes as vice president and head of

James Attrell as head of practice.

Hutchinson as head of HR services.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short biography, to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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NOVEMBER 2014

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06/11/2014 16:40

Bloggers with Bite

OUR INDUSTRY IS BECOMING 50 SHADES OF FREE-FOR-ALL Sell-side recruitment increasingly resembles self-publishing in attracting have-a-go wannabes

W

hen EL James self-published the first volume of her erotic fiction trilogy 50 Shades of Grey in 2011, she had no way of knowing the effect she would have on both popular culture and the world of self-publishing. Thanks to this poster girl for selfpublishing, the allure of a six-figure publishing deal and worldwide film rights has created a stampede among amateur authors.

In July, I self-published my debut novel, a five-year labour of love called Aquinas. In doing so, I threw my hat into the ring with all the other hopefuls, waiting expectantly for a publishing house to sail by and throw me a lifesaver.

“But what has this got to do with recruitment?”

I hear you cry. Well, I now realise that there is a distinct similarity between the sell-side recruitment industry and the world of self-publishing: the total absence of barriers to entry.

In the same way that, technically, anybody can call themselves a recruitment consultant, anybody who writes a document and loads it up online can legitimately call themselves a published author.

Authors face no requirement for their work to be original, of a certain quality or even readable. Take a cursory glance at a few of these works on Amazon. co.uk and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

For example, there are hundreds of naff rip-offs, shamelessly apeing the publishing successes of the recent past — if I see another series of teenage vampire love stories, or another sadomasochistic erotic trilogy, I will scream.

During my 16 years in recruitment, I have been both a seller and a buyer of recruitment talent.

Recently, I came across Alex Dawson’s novel, Aquinas, is available to download at amazon.co.uk. He has spent the last 16 years in recruitment, working for companies such as Robert Walters, Mentor IMC and Lord Search & Selection. He has also run his own recruitment firm

TO POST YOUR COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

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four profiles of recruiters that particularly stood out.

They all worked for the same company, they all had less than six months’ experience, and they all had the same job title: recruitment consultant. Their previous job titles had been: trainee beautician, cabin crew assistant, call centre operative and baker’s assistant.

Now don’t think of me as a snob. I genuinely believe that everybody should have the right to change career direction. But seriously, I struggle to feel any pride when faced with the reality that a kid who was knocking out a few thousand iced buns one day can then call himself my professional peer the next.

Our industry struggles with a poor self-image.

No matter what level we work at, or what level of professionalism we espouse, we will always be judged by the lowest common denominator. And as long as recruitment remains an unregulated industry with no entry requirements, there will always be thousands of eager hopefuls chasing the recruitment dream, and in the process diluting and tarnishing its reputation.

Cream rises to the top, and it shouldn’t matter if your talents and output are recruitment services or an e-book published online. However, many of my seasoned sell-side recruiter friends still respond in euphemistic code when asked what they do for a living. They’re conflicted by the transient nature of their chosen career sector. Put your hand up if you have never hesitated when responding to that same question. If your arm is vertical right now, you’re a better person than me.

In the future, will aspiring authors feel the same way — embarrassed to be part of an industry that should be respected and admired, but that is increasingly dominated by have-a-go amateurs?

No one has asked me recently ‘what do you do?’ But when it happens (and it will), I am genuinely not sure what my answer will be. Recruitment consultant? Selfpublished author? Maybe I’ll just change the subject and curse EL James under my breath.

I struggle to feel pride when a kid knocking out iced buns one day can then call himself my peer the next What would you like to have a rant about?

Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

In December: Recruitment technology Game Changers 2014 WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/11/2014 15:37

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05/11/2014 15:17

60%

OF CEOS

LISTED INNOVATION AS THEIR COMPANY’S PRIMARY FOCUS.

YET, 93% USE THE SAME SOCIAL NETWORK FOR HIRING.

1

LACK OF

47%OF THE

TECHNICAL SKILLS

IS THE #1 REASON EMPLOYERS HAVE TROUBLE FILLING JOBS. MEANING THE NERDS HAVE EVEN MORE POWER THAN WE THOUGHT.

2

WORKFORCE

PLANS TO LOOK FOR A

NEW JOB

THIS YEAR.

WHICH, BY HUMAN

NATURE, MAKES THE

OTHER 53% INTRODUCING

MORE ATTRACTIVE TO YOUR BUSINESS.

3

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1. PWC Global CEO Pulse Survey, 2013; 2. ManPower Talent Shortage Survey, 2013; 3. Investors in People, Dec 2013 - http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/press

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