Recruiter - December 2017

December 2017

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

www.recruiter.co.uk

Business intelligence for recruitment and resourcing professionals

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C R ONT ENT S 36

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INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

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NEWS

05 HCL founder Kate Bleasdale passes away The death of one of recruitment’s most colourful and controversial characters 06 Talent Intelligence Summit LinkedIn highlights the importance of data and machine learning in the future recruitment process

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18 THE BIG STORY A question of identity

Recruiters explore their own needs for an attractive employer brand

24 Spotlight on winners

What makes an Investing in Talent Award winner?

07 Start-up of the Month: CandiRight Amanda Shand and Amy Scott on their new venture 08 This was the month that was...

10 Contracts & Deals

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TRENDS

12 Insight Seven lessons in a year of change

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Tech & Tools Is your unsecured site turning away candidates?

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28 Getting inside in-house recruiters Why better use of technology matters

07 Recruiters need to rise to the AI challenge Adecco Group’s Marcus Sawyerr calls for action

FEATURES

E COMMUNITY 33 Social Network 34 Business Advice 35 Community Careers: Tara Lescott 36 My brilliant recruitment career: Chris Atiyah, EngTal 38 Recruitment Advertising 40 Movers & Shakers 41 Recruiter Contacts 42 The Last Word: Heather DeLand, TMP Worldwide

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INTERACTION Viewpoint Sheri Hughes, OpenPage, PageGroup Soundbites

I M AG E S | S H UT T ER STO C K / ISTO C K / A K IN FA LO P E / IKO N / C A R MEN VALINO

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UPDATE

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LEADER

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“At the other end of the scale, the past six weeks have been tantamount to a Greek tragedy in global news”

BY COLIN COTTELL

KATE BLEASDALE, the founder of healthcare recruiter Healthcare Locums, has died. Recruiter understands that she died at home in Surrey from a brain tumour. She leaves her husband John Cariss, and four sons, Tom, Daniel, Jack and Ben. Bleasdale began her recruitment career in 1987 after borrowing money from her parents, before going on to found HCL in 2003.

By 2010, turnover at HCL reached £172m after a series of acquisitions.

Controversially, these included the £6.7m purchase of Redwood Health, a company belonging to Bleasdale’s husband, Cariss, despite a warning by Redwood Health’s auditors, who highlighted “the existence of a material uncertainty, which may cast doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

However, despite concern over this deal, Bleasdale kept the confidence of the City, which supported a £130m refinancing in 2010 to fund a takeover of a healthcare recruiter in Australia. However, huge accounting irregularities were found in the accounts weeks later and HCL’s shares were suspended, later to plummet.

Following these events, Bleasdale was dismissed from her role as executive chairman at HCL. This led to an ultimately unsuccessful £12m claim by Bleasdale for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

Former healthcare recruiter Craig Tibbles, whose company Orion Locums was acquired by Bleasdale in June 2009, told Recruiter Bleasdale was “a very strong character with a very strong vision. She was a very dynamic lady”.

“It was that mixture of her nursing background and her entrepreneurial flair that made her successful,” he added.

▲

ow do you build resilience in an organisation? That question was raised often at a London business event last week. A most compelling speaker offered three key characteristics that must be present for an organisation to survive and thrive in challenging conditions: a staunch acceptance of reality, an uncanny ability to improvise, and a deep belief that life is meaningful.

Resilient organisations also invest in their people. In addition to mini-profiles of Investing in Talent Award winners Amoria Bond and CJUK, we feature contributions from leaders of fellow Investing in Talent Award-winning companies Eames Consulting, PageGroup and Goodman Masson whose articles highlight the kind of thinking which led to their awards. Be inspired.

At the other end of the scale, the past six weeks have been tantamount to a Greek tragedy in global news, with power brokers who have flown so close to the sun brought down through their own hubris and victimisation of others – in entertainment, politics and beyond. While much focus has been on predatory sexual behaviour, the bottom line is really bullying.

To recruiters we say, don’t do it, don’t look the other way if it is happening, don’t reward it, and don’t put up with it.

HCL founder dies

DeeDee Doke, Editor

IM AGE | ROB CLAYTON

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UPDATE

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36,325 FOLLOWERS AS OF 9 NOVEMBER 2017

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Tibbles recalls how after two unsuccessful attempts HCL’s acquisition of Orion Locums finally came about. “I met with her and her husband for lunch and at the end of it she said, ‘It’s about time I bought your company’. I said, ‘Make me an offer’, and the following day she did.”

After agreeing a deal, Tibbles said he ended up “being acquired with the company on a two-year contract, working with Kate and senior management”.

Tibbles said he “lost a lot of money on the deal” because of the financial problems at HCL, but he and Bleasdale remained friends, he added.

Bleasdale’s career experienced spectacular highs and deep lows. After founding medical recruitment company Match Group, Bleasdale oversaw its growth into a £185m company.

But in 2002 she won a record-breaking £2.2m for unfair dismissal and sexual harassment at the company after the directors agreed an out-of-court settlement. The one-time nurse had claimed that the behaviour of three board members left her “severely depressed and close to a nervous breakdown”.

A recent low point was in April 2015, when she was made a bankrupt, along with her husband Cariss, following a dispute with a former business partner, Debbie Forster, over unpaid debts of £4m.

Bleasdale’s death on 20 September 2017 was confirmed by Joanne Milner, a trustee in bankruptcy, who is responsible for paying Bleasdale’s creditors. ●

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Talent intelligence to replace passive recruiting

BY COLIN COTTELL

THE DAYS OF PASSIVE RECRUITING are coming to an end and will be replaced by a focus on using technology to leverage vast swathes of data, according to the vice president of talent solutions at LinkedIn. Speaking to recruiters at LinkedIn’s Talent Intelligence Summit in London, Dan Shapiro said: “Whereas the last 10 years of recruiting has been a race to figure out how to leverage passive recruiting tools to your advantage, the next 10 years is going to be about how do we take data leveraged by AI [artificial intelligence] and machine learning to rethink every step in the recruiting process to create automation, personalisation and deeper insights.”

Shapiro added: “We have more data than ever before but we need more intelligence. Modern recruitment will be based on two core competencies: one, how to hire recruiters with great instincts; and two, how do we marry this instinct with insight?

“Talent intelligence will be the strategy for the next 10 years, and we believe it will be a game changer.”

Shapiro’s remarks came as LinkedIn announced the launch of a new product, LinkedIn Talent Insights, which is designed to leverage LinkedIn’s vast database of 530m candidates and 11m job postings on the site.

Eric Owski, LinkedIn’s head of product, talent insights and talent brand, told the audience the product will be

launched next summer.

Owski explained that the product was designed to provide detailed answers in real time to recruiter queries. For example, a query using the term ‘electrical engineer’ could reveal how many electrical engineers are located nearby, and the number who changed their jobs recently. And it could also reveal which employers were hiring electrical engineers and which employers were losing them. “All this is available from one simple query,” explained Owski.

Earlier, Jon Addison (pictured, above), head of talent solutions at LinkedIn UK, told the audience three important trends were driving the recruitment market across Europe. He identified these as AI and automation, skills gaps and the rise of independent work.

Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news 09/11/2017 16:04

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THOUGHTS FROM…

UPDATE

PETER GOLD, PRINC IPAL CONSULTANT, CORNERSTONE OND EMA N D, SPEAKING TO MEMBERS OF THE FIRM

“Most of the people you work with in your organisation will become robots.”

Recruiters need to rise to the AI challenge

BY COLIN COTTELL

DEON BINNEMAN, REPU TATION EXPERT

“The quickest way to change the culture of an organisation is to replace the CEO.”

PETER POWER ,

I MAG E | PA L H A NS E N / PA

C RISIS MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST, VISOR CONS ULTA N T S

“The worst team in a crisis is made up of people who all think the same – because no one will challenge, innovate, look sideways, come up with alternative ideas, or sub divide to predict how the crisis might look tomorrow, while the rest focus on the here and now”

RECRUITERS MUST PREPARE THEMSELVES for the rise and rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment, according to Adecco Group’s global lead for digital transformation and innovation.

Marcus Sawyerr (pictured, above), president at Adecco Group X, told recruiters at the LinkedIn Talent Intelligence Summit in London that in order to be ready for when AI reached “full maturity” across recruitment “in between two and five years”, action was needed both at the company level and at the level of recruiters’ individual skills.

He explained how Adecco had used a combination of a chatbot overlaid with AI to help a client plan shifts for 40,000 warehouse workers. However, to successfully adopt AI across recruitment as a whole, Sawyerr suggested the following: • Understand AI within the function and how AI could automate existing tasks. An example was writing job descriptions.

• Have a clear AI strategy, and have it owned by someone in your office.

• Deal with potential obstacles, such as skills shortages, and issues of data privacy emanating from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). An important obstacle will be managing staff “who don’t want their job to change”, as a result of AI and automation, he said. ●

STA RT-UP OF THE MONTH AMANDA SHAND AND AMY SCOTT HAVE LAUNCHED JOB-MATCHING PLATFORM CANDIRIGHT WHICH, BY RATING COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN THE COMPANIES’ AND CANDIDATES’ REQUIREMENTS, AIMS TO REDUCE STAFF TURNOVER, UNDER-PERFORMANCE AND/ OR MISEMPLOYMENT BY IDENTIFYING THE MOST SUITABLE PEOPLE AT THE EARLIEST STAGE. The platform does this through use of a real-time matching engine, which checks values and attributes supplied against those

entered for each job and flags up matches as they occur.

“Key to CandiRight’s future success is that jobseekers can sign up to the system, whether or not they are actively looking for a job,” said Shand (pictured, left).

“The platform works for passive job hunters and those who are career-curious as much as those who actively want a new challenge. And because it keeps all details anonymous, no one will even know that they are looking, unless and until they accept an offer for interview.”

The platform removes the need for candidates to have tailored versions of their CV for various applications, while matched candidates are anonymously presented to employers. The system deliberately removes any characteristics that may lead to unconscious bias in the early stages of recruitment, said Shand.

The platform has been launched with future development in mind: “We have made a conscious decision to launch with a lean version of the platform... enabling us to test the market.”

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THIS WAS THE MONTH THAT WAS… Here is a round-up of some of the most popular news stories we have brought you on recruiter.co.uk since the November issue of Recruiter was published O C T O B E R •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→

TUE, 24 OCTOBER 2017

‘RACIST’ SOUTH AFRICAN JOB AD SERVES AS WARNING TO RECRUITERS SUBCONTRACTING WORK

MON, 23 OCTOBER 2017

RECRUITMENT DIRECTOR DISQUALIFIED FOR 10 YEARS The director of a recruitment agency, found to have supplied illegal workers, has been banned for 10 years.

Shane Zeb Khattak has been disqualified from acting as a director for 10 years, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

In a statement, the service revealed the secretary of state for business energy & industrial strategy Greg Clark had accepted a disqualification undertaking from Khattak, which started on 2 October 2017.

Khattak, acting as a director for recruitment and payroll provider Recruitment Base (UK), was found to have failed to ensure that the company complied with obligations around immigration checks, resulting in the firm employing 11 illegal workers.

Khattak was also found to have been acting as a director of the business, while being an undischarged bankrupt without leave of the Court from 13 March 2015 until its liquidation.

Recruiters have been warned to tread carefully when subcontracting work in light of a ‘racist’ job advert placed on behalf of a South African TV channel.

South African news site Channel 24 reported South African TV channel M-Net had parted ways with recruitment agency Ambit Recruitment.

According to Channel 24, an ad was placed for a job at M-Net that read: “We are specifically looking for a white, English-speaking commissioning editor as this role is for someone who will produce soapies [sic] and programmes in this specific demographic.”

M-Net told local media it had not authorised the advert, claiming the process had been managed by Ambit Recruitment, who had subcontracted another group without M-Net’s consent.

Employment lawyers told Recruiter the case serves to prove the importance of agencies being as clear as possible about their requirements when subcontracting work to other firms.  More: http://bit.ly/2h9AwPO

 More: http://bit.ly/2y7Igsv

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RULES TO STOP RECRUITER BANTER TURNING INTO SEXUAL HARASSMENT Recruiters have been warned to ensure they have the right training and procedures in place to guard against banter on the sales floor escalating into sexual harassment and tribunals.

The warnings follow findings from a BBC Radio 5 live survey of 2,031 British adults that found that 37% of all those asked – 53% of women and 20% of men – reported they had experienced sexual harassment, ranging from inappropriate comments to actual sexual assaults, at work or a place of study. But more than a quarter also claimed they had suffered harassment in the form of inappropriate jokes or ‘banter’.

According to Jacqueline McDermott, consultant solicitor at law firm Keystone Law, agencies should make it clear in their workplace policies what type of banter will not be tolerated on their busy sales floors – but equally make it easier for victims of such banter to report concerns and issues.

McDermott also told Recruiter diversity training is equally important.

“It’s educating all of the employees…. people don’t often read the policies and don’t take it in. It’s making them aware, and training them and letting them know what is inappropriate…

“Nip it in the bud – raise awareness, have diversity training including sexual harassment to avoid the distress to the employee and to avoid very costly litigation.”  More: http://bit.ly/2hhuuAb

IM AGES | ISTOCK / SHUT T ERSTOCK / GET T Y

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GOLDSMITH CASE DELAYED Gary Goldsmith failed to turn up to court to face an assault by beating charge, due to what court officials said was a misunderstanding between Goldsmith’s lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Adjourning the case until 14 November, chief magistrate senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot told the court there had been a misunderstanding between the CPS and Goldsmith’s lawyers, with the latter believing an adjournment had been agreed “so a caution could be looked at”. The judge said a caution had been ruled out and that the CPS was proceeding with the case.  More: http://bit.ly/2hOfQ0o

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DAYS

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FRI, 3 NOVEMBER 2017

MON, 6 NOVEMBER 2017

MON, 6 NOVEMBER 2017

RECRUITMENT FIGHT NIGHT DIRECTOR VOWS TO STEP INTO THE RING

ATKINSON CREATES RECRUITMENT ‘SUPERGROUP’ TARANATA

CEO KEVIN GREEN STEPS DOWN FROM THE HELM AT THE REC

Recruitment magnate Paul Atkinson has brought his four businesses together under one ‘supergroup’ and announced plans to grow it by 50% in the next two years.

Atkinson has created Scotlandheadquartered Taranata Group as a holding body for his staffing companies.

The group, named after the Maori word for talent, includes Head Resourcing, Change Recruitment, Head Medical and Atkinson Macleod. It has a total workforce of almost 150 and a combined turnover of about £65m.

“I have been involved in the industry for 30 years and I see a great opportunity to consolidate some really good businesses into a bigger place,” Atkinson told Recruiter. “It is about creating the scale to list.”

He said he was looking for UK-based recruitment businesses to exploit technology and international markets.

“UK firms who are trading heavily internationally are likely to be our focus [for acquisitions],” he said.

Atkinson added that he would be interested in those firms with technology to offer the group or which could benefit from having existing technology applied to their business.

Kevin Green is to step down as CEO at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation after almost a decade in the role. Green joined the REC back in the summer of 2008 from the Royal Mail where his last role was people and organisational development director of the Letters division.

In a statement, REC chair Chris Moore revealed Green would be leaving next spring, having decided to move on to pursue a portfolio career of nonexecutive director roles and consultancy.

According to Companies House, Green also holds directorships hips in children’s charity Kids Out UK and the e Interim Management nt Association, a specialist alist REC sector group.

For his part, Green n described being the REC’s CEO as a “fantastic” experience ce and a “privilege and an honour”, adding: “All great things come to an end and the REC is well positioned with a great leadership team, a committed chair and a clear strategy.”

With regards to his successor, an REC spokesperson told Recruiter: “The board is moving as quickly as it can to start the process, and we are going to choose a recruitment partner, so we’re looking for an executive search firm.”

OHO Group founder Roger Wilkinson has pledged to get in the ring next year after the inaugural Recruitment Fight Night raised £10k for charity.

Boxing fans raitsed the cash for the Opera Global Youth Foundation at an event that saw recruitment professionals swap suits for shorts and gloves. IT & engineering staffing specialist OHO Group organised the event and intend to grow it next year.

The firm’s operations director Karen Nodwell told Recruiter: “Roger Wilkinson has said he will get in the ring, and we want other CEOs from the industry to join him – we think people would like to see that.

Full results: Michael Mihaylov beat Ashton CarterRidgway Joe Gray beat Craig McDonald Stuart Wilkinson beat Kirill Radchenkov Austin Mooney beat Roy Kibui Akeem Champagnie beat Dean English Richard Lawrence beat Ian Lee Oscar Sheridan beat Chris Manning  More: http://bit.ly/2hh0O6m

 More: http://bit.ly/2zmvmrL

→‒‒‒‒‒•

IT HAS A TOTAL WORKFORCE OF ALMOST 150 AND A COMBINED TURNOVER OF ABOUT

£65M Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news p8_9_the month that was.indd 9

 More: http://bit.ly/2zoyP9q

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CONTRACTS

CONTRACTS & DEALS

Class People Education recruiter Class People has acquired teaching recruiter Teaching Services (SW), which trades as Cover Teachers in the South-West of England.

Teaching Services will continue to trade as Cover, offering teaching and support staff, as well as flexible working opportunities. Class People focuses on the Midlands and the South-West.

PMP Recruitment Logistics, industrial, warehouse, manufacturing and food processing staffing specialist PMP Recruitment, part of Cordant Group, has secured a new contract to provide a temporary labour workforce to furniture and homeware specialists Wayfair. The contract forms part of a wider agreement that will also see a number of integrated facilities management solutions delivered at the client’s site in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Operam Education Education recruitment agency sector investor Operam Education has taken a stake in Yorkshire-based Provide Education. The deal sees Operam founders Eddie Austin and Andrew Frome join Provide Education as CEO and non-executive chief financial officer respectively, though Provide Education founders Katie Buckle and Barry-John Simmons will continue in their roles as joint managing directors and shareholders. The stake Operam has taken in the business was undisclosed.

Penna People management business Penna has been selected to provide HR and resourcing solutions under all four lots of the Local Government Recruitment Partnership (LGRP). This framework spans two years and allows all public sector organisations to work directly with Penna via a ‘direct call off’.

ClearStar US technology and service provider to the background check industry ClearStar has secured a recurring revenue credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank for up to $5m (£3.8m).

The funding will be used for working capital purposes to support the growth of the business.

Encore Personnel Leicester-based recruiter Encore Personnel has secured a £9m finance package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The firm, which has reported winning a number of sizeable new contracts within the past 12 months, says the new funds will support the resulting further services required. Specifically, this includes growing its managed service offering, supplying experienced staff to firms that outsource their day-to-day management responsibilities and expansion into new sectors such as aviation.

DEAL OF THE MONTH

Bullhorn US venture capital and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners has agreed to acquire all of the shares held by private equity and venture capital firm Vista Equity Partners in

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recruitment cloud technology company Bullhorn.

Bullhorn’s management team will remain with the company following the transaction “to execute on its strategic

roadmap and continue its mission to create an incredible customer experience”, Bullhorn said in a statement.

A definitive agreement has been signed, and the deal is

expected to close in Q4 2017.

Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Vista was advised

by Atlas Technology Group on the sale. Insight was advised by Evercore Partners.

More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 09/11/2017 11:52

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03/11/2017 13:46

TRE NDS

INSIGHT

SEVEN LESSONS IN A YEAR OF CHANGE “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks”

BY GUY DAY

T

his pithy quote from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg resonates with me. He’s right. Not just about the world changing – the recruitment sector has seen more change in the last five years than the previous 15. But he is spot on about taking risks.

Any recruitment business owner or CEO will tell you about how they’ve set out with big growth ambitions, optimistic headcount and revenue targets; perhaps international expansion or building a large book of contract income. For example, a big goal of mine when I moved to Eames was to improve the way the business worked, especially around workflows and general efficiency. None of these goals is fundamentally new, but taking bigger risks in a rapidly evolving recruitment sector is.

So 12 months after taking the helm at Eames and accepting our own risks, I’ve learned my fair share about changing to embrace our next phase of growth.

differently. You can’t package up bad news as positive. Be factual and honest, respect the legacy, acknowledge it is challenging and be available to support the transition. Then accept it, own it and move on so that it becomes the new normal.

Communication – it’s key The prospect of change can be daunting, but the reality doesn’t have to be painful. It can and should be exciting. Putting it bluntly, if we didn’t change how we worked, we weren’t going to realise our full potential in today’s recruitment market. If we could do it again, we would certainly do some things

If you’re setting out for growth, you need a certain amount of structure.

At times, you’ve got to look in the mirror and accept that you need to improve in certain areas like systems and process. Get your people focused on ‘higher value’ work.

We have invested in a very strong back office, introduced a new CRM system, and have pushed learning

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IMAG E | ISTO CK

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Don’t just focus on how big you want to be Bigger isn’t always better.

Your starting point should be: ‘Who do we want to be and what are we good at?’ Eames has a rich heritage in the insurance sector, and we’ve diversified into banking and asset management over the years. But with a backdrop of change in our industry, we’ve had to look at how we stay relevant. Focus on what your customers actually want to buy from you. Once you’re clear on this, it’s far easier to plot a realistic growth path.

You can’t grow without solid foundations

and development to the top of the agenda.

Sometimes you need to hear the things you don’t want to hear Criticism is an inevitable part of life, and you shouldn’t try to avoid it. Receiving negative feedback is an incredible opportunity to show your capability for learning and growth, even at the highest level.

We opened our boardroom doors, kept management out and invited all our staff to give some very candid thoughts around where we’re getting it right, and where we’re getting it wrong. Next steps – follow up.

Data is a reality of today’s business world We have certainly evolved here and are unapologetic about high standards around quality output. But we’re far from a ‘KPI shop’. Embrace data and technology advances in

09/11/2017 10:46

T R E N DS

INSIGHT

Accountability is all or nothing Accountability in one form or another often features among a recruitment company’s core values.

It has to be a part of our DNA. If we’re to continue driving high performance, then we must create a workplace environment where high standards are the expectation.

Hold your people accountable, and don’t settle for mediocrity. Success is contingent on accountability.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a tight culture Culture. This has been instrumental to our success but when you’re changing a business then there is inevitably some ‘cultural leakage’ and you have to work hard to restore it. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on reinforcing our knowledge and expertise-led culture. When you decide to change, you’re putting your credibility and reputation on the line, and people like to see quick results.

To be successful we must acknowledge the need for change and the need to stay ahead in a shifting recruitment market. But change shouldn’t be feared. It’s necessary and creates opportunities for the ambitious. ●

POWERPOINTS - FEEDBACK FROM OUR EMPLOYEES In the last year, Eames ran anonymous feedback sessions in which none of the directors (except the HR director) or the CEO or chairman/founder (Matthew Eames) was present. The idea was to ‘take a look in the mirror’; only generic feedback was relayed to CEO Day. Here’s what the company learned: 1. Communication can always be improved This ranks in the top three results of every culture survey I have ever run and was certainly consistent in feedback sessions we ran. Communication must be regular and well

judged, especially how messages and decisions land on people. Keep it simple and be transparent and honest about the why and the how.

2. Be clear on your vision Simply, people seek clarity on who we are and where the company is going. They want to be part of a culture that puts a premium on sharing the truth. We‘re speaking openly about the challenges of the past and opportunities for the future to small groups and giving people the chance to ask questions. Most importantly, we’re being

↗

the right way, and avoid having a mindless obsession with activity.

You can’t manage what you can’t measure; growth will be contingent on strong systems and swift access to high quality information.

GUY DAY is CEO of financial services recruiter Eames Consulting

clear on where they can make a contribution and what’s in it for them.

3. Do our values mean anything?

Our values are proudly displayed on our office walls – how cliché. But making them relevant to people is key.

Demonstrating that we use them to hire, how we reward and manage around them is critical to how we are embedding them. Don’t just believe in your values, bet on them.

4. Talk about the C-word Change was necessary.

There has been more change in the recruitment sector in the last five years than the previous 15.

We had two paths to consider: adapt and thrive or ignore what was happening around us and slowly fade away.

Transparency around why we made certain decisions has been our greatest learning.

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Sometimes things aren’t always quite what they seem

FCSA Accredited Members: Adhere to rigorous standards.

Are assessed against a published Code of Compliance.

Are independently tested by regulated accountants and solicitors.

Have their FCSA audit disclosed to HMRC. Prove their compliance annually.

Take a closer look at your PSL. Check they’re an

Accredited Member

0203 772 8622 | info@fcsa.org.uk | www.fcsa.org.uk

IN-HOUSE RECRUITMENT EXPO 2018 27–28 FEBRUARY OLYMPIA, LONDON

Kick start 2018 by visiting the In-House Recruitment Expo 2018 Visit In-House Recruitment Expo to: Don’t miss out.

Register for free entry at inhouserecruitment expo.com

Network with your peers Understand best practice Learn about the latest trends and new developments Make new partnerships See live product demonstrations

Speakers sessions include: Seminars: 30 Minute sessions. Best practice sessions, be prepared to engage!

Seminar sessions have limited seating capacity to guarantee entry visit: inhouserecruitmentexpo.com

Masterclasses: 20 Minute sessions. Open to everyone. No need to book, just arrive 5 minutes before the session begins.

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07/11/2017 14:44

T R E N DS

TECH & TOOLS

Securing candidates Is your site turning away applicants?

SUE WEEKES

Many of us would be put off entering any personal details into an unsecure website but some agencies expect candidates to do precisely that. A secure site, identified by ‘https’ in the browser bar as opposed to ‘http’, ensures that any information gathered is encrypted. Until now, a candidate may have cheerfully entered details in an application form or contact box unaware of the site’s status unless they checked the browser bar. For those using the Google Chrome browser (the majority of web users), things are about to become more obvious. Last year, Google announced plans to issue a ‘not secure’ warning when a visitor enters data into an http site. It began in January and ramped up its efforts with the launch of Chrome version 62 in October. It potentially has serious implications for recruiters who rely on collecting candidate details from their website. Andy Drinkwater, search engine optimisation specialist and founder of iQSEO, tested more than 1,000 agency sites and found that four-fifths (80%) were not secure. “That is a huge number, so recruitment agencies could see a reduction in contact via the website,” he warns.

WHAT WILL IT MEAN? Whenever someone visits a website and goes to fill certain forms in, the Chrome browser bar will tell them instantly whether it is secure or not. “This is likely to have an impact on some candidates and employers if they are worried about sending details that are not encrypted,” says Drinkwater. The full impact of the changes may not yet be known for recruiters but based on previous changes made by Google, they would do well to act now. In January, Chrome version 56 flagged up the ‘not secure’ warning on http sites that collect passwords or credit card details. Emily Schechter, product manager,

Chrome Security at Google, reports that since then there has been a 23% reduction in the fraction of navigations to http pages with a password or credit card forms.

WHAT SHOULD I DO? There is no need to panic as the change from http to https involves code changes that can be easily made. If the agency has a direct relationship with their web host, they should talk to them.

Those agencies that use a specialist web services agency should find it has been taken care of but double-check. Drinkwater explains that every host will have an option to upgrade their website

to https, but there are different ways this needs to happen, depending on the type of site. Even though the task of upgrading may be overseen by an external company, the website is your responsibility, so take time to find out what steps needs to be taken and the timeframe. Remember that anything that deters a candidate from using the website fully could be detrimental to your Google rankings.

WHAT WILL IT COST ME? There are different types of secure services, from free to paid-for. Much will depend on the type of site so discuss this with your host or web expert. Drinkwater reckons that for the

J AR G ON B USTER Encryption: this converts plain text into a code, which can then only be read (unencrypted) by those with a secret key or password.

Transport layer security (TLS)/secure sockets layer (SSL): the layer of security which ensures data that travels from a web browser to a web server remains private. It is an industry standard used by millions of websites.

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average website, a free transport layer security (TLS) or its predecessor secure sockets layer (SSL), should be more than enough for what is needed. Implementation time can be as little as one hour, or several days, depending on the size of the site and level of testing involved. In theory, website owners can see this working on their site the same day.

IMPORTANCE OF TESTING A site needs to be thoroughly tested after upgrading because it is easy to get things wrong and miss nonhttps elements, which means the site will still serve pages that are not secure. “It would be remiss of anyone to just add this to a site and then not test it thoroughly,” says Drinkwater. “It is very common for this to be added but then certain pages throw up a not-secure warning if elements of the page

are not loaded correctly.

Getting a professional site audit will show up any pages with issues. This is normally completed in less than a day and is a very worthwhile task.”

Monitor site traffic and usage in the days and weeks after the changes have been made to ensure they have had the right effect.

USE THE CHANGE AS AN OPPORTUNITY It is easy to assume that your site is working well and delivering a good user experience.

Day-to-day pressures mean that months, let alone years, can go by without agencies paying much attention to what is their shop window to candidates and employers who could be future clients. So as well as auditing the site for issues related to the change from http to https, use it as an opportunity to find out how well the site is functioning from a user’s point of view.

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C

INTE R AC TIO N

VIEWPOINT

It’s good to talk Time for mental health to come in from the cold

BY SHERI HUGHES

e all know mental health is a hot topic at the moment, particularly as we have just celebrated World Mental Health Day. For PageGroup it is a key focus of ours under our Ability@Page strategy and for the first time we ran a global campaign on World Mental Health Day in October – recognising not only mental health but all disabilities. We highlighted the fact that having a disability doesn’t hold your career back at Page.

Our employees spoke out about their personal experiences of mental or physical disability across the globe to raise awareness. In my view it is an extremely effective way of taking this ‘hot topic’ and making it part of our everyday conversation. It needs to become as accepted as saying, ‘I’ve got a cold’.

For part of our campaign we put on a mental health seminar in our Victoria House office and invited Jonny Benjamin MBE and Neil Laybourn, the ‘Stranger on the Bridge’ duo [Laybourn talked Benjamin out of committing suicide], and Hope Virgo, who almost died from anorexia, to speak. They were utterly captivating. They all spoke with such emotion and humility that the entire audience was completely rapt – hearing their stories and getting an insight as to how mental health consumes people, but more importantly how the turning points for both of them was being able to talk about it.

However, I realised later that it was so much more than that. The room was packed out (we had seated capacity

W

“Many people had been hesitant to go as they were worried how it might look to be seen to be there”

SHERI HUGHES is associate director, OpenPage, at PageGroup

of 100), and not just the seats; dozens of people stood at the back too. People wanted to come and hear mental health talked about. Why? Because it affects so many of us and we don’t talk about it very well.

This year one in four of us will be directly affected by mental health, and therefore countless of us indirectly, and yet people still feel too stigmatised (rightly or wrongly) to talk about it.

And the feedback from the event? It was a roaring success: “Wow. That was exceptional. The response from the team has been incredible and everyone was genuinely moved by both stories.”

“That was so amazing… I cried!!!” “They were brilliant, they were all so calm, I just wanted to give them all a hug!”

But I learnt even more, which struck me the most. Many people had been hesitant to go as they were worried how it might look to be seen to be there. It still bothers me that some people probably didn’t go for that reason. Chances are, they were people who really needed to. However, thankfully, some of those who hesitated did go and were instantly comforted by how many others were there – peers, colleagues, directors, friends – and it made them realise they are not alone.

That’s what speaks volumes to me – it is the physical signs of solidarity that is breaking down barriers. It’s not enough to have an Employee Assistance Programme; people need to know that there is no judgement. That will only be done by normalising the conversation and encouraging people to speak out.

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I N T E R AC T I O N

SOUNDBITES

What is the biggest event that has affected recruitment in 2017?

T WIT T E R CHAT

@RECRUITERMAG CEO Kevin Green steps down from the helm at the REC @RECPress @kevingreenrec #recruitment @ recirp @HadleysComment RECRUITER

NOV 6

@ANILNAIRTWEETS Replying to @RecruiterMag @kevingreenrec and 3 others All the best Kevin. Thank you for all the priceless advice and the wisdom you have shared with the Recruitment Industry.

ANIL NAIR

NOV 6

@RECRUITERMAG Recruiters claim #IR35 rule change in the private sector would be a ‘logistical nightmare’ @VIQU_ UK @tonygoodwin RECRUITER

OCT 31

OCT 31

@IANMACDJ Replying to @tonygoodwin @RecruiterMag @ GrahamCSimons I’ve always thought it a patently unfair system @ IAN MCGREGOR @IANMACDJ

NOV 1

@RECRUITERMAG Once upon a dream, Honey ‘Fairy’ G appeared in panto http://www.recruiter.co.uk/news/2017/11/ once-upon-dream-honey-fairy-g-appearedpanto%E2%80%A6 … @The_Honey_G @Daily_Star @The_White_Rock #panto @QdosPantomimes RECRUITER

NOV 6

@RAUNCHHOX Replying to @RecruiterMag @The_Honey_G and 3 others Yes, and its the people of Hastings who are suffering from it. They have all booked the Eastbourne panto instead. Kiss of death #HoneyG RAUNCHHOX NOV 6

MA N AG IN G D I REC TOR , N URS E P L US

“We have seen record levels of employment this year. However, organisations are competing to recruit and retain these potential employees, and particular pressures have been placed on social care, making it an unattractive sector to work in. Alongside this, pay rates have fallen below the desired level due to funding constraints from local authorities. Brexit has also affected the care industry negatively with the workforce from the EU feeling unsettled, either leaving the country or not looking to find employment at this uncertain time.”

MARK CHANNON MA N AG IN G D I REC TOR , BLOC D IG I TA L TA L E N T

@TONYGOODWIN Replying to @RecruiterMag Good to see @RecruiterMag making the points that matter @AntalNetwork @Antal_Intl @ AntalIndia @AntalSpain @recruiter_ICT TONYGOODWIN

PAMELA BRUCE

“I know the digital sector is not alone in this matter, but for us, the increasing shortage of skilled talent definitely stands out as a significant issue. However, I don’t see this a negative. For the world of specialist recruitment to exist, if not thrive, then we need to be able to provide a service that technology/AI [artificial intelligence] can’t, and therefore the ability to engage and entice passive candidates and present them to market will be the very lifeline for our industry.

Technology may well be the future but the dark arts of old will also serve us all well.”

JOHN SMITH D IREC TOR , T H E ACCOUN TA N CY RECRUI T M E N T G RO U P

“Short answer – the general election. Within the accountancy and finance sector, the year began very positively. Businesses, particularly SMEs, clamoured for new talent, and competition for top individuals in finance was fierce. The election result threw immediate fear and uncertainty into the mix, particularly against the Brexit backdrop. Slowdown was forecast and this struck candidate confidence. From a ‘glass half full’ perspective, such conditions have provided opportunity for specialist recruiters, as clients have turned for support to tap into candidate networks through 2017.”

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09/11/2017 14:23

Remember your own staff are the best ambassadors for your employer brand

Focus on what makes your company different

Think whether you need to segment your brand message to different audiences

First establish your employee value proposition

Look beyond the usual suspects when choosing which digital channels to use 18 RECRUITER

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09/11/2017 10:47

T H E B IG STORY E M PLOY E R B R A N D

Bear in mind that employer brand is not just for big companies Be authentic

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY A clear employer brand is central to business growth success, award-winning companies and external experts agree, but establishing it does bring certain challenges, as Colin Cottell reports

Amy Hambleton RedLaw

Andrew Baird Blackbridge

Jack Rawcliffe JDR Energy

Michelle White Pertemps

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TH E B IG STO RY SAMANTHA R AMSAY T H E BIG STORY EMPLOYER BR AND

IF ANY GROUP OF EMPLOYERS could be expected to be experts in employer brand, then recruitment agencies would surely be high up the list. Not only do they face fierce competition to attract and retain the best talent for their own companies, but they live or die based on their ability to attract talent for their clients.

Few recruiters are likely to be better qualified than the winning companies at Recruiter’s recent Investing in Talent Awards. Recruiterr asked several of these companies what employer brand meant to them. We also spoke to external experts who work in this field for their thoughts.

The recruiters we contacted were unanimous about the importance of the employer brand to their business – none more so than Guy Hayward, CEO of financial recruitment specialist Goodman Masson. Asked what employer brand means to him, Hayward’s response is unambiguous: “Everything – it has been the central reason for our growth and success.”

For Jack Rawcliffe, managing director of international energy recruiter JDR Energy, it features “from the first concept of building a business, and forms the foundation of everything the business does”.

Bryan Adams, CEO and founder of internet marketing agency Ph.Creative, says that for the recruitment agencies it works with, which include multi-sector recruiter Rullion, “Employer brand has become the number-one element of business strategy.” However, if that raises the concept of employer brand to an exalted level, Adams warns that it comes hand-in-hand with a challenge.

“In many cases, it means a change to the whole way you approach your business,” he says.

Sophie Heaton, employer brand manager at recruitment marketing, employer branding and social media consultancy JobHoller, agrees that recruiters need to look at the bigger picture. This can include reviewing their internal processes, employee engagement and retention, and whether they are focusing just on quick

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wins to get people in. “You need to be looking at how you can keep those people engaged and happy over a long period,” says Heaton.

Experts working in the field emphasise the importance of a step-by-step approach to creating, building and managing an employer brand. According to Marcus Body, consultant on the brand and insight team at employer branding and marketing consultancy ThirtyThree, the first step is to build the employee value proposition (EVP). “The EVP is at the heart of every single employer brand,” he says. As to unearthing your EVP, “the fundamental question is why should people work for you rather than someone else”, Body advises.

Andrew Baird, director of consulting at Blackbridge Communications, a communications agency that specialises in talent attraction and engagement, says working on the EVP takes up most of the work he does with clients on employer brand. “Employers need to look at what they are genuinely good at as an employer. Then they need to look at everything that potential employees want from a job.”

The next stage is to look at where the two overlap. Adams at Ph.Creative recognises that most recruiters, being SMEs, will not have the money or the resources of their larger competitors to hold workshops and roundtables to establish their EVPs. However, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try.

“You can have a roomful of people who know the company vibe, know the pros and cons of working there, the reasons they are sitting there, the reasons why they are going to be sitting there tomorrow, why they stay and all about the benefits,” he says.

What comes out of this type of exercise may well result in what JDR Energy’s Rawcliffe describes as “the look, sound and feel of the business”. “It creates a set of standards in which people should believe, but rather than being a set of rules, it outlines the spirit of the business, which all of their interactions and activities should embody,” he says.

Baird at Blackbridge says the other essential aspect of employer brand, and one that is often overlooked, is to differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace. “You need to look at the employment market around you, and work out the differentiators between what you’re offering and what your competitors are offering,” he advises.

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T H E BI G STORY S A M A N T H A R A M S AY

This point is not lost on Amy Hambleton, director at specialist legal executive-search consultancy RedLaw. “Through employer branding, we can publicly share what makes us unique and what differentiates us from our competitors,” she says. While these points of difference will clearly depend on each individual recruitment company, what the recruiters featured in this piece see as key differentiators are their values and ethics, company culture, compensation and benefits, training and development, and a positive candidate and onboarding experience.

Goodman Masson has, perhaps, taken this process further than most. Hayward says the firm’s aim is to treat its people “better than any other business in the UK, through building a unique working environment”. Reflecting how central this aim is to what the company is all about, he says it’s “the company’s primary strategic objective above all others”.

Other recruiters, among them multisector recruiter Pertemps Network Group, emphasise their culture. “What has always differentiated us from our competitors is our family culture; it

“Focus on what makes your company different”

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T H E BI G STO RY EMPLOYER BR AND

permeates all that we do,” says director Michelle White. According to White, having a reputation as a company that supports, trains and develops its staff rather than hiring and firing them “is an essential part of our employer branding”.

She says the proof that this works comes from high levels of staff retention, with most managers and directors having been with the company for many years.

Regardless of how a staffing company differentiates itself from its rivals, this difference won’t matter a jot unless it can be communicated effectively. For Matt Churchward, director of niche renewable and sustainable energy recruiter The Green Recruitment Company, this inevitably means getting to grips with digital. For many recruiters this will inevitably mean social and professional platforms, as well as the company’s own website, and perhaps the use of video.

Heaton at JobHoller advises recruiters to use as many of the mainstream platforms, such as Facebook, as possible.

However, Ph.Creative’s Adams advises a more nuanced approach. “We can all rattle off the mainstream channels, but actually you will pay a premium to fight against all your competitors, and the result may not be as good as you would like.” Instead, he urges recruiters “to think a bit more laterally”. Alternative routes might include platforms such as Spotify, he suggests. “If you target people who are listening to a lot of 80s music, it is not a huge leap to build up the rest of the persona,” he says. While this method won’t generate large number of candidates, those that it unearths are likely to be a better fit.

A company doesn’t necessarily need something unique to say, adds Baird; it can get its message across by communicating it better or differently.

“I can either write it as a piece of text on a website, or I can truly explore and communicate what it means,” he says.

This could include video or storytelling techniques. “You don’t need to spend money to tell a good story,” he says.

In the era of Glassdoor and other employer-review sites, Glenn Southam, head of marketing operations at specialist IT and professional services recruiter Eurostaff, highlights the importance of an employer brand being

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authentic. “The online review culture now extends beyond hotel and consumer goods to workplaces, and this gives everyone a platform to air their views.

It allows people to call you out on your promoted promises. You can’t fake your employer brand, so why try?” he says.

Some recruiters featured in this article highlighted that they saw employer brand as a way of growing and enhancing their reputation not simply with potential employees, but also with other stakeholders. These stakeholders include their candidates and even their clients. Churchward says that while ideally an employer brand “will be able to appeal to people [in general] as well as to candidates in the markets you recruit

G LE NN SO U TH AM

“You can’t fake your employer brand, so why try?” into”, the reality is more complicated.

While the company’s “young vibrant culture” would appeal to both groups in the digital space, a one-size-fits-all approach to employer brand is less likely to work in sectors such as engineering.

Baird says that he would differentiate the two if he were running a recruitment agency. “I would be careful not to conflate the employer brand with the client-candidate messaging, because it’s a different value proposition.

The value proposition for a candidate is ‘will I be treated well, and will I end up with the job I want?’. The reason you want to work for an agency is because you enjoy the culture, the professional development you are going to get and the office you are going to work in. The two can be related, but not necessarily.”

Recognising that the two groups are not identical will have implications for a recruiter’s employer brand, he says. At the very least it would mean tailored content for different audiences on different pages of the company website. However, Adams says that while potential employees, candidates and clients are not identical, recruiters need to be aware that their employer brand can permeate beyond simply potential employees. Smart candidates considering which recruiter to use will certainly look at Glassdoor, he suggests.

“The role of an employer brand is to demonstrate not just to potential employees but to any stakeholder – including jobseeking candidates – that the DNA and the values of their organisation are ones they wish to be associated with,” he says.

Many recruiters in this piece refer to the fundamental role played by their own staff in promoting their employer brand. JobHoller’s Heaton says their role as ‘brand ambassadors’ is crucial.

They are trusted more than traditional company content, adding that all important element of authenticity. With employees having an average of 400 connections across social media, they can enhance your ability to reach greater numbers of your target audience.

JDR Energy’s Rawcliffe says that simply through their normal day-to-day interactions at work, staff can bring a company’s employer brand to life. “Every day, not only with our consultants, but right through to our back-office function, our staff do an amazing job reinforcing the brand and the brand message, on every call and every contact,” he says.

While staff can undoubtedly make a huge difference in living a recruitment company’s employer brand, today’s fast-moving, connected world, where reputations built up over years can be destroyed in hours, remains a scary and unpredictable place for recruiters.

Perhaps the answer is combining what employer brand experts say and the good practice of Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Award winners. In other words: find out what your potential staff and existing staff want, and then treat them well. Do that, and your employer brand may well take care of itself. ●

DECEMBER 2017

09/11/2017 10:49

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03/11/2017 13:58

SPOTLIG H T O N INVESTING IN TALENT WINNERS

SPOTLIGHT ON TALENT What makes a Recruiter Investing in Talent winner?

Colin Cottell investigates It’s the ‘wow’ factor that sets inspirational organisations apart from good employers and service providers, and Investing in Talent Award-winning recruiters Amoria Bond and CJUK certainly deliver ‘wow’ in abundance in professional development and temporary workforce care, respectively.

Learn how both firms make outstanding differences in their worlds of work

AMORIA BOND: MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Personalising employees’ training & development to meet their individual needs and aspirations, and adapting it to meet the needs of the business operating in different cultures, are vital factors in professional recruiter Amoria Bond’s professional development programme, according to the company’s managing director.

Daniel Daw tells Recruiter that not only is Amoria Bond’s programme built around the needs of each individual, but also it has been adapted for different demographic groups, and tailored for cultural differences between the UK and the company’s overseas offices.

The company’s Learning Management System (LMS), launched in 2016, is specifically tailored to make it attractive to new entrants, he says.

“We understood that the way these Millennials, graduates with a couple of years’ sales experience – the so-called ‘Netflix generation’ – learn is

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Judge Haral d Ackersch ott Abi Agyem an and Trac presents Amoria Bond ’s y Jeffery wit h the awar d

changing to one of learning on demand.” The result is “a comprehensive online portal that can be used on any device, anywhere in the world and is bespoke to an individual”, he says. This personalisation even extends to providing staff with different options, based on how they learn best. For example, those who learn best by doing might choose the role-play suite.

The LMS is designed for every stage of employees’

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S P OT L I G H T ON I N V EST IN G I N TA L E N T W I N N E R S

INVESTING IN

TALENT

AWARDS 2017

careers, from trainee through to executive coaching at board level.

Similarly, the company’s 10-step career programme is designed with the flexibility to take into account the different skills and aspirations of individual members of staff, says Daw. “We realised that top billers don’t necessarily make great managers, and people would often find themselves having to progress through the management route, but not because they wanted to.” The frustration from finding themselves in the wrong role “can potentially affect the retention of good individuals”, he adds.

The 10-step programme recognised and facilitated “an equally accessible route through to top board level for those who excelled in business development and account management”, says Daw. Sideways moves are also encouraged, and a progression path for back-office staff is being developed, he adds. “We are good at spotting what people are good at and, where possible, developing them into these paths. We can give people an alternative to ‘grow a team, become a manager’ kind of thing.”

As an international recruiter, with overseas offices in Amsterdam, Cologne and Singapore, the company takes the same flexible approach to the training and professional development of its staff abroad, says Daw. “I believe there are cultural differences, which you are better off trying to encompass rather than adopting the one-size-fitsall approach.” In Singapore, “to avoid inadvertently giving offence”, training on meeting and greeting had been changed. And in Germany, where staff “all want their say and are quite direct in their communication”, the company has increased peer group training sessions, he says. “This seems to be far more effective in Germany, whereas in Singapore formal classroom training is more effective, because they are more studious and respectful of hierarchy,” he adds.

Looking ahead, Daw sees the potential for artificial intelligence to personalise training & development even further. He foresees the day that AI will be able to look at performance metrics for individual staff, and then come up with suggestions for training. One example might be where a member of staff attended a lot of client meetings, but few resulted in any business. “The system might suggest ‘go and do some training

in conducting effective meetings or how to pitch presentations’,” he says. He envisages taking the first step down this road “probably next year”.

Matt Roebuck, director of Amoria Bond’s global automotive division, based in Cologne, joined the company almost 10 years ago after leaving university with no recruitment or sales experience.

Roebuck tells Recruiter that the training, development and support he received has been an important factor in his success.

“Not everybody is cut out to be a manager straight away, but there has been a lot of investment in me as an individual that has kept me engaged with the business and helped me develop as a leader,” he says.

Mentoring from Daw, sessions with a sports psychologist, and both internal and external training have been vital for his career development, says Roebuck. The company’s commitment to investing in him has also been an important factor in him staying at the company. “I don’t think I would have stayed as long if that investment hadn’t been there,” he says.

“We are good at spotting what people are good at and, where possible, developing them into these paths”

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oria Bon

Am aw, MD

Daniel D

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TH E B IG H SPOTLIG STO T ORY N INVESTING SAMANTHAIN R AMSAY TALENT WINNERS

CJUK: BEST TEMPORARY WORKFORCE CARE Understanding that the life of the interim chef can be a transient – and sometimes lonely – one is at the heart of national chef recruiter CJUK’s approach to looking after its temporary workforce, according to the company’s director of sales and operations.

Katie Mellor tells Recruiter that CJUK’s approach to caring for its interim chefs is meant not only to help them with some of the problems they face in their daily lives, but also to help them feel they belong.

At the beginning of 2017, CJUK launched a confidential employee-assistance scheme for its temporary chefs – a benefit that across the UK employment landscape employers normally provide only to their permanent employees.

“Depression and addiction are quite big problems in the hospitality sector, and although our staff found they could empathise, they couldn’t really take it further, and that didn’t feel quite right,” says Mellor. In many cases, just being able to pick up a phone and have a confidential chat has helped, feedback suggests. “We have had five or six real success stories where it has made a massive difference,” she said.

Exemplifying CJUK’s commitment to caring for its chefs is its Elite Chef Programme. Based on feedback from clients, chefs who receive a four or five-star rating are given priority for jobs, so they choose the ones they want. They also receive a free, CJUK-branded uniform. Being recognised for their work and being given preferential treatment “makes them feel they are part of our business in what can be a lonely life”, says Mellor.

Another reason for CJUK’s 21% annual turnover rate for its chefs – compared with 75% for the hospitality industry as a whole – is the way it provides them with continuity of work. Rather than waiting until the week, or even the day, before a contract ends, CJUK’s talent team works three weeks ahead of contracts ending.

An integral part of this process is constant communication between the talent team and both clients and chefs, says Mellor. “Even if you keep them in work consistently, if you leave it to the last day to arrange then there is a bit of nervousness, but by telling them in advance they don’t have to worry,” she says.

The Investing in Talent Awards judges were particularly impressed

by CJUK’s social media community groups, describing them as “a sophisticated approach

26 RECRUITER

CJUK’s Sam my their award Hough (l) and Katie M ello from Andrew Archer, Papw r (r) receive orth Trust

“The groups reinforce the feeling of belonging to something and make our chefs feel connected”

JULY 2016 2017 DECEMBER

lor, Katie Mel

p24-26_RITA.indd 26

to looking after the welfare of their contractors”.

Comprising both a public Facebook group and a private forum open only to CJUK’s chefs, the groups “reinforce the feeling of belonging to something and make our chefs really feel connected to the business”, says Mellor.

Chris Jones, an interim chef from Chorley in Lancashire, tells Recruiter that his experience of the way CJUK looks after its interim chefs is “absolutely fantastic”. Jones first registered with CJUK in July 2014, gaining Elite Chef status in 2016.

“If I have a problem first thing in the morning, I will ring them and they will sort everything out,” he says. When his dog died, CJUK got someone else in, and told him “to take off as much time off as you need”. “They really, really care for you,” he says.

Unlike other agencies, which might contact a chef only to tell them when to start a job, CJUK “will ring you up for a chat, they just want to know you are OK,” says Jones. “It sounds cheesy, but it is a big family. I can walk into the agency and chat to them for two hours, just as though they were my work colleagues.”

As an Elite Chef, Jones loves how he is offered the choice of having a few days off between jobs, rather than having to go to the next job straight away.

“CJUK has offered me a better work-life balance. I can choose the hours I work and when I take my holiday,” he says.

r

s directo

CJUK sale

09/11/2017 14:24

Issue 56 December 2017

RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence The future of the REC

RM_DEC_17.indd 1

Legal Update

Future of jobs

Pension enrolment

p4

p6-7

p2-3

The REC’s first members’ week has been labelled a critical part of the trade body’s plans for the future.

Groups comprised of all 75 REC staff visited more than a dozen different recruitment companies around London and the South East during the first week of November.

In previous years, the REC had initiated a “members’ day”, where all REC staff downed tools to call corporate members across the country.

But a week dedicated to meeting members in person was considered more valuable.

REC chief executive Kevin Green called members’ week a valuable and necessary exercise.

“At the heart of the REC vision is putting our members first, so getting all of our 75 staff out to meet our members at their place of work was

@RECPress

Big Talking Point

REC membership 2018 What’s new?

p8

FIRST MEMBERS’ WEEK “CRITICAL” critically important,” he says.

“We are always seeking to listen to and understand our members wants and needs and this development builds on our successful members’ days which we have run twice a year for the last four years.

The learning and feedback will help us improve all we currently do plus help us build new products and services for

REC and IRP members.”

Alison Nightingale, business development manager at REC member Three R’s says: “The opportunity to take part in Members’ Week provided us with a face-to-face meeting with two of the REC team, helping to bridge the gap between professional body and agency. We were able to discuss upcoming legislation,

recruitment trends and good practice.

“Compliance is incredibly important to our agency and the schools we work with. We are proud to be REC members and respect the credibility this partnership provides us with.”

REC members can find out more about the success of members’ week by visiting www.rec.uk.com

www.rec.uk.com 09/11/2017 12:17

Leading the Industry

THE VIEW

Recruitment knows its way to the future says Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and professional services

What’s next? asks Kevin Green, REC chief executive

I expect that you are aware by now that I will step aside as the REC’s CEO early next year.

It’s really been a fantastic job, one which I have enjoyed every day for almost 10 years. One of my colleagues put an old copy of a 2008 Recruitment Matters on my desk. There is a young Yours Truly on the cover with a big smile and a quote saying this was the ideal job for me. So it turned out.

What I am keen for the industry to realise is that the UK labour market is going to change radically over the next decade.

The destruction of midskilled jobs will continue.

This job polarisation will see an ongoing growth in both high and low-skilled jobs, with the ones in the middle being eliminated. There are two significant threats from this change: one is higher unemployment as AI, algorithms and robotics eliminate more jobs than they create. However, the one that concerns me the most is the hollowing out of the jobs market, so progression becomes much more difficult.

As we live longer and are likely to work into our seventies, it’s worrying that the inequality that we see

MAPPING A ROUTE TO 2025 presently will be made worse by this technology disruption.

Those who have the talent will be in short supply, and will have the opportunity to work for who they like, choosing the location and hours they want. Those working in the gig economy are likely to be doing two or three jobs just to get by – with no benefits, no paid holiday and no chance of progressing.

The REC ‘Future of Jobs’ commission’s final report talks about what the government needs to do to radically change the focus of our education system, with a move away from creating knowledgebased ‘exam factories’. We also need businesses to overhaul their recruitment processes so it’s less about technical skills and more about energy, creativity, communication and problem solving.

The report is available here www.rec.uk.com/ futureofjobsreport I have six Scale Up in the Round events scheduled before my departure in the spring. I would love to see as many of you as possible before I move on.

Also don’t forget follow me on twitter @kevingreenrec

WHAT I AM KEEN FOR THE INDUSTRY TO REALISE IS THAT THE UK LABOUR MARKET IS GOING TO CHANGE RADICALLY OVER THE NEXT DECADE 2 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017

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Launching the findings of our ‘Future of Jobs’ commission, Esther McVey MP, former employment minister and chair of the commission, underlined the need to “build a clear vision for what we want a future UK jobs market to look like by 2025”. Creating a vision is one thing, delivering it another. As well as taking forward the commission’s recommendations, our priority is to work with policy makers to develop new ways of jobs market evaluating to ensure that it delivers for individuals and employers alike.

The UK jobs market is a success story with record employment levels. However, there is increasing scrutiny on quality and quantity of jobs. The OECD’s Job Quality Framework focuses on three areas: earnings quality, labour market security, quality of the working environment. Are these still the right indicators? The feedback from the commission was that other measures should be factored in.

Overall employment levels and job creation remain key.

Other indicators should include progress on social mobility and inclusion, productivity and individual fulfilment. The British Social Attitudes survey shows that less than half of us feel our job is just a way of making money; an important measure must be how work makes us feel. This goes to the heart of Matthew Taylor’s ‘good work’ agenda and chimes with our ‘jobs transform lives’ mantra.

Building a jobs market that works for all means facilitating progression opportunities and creating a step-change in terms of inclusion. It’s an opportunity for our industry to make a difference. It was great to hear John Whelan, HR director at BAE Systems, underlining the fact that “our recruitment partners will continue to play a pivotal role in driving the diversity agenda” during the Future of Jobs launch.

Our commission is not an end in itself; it signals the start of a series of activities aimed at creating the post-Brexit jobs market we want to see. As well as feeding into the debate on how and what we measure, our goals are to clearly define our industry’s role within a successful future jobs market and to position our voice at the forefront of future of work agenda.

Let’s crank the speedometer up to 88mph and set our sights on 2025. See you along the way!

You can follow Tom on Twitter nt @hadleyscomment

www.rec.uk.com

09/11/2017 12:17

0.4%

THE INTELLIGENCE WITH REC SENIOR RESEARCHER, MARK HARRISON On 25 October, the ONS published its latest GDP growth estimates for Q3 2017. The economy overall continues to grow slowly, with the latest figures estimating a 0.4% increase in GDP over the quarter. However, when looking at individual sectors, the construction sector contracted by 0.7% in Q3 after a 0.5% contraction in Q2, meaning it is technically in recession.

The ‘technical’ part of this definition is important to note here for two reasons. First of all, as the ONS notes, the construction industry in Q3 2017 remains well above its pre-downturn peak. Secondly, the output of the construction industry is affected by the government’s commitment to big infrastructure projects as well as the house building and repair market. HS2, a potential new terminal at Heathrow

PERMANENT PLACEMENT REVENUES TURN POSITIVE IN Q2 2017 With many of the listed recruitment organisations reporting challenging conditions for permanent hiring – notably so in H2 2016 and Q1 2017 – new RIB data indicates that Q2 2017 may have offered some potential respite.

The latest information from the RIB Index, sponsored by Bluestones Group, highlights that, year-on-year, the

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and both the main political parties intending to increase housebuilding means there are reasons to hope that growth may return to the sector soon.

Having said this, a range of data suggests that the construction sector is facing a skills shortage even though it has been contracting. The REC’s latest ‘JobsOutlook’ data showed construction employers to be the second most likely to anticipate skills shortages when trying to recruit permanent staff.

In a Q2 2017 survey of its members, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that skills shortages were constraining the growth of 55% of respondents, with a particularly acute shortage of quantity surveyors and bricklayers.

If immigration is overly restricted once the UK leaves the EU, construction is an area that could be significantly impacted, particularly in London. The REC’s June report ‘Building

THE ECONOMY OVERALL CONTINUES TO GROW SLOWLY, WITH THE LATEST FIGURES ESTIMATING A 0.4% INCREASE IN GDP OVER THE QUARTER. CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY TRAINING BOARD FOUND THAT, AMONGST THOSE CONSTRUCTION FIRMS THAT USE NON-UK WORKERS, A LACK OF SKILLED UK APPLICANTS WAS A PARTIAL REASON TO DO THIS FOR 57% OF RESPONDENTS AND THE KEY REASON FOR 35% OF RESPONDENTS.

the Post-Brexit Immigration System’ found that 8% of construction workers in the UK were from the EU, rising to 33% in London. In its June 2017 report ‘Migration and Construction’, the Construction Industry Training Board found that, amongst those construction firms that use non-UK workers, a lack of skilled UK applicants was a partial reason to do this for 57% of respondents and the key reason for 35% of respondents.

RICS notes that skills shortages are increasing in 2017, having eased throughout 2016. This change may be in part due to EU workers deciding to leave the UK after the vote to leave the EU (as we have found in our ‘Ready, Willing, and Able?’ report into EU workers in the UK).

With new infrastructure and housebuilding projects on the horizon, an evidencebased approach to immigration is needed to ensure the exclusion of non-British workers doesn’t exacerbate the construction skills shortage further. Domestically, partnerships between FE providers and industry to develop and implement the new construction ‘T-level’ vocational qualification has the potential to reinvigorate the pipeline of British workers entering construction.

Average quarterly permanent billings, versus prior year, for the median RIB recruiter 25%

2016 monthly average: -1.4% H1 2017 monthly average: -3.3%

20% 15% 10%

5.4%

5%

1.5%%

0 -3.8%

-5%

-0.7%

-2.6%

-10%

-11.9%

-15% Q1 2015

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1 2016

median industry recruiter saw revenues from permanent placements return to positive territory in Q2 2017.

Whilst welcome, this followed an acute 11.9% yearon-year decline in permanent

Q2

Q3

peers’ trading performance is eagerly awaited by RIB members to see whether the Q2 performance came courtesy of new financial year budgets or was the start of an upward trend.

Q4

Q1 2017

Q2

revenues in Q1 2017. As such, the monthly average performance across H1 2017 was 3.3% lower than prior year. With early indications for Q3 2017 being mixed, the September benchmarks of

Belinda Johnson runs employment research consultancy Worklab, and is associate knowledge & insight director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB) – part of the Bluestones Group. The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex. com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.

RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017 3

09/11/2017 12:17

The Big Talking Point

FUTURE OF JOBS

BACK FROM THE FUTURE REC director of policy and professional services Tom Hadley looks at some of the key messages back from the ‘Future of Jobs’ launch event Last month’s launch of the findings of our Future of Jobs commission was a high-energy affair, setting the tempo for a series of future-facing activities. The launch event at REC HQ was an opportunity to gauge views and seek feedback from an audience of policy makers, employers and recruiters.

Over the last six months, the commission’s work has covered areas such as boosting inclusion and progression opportunities for all, pre-empting the implications of demographic and technological changes, and understanding the aspirations of future generations of workers. The final report includes a specific focus on how hiring strategies are likely to change and how the role of recruitment professionals will evolve to reflect the ‘brave new world’ of jobs.

So what kind of jobs market should we be aspiring to by 2025? Here are some of the key messages from the launch event...

LET’S BE A ‘PROGRESSION NATION’

IT ALL STARTS WITH EDUCATION

A future UK jobs market must be one where individuals can not only access work but also progress through work, irrespective of their background. Government policy can make a real difference here, and it was encouraging to hear Esther McVey MP – former employment minister and chair of the Future of Jobs commission – underline the need to “make the current Apprenticeship Levy into a ‘lifelong learning levy’ that can benefit more people”.

Louise Hewett, founder of Hewett Recruitment and a member of the Commission, made the point that “it is in all our interests to ensure that future generations feel prepared and confident”.

What will create real value in organisations over the next five years? Creativity and innovation are at the top of that list, which is why we must ensure our education system really nurtures these qualities. McVey also underlined the “need to build resilience and awareness amongst the next generation

4 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017

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of workers to cope with a fast-changing world of work”.

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE AI REVOLUTION How will artificial intelligence (AI) impact on recruitment, jobs and society as a whole?

This is a central theme of the ongoing future of work debate and delegates at the launch were happy to share

the fact that they found some of the future scenarios “truly terrifying”. Rob McCargow, AI programme leader at PwC, provided a balanced picture, including the thought that “AI could add $15.7 [£12] trillion to global economy by 2030 and dramatically boost productivity”. The reality is that jobs have always been destroyed and

www.rec.uk.com

09/11/2017 12:17

experts in order to compete in what promises to be an increasingly competitive jobs market.

THE ROLE OF RECRUITERS WILL EVOLVE

replaced by different jobs.

What is different now is the sheer speed of change. One of the aims of the Future of Jobs commission is to prompt more employers and recruiters to look ahead and start planning now.

THE SKILLS CHALLENGE WILL INTENSIFY According to PwC’s

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McCargow, “accessing talent is now a top three business issue for CEOs around the world”. This was echoed by leading employers and underlines the potential opportunities for those involved in the skills and talent arena – including recruitment professionals.

The scale of the challenge was underlined by Chris

Moore, president of group operations at Adecco Group UK and Ireland and REC chairman, who flagged the “lack of skills needed to embrace the changes that automation is bringing to the workplace”. Recruitment will get harder, the only solution for employers is to get better.

This may result in more businesses turning to recruit

Mandy Brook, managing director of RSE Group, underlined the fact that “recruiters already play a key role in educating clients on latest jobs market trends – we are unsung heroes!”. A big message from delegates was that the changing world of work will provide opportunities for recruiters to innovate and offer a variety of new services to clients and candidates. The faster the world of work changes, the more employers, workers and policy makers will need employment experts to help them make sense of a constantly evolving landscape.

This is the niche that recruiters can own in a future UK jobs market.

During his opening address, REC chief executive Kevin Green made the point that “a great jobs market is not just about high employment rates, it is about providing good work, it is about creating progression, purpose and fulfilment”.

Galvanising employers, recruiters, policy makers and other stakeholders around this shared agenda lies at the heart of our Future of Jobs commission project. Last month’s launch event was just the start.

For more information To find out more about the work of the Future of jobs commission, visit www.rec. uk.com/futureofjobs

RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017 5

09/11/2017 12:18

Legal update

PENSIONS PENSIONS AUTOMATIC ENROLMENT – STAGING DATES AND INCREASE IN PENSION CONTRIBUTION

By Lorraine Laryea, solicitor and commercial adviser Staging dates for new employers Pensions automatic enrolment is the process that requires all employers to enrol eligible workers into a pension scheme. It began in 2012 with a staging process that applied to businesses in accordance with the size of their PAYE scheme.

The largest employers, those with more than 120,000 in the PAYE scheme, had a staging date of 1 October 2012. The staging date for medium and small employers will occur over a five-year period until the scheme is fully implemented in 2017. Staging dates were set according to the size of an organisation’s PAYE scheme from 1 April 2012 and were fixed dates.

However, for ‘new employers’ (ie organisations that became an employer after 1 April 2012 cut-off date) a new a staging date regime that is based on when they first pay a PAYE income to a worker

will apply. Any new employer who first paid PAYE income from 1 April 2012 up to and including 30 September 2017 has a staging date between 1 May 2017 and 1 February 2018. These staging dates are not based on the number of workers in the employer’s largest scheme but on the date the employer first pays PAYE income to any worker (see staging date list below).

Any businesses that first pay PAYE from 1 October 2017 will immediately be subject to the automatic enrolment regime and will have to enrol their workers from the outset.

Employers can check their

staging date on The Pensions Regulator website.

Pension contribution increases The minimum pension contribution that employers must make currently stands at 1% but, from 6 April 2018 to 6 April 2019, this minimum pension contribution will increase to 2%. The contribution from enrolled workers will also see an increase from 1% to 3%, providing an overall contribution of 5% into a worker’s pension scheme.

From 6 April 2019, the minimum contribution for

Date of first payment of PAYE income From 1 April 2015 up to and including 31 December 2015

Staging date 1 October 2017

From 1 January 2016 up to and including 30 September 2016

1 November 2017

From 1 October 2016 up to and including 30 June 2017

1 January 2018

From 1 July 2017 up to and including 30 September 2017

1 February 2018

employers will increase to 3% and enrolled workers’ contribution will increase to 5%, giving an overall contribution of 8% into workers’ pension schemes. It is the employer’s responsibility to make deductions from their employee’s pay and put this into their pension scheme and to pay the minimum pension contributions that they are obliged to.

Recruiters will need to factor these charges into charge rates for temporary workers and will also need to take into account the annual increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April.

The Pensions Regulator is responsible for enforcing employer duties and has also compiled guidance on its website for the pension contribution increases in April 2018 and 2019 and for businesses employing staff for the first time: www. thepensionregulator.gov.uk.

THE FUTURE OF WORK A FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE? The most valuable asset that this country possesses is its people, and the way that people want to work and the work that they will do is changing quickly. In the recently published ‘Future of Jobs’ Commission produced by the REC, the recommendations are aimed at delivering this as well as the goal of ‘Creating the best jobs market in the world by 2025’.

The ongoing need for flexibility Two of the most important themes within these recommendations are firstly, the ongoing need for flexibility in the workforce, but delivered in a way

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that fairly balances the benefits between workers and the businesses that engage them; and secondly, the impact that technology will have in terms of how we work and what things we work on.

A collaborative approach It is incumbent on the government, employers, recruiters, service providers and individuals to each play their part in making the UK the best jobs market in the world and even with this collaborative approach, it will be a significant challenge.

Helping individuals who want to work flexibly, assisting organisations wanting

more access to this flexible workforce, or supporting entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their business are all key to this.

The rise of self-employment The rise of self-employment and ‘gig’ working has been rapid: currently 15% of people choose to work in this way. The best jobs market is one with opportunities to get into work and subsequently progress, one where people have genuine choice in terms of ways of working, and one where flexible working options become the norm.

Martin Hesketh, CEO, Brookson

www.rec.uk.com

09/11/2017 12:18

Inspiration

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS

The View

Jordan Wood is a contract e consultant in the ng R&D/Engineering ne division at Redline Group

e Judith Thorpe is a director at Thorpe Molloyy

DAY IN THE LIFE

WHAT I KNOW

I’m responsible for...

Sourcing the best contract candidates in the engineering and R&D sector for our UK and mainland European customer base.

I’m one of the top achievers at work as well as being in charge of ‘all food related tasks in my household’ – cooking, food shopping and bill paying.

Aberdeen is picking up I think we’re definitely starting to see the tide turning in terms of our monthly figures. The numbers are going up and we’re seeing teams experience significant success. We’re not talking about adding members to our teams just yet, but we will revisit that in the next six months if things continue to grow into the New Year.

My typical day Business calls first, candidate sourcing second, but I am always flexible, so I never have a day that is ever the same. Throw in some contract team banter and a healthy snack along the way…

My most memorable work moment My first sales conference in Morzine, France for a ski trip. It was my first time skiing and I was dreadful! The influential part was being surrounded by Redline’s top achievers so early in my career, whilst getting to understand the permanent business model in more detail.

I love recruitment because...

It’s an industry where you are rewarded for your efforts. You are continuously incentivised to work as hard as possible.

Every day is different, which keeps it exciting.

My biggest candidate success story I had a candidate who had been unemployed for over seven years due to grieving the loss of their partner. The candidate lacked confidence at the time, and I was able to reassure them of their skills and abilities, and encouraged them to feel more positive about the interview process. At the same time I had to ensure the client was reassured that the candidate was now ready to work. I managed to secure the candidate with back to back contacts with several different companies due to the power of persuasion, client rapport and trust developed throughout my communications.

Always be eager Never be complacent. It’s a mind-set, but it’s vital. You need to continually go about growing and being the best and making your brand stands out. We do that by making sure our team is continually the best by investing and developing their success.

If you do that, it will translate across your whole business.

Be realistic Success doesn’t come without sacrifice. The reality is that sacrifice is a part of growing a business and you have to accept that – particularly with family commitments. You find yourself attending networking events in the evening and early morning and doing what you have to do to make your business successful. That’s a difficult trade-off, and it helps if your business favours flexible and part-time working.

Champion your team Celebrate your success. You can find yourself being caught up in the moment and thinking about what comes next, but it’s worth taking time as well to reflect on all the things you’ve done well.

Remain positive and push yourself I am a high energy person and I’m positive. I always believe in the glass being half full and I always look for an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone.

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

www.rec.uk.com

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RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017 7

09/11/2017 12:18

Members

REC MEMBERSHIP 2018 Being an REC member is about more than impressing your clients and candidates. We believe what you do transforms the lives of millions of people, and that we’re here to help your business grow and develop.

All members should have received the 2018 handbook, outlining how we’re improving your membership and adding value next year. Among an impressive suite of products and services, we’re also excited to give you a glimpse of what membership looks like in 2018.

NEW IN 2018

and safety experts will identify areas for improvement and deliver practical advice and deliver a full written assessment of your business. Free for all REC members until 31 March 2018*.

SAFECHECK SafeCheck is a complete review of your business’s health and safety performance. It includes a tour of your premises and a thorough review of any pertinent documents.

Croner’s health

SALARYSEARCH Salaries and benefits form the heart of every recruitment conversation.

It features data for roles across a wide variety of industries and sectors nationwide. You will be able to tailor your

searches to suit your organisation, client or candidate requirements.

The data is easy to access, free from bias, and updated regularly. Free for all REC members until 30 June 2018* *Terms and conditions apply.

I HAVEN’T RECEIVED MY HANDBOOK OR INVOICE Please email info@rec.uk.com or call us now on 0207 009 2100 and we will send a new pack to you. Please ensure you have your REC membership number ready.

What’s new for you in 2018

IRP AWARDS – WHO WILL WIN? Look out for the names of the winners from the 2017 IRP Awards in the next issue of Recruitment Matters.

Find out more about the night now at www.irpawards.com

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 78 Chamber Street E1 8BL. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing

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

© 2017 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.

8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2017

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www.rec.uk.com

09/11/2017 12:18

Driving your success

by Microdec

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Winner Best Recruitment CRM

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03/11/2017 13:51

IN- HO USE RE C RUITING

GETTING INSIDE IN-HOUSE RECRUITERS Technology, employer brand and social recruiting are all hot topics from the latest membership survey from The FIRM (Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers).

Colin Cottell reports BETTER USE OF TECHNOLOGY will be the key driver of better outcomes for corporate in-house recruiters. That is the reaction of Emma Mirrington, managing director of The FIRM to the global membership organisation for corporate recruitment professionals’ sixth annual survey and report.

Mirrington said those firms that embraced technology and AI would see “a seismic shift” in their performance.

She cited how Unilever had slashed its time-to-hire from six to two weeks simply by implementing Apply with LinkedIn, which automatically populates a candidate’s online application with their LinkedIn profile, and DocuSign, 28 RECRUITER

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DECEMBER 2017

which facilitates electronic exchange of contracts, eliminating the need for paperwork to go back and forwards.

TECHNOLOGY According to the survey only 2% of respondents currently use artificial intelligence (AI). However, Mirrington said the pace of change was such that sooner rather than later a combination of AI and a ‘Recruit bot’ would result in jobs only being posted to where there had been a successful outcome in the past.

However, this year’s report found many in-house recruiters have a long way to go before they can emulate Unilever. According to the report, some in-house recruiters “feel their organisations are far behind the pace of technological change at which the competition is operating”.

The report found that despite inhouse recruiters’ growing dependency on technology such as applicant tracking systems (ATSs), used by 65% of respondents compared with 59% last year, and video interviewing, the key metrics of time-to-hire and cost-to-hire have barely shifted.

“No significant changes have been reported in the average annual costper-hire,” says the report, with 39% of recruiters spending under £1k per hire IM AGE | IKON

09/11/2017 11:51

I N - H O U S E R E C RU I T I N G

compared with 36% in 2016. Similarly, average time-to-hire remains pretty much unchanged, with 91% of hires being completed in less than 12 weeks compared to 92% in 2016.

Although the report indicates most respondents take a positive view of both their ATS and ATS vendor, it also reveals a significant level of dissatisfaction, with 29% and 34% respectively giving them a negative rating (see overleaf).

As in previous years, performance is sector dependent. For example in the engineering sector, 25% of respondents say their average selection and attraction costs exceed £4k. In contrast, 67% of healthcare respondents say their average cost-per-hire is less than £1k. Recruiters in the telecoms sector take the longest time to hire, with 67% taking more than eight weeks.

Andy Randall, founder and CEO of eArcu, which this year became the most popular ATS among respondents for the first time, said focusing on averages for time-to-hire and cost-per-hire metrics hid “a real split” between the top agile platforms, which helped drive in-house recruiters’ performance, and older legacy platforms. As to where the biggest technological driver of improved performance would come from, he

W H AT AR E TH E I M P LI CATI O NS FO R R E C R U I TM E N T AGENCIES? In-house recruiters’ focus on employer brand, direct sourcing and building talent pools is, on the face of it, not good news for recruitment agencies.

As the report says, “it appears the majority of in-house recruiters want to continue to work on reducing dependency on agencies by establishing a strong EVP and employer brand that draws in high quality talent, as well as building a pool of talent that can be fished from for upcoming vacancies without having to spend both time and money on search”.

Figures in the survey bear this out, with only 8% of in-house recruiters indicating they filled more than half their vacancies though agencies, with 47% less than 10%. “The general dependency of in-house recruiters for contracting the services of agents for hiring purposes remains low,” says the report.

However, it’s not all bad news for agencies.

The report goes on to express concerns raised by in-house teams that they do not yet have the capability or the skills to allow more work to be carried out in-house.

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HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR ATS? said we should look to what is happening in the consumer market. He cited the gaming industry, and suggested the use of virtual reality and collaboration between players could be adapted for recruitment as a better way of testing candidates for attributes such supporting others and working as part of a team.

10%

30 RECRUITER

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10%

13%

19%

20%

EMPLOYER BRAND/EVP Away from technology, the employer brand and the employee value proposition (EVP) have emerged as the top recruitment priorities of in-house recruiters, according to the survey. While the top three priorities for 2017/18 – direct sourcing, building talent pools and employer brand/EVP – were the same as last year, employer brand/EVP took top spot for the first time, cited by 44% of respondents to the online survey.

Employer branding’s position as in-house recruiters’ top priority may be an indication that they see it as increasingly important, but it may have just as much to do with the report’s view that employer branding “remains a challenging aspect of the recruitment function”. Summarising responses to the question “What would you say are the biggest recruitment challenges facing you in 2017/18?”, the report states: “Getting top talent with a weak employer brand is an everyday hindrance, especially for recruiters operating in the B2B sector as these companies and brands have much lower awareness levels among candidates compared to B2C brands, which they are better acquainted with and hence have a greater inclination to work for.”

The report provides important indications of how in-house recruiters are facing up to the employer brand challenge. According to the survey, when considering how to build their employer brand, career pages are respondents’ top focus (52%), followed by candidate experience and employee reviews, and job boards, both 49%. “Employee reviews are often considered more reliable as a means of finding out more about an organisation as an employer, than communication made directly by the organisation itself,” notes the report.

In line with the importance that

HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR ATS VENDOR?

24%

17% 33%

37%

Do not use Poor

16%

Very good

Good

Very poor

respondents attach to their career page, the report says “it is heartening to note that 68% made it a practice to regularly update their site content, having done so within the last one to two years”. There is evidence this is paying off, with only 23% of those surveyed evaluating their career site negatively, down from 29% last year. Keeping a careers site visible, accessible, easy to use and attractive to look at is vital, suggesting this could be a core reason why 53% of respondents who hadn’t updated their site in over four years had a negative perception of it.

More encouraging are indications that in-house recruiters are responding to candidates’ demand to use their mobile when researching, sourcing and applying for jobs. More than two-thirds (68%) say their sites are mobile friendly and 62% say they are mobile-optimised, up from 55% and 54% respectively last year.

SOCIAL RECRUITING However, the report says more needs to be done to improve the social integration side of respondents’ career websites, with only 9% rating their site as very good, and 56% as poor or very poor.

“Organisations still have some way to go when it comes to enhancing the social connectivity on their sites, whether this involves allowing the fetching of CV data from LinkedIn, social sharing plug-ins or the option to log in from social media accounts,” states the report.

Do not use Poor

Very good

Good

Very poor

The report found mixed evidence as to whether the focus on employment brand and social recruiting is being reflected in how in-house recruitment teams are organised. While 31% have a dedicated function looking after employer branding, the percentage of respondents with a separate social recruiting function has fallen 2% since last year to only 12%. However, the report explains this does not necessarily mean that social recruiting is being taken any less seriously within the function. “With digital recruitment channels now at the forefront of the hiring process, social recruiting may likely remain ingrained into the wider channel mix rather than being considered an avenue of its own.”

When it comes to improving the function’s performance, the report refers to a number of challenges. These include “internal procedures that pose a roadblock in redesigning the recruitment process to increase its efficiency as well as improve workforce planning”, and concerns that “the capability of recruitment teams is yet to reach a standard that can cope with the volume of hires in a way that decreases time-tohire while increasing the quality of hire”.

When you add building employer brand equity and keeping up to speed with how firms such as Unilever are embracing technology, it is clear that corporate recruiters have their hands full if they are going to take their performance to the next level. ●

DECEMBER 2017

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03/11/2017 13:59

CO M M U N I T Y

SOCIAL NETWORK WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? GET IN TOUCH!

E

From ghostly Halloween fundraising to having Hawaiian-themed fun days, here are some of the things you’ve been getting up to outside of recruitment…

CUMMINS MELLOR GETS QUIZZICAL FOR BLACKBURN CHARITY VIA  Blackburn-based recruiter Cummins Mellor hosted its annual ‘Quiz Quest’ and raised over £12,320 for charity Blackburn Youth Zone’s ‘Get a Job’ programme, which is aimed at supporting young people aged 16-24 gain the right skills for employment.

£12,320 WAS RAISED IN CUMMINS MELLOR’S ‘QUIZ QUEST’

RSG’S SPOOKY DAY IN THE OFFICE RAISES £750+ VIA  Recruitment specialist RSG hosted its first ever Halloween-themed work day and evening, with all proceeds going to RSG’s new charity partner, The Prince’s Trust. The day was a huge success raising over £750 through fancy dress and dress down, an evening social, a spooky cake sale and a company-wide quiz.

ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL FOR RECRUITERS VIA  Evolution Recruitment Solution’s global operations director Russell Webb and managing director Jonathan Ellerbeck receive their Princess Royal Training Awards for their commitment to training and skills development from HRH The Princess Royal (see November’s Recruiter, p11).

HRH The Princess Royal presents Russell Webb (right) and Jonathan Ellerbeck (below) with their awards

Staff at RSG raised a spooktastic £750 for The Prince’s Trust

ALOHA, NONSTOPPERS! VIA 

TW I TT E R

Twice a year each year all NonStoppers (aka NonStop Recruitment staff) gather together for a fun day, with a recruiting competition followed by a huge party. A water park in Pardubice, just outside Prague and home to the first NonStop office on Czech soil, hosted this year’s event. The theme of this year’s party, in case you hadn’t guessed, was HAWAIIAN. Aloha!

Carve Consulting @ CarveConsulting Nov 2 Colin Cotill [Cottell] from @RecruiterMag finding out about our #SnapSpecs #FIRMday #RealTime

 @RecruiterMag  instagram.com/recruitermagazine/  recruitermagazine.tumblr.com/

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E BUSINESS ADVICE CO M M UNITY

ASK THE EXPERT Q: There is so much economic uncertainty at the moment; how do you suggest I maximise my chances of growing the business?

While there is uncertainty, the recruitment market is buoyant. A higher proportion of recruitment firms hit their targets in the most recent quarter than in the 12 months previously, so you can still be focused on growth, especially if you have a robust plan in place. This is important in de-risking your business against future economic shifts – reducing risk is the key to ensuring future success.

Start with planning

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The SME Coach your business. The UK economy is undergoing more uncertainty than most Western economies at the moment, so diversification into markets such as Europe or North America is likely to reduce your risk. Or consider which UK markets may thrive because of the current uncertainty, and look to diversify into those. And if you are a niche recruiter, then stick as close as possible to that niche to keep your expertise and value high. ● Strengthen your management team – the quality of your leadership and senior management teams is fundamental to success. Not only do they give your employees confidence and motivation, but they also mean you will likely make good decisions more often and use resources more efficiently. ● Invest in training – training isn’t a cost, it’s an investment that will pay itself back quickly. Use a blend of internal and external training, and oneto-one and group training. Most businesses can achieve getting every recruiter to make 10-20% more placements in just a few months. Spend half an hour at each recruiter’s desk coaching them. Junior recruiters will often benefit from advice on phraseology, structuring calls and so on, while more experienced recruiters will benefit from advice on planning and efficiency.

↗

Having to plan for multiple eventualities makes it harder than at any other time in an economic cycle, but also more important. The basic principles of planning still hold: create a plan, set targets with timeframes, execute and check progress.

The key differences with planning during periods of economic uncertainty are that you need to: 1) revisit your plans more frequently – depending on economic and political shifts, you should sensecheck your plan every three to six months, and keep a closer eye than usual on how you are performing against your targets; and 2) invest in de-risking strategies – consider integrating some or all of the following strategies into your planning to de-risk your business: ● Grow now – growth makes access to finance easier and drives economies of scale, ie. software licences become cheaper per unit, and the cost of support staff drops as a percentage of total revenue. Now is a good time to grow. The shortage of candidates willing to move means you can negotiate hard on fees, but it also enables you to cherry-pick which clients you work with.

A large client list enables you to choose clients who will give candidates confidence they are totally committed to the role. It also allows you to run accelerated recruitment processes to minimise the chance of candidates receiving offers elsewhere. ● Diversify – the more diverse your business’s revenue streams, the less likely it is that a change in economic conditions will fundamentally affect

Alex Arnot

ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec and non-executive adviser currently to 35 recruitment company owners and directors.

DECEMBER 2017

09/11/2017 10:49

CO M M U N I T Y

CAREERS

Change your mindset and start coaching

E

Find your next move in recruitment on jobs.recruiter. co.uk

BY TARA LESCOTT

↗ TARA LESCOTT is managing director of recruitment-torecruitment agency Recruiter Republic

AS AGENCY OWNERS, LEADERS and managers, we’re all time-poor. We have clients and candidates and suppliers demanding our attention, along with pressure to hit targets. Some days we can feel like hamsters in a cage and it’s easy to slip into disastermanagement mode, dealing with coaching issues only once we hit a significant problem.

But for our businesses to thrive, we must change our approach.

When it comes to dedicating time to helping your team master their skills, going from ‘optional’ or ‘nice to have’ to ‘must do’ involves a change of mindset. Our mindset is already pretty good when it comes to trainees. We know trainees need structured skills training in year one, and on

“The greatest gift you can give to your business and your team is your knowledge” the whole most firms make a decent job of this. Beyond this, the experience from company to company differs wildly when it comes to training – and coaching – for experienced recruiters.

It’s this terminology that offers the clue. Most recruiters, once productive, are left to their own devices – this is a mistake. Look at any highperforming athlete: even the most high-profile stars continue to be coached to be the best at what they do. The same has to be done to support our recruiters.

Demand more staff development If you want more than a flatline performance from your team, you have to demand more from your business in terms of staff development – particularly if your expansion plan rests on them becoming managers and leaders themselves.

Increasingly, I advise firms

I M AG E | I STO C K

p43_recruiter_careers.indd 43

or arrange direct mentoring and coaching for up-andcoming seniors and managers because business leaders just don’t know what to do – or don’t have the time to deliver.

If you think your big-billing senior or manager is going to be ‘trained’ by someone who hasn’t recruited or managed a team of recruiters since the 1990s, you’re wrong.

What you really need is a coach – someone who can not only tailor their knowledge to suit the personality and goals of the individual, but also coach them through implementation and practice. And guess what – that coach can be you.

By far the greatest gift you can give to your business and your team is your knowledge.

You don’t realise it, but you’re a recruitment genius. Nobody has experienced your business quite like you, and probably all the people who work for you have something they can learn from your experiences. Your problem is that you’re probably undervaluing this knowledge and saving up all this prized information, not seeing it as coaching content, and as a result you’re not sharing it.

Instead of releasing this expertise, coaching and storytelling only when we hit a problem, we need to dedicate this time up front. It’s valuable, it will have an impact, and your team will love you for it.

See part 2 next year for advice on how to put this into practice.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 35

09/11/2017 10:50

E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

“Here in the US, particularly in engineering, the market is vast and d the competition is low” MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER What was your earliest dream job?

↗

I was asked that when I was young and played in a football team.. All the other kids were talking about being footballers, but my dream was always to run my own business.

CHRIS ATIYAH, chief executive, EngTal, Chicago

What was your first job in n recruitment and how did you come into it?

Initially I worked for SThree in the UK. I was approached by a rec-to-rec when I was in a sales role, didn’t know much about the recruitment space and wanted to go to London and make money. I was attracted to SThree on a short-term basis but also for long-term growth and the opportunity to move to the US. I interviewed with a few of the brands and got offered a job.

Who is your role model – in life or in recruitment?

I respect anyone who’s come from nothing and worked their way up. I eventually landed on Lord Alan Sugar.

What do you love most about your current role?

The opportunity the market offers. Here in the US, particularly in the engineering space, the market is vast and the competition is low.

Other companies that operate in the space have 300, 400 or 500 people recruiting. What gets me out there

36 RECRUITER

DECEMBER BER 2017

p44 Recruiter_MyBrillCareer.indd 44

Chris Atiyah every morning is what this venture could turn into if we take advantage of the opportunity we have in front of us.

our doors a few weeks ago. We’re hiring our first four sales people.

What is your signature dish?

What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career?

Moving to the US. When I worked for SThree, most of its headcount were in Europe and particularly in the UK, yet all the top billers and performers were in the US. The move here has accelerated my career.

When I moved to tthe US, I was a senior sen consultant individual contributor, con but in less than fiv ve years I became a director, managing m 25 people. That’s given gi me the springboard to open o my own firm.

W What’s your top job to fill at the moment?

At the moment we don’t have anything. We opened

Chicken wings.

Laugh or cry, what did your most d memorable candidate make you want to do and why?

Both. A candidate turned d up to a an view with his dog. interview He performed rformed horrifically and the e interviewers were shocked that hat he had left his dog tethered outside for six hours.

What’s the best or worst interview w question you’ve ever heard?

“What are your long-term g-term motivations?”

What would you regard as your theme tune?

Born in the USA by Bruce ruce Springsteen.

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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215

Recruiter Jobs helping you to attract the best candidates for your vacancies.

Contact our sales team recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk +44 (0)20 7880 6215

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DECEMBER 2017

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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215

W WW. R E C RU I T E R .CO.U K

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Recruiter Dec17 recr.indd 39

09/11/2017 10:53

E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

recruitment and search consultancy welcomes Richard Williams as head of finance. James Rydon has been promoted to manager and partner.

ACORN: Newly appointed commercial development manager Matthew Hastie has been brought in to manage the recruitment and training agency’s Bournemouth and Bridgwater offices.

FRANKLIN FITCH: Thomas Hochgatterer heads up the IT infrastructure recruiter’s new office in Vienna, Austria.

Manufacturer INEOS Automotive welcomes Mornie Robertson as HR director.

Robertson began her career at BMW as an HR business manager, where she worked for almost 10 years before briefly working for Porsche as group HR manager ahead of joining Tesla Motors in 2009. During her time at Tesla Motors, she took on a global HR role in 2013, where she was responsible for all HR activity outside the US. In her role as vice president of HR, she provided strategic and tactical HR leadership and ongoing regional and global expansion.

In her new role at INEOS, Robertson will be responsible for helping shape the business by taking charge of attracting and employing key talent from across the automotive industry.

BULLHORN: The cloud-based computing software company for the recruitment industry has promoted Peter Linas to executive vice president, corporate development and international.

CORE-ASSET CONSULTING:

welcomes Michael Van Handel to its board of directors.

FREELANCE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES:

Liam Hughes joins financial sector recruitment specialist in the newly-created position of senior business manager.

The payroll company for contractors and temporary staff has promoted Matthew Parsons from sales director to managing director.

CORE-ASSET VERIFY:

HAMLYN WILLIAMS:

The pre-employment vetting services firm has appointed Steve Wright as business development manager.

Harry Sliufko is promoted to MD of the global corporate governance recruiter’s Americas arm.

EAMES CONSULTING GROUP:

MANPOWERGROUP:

The international

The recruitment giant

40 RECRUITER

DECEMBER 2017

P48-49 Movers and shakers.indd 48

with immediate effect.

De Lacy has been a board member since September 2008 but will remain in his operational role as sales director of Nakama firm Highams Recruitment.

OCEANS GROUP:

MCGREGOR BOYALL: Sam Hoggan joins the global recruiter to head up its new Glasgow office.

NAKAMA GROUP: Mark de Lacy has resigned from the board of the international recruiter

The executive search firm, part of the Harrier Human Capital Group, welcomes Jock Murray as strategic adviser responsible for the growth of executive search engagements in the infrastructure, transport, engineering and construction markets.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short 09/11/2017 11:54

PEDERSEN & PARTNERS: Simon Mansfield joins the executive search firm’s London team as global head of its defence practice.

Christopher Kopf joins as principal within the firm’s DACH technology practice group based in Munich, Germany.

PURE SEARCH: Adam Fleckney has been hired by the international recruiter as a director within its global CFO practice.

RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYMENT CONFEDERATION: Kevin Green is to step down as CEO in 2018 after almost a decade in the role (see p9).

the Edinburgh office for the last year, moves into a new role as head of interim across Scotland. Angela McCann, also CFO services, has expanded her remit from purely financial services into the industry & commerce market in Edinburgh.

Chris Hinton succeeds Glenn Swaby as chief financial officer at the recruitment and outsourcing services firm.

TALENTMARK: Nick Ross has been appointed client director by the life sciences recruitment specialist.

WOODROW MERCER FINANCE: The joint venture between FDYL, a Yorkshire-based financial consultancy and recruitment specialist, and Birmingham-based recruiter Woodrow Mercer, has appointed Natalie Moyles as business director within its Leeds office.

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

The senior finance recruitment firm, part of the Livingston James Group, welcomes tax & treasury lead Amy Borthwick and audit, risk and compliance lead Georgina Millyard. In Edinburgh, CFO services Stephanie Livingston moves from the Glasgow office to manage the firm’s industry and public sector offering in the East of Scotland, while Derek Lauder, who managed

Recruiter Republic Senior recruitment consultant Construction London £33k-£35k + comms + bens Oyster Partnership Recruitment consultant London £20k-£26k + comms + bonuses + great bens Recruiter Republic Researcher – executive search London, Wembley £33k-£35k + bonus

EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7606 Editor DeeDee Doke

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 6215 Recruitment sales executive Joe Moore

Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons

joe.moore@redactive.co.uk

colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk

PRODUCTION +44 (0)20 7880 6209 Production executive Rachel Young

Contributing writer Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

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09/11/2017 11:55

E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY

Heather DeLand Stop trying to recruit Millennials with your CSR record

Ah, Millennials. People born in the 80s and 90s, when the hair was big and the phones were bigger. The recruitment world seems painfully conscious that this group will form 50% of the workforce by 2020 – and have been, for possibly the past decade, dedicating valuable conference speaker slots to the topic of how to woo this fickle crowd.

I’ve heard all sorts: They all expect to be promoted to be your boss within three years. They have no loyalty to their employers. They make diva-like demands for flexibility. All they care about is CSR [corporate social responsibility]. Or, they don’t care about CSR at all.

The fact is, you can’t make character assumptions about people born across two decades any more than you can make assumptions about someone because they’re a Pisces. (Since you ask, yes I am creative, idealistic and terrible in the morning.)

It’s not useful labelling a whole group of people with a personality tag like ‘selfish’.

We should instead consider the real practical differences they’ve experienced in the world around them simply by

being alive at a different time.

You can place a generation in context of the state of societal and technological development.

For example, what kind of jobs are even available? My grandfather was a ‘pin boy’ whose job it was to set the bowling alley pins back up after they were bowled down.

That task has long since been adopted by machines. And whichever foreign nation Donald Trump tries to blame it on, so are a lot of jobs that used to be more labourintensive than they are today.

What impact do such factors as the prospect of home ownership, the state of the economy and other socioeconomic causes have on achievable goal-setting for this generation? Why dream of owning a holiday home when you can’t afford one, and there’s Airbnb anyway? Could these conditions encourage people to de-prioritise permanence (including job permanence)?

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They’re natives to gadgets, of course. But the rest of us are quickly (if not always willingly) catching up, as hot desking, Skype, Slack and Google Docs become the tools of effective collaboration.

In fact, there are dozens of other employment trends that have changed around them, not because of them, like increased access to flexible working and less CV stigma on changing jobs.

The articles I’ve read that offer advice on appealing to Millennials are, to me, just offering advice on being a decent recruiter.

Forbes suggests that you ‘Be clear when creating job listings’, ‘Be aware of what Millennials think of you’ and ‘Get current employees

Could these conditions encourage people to deprioritise permanence?

HEATHER DELAND is executive creative director, TMP Worldwide @heatherdeland

to help in the recruitment efforts’. As opposed to what? Writing confusing job listings, ignoring your target audiences and making recruiters do the heavy lifting?

LinkedIn research shows that the top three factors to get a Millennial to accept a job are: 1) Compensation package 2) Professional development and 3) Opportunities for advancement.

So… the things that people mainly enter employment to receive. I’m not suggesting we stop treating Millennials as special. I’m just saying we should treat everyone else like they are too. ●

09/11/2017 11:56

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03/11/2017 13:55

SNARE MORE TALENT WITH MONSTER’S NEW TRAP. SORRY, APP.

Monster knows young people can’t go five seconds without Snapfacing or Twit Apping.

In fact, 70% of Millennials use their smartphone to begin their job search.

Monster’s cunning new app lures them in; quickly searching and applying for jobs with a simple swipe, allowing you to move in for the kill.

Find out more at monster.co.uk/bettertalent

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07/11/2017 14:46