Recruiter December 2019

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December 2019

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

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NEWS

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FEATURES

18 THE BIG STORY

forward in benefits The new UK Recruitment Index reveals that differentsized recruiters adopt different benefits Mental health support reduces attrition Mental health issues are a serious problem for the industry RITA host Porter takes rise out of recruiting jargon Host comedian Lucy Porter gave the industry a gentle ribbing at the amount of acronyms in recruitment Start-up of the Month: Storm2 James Brown launches his agency that is dedicated to fintech roles Contracts & Deals

Celebrating our best employers Winners from Recruiterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Investing in Talent Awards reveal what sets them apart from the competition 22 Forget the 9-5 Flexibility is the way to keep and attract talent

TRENDS

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28 Community: Employability

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Time for a more authentic assessment experience Tech & Tools Hela Job: getting shift workers to the job fast

INTERACTION Viewpoint Shan Saba, Brightwork Soundbites

I M AG E S | I STO C K

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INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

E COMMUNITY

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Bridging the gap between two quite different worlds Social Network The Workplace: Guy Hayward ard Workplace Innovation: Sophie Sabbage bbage Business Advice: dvice: Alex Arnot My brilliantt recruitment career: Katie tie Alder, SW6 Associates ciates Movers & Shakers hakers Recruiter contacts The Last Word: Alan Furley y

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UPDATE

WE LCO M E

LEADER

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ttending a conference for business continuity & resilience professionals this past week, I was introduced by a speaker to the thinking of philosopher Onora O’Neill during a talk about trustworthy communications. What gave me pause for thought were some of O’Neill’s reflections that have resonance in recruitment.

Organisations should not be aiming to increase trust. Rather, they should aim to demonstrate trustworthiness, O’Neill said.

Part of demonstrating trustworthiness is admitting uncertainty, she went on to say.

Sometimes we’re afraid to admit we can’t guarantee a result or “Our RITA don’t know an answer winners are to a question. Do you have greater faith in among the recruiters who the person with all the listen, look for answers or do you listen more closely to answers and develop their someone who acknowledges they offers” don’t know? At a time when so many participants in the public debate are claiming to have the answers, we would probably do well to listen to those who acknowledge they don’t know but are trying to figure it all out.

Our Investing in Talent Award winners are among the recruiters who listen, look for answers and keep developing their offers to adapt to their people’s needs and the times we live in. Congratulations to our 2019 winners – and read more about them inside!

And #Dontforgettovote!

DeeDee Doke, Editor

More recruiters offer flex working to attract top billers

BY DEEDEE DOKE

AGILE/FLEXIBLE WORKING IS rising in popularity as a benefit for fee earners at UK recruitment companies, according to the newly-launched UK Recruitment Index.

The greatest take-up of flexible working is by companies reporting net fee income of £2m to £10m.

The benefit is nearly as popular at firms earning less than £2m NFI, but a smaller percentage of larger firms, in the £10m to £100m NFI range, have adopted agile/flexible working as a benefit to date, revealed the index, compiled by chartered accountants Saffery Champness in association with professional trade body APSCo. More popular as incentives with the highest NFI-earning tier are prizes, while private healthcare and trips also are firmly entrenched with companies in the £10m to £100m range. For those firms earning less than £2m NFI, lunches/dinners top the list of the most offered incentive, just ahead of agile/flexible working. The top three incentives for the mid-range – £2m to £10m NFI – earners were prizes in first place, lunches/dinners the second most popular and trips in third place.

“Agile and flexible working have become more up-and-coming, more accepted and much more wanted,” said Jamie Cassell, partner, Saffery Champness, at the 4 November launch, attended by Recruiter. The index attributes the agile/flexibility work’s rise in stature to “a reflection of today’s working generation and the requirement to keep staff engaged and motivated”. (For more on flexible working in the recruitment profession, see feature on pp22-25.)

Share schemes, health club memberships, car schemes and other benefits were also identified as currently offered by UK recruitment businesses.

Recruitment businesses were divided into the three NFI categories for analysis. Companies earning less than £2m in NFI were found to have an average headcount of nine, those with £2m to £10m having an average headcount of 49, and the highest tier having an average headcount of 151.

The index drew 200 responses this year, including some from The Employment Agents Movement (TEAM). TEAM participated for the first time this year, as did Saffery Champness.

“The aim of the game is for this [the index] to evolve… to develop and grow,” Cassell said. Expanding the research overseas is one consideration, said Cassell and APSCo CEO Ann Swain.

Other areas covered in the report included financial and operational performance, gender diversity, and regional and sector issues.

IM AGE | ISTOCK

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08/11/2019 15:13

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR

BEST CONTRACTOR CARE

Oracle Contractors BEST EMERGING TALENT EMPLOYER IN RECRUITMENT

La Fosse Associates MOST ENGAGING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMME

Investigo MOST EFFECTIVE PAY & BENEFITS STRATEGY

La Fosse Associates MOST INNOVATIVE BENEFIT Morson Group MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Amoria Bond BEST ONBOARDING PROGRAMME

Boston Hale

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BEST WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT

Goodman Masson BEST EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS

Gravitas Recruitment Group BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR - MICRO (UP TO 19 EMPLOYEES)

Baltimore Consulting BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR - SMALL (20-49 EMPLOYEES)

Bramwith Consulting BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR - MEDIUM (50-99 EMPLOYEES)

Oscar BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR - LARGE (100+ EMPLOYEES) SPONSORED BY: BROOKSON GROUP

Amoria Bond MOST INSPIRING NEWCOMER

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Lucy Sutton - Swanstaff Recruitment MOST INSPIRING TEAM LEADER/MANAGER

Annalee Wood - Aspire Recruitment MOST INSPIRING SENIOR MANAGER/DIRECTOR

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Team Denmark - Venquis Judging day sponsor:

Category sponsor:

TO OUR SPONSORS

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UPDATE

38,537 FOLLOWERS AS OF 8 NOVEMBER 2019

More support could reduce high attrition rate in recruitment

BY COLIN COTTELL

A SURVEY CARRIED out by global executive recruiter CSG has found that mental health issues are a significant problem within UK recruitment agencies.

According to the survey of 114 managers and consultants in 14 agencies, 74% of recruiters have suffered a mental health issue in the last year, with 59% saying they suffered from anxiety and 39% from depression. Both managers and consultants found business development calls the most stressful aspect of their jobs.

Managers and staff working in the recruitment industry should look out for changes in colleagues’ behaviour or attitude as this can be an indicator that they have a mental health problem, according to CSG’s learning & development director.

Chris Mercer-Jones told Recruiter that signs of possible mental health problems in colleagues could include changes “in how they dress, how they talk and communicate, or if someone is more argumentative or goes quiet and within themselves”.

Mercer-Jones said CSG trained its managers to spot such changes that he said are usually accompanied by a drop off in the person’s performance.

“If there is a change the question has always got to be, ‘Why has there been that change?’,” he said.

Younger and less experienced

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consultants were particularly vulnerable, suggested Mercer-Jones. “When they have events triggered outside work they are quite serious because it is often the first time it has happened [to them]. So the absence of that coping mechanism, along with a stressful job and a highpressure environment, can sometimes be a tip of an iceberg, so it is about making sure we really understand our consultants and giving them as much support as we can.”

When it came to measures to deal with the problem, he suggested that training courses for staff on spotting the signs of mental ill health and preventative measures could make a real difference. However, a healthy work-life balance was also important, “and will have a huge impact on people’s ability to deal with the highs and lows”, he added.

Mercer-Jones said that one big benefit of getting to grips with the issue would be a fall in the 31% annual attrition rate within recruitment agencies. “If we can tackle this we will have a lot more people staying in the industry providing a better quality service to candidates and clients,” he said.

Chris Mercer-Jones will speak at Recruiter’s Future Gazing: A 2020 Vision for Recruitment in the Northern Powerhouse on 27 November in Manchester.

Register to attend this free event at recruiter.co.uk/events/ future-gazing-2020-vision-recruitment-northern-powerhouse

I M AG E | I STO C K

11/11/2019 09:32

THOUGHTS FROM…the RITAs SEAN FLYNN SA LE S DIREC TOR , OR ACLE CONTR AC TORS

“It’s nice to get some recognition for the efforts that we’ve made over the years.

This isn’t just for the past year… We’ve established this business over 20 years and built long-term relationships in that time.”

Porter’s swipe at recruiting jargon hits home at the RITAs

BY GRAHAM SIMONS

WINNER OF BEST CONTRACTOR CARE

AMY STEEL ASSOCIATE DIREC TOR , AMORIA BOND

“Brand awareness and status is really important but actually our team, our consultants, work really, really hard and it’s an industry-wide recognition for what we do. We’re really proud of the work we do as well. We do our best to do a great job, so to have people in the industry recognise that too is incredibly meaningful.”

WINNER OF MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AND BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR LARGE (100+ EMPLOYEES)

BEN RILEY D IREC TOR , BR AMWITH CONSU LTING

“The awards are a recognition for the hard work that we’ve put in over the last 12 years, growing the business in the UK and internationally. We all know internally what we’re doing; everyone loves working for the company and what we’re looking to achieve, but having the Award and the recognition of it is fantastic.”

WINNER OF MOST INSPIRING SENIOR MANAGER – DIRECTOR AND BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR SMALL (20-49 EMPLOYEES)

RECRUITER’S INVESTING IN Talent Awards host Lucy Porter ensured her audience were LLH (laughing like hell) due to her ability to roll off an array of acronyms synonymous with the recruitment sector.

Porter revealed she consulted a copy of Recruiter before the Awards and discovered that while some companies “might use an RPO or an MSP, all firms need to be charge of their IT, possibly using an ATS to manage the recruitment process or an HRIS to monitor holiday and sickness pay”.

“You need to attract and retain talent using your EVP. You may sometimes need to perform a PES on someone that’s applying for an FTC and obviously if they are intending to job share, you will need to work out their FTE. “If you’re considering your company’s KPI and worrying about the ROI to your investment – it’s difficult isn’t it?

“I know a lot of SMEs are wondering what to do about IR35 in the wake of HMRC’s reforms and of course even if things seem A-OK for now, none us knows what will happen if the UK says TTFN to the EU. “I read all this and thought OMG, WTF, LOL – your industry really is full of BS.” Does she have a point? We couldn’t possibly comment!

I M AG E S | I STOC K / PA L HA NS E N

STA RT-UP OF THE MONTH STORM2 A former managing director of global recruiter Phaidon International has set up Storm2, a recruitment agency dedicated to finding fintech talent.

Speaking to Recruiter, James Brown revealed his agency would only place fintech talent, and was prepared to walk away from any client demands to place talent outside of this sector requirement.

“The fintech sector is growing exponentially and it is only serviced by generalist technology recruitment companies or smaller boutiques, and

one-man bands… It needs a dedicated, specialist recruitment solution on the agency side.

“All we do are fintech roles at senior or experienced level around the £100k mark on the technical side into London and Europe.”

Brown added the agency has mirrored its consultant core specialisms against the requirements of fintech companies. These core areas include machine learning, data science, data engineering, fullstack engineering, devops, site reliability, mobile and Android, and

project management.

According to Brown, the agency has also benefited from £1m in seed funding from backers, which has enabled it to invest in an advanced technology platform, allowing the agency to find candidates much quicker than its competitors.

On future plans for the business, Brown added: “The plans are to double in size. We’ve gone from 0-20 in the first two months, so we’re growing at quite a rate of knots as it is. Ahead of that, we will start to look at international expansion.”

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CONTRACTS

CONTRACTS & DEALS

PSI Services Global workforce solutions provider PSI Services has acquired Cubiks Group, an international assessment and executive development business based in Guildford, Surrey, with offices in 13 countries across Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

VONQ Recruitment marketing technology business VONQ has sold a majority stake of 54% to capital D, the private equity fund investing in mid-market companies across Europe.

The investment will be used to further strengthen the capabilities of the VONQ technology, and to leverage the technology in Europe and the US.

Abodoo Agile workforce platform Abodoo has recently launched a Crowdcube campaign to fund its UK expansion, offering members a chance to invest in the business. In 48 hours, the company had already exceeded its goal of £100k. Abodoo, a national export agency Enterprise Ireland client company, works by linking employers to the most talented people in its SmartWorking ecosystem.

C l Coople On-demand platform for flexible staff Coople has received additional funding of $32m (£24.8m) from a group of investors led by One Peak Partners and the Growth Equity Business within the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division. The proceeds from the successful Series C round will be used to continue investing in the automation of Coople’s online platform, to further expand within existing markets, and to launch Coople’s business in the Netherlands and one other as yet unnamed international market.

Kingdom Services Group Workforce solutions provider Kingdom Services Group has acquired Manchester-based Contact Industrial Recruitment. Founded in 1997, Contact Recruitment specialises in driving, industrial, waste and recycling recruitment, and managed services.

DEAL OF THE MONTH

Apps IT Oracle recruiter Apps IT has announced the completion of a management buy-out (MBO) supported by investors Collective Capital. Founded in 2001, Apps IT provides independent Oracle consultants to companies in the UK, Europe and North America.

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DECEMBER 2019

Founder-directors Simon Moore and Phil Coles led the MBO and will continue in their current roles managing Apps IT. Founderdirector Kevin Houghton will leave Apps IT to focus on other business ventures following completion of the deal.

Sirenum Sirenum, a UK-based provider of technology solutions for temporary staffing agencies, has secured outside investment, led by technology investors investment manager Bill Currie, construction technology entrepreneur Dermot O’Grady, Intrinsic Capital founding partner Mark Horrocks and former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy. The firm says the funds will help its growth into Europe. The company has recently closed large deals in Poland, Switzerland and Spain to add to its existing enterprise clients in Belgium, Italy and the US. The funds will help facilitate growth in markets outside of staffing, and allow for refinement and expansion of its product suite.

More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 08/11/2019 10:51

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peoplegroupservices.com

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05/11/2019 16:11

TRE NDS

INSIGHT

TIME FOR A MORE AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE Forget exam-style testing – an approach that simulates the true nature of work may be the way forward for both recruiters and candidates

BY ALEX LINLEY

ule number one when recruiting is to find candidates who are best suited to the jobs on offer. But too often, that doesn’t happen.

Firms invest time and money in recruitment processes that don’t really match candidates to jobs. Instead, they match people to criteria that may be in some way, but not fully, related to some aspects of a job.

In doing so, firms give a far from accurate impression of themselves to candidates, unwittingly turning away potentially great hires, and creating conditions that can cause underrepresented groups to slip through unintentionally created cracks, so that they continue to suffer from lack of diversity and all the benefits which that brings.

R

It’s all in the mix This happens because of how the recruitment process is traditionally structured. It’s formalised, compartmentalised, and abstract – nothing like day-to-day work. A job isn’t a series of separated tasks. You don’t sit down at your desk and do your cognitive tasks first, then your behavioural tasks, before getting on to some analytical problem-solving.

Skills and abilities blend together during the day. So assessment should be blended, too.

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Blended assessment simulates the true nature of work, so that candidates get to see what it’s like to be in real-world situations with that employer. This might mean interviews being based on video scenarios. It might mean firms showing candidates what the environment in the office looks like, and what people do day to day.

This approach certainly includes psychometric and cognitive testing, but in a more intelligent, online setting, so that employers have enhanced data insights to consider at the end of the interview process. Blended assessment brings even more rigour to a recruitment process, and in a way that candidates don’t even notice because it all feels so natural.

Strength in diversity Firms often struggle to recruit a truly diverse workforce. This might not be because of a lack of diversity in initial applications, but because the recruitment process inadvertently works against some candidates. If 20% of your applications are from minorities, you’d want to see 20% minority groups in your final cut.

This rarely happens, and instead companies can find that they just get more of the same.

Unintentionally created cracks in the process can be difficult to spot. For example, we’ve found that women can

“Blended assessment is about finding best fits for job roles, not the people best able to pass interview tests” do less well in time-limited cognitive tests. It isn’t that women can’t perform well with numerical tasks – they most certainly can. It’s more that men seem to cope better with the particular combination of time pressure and maths tests. So, you know what? Let’s take the time pressure away.

We can do that with blended assessment. We can put cognitive tests within a broader scenario that includes behavioural assessment as well, so that they’re part of a wider candidate

IM AGE | ISTOCK

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T R E N DS

INSIGHT

experience, instead of separating them out, exam-style. This small change ensures fewer women drop out of the process, and they have the opportunity to make the final cut.

We can, if an employer requires it, look at the speed at which tests are completed, and faster people might be rewarded, but slower people need not be penalised.

Blended assessment is all about providing a holistic, balanced and authentic view, not about pushing candidates into artificial, exam-style situations. It’s about finding best fits for job roles, not the people best able to pass interview tests.

firm can get upwards of 30,000 applications. Using a blended assessment that’s strengths-based, through a web portal, firms can easily discover the few thousand they are interested in learning more about.

This step is typically followed by a job simulation, where video might be used to ask candidates to participate in scenarios that represent the type of work with which they would actually be involved. From this, we can see the authentic experience of the candidates that allows them to demonstrate their authentic best selves.

Finally, there is likely to be an interview stage. Having had a real glimpse of working life, some candidates will be champing at the bit to join, having come to the conclusion that this opportunity is a great fit for them.

Others, having had the same experience, may decide the fit isn’t a good one, and so will gracefully withdraw – saving everyone’s time and energy.

This leaves interviewers with a final pool of strong candidates. We typically see conversion rates of about 70% at this final stage, delivering real value for employers as they find the few golden ‘needles’ they wanted from the original ‘haystacks’ of applications.

Blended assessment is driven by a desire to help firms find the candidates who best fit the roles on offer, drive down unintentional discrimination and increase diversity. It is underpinned by high-quality, rigorous tools that deliver objective data to inform the best decision-making. As a result, it gives both firms and candidates the next evolution in the recruitment process – an authentic assessment experience that delivers authentic and meaningful outcomes. ●

Every step of the way

↗

Blended assessment can be used at every stage of the recruitment process.

Let’s look at the graduate recruitment scene. A big, multinational

POWER POINTS Blended assessment provides a holistic, authentic candidate assessment environment that eliminates artificially constructed, exam-style recruitment tools.

The key benefits are:

1

Employers can accurately present their brand, working environment, core values and ethos through mixed media to good effect, giving candidates a clear understanding of the culture, ethos and day-to-day work.

2

Traps and pitfalls that can lead to candidates from under-represented groups dropping out are eliminated, resulting in an increased diversity of hires.

3

Firms can intelligently work through tens of thousands of initial applications and through later recruitment stages, knowing that the best candidates are not missed and that final, face-to-face interview stages will yield optimal results.

4

Candidates experience a process that’s less fragmented than a traditional approach, and one that fits with their wider expectations of using consumer-grade technology.

5

Rigorous standards are applied, the full range of psychometric and cognitive testing can be used, and standardised scoring algorithms produce objective data, which can be used as the basis for informed decisions.

ALEX LINLEY is CEO, Capp

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Saving Time & Money

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With data entered in a single instance and shared across the supply chain, Solutio automatically generates compliant KID documents for the worker.

Joint Employment Arrangements Solutio’s advanced payroll engine manages all payment models, including the increasingly popular joint employment product. The relationship between both entities is confirmed via data integrity, shared documents, transparent transactions and forensic reporting.

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T R E N DS

TECH & TOOLS

Getting shift workers to the job fast Hela Job matches workers to shifts in as little as 30 seconds SUE WEEKES

Recruitment technology has helped to shrink the world, and enables employers to build a global database of talent. What if, though, you don’t want candidates from the other side of the world but rather from round the corner, and quickly? In the US, Uber recently launched an app, Uber Works, which matches shift workers to shifts. Hoping to steal a march on the tech giant in the UK with its own disruptive platform is Hela Job, which aims to give instant access to local part-time workers.

SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM Hela Job is aiming to become one of the underpinning recruitment platforms of the ‘gig economy’ which, while offering employers and workers a valuable flexible workforce, can also lead to poor recruitment and employment practices.

A disappointing meal at one of his favourite restaurants provided one of the trigger moments for the launch of the platform by entrepreneur CEO and founder Ioannis Antypas, who has been building mobile apps since the age of 15.

“I wanted to help ensure a restaurant in London was never short of staff again,” he says, explaining that

employers can hire a person in as little as 30 seconds.

HOW IT WORKS An employer posts a job and the jobseeker sees the salary offered, location and travel time.

They click ‘accept’ or ‘decline’ on their smartphone, and the first to respond gets the job. Location-tracking technology in the app allows the employer to check the person is on their way there, and built-in messaging enables them to communicate. As well as short-notice cover, Hela Job’s algorithms enable employers to schedule a job request in advance for, say, holiday or peak-hours cover. The platform is free for jobseekers, and Hela

Job charges employers between 14 and 16% of the salary paid to the individual as commission.

PRE-QUALIFYING CANDIDATES The one-click recruitment process is facilitated by candidates being pre-qualified in advance. Artificial intelligence is initially used to perform a check on their eligibility to work in the UK (they must upload proof of identity, address and National Insurance number). They are then interviewed by a member of the Hela Jobs onboarding team about their skills and experience. Following this stage, a senior member of the team

T H E R I S E O F T H E P L AT F O R M W O R K E R I N T H E U K According to research by the TUC and the Foundation for European Foundation Studies, almost one in 10 workers now do ‘platform work’ at least once a week. The term covers a wide range of jobs that are found via a website or app such as Hela Job, Uber or Deliveroo.

One-fifth of UK workers are notified digitally if work is waiting for them.

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makes sure all relevant questions have been asked before the individual can set up their account on the platform. All of this process is carried out via a smartphone.

allow both sides to feed this information back.

“We care about our candidates, and also want to ensure they perform well, because they are a representation of us,” says Antypas.

IMPROVING PRACTICES

UK-WIDE LAUNCH

As well as providing an efficient way to match candidates with jobs, Antypas wants to tidy up some of the practices in the temporary working market. “Candidates will often spend several hours waiting to be interviewed, only to be asked a couple of questions; while employers like the fact that the app tells them candidates are on their way to work,” he says.

Employees clock in and clock off via a QR code, which eliminates the need for timesheets. If a candidate isn’t well-treated, or an employer feels their performance falls short, ‘reporting’ features

Hela Job will launch in several UK cities by the end of the year, including Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester. Success will depend on the volume and quality of candidates who sign up in each city, but Hela Job is confident the partnerships it has in place, and targeted marketing, will help to build the required candidate pools. “The model is based on demand, so we will make sure jobseekers have a head start over employers in each city.” ● WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 15

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INTE R AC TIO N

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VIEWPOINT

Doing the right thing Recruitment is a service industry

BY SHAN SABA

got my first real ‘grown up’ job more than 20 years ago working as a store manager for Toys R Us. Those were the days when all toys were bought from a shop, and online retail was unheard of. I had to work 14-hour shifts, six days a week in the busiest store they had in Scotland. It was hard work, but I learned a lot.

When I decided to leave, I contacted several recruitment agencies to help me source a new role. In the main I was treated pretty badly – no return phone call when I left messages for the consultants, registrations bordering on unprofessional and my CV was sent to companies without me ever being told. I realised that I could do a better job than most of the recruitment consultants I was interacting with, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes and in my recruitment career but the one thing that has driven me is doing the right thing – that service element which drives most of us.

Staffline and Brightwork are essentially service-led businesses, and this shows with the passion of the people that I work with. If a consultant is purely driven by commissions or bonuses, then inevitably the wrong person will be placed with the wrong company in the

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+ SHAN SABA is director at Brightwork

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wrong job, with the unavoidable consequences.

Recruitment has a bad image; there is no getting away from that. We all get tarred with the same brush and that, coupled with the drive for doing the right thing, is why I have pushed the CSR [corporate social responsibility] agenda in our industry. We all do a very important and rewarding job, and we are lucky to work in such a dynamic industry.

We have led initiatives at Brightwork and Staffline to assist those who most need help in our society, ranging from refugees and victims of modern slavery to single mothers and the long-term unemployed. We support charities nationally, such as the NSPCC, and locally, such as the Maggie’s Centres.

There are always bad apples in every sector of industry and I’m sure that we’ve all had that colleague, manager or director who just makes us want to leave recruitment forever. But I believe that what drives most of us is delivering a great experience to our candidates and clients – the commission part should be a welcome add-on to this.

As an individual – or more apt, as a human being – we are all on this earth to do more than just make as much money as possible, although I know that is the sole motivator for some in our industry. I believe we need to support those who need help, be that organisations, charities or people.

Our industry is built on service-led people who are commercially astute. These key attributes should be put to the greater good, which in turn unlocks professional success while also paving the way to a better future for all. ●

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I N T E R AC T I O N

SOUNDBITES

WEB CH AT GIVING A TOP-NOTCH SERVICE Great article, Nick Barton (‘The Last Word: Nick Barton’, p42, Recruiter August 2019).

Being subject matter experts is the key to great recruitment. It means you understand the issues your clients are facing and can service that demand effectively.

Whichever methods you use to connect and engage with your prospects, clients and candidates, there’s always room for improvement with technology processes.

With capabilities advancing all the time, automation can help facilitate better relationships and should always be used to further or enhance the face-to-face conversation, not replace it – or create space to allow more quality interaction than doing the routine elements of the job.

At Staffing Future, we help recruiters advance their capability with tech, so they’re able to do more business faster.

It’s usually all about saving time and using that as effectively as possible, investing where the ROI [return on investment] is, whether that’s in two weeks or two years.

Barton Partnership certainly has some impressive performance stats – keep up the great work!

JOHN JB RUSSELL, DIGITAL M A R K E T I NG C ON S U LTA N T

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN Commenting on your article ‘Jobseeking contrary to common thinking’ (p12-13, Recruiter November 2019), to me, job brand is very much part of employer brand, in so far as a decent job ad will have a bit of employer branding within it ie. a consistent message that they put out whenever they advertise a vacancy.

There needs to be a correlation between your job ads and your careers website.

A decent ad won’t necessarily send the reader scurrying to the careers site. They will be intrigued enough to want to apply purely because of the message in the job ad, particularly if it also give a clear indication of what’s in it for them.

‘Organisations need to consider how they communicate factors that lead to disqualifiers in job ads’ – this has always been the case. Screens we call them. Some applicants take notice – some chance their arm regardless.

ALCONCALCIA

What’s the mantra in recruitment that you live by, and why?

TOBY DIXON CO-FOUN D ER A N D CEO, MA RL IN G REEN

“At Marlin Green, we live by a mantra of ‘continuous improvement’. As with an F1 team, we are never satisfied. We are always tweaking and tailoring what we do. It is an evolution of high performance. This is as true for our approach as it is for the people we employ.

We don’t look for people like us – we want people who are better; people best suited to the next phase of our growth, who can grow the business beyond our own capabilities – who can bring something different and exciting to the table. We select these people carefully, get behind them, and above all ‘empower’ them. In a hyper-competitive industry such as recruitment, we can’t afford to be complacent. Every day we think: where can we be better, how do we get that ‘better’ landed, and who are the very best people to do it?”

K ATE MCCARTHY MA N AG IN G D I REC TOR , MCCA RT H Y RECRUIT MEN T

“The mantra I live by in recruitment is: ‘Always treat others how you would want to be treated yourself, and think about how it feels to walk in other people’s shoes.’

Recruitment is all about people, and it is essential to be emotionally in tune with everyone around you – clients, candidates and your team. My mantra also accepts that everyone is different, and ensures I take a step back and reflect on how it feels to be experiencing a situation. I think that makes me a better leader and a more rounded partner to our customers.”

EMILY COATES S EN IOR CON S ULTA N T, Z IT KO CON S ULT I N G

“The mantra I live by in recruitment is to have ‘my fight’ every day. Recruitment is by no means easy.

So it is important that I am at the top of my game every day, keeping up a pace that allows me to have as much going on as possible, including all the daily activities required. Being positive, resilient, confident and engaging is all part of being the best I can be as a consultant. Having ‘my fight’ also means to dig beneath the surface with both clients and candidates to ensure I get it right – asking the right questions and listening to what people require.”

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THE BIG STORY

CELEBRATING OUR BEST EMPLOYERS Recruiter celebrated the top recruitment agencies who put people first at its annual Investing in Talent Awards on 31 October, hosted by comedian Lucy Porter. Colin Cottell and Graham Simons spoke to some of the winners

IMAG ES | CARM EN VALINO

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THE BIG STORY

he RITAs, Recruiterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Investing in Talent Awards, pay tribute to the recruitment industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best employers and most inspirational employees, from newcomer and support person to agency leader, and new to 2019, the Best Recruitment Team of the Year.

Held once again at The Brewery in London Barbican, guests were welcomed with drinks on arrival, a three-course dinner and entertained by host comedian Lucy Porter, who presented the 19 different Award categories in style and great humour! After the ceremony itself, there was plenty of mingling, celebrating and the the odd spot of dancing until the small, wee hours.

Meet just some of the 2019 RITA winners on the following pages and maybe take onboard a few of their tips to look after and retain your own talent.

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THE BIG STORY Nadia Ed dwa ards-D Dashti: Tellin ng her story he winner of the Most Inspiring Recruitment Agency Leader Award has told Recruiter how the initial struggles she faced when entering the industry made her the leader she is today.

Nadia Edwards-Dashti, a co-founder of financial services technology and sales recruiter Harrington Starr, and managing director of its financial technology business, said that she when she first entered the industry her lack of confidence held her back. “I didn’t necessarily have the confidence to negotiate, persuade or influence, which is what you need,” she said.

Edwards-Dashti said those early experiences shaped her approach to

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leadership, and helped her to inspire others. “If I was as bad as I was and I ended up a strong biller, then I believe I can help anyone to get to that point – if they want it enough and they are passionate enough about the industry.”

A big advocate of the importance of mental toughness, Edwards-Dashti also draws on those experiences to help others develop a winning mentality. “When I say to people how I used to behave they can’t believe it, so it’s about telling my truthful stories of the past to help them progress in their mental toughness, and to train themselves not to react emotionally to things but positive and passionately.”

La Fossse Associattes: In nnovation in practice a Fosse Associates isn’t resting on its laurels having won two RITAs for Most Effective Pay & Benefits Strategy and Best Emerging Talent Employer in Recruitment.

The agency revealed it is seeking to embrace message-based therapy through a partnership with London-based firm Spill, in a bid to help staff increase their emotional intelligence and improve their ability to take on life’s challenges.

The app enables employees to access counsellors and therapists.

Unlike crisis phone lines, Spill is designed to help staff deal with problems before they become life-altering.

According to director David Roberts, the aim of the agency’s benefits package is to improve employee engagement through caring for its staff.

Some of the many other benefits offered as part of the award-winning scheme are: discounted private health insurance and dental care; monthly

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in-office masseuse; annual company-wide ski trip; quarterly incentives to Ascot, Paris and Venice; lunchtime skills workshops (languages, singing, graphic design, HTML coding); cultural outings to museums and art galleries; free pastries and fresh fruit baskets; and prosecco and beer every Friday at 5pm.

“Our founder Simon La Fosse saw an opportunity to create a business where a caring culture was not only encouraged but expected,” Roberts told Recruiter.

He added that the agency’s shared ownership scheme, which gifts staff 40% of equity by way of an EMI share option scheme, was a fundamental part of this plan.

“This has a positive impact on employee engagement as we don’t just work for La Fosse – we own it.

Building a business of co-owners rather than employees encourages a sense of responsibility for the business, creating ‘intrapreneurs’; employees build out their own

specialist desk within the business, founded on innovation. From our pro bono practice to our new life sciences division, there are countless examples of how fostering an atmosphere of innovation is good for us as a business.”

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THE BIG STORY The judges praised Edwards-Dashti for living and breathing her mantra to ‘Get better every day’. This is exemplified by spending hours helping individuals with specific skills and developing bespoke career development programmes to help them progress in their career.

Edwards-Dashti has not only proved herself an inspirational figure at Harrington Starr, but also across the wider Fintech sector.

A passionate advocate for the advancement of women, not only does she co-present Fintech Focus TV, but she also co-founded the Women of Fintech Social Community and hosts the Women of Fintech Podcast, “which allows women in the industry to tell their story”, she explains.

Molly y Alle en: Leavin ng a legacy he winner of the Most Inspiring Newcomer category may be a relative newcomer to the industry, but she is already on the way to realising her career aims of making a difference and leaving a legacy – something the Awards’ judges noted.

Molly Allen (right) joined Oakwell Hampton in September 2018, with a clear view that recruitment was the career for her. And she certainly hit the ground running, consistently breaking company billing records, before going on to open a new data analytics market

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Team Denma ark k, Venquis: Focusing on the goal eing clear about the end goal was the main factor behind the success of Venquis’s Team Denmark, winner of the Best Recruitment Team of the Year Award, according to its team leader Ella North (centre).

Team Denmark impressed the judges by successfully winning clients in a country in which it was unknown and in which it didn’t have a single contact previously. Other barriers it overcame were its team members being based in London and – crucially – no one speaking Danish.

However, none of these hurdles has held the team back, and since its inception in March 2018, Team Denmark, part of business transformation and technology change recruiter Venquis, has generated over £1.5m in fees and won a major contract with the COOP Denmark, which resulted in it filling 50 senior positions.

On the back of its work with the COOP Denmark, North says it won four new clients, and the team is set to double in

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size to 10 by the end of this year.

Team leader North told Recruiter: “It was about having a really clear focus, which meant that we all knew where we needed to get to. We had clear deliverables for which we held each other accountable, and we helped each other to get there.”

North said the biggest hurdle was explaining to Danish firms why they should use an unknown UK recruiter.

She said the key to proving the company’s worth “was completely embedding ourselves in the client, and knowing the answers to any question that we were likely to be asked, as this gave us a little bit more gravitas behind what we were saying”.

North says another factor in the team’s success was its focus on the candidate journey. “We made sure the candidate journey was the best it could be, and we were very clear and open with candidates about the process from the beginning.”

with no previous market knowledge, clients or candidates.

But more than that she has inspired others, with her clear focus, determination and attitude that anything is possible. Allen told Recruiter: “I guess for me it’s about being authentic, having a passion and a genuine desire to make a difference. It’s a very saturated market and I think you have to truly believe in what you are doing.”

Although a strong biller, Allen is actively involved in non-salesfocused activities, including corporate social responsibility initiatives, as well as onboarding new staff and training.

Aware that recruiters “aren’t always seen in the best light, and that there is a lot of stigma around recruitment”, Allen is also determined to change perceptions of the recruitment industry that consultants are only interested in sales and filling vacancies.

“It’s not about that at all,” she says.

“It’s about helping a business with their growth strategy and really understanding what you can do to move that company forward. But also from a candidate’s point of view: we all spend so much time at work, it’s important that we are working somewhere we love. So for me, it’s also about helping people achieve their dreams and their goals.”

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FLE X IB LE WO RK ING

FORGET THE 9-5 FLEXIBILITY IS NEEDED TO ATTRACT TALENT As well as promoting jobs that offer flexible work, more recruiters are leading by example and introducing more flexible working practices for their own people. Colin Cottell investigates our years ago, frustrated by her own struggle to find flexible work after a longer than anticipated career break, Helen Wright founded 923 Jobs, a staffing agency that only accepts roles that can be carried out flexibly.

Wright recalls how in those very early months “the conversation with clients and potential clients used to be around ‘What is flexible working?’, whereas now”, she says, “we talk to organisations who come to us and say ‘We want a flexible workforce. How can you help us?’

“Now,” Wright says, “we are all using phrases like ‘agile working’, ‘smart working’, ‘job share’, ‘flex work’, ‘compressed hours’. I really believe that flexible working has gained a huge amount of momentum.”

While most candidates are women, including mothers looking for an element of flex, Wright says more and more men are coming to them. But also “a growing number of younger Gen Z candidates, who are saying ‘There is more to my life than work, and I want a better work-life balance’. I think there has been some kind of societal shift.”

While 923 Jobs, which now has 15 employees, is one of

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just a few staffing companies to focus on this expanding market niche, it is also one of a growing number of recruiters who recognise the benefits of flexible working within their own businesses.

Wright’s own work pattern is a case in point.

Working full time, Wright’s hours are a mix of time spent in both the office and at home, plus evenings and weekends “to make up hours”. Others to adopt flexible working there are the company’s social media manager, who not only works part-time, but also “entirely remotely”. Two part-time employees, who cover the North of England, tend to do a couple of days from home and augment this by working in a co-working space.

To facilitate working remotely, Wright says all staff have been provided with laptops and mobile phones.

“We find that most people quite like a mix of being in the office and working from home,” she adds.

Not working 9-5 Another staffing company to move away from the traditional 9-5 is PA, secretarial and support

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F L E XI B L E WO R K I N G

“Recruitment is a very difficult job and a lot of hard work goes into it, and sometimes we neglect ourselves”

staff recruiter C&C Search, where allowing staff to work flexibly means they can do the job while balancing it with other aspects of their lives.

This includes a father, who starts work at 10am, allowing him to drop off his son at school; an employee who does compressed hours in order to meet caring requirements; and someone who works two days a week at home and three in the office. Another employee works four days a week for mental health reasons. “It’s all done on an individual basis,” explains co-founder Lucy Chamberlain. “It’s about having an individual conversation with each person in your team and saying, ‘What are your pinch points? What would make your life better and how can we increase your productivity?’.”

Predominantly interim provider Baltimore Consulting, recent winner of Best Micro Agency at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards 2019, also embraces flexibility in a variety of forms, including allowing employees to work from home. “In essence the flexibility that we offer gives people the autonomy to do their job, and this should in turn, support their home-life balance,” says owner and CEO Charmaine Vincent.

The introduction of a five-hour a month flexi-time bank, which staff can use to take some time out, say, for a longer lunch or to finish early has been particularly well received.

“Recruitment is a very difficult job and a lot of hard work goes into it, and sometimes we neglect ourselves,” Vincent says.

Compatible and flexible?

Flexible working in all its forms clearly chimes with the desire of increasing numbers of people for a better work-life balance.

But for many employers, including recruiters, doubts remain about whether it is compatible with running a cohesive and, indeed, profitable business.

Chamberlain accepts there is a risk that allowing some people to work from home or leave early can cause resentment among other staff, who may feel that a colleague is being given preferential treatment or is not pulling their weight.

However, she says this can be avoided by carefully planning your flex strategy, so that flexible working is available to staff across the board and not just selected individuals.

As for managing their people, Chamberlain says it is vital that firms have a communication strategy that includes staff even when they aren’t physically in the office. Without this, she says, any flexible working regime “is doomed to fail”.

Fortunately, the development of online collaboration tools, such as Yammer, make it easier than ever, she says.

Notwithstanding this, Wright says flexible working and especially remote working will not be suitable for everyone.

Some jobs don’t lend themselves to working remotely, but also, she says, some individuals don’t have the necessary personal traits, such as “the ability to work completely independently, to be resourceful and self-disciplined” to make a success of it. However, Chamberlain counters: “This is often the result of a bad hiring choice rather than necessarily an aspect of flex that doesn’t work.”

But in the rush towards flexibility, Chamberlain warns

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F L E XI B L E WO R K I N G

that companies must not forget those employees who “prefer to do standard hours in the office because that is their preference and how they work best”.

“It’s about having a flexible attitude to flexible working,” she adds.

Extreme flexing While some recruitment business owners and managers have concerns, David Stone, CEO at technology recruiter MRL Consulting Group, is in no doubt of the benefits. Five months into a six-month trial to gauge the effects of switching the company from a traditional five-day working week to a Monday to Thursday four-day week, Stone says the case for making this permanent is overwhelming.

While originally sceptical that the person who suggested the idea “was trying to get an extra day off ”, Stone says the premise it was based on, “that good people are never going to leave, and more good people will want to join”, has proved to be correct.

The company has lost just two people since the trial began, says Stone, while there has also been a massive increase in applicants.

Stone’s initial worries that staff wouldn’t be able to hit their targets in four days have proved groundless. “I have been running the stats quite carefully, and sales-wise, we are literally pound for pound identical in terms of sales per head compared to the same period last year when we were doing five days a week.

“Most people made the adjustment to their workflow within two or three months, so that by six o’clock on Thursday they have done their job for the week.

“It all comes down to productivity and efficiency, how you run your diary and your working day,” Stone continues, explaining that having only four days to achieve what used to take five has spawned “a more workman-like approach”, with staff spending less time on chit chat and social media.

One benefit is that teams have become “self-managing”, says Stone, with even junior staff interjecting with calls to colleagues to ‘come on, get on with some work’, “when someone sits back in their chair at 11.30 and starts the ‘What are you having at lunch?’ chat that used be quite common”.

Vincent cites the example of one consultant working remotely from his home, who is this year on target to bill £250k – compared with £200k last year when he was based in the company’s office.

For Vincent, the key element is trust. “You have got to trust that those individuals will go and do their job to the best of their ability and deliver regardless. You have got to believe that.”

At the same time, she says it is vital that processes, practices and standards are in place to cover all staff regardless of their working pattern. Not only does treating everyone equally build that trust, she says, but it helps to create that all important sense of togetherness within the company. By way of example, Vincent says the

firm’s high-billing, remote-working consultant takes part in his team’s daily “best practice huddle” over Skype. “From my perspective, it is actually having unified processes in place so that regardless of who you are, and what you do, you have a plan and you are very clear about what your objectives are.”

Selling the concept While companies such MRL Consulting Group are convinced that moving away from the traditional Monday-Friday 9-5 model can deliver myriad benefits, Stone says the company’s experience also encourages clients to consider following a similar route. “Quite a few clients have been asking questions about how you do it, and whether it would be appropriate for them, and asking us to come in to see them at the end of the six-month trial,” he says.

Getting buy-in from clients means practising what you preach, says C&C’s Chamberlain: “I am always a firm believer that if you want to lead from the front in this industry and encourage clients to endorse flexible working, there is an element of actually trying it yourself.” She adds: “I think it would be very difficult to pitch the benefits if you’re not actually doing it yourself.”

Before trying to sell the idea to others, Chamberlain advises recruiters who haven’t yet embraced flexible working to trial it first. “This will enable you to experience first-hand where the benefits are to both the individual and the wider business.”

One of the strongest arguments to use with clients is that it allows access to previously untapped talent, Wright says.

This includes 427,000 professional women, who are on an extended career break but who want to get back to work, and 456,000 single fathers, who also find it difficult to take on roles that include standard working patterns.

Wright admits it can be more difficult to persuade people within larger organisations of the merits of more flexibility.

“With some companies a cultural shift needs to happen,” she says. And to complicate the picture, she says some departments within the same organisation can be in favour and others against.

But for recruitment companies and their clients alike, those benefits are becoming increasingly hard to ignore.

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THE VIEW AND THE INTELLIGENC E

How the REC is supporting the industry P2 BIG TALKING PO INT

Why people are choosing temporary work P4 LEGAL UPDATE

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

The final countdown to IR35 P6 Issue 80 December 2019

INSPIR ATIO N

Going the extra mile for candidates P7

H E ALT H C AR E R E CRUI T ME NT

Government approach to healthcare recruitment puts patients at risk, warns REC “Fees paid to I agencies have n a letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matthew Hancock, the REC sounded an alarm bell over the ability of the NHS to maintain high quality care at affordable prices.

Firms with high standards are increasingly finding they can’t afford to work with the health service. Agencies leaving the market would mean staff shortages that would cost more to fill through high cost, emergency routes.

REC chief executive Neil Carberry said that if the frameworks that the NHS uses to procure temporary staff remain focused only on buying the cheapest option, quality of care may suffer.

Pointing to the high level of cost savings that agencies have already delivered for the health service, Carberry said: “Increasingly, agency providers deliver at rates below [those of] NHS banks”. And he added: “Fees paid to agencies have come down substantially as we reach the fourth year of caps.”

Delivering high standards of patient care at good value is at the heart of what NHS staffing firms do. But there comes a point where firms simply cannot supply at the

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come down substantially as we reach the fourth year of caps.”

prices offered, so they leave the market – a trend we have seen in social care and public sector infrastructure already.

In the letter, the REC points out that where government enforces unrealistic frameworks it creates instability and an unsustainable market. This always ends up leading to higher costs for the taxpayer in the long term: “Government learned from the Carillion collapse what happens when

unsustainable contracts are forced through by public procurement – only firms willing to take uneconomic business remain...

Some recent procurements are pitched at levels that are likely to drive firms to exit NHS on-framework supply.” This could have especially serious consequences as we run up to high demand winter months.

The full text of the letter is available on the REC website.

www.rec.uk.com 07/11/2019 16:18

L E A D I N G T H E I N D U S T RY

the view...

We’re bringing you a new REC for a dynamic, modern industry, says

NEIL CARBERRY, REC chief executive

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hange is the one constant in all our businesses. Whether it’s technology, politics or economic challenges – we are shaping and reshaping to meet what the market demands every day.

With every change I can remember, people have said that recruiters are under pressure. In some ways, we are. But pressure creates diamonds. And we always come through.

At the REC, we see people strategy rising up the corporate agenda through our work in the Good Recruitment Campaign with almost 500 major client businesses. More and more business leaders realise that recruitment is a professional service, not just a process.

That’s why I am optimistic for what we can achieve together in the years to come. A true coming of age for recruitment.

Staying in step with that change is as important for us at the REC as it is for any of you.

Over the last 12 months we’ve focused on how to adapt.

We’ve spent hundreds of hours talking to members about business needs and what you want from us.

Recruiters have told us to be more direct, simpler to work with and digitally enabled. So that is what we are going to do – in our campaigning, our advice, and our support on standards and training.

You’ll hear the difference in the way we talk, and the REC is going to look very different too. We will be showing off that new look for the first time at the IRP Awards.

The icing on the cake, however, is a new website. Launching early in the new year, this will give every member easier access to mobile-first support from the REC. With individual log-ins, the REC’s products will be available to everyone in member businesses for the first time too!

A new REC, for a new age. An improved digital offering will make the content you value easier to access in quicker, more bite-size ways too.

How’s that for a Christmas present? In challenging times, the REC is your organisation, by your side – this just makes us easier to work with and more impactful in what we do for you.

On behalf of everyone at the REC, I wish you, your colleagues, families and loved ones, a very happy Christmas. I’m looking forward to working with you for a bright and prosperous 2020.

If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment, then follow me on Twitter @RECNeil

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We’re playing our part in a time of crisis, says TOM HADLEY, REC director of policy and campaigns HADLEY ’ S C O MMENT

The Thomas Cook affair Over the last few months, we have been feeding into the government’s National Taskforce set up to support workers affected when travel firm Thomas Cook went into administration. The recruitment sector is playing a pivotal role in helping people transition into new jobs and different sectors; in an age of ongoing disruption we can expect the need to facilitate these transitions to intensify.

Over 9,000 workers were made redundant, in all regions and in the devolved nations, and particularly in the main office hubs in Peterborough, London and Manchester. The jobs lost ranged from cabin crew and pilots, to retail staff, engineers, IT, administrators and customer services. A number of key messages have emerged from our work with the government’s taskforce: • The sheer impact of redundancies on the mental wellbeing of workers and on their families can never be over-estimated. Many of the individuals affected had worked for Thomas Cook for many years, which compounded the shock and sense of loss.

• Specialist recruiters have a big role to play in helping individuals to find new jobs and transition into other sectors. The series of jobs fairs for Thomas Cook staff were an opportunity for recruiters to help make a difference.

• Many of the households affected by the administration had little or no savings, which makes earning money quickly an urgent priority.

Within this context, agency work can provide a crucial bridge into the next permanent role.

• Raising awareness of local jobs market trends and of latest hiring procedures are important elements of the support offering to workers. REC research and data will be used to help with this.

• Many of the employees will not have had to look for work for many years. This underlined the need for practical guidance on how to navigate evolving hiring procedures, which recruitment professionals are uniquely placed to deliver.

The Thomas Cook administration came after other high-profile redundancies at Monarch, Carillion, BHS and Right Bus. Harnessing the contribution of recruitment professionals to help those affected is at the heart of the formal Partnership Agreement between the REC and the Department for Work & Pensions. The way our sector responds to a crisis and ongoing external challenges continues to be a powerful illustration of the recruitment industry’s contribution the UK economy and labour market.

You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

www.rec.uk.com

07/11/2019 16:18

6%

the intelligence...

The top labour market trends of 2019

The number of vacancies in the UK has been falling since early 2019. At the time of writing, vacancies were down 6% since the beginning of the year.

BY THALIA IOANNIDOU, RESEARCH MANAGER

T

hrough political deadlocks, Brexit deadlines and a bit of a gloomy economic outlook, the labour market has shown resilience and employment remained high. But the year has not been without its warning signs.

sectors, while temporary staff demand was strongest in the Nursing, Medical & Care, and Hotel & Catering sectors.

In contrast, overall demand in the Retail and Construction sectors declined.

Employer confidence Ongoing uncertainty adversely affected business confidence this past year. According to our monthly ‘JobsOutlook’ survey of UK employers, confidence in the economy was at a low of net: -31 in January-March. At the time of writing, having marginally recovered in the summer, optimism around economic prospects fell yet again in July-September with 31% more employers thinking economic conditions were worsening rather than improving.

Despite this, confidence in making hiring and investment decisions remained higher throughout the year. However, sentiment fell to its lowest level in January-March (net: -4).

It has recovered slightly since.

Staff demand The number of vacancies in the UK has been falling since early 2019. At the time of writing, vacancies were down 6% since the beginning of the year. Our ‘Report on Jobs’ monthly surveys also indicated weakened growth in demand for permanent and temporary staff since January. The rate of vacancy growth in September was the slowest seen since January 2012.

Throughout 2019, demand for permanent staff was strongest in the IT & Computing and Accounting & Financial

PERMANENT MARGIN RALLIES, TEMPORARY MARGIN HOLDS 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%

19% 16%

Average temporary margin as % of turnover

Average permanent invoice as % of placement salary

Average temporary recruitment and permanent placement margins, Q2 2019

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Appointments In April-June, the UK reached a record high employment rate, but in June-August the ONS reported the first quarterly decrease since August-October 2017. The number of people placed into permanent jobs by recruitment consultancies fell for the seventh consecutive month in September. In contrast, our ‘Report on Jobs’ temporary billings index continued to signal a rise, albeit modest, throughout the year.

20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35

Economic conditions (net) Hiring and investment decisions (net)

Sep

Nov

Jan19

Mar

May

Jul

Sep

The average recruiter in the RIB Index achieved an average permanent placement margin of 16% in Q2 2019, up from 13% recorded in the same period last year. In comparison, the average temporary recruitment margin (19%) was the same as the level recorded in Q2 2018.

With heightened signs of skills scarcity, coupled with candidates’ reluctance to move posts in these

Labour and skills shortages During 2019, on average three quarters of employers reported they had little or no capacity to take on more work without needing to hire additional staff. Meanwhile, their concern over the availability of permanent staff rose, year-on-year, from 46% to 52% (‘Jobs Outlook’, October 2019). Recruitment and employment consultancies have also signalled a sustained fall in overall candidate availability in the third quarter, with the former seeing the steeper rate of reduction. Shortages, particularly in sectors such as Health & Social Care, IT and Hospitality, put a considerable strain on businesses.

In such unsettling times, the recruitment industry has proven it has a vital role to play in addressing heightened business concerns, supporting employers in planning their workforce effectively and identifying new opportunities.

The industry will continue to do so in 2020 and support the long-term health of the UK jobs market. continuingly uncertain economic times, increasing levels of reward seems an appropriate strategy for recruitment intermediaries. But with the growing complexity involved in sourcing and securing temporary workers – and then ensuring their continuing compliance with a changing raft of legislative requirements – it is unsurprising that margins are holding for this area of resourcing support.

BELINDA JOHNSON runs employment research consultancy, Worklab, and is Associate Knowledge & Insight Director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). 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.

DECEMBER 2019 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 3

07/11/2019 16:18

FLEXIBLE WORK

big talking point

Good work and flexibility go hand-in-hand Why working as a temporary agency worker, contractor or freelancer is more of a choice than you might think n any given day, UK recruiters place over a million people into temporary work assignments. But the overriding presumption is that people fall into this type of work because they can’t find a permanent job at the time. And when the government’s ‘Good Work Plan’ has upped the scrutiny on gig work, zerohours contracts, vulnerable workers and precarious work, there’s an even greater risk that all temporary work will fall under suspicion.

So why do people choose to work in this way and what does it mean for their future careers? The REC’s latest ‘Flex Appeal’ research aimed to find out.

And yes, 42% of people who have taken temporary employment as an agency worker, contractor or freelancer cited difficulty in finding a permanent role as a common reason for doing so. But other, more proactive, reasons came through strongly too: • 36% wanted to find work quickly • 28% wanted to work flexibly • 25% wanted to earn money quickly.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of contractors/freelancers who have secured work through an agency did so to work independently and not for one company; and 19% said they had chosen to work in this way to earn more money than they would in a permanent role.

Temporary agency and contract work is neither all low-

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RM December 2019.indd 4

skilled nor all low-paid. Agency nurses, locum doctors, supply teachers, IT consultants and engineers are all professionally qualified and can be supplied via agencies on contracts for services.

Flexibility is a growing priority As discussed in the last issue of Recruitment Matters, as many as 87% of employees would like to work flexibly, but only 15% of permanent roles are advertised as being open to flexibility. Temporary work is one way to fill this need.

This is a big motivation for contractors and freelancers in particular, but it is also an influencing factor for a higher number of women than men – and for workers aged 18-24.

2 in 5 British adults have worked as a temporary agency worker, contractor or freelancer at some point in their life.

25%

of all temporary workers are Only working in this way because they could not find a permanent role.

33% of women opt for temporary work for the flexibility, compared to 24% of men. www.rec.uk.com

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FLEXIBLE WORK

41% of those aged 18-24 have taken on temporary work for the flexible hours, compared to 25% of those aged 45-54.

20% of contractors said they did it to work fewer hours or have a better work/life balance.

So how do recruiters ensure the benefits benefits are felt?

Of all those who have worked as a temporary agency worker, 37% would consider working in this way again in the future – and that rises to 53% of contractors and freelancers. Similarly, about a third of those in permanent work (whether full- or part-time) would consider becoming a contractor, freelancer or temporary agency worker.

In any organisation, managing the flexible labour force is equally as important as managing permanent staff. It is imperative that individuals have a positive choice in the way they work, are aware of their rights and have confidence that regulations are being effectively enforced.

Employers and recruiters have a responsibility to contribute to workers’ sense of wellbeing by actively promoting inclusion in the workplace and showing appreciation of their efforts.

And offering training is important. While not all temporary work is low-skilled or low-paid, a lack of opportunities to learn and develop new skills is the single biggest factor in limiting career progression for those at the lower end of the scale.

Employers can do their bit to ensure temporary workers are getting a breadth of experience on any given assignment, which they can then use to progress, but the REC is also calling on the government to help. Currently, the Apprenticeship Levy excludes the vast majority of temporary workers by virtue of the short nature of contracts. Reforming this into a broader, more flexible training levy will help both agencies and employers to provide access for temporary workers to shorter training courses. This would an important step towards equality of opportunities, skills development and increased productivity.

Employers value their contribution

Download the full Flex Appeal report on the REC website.

Temporary work can drive progression According to the REC’s ‘JobsOutlook’ report for the period June-August 2019, 26% of employers of temporary agency workers reported that each year they transfer at least half of their temporary workers into permanent roles – demonstrating how temporary work can provide a route into permanent employment for hundreds of thousands of temporary workers.

Temporary work also plays an important role for inclusion – it’s a way in for older people, those with caring responsibilities, the disabled and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And it can be an effective way to develop new skills and gain experience in a new area of work – the REC’s research found 24% of those aged 18-34 have taken employment as a temporary worker, contractor or freelancer to gain such experience.

For many, it’s a choice

In the REC’s survey of employers, respondents rated how important temporary workers are to their businesses for a number of reasons: • 78% said they were important for meeting seasonal peaks in demand • 67% said they were important for covering leave or absences • 57% recognised the importance of temporary workers in responding to growth as new customers are won • 49% valued temporary workers for providing them with short-term access to key strategic skills.

With persistent skills shortages, declining candidate availability, and the majority of employers having little or no spare workforce capacity, temporary workers form part of the effective staffing strategies that enable the UK economy to thrive.

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16% of temporary agency workers did so to gain experience in a new area of work.

66%

of respondents who had previously worked as a temporary worker were now in a permanent role.

37% of those who have worked as a temporary worker would consider working in this way again.

DECEMBER 2019 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 5

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I R 3 5 F O R T H E P R I VAT E S E C T O R

legal update The final countdown to IR35

By JANE O’SHEA, Solicitor at REC

W

ith just four months to go until the introduction of the off-payroll working rules in the private sector, time is running out to prepare. The REC has been out and about, on the road helping members get ready, delivering 14 seminars throughout the UK since May 2019.

Members have engaged really well but if you have yet to take action, our message is: there’s still time if you move quickly.

Here are some steps to follow to ensure that your business is ready for the roll out:

1. Build a team & assess the impact Set up an in-house project team and engage with clients to determine if the small company exemption will

STEPPING INTO A SUCCESSFUL 2020

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apply to them. If all of your clients are exempt, then no action is required.

If the exemption does not apply then you should conduct a full audit of your workforce and consider: • How important is each client to your business? How many contractors do you supply to them? What’s the financial value of these contracts?

• Are your contractors engaged through personal service companies (PCSs), umbrellas etc?

• Can you deal with an additional payroll burden or should this be outsourced? Are you planning on engaging with new umbrellas? Do you have a robust due diligence process?

• Can changes be made to working patterns to take roles outside IR35? If not, do you have transfer fee provisions in your client contracts? This will be relevant if clients decide to take on workers on a permanent basis – will your business be protected?

• Be aware of additional costs that your business may incur, eg. as your payroll increases so too will liability for the Apprenticeship Levy. From 6 April 2020 you will have to provide a Key Information Document to

2020 is going to be an exciting year.

We’re anticipating a steady growth in the upcoming years amid the chaotic economic climate. The Good Work Plan legislation comes into effect in April 2020, and now is the perfect time for you, as an employer, to step in and own this transformation.

Think about the strategies you need to put in place to adhere to the five principles of the Good Work Plan, namely: 1. Satisfaction 2. Fair pay 3. Participation and progression 4. Wellbeing, safety and security 5. Voice and autonomy.

Our three pillars of a successful employee

workers and work seekers, which will set out rates of pay and deductions and will improve pay transparency.

2. Communicate with clients and contractors Use this opportunity to demonstrate your readiness for the changes ahead. Clients and contractors will appreciate agencies that take a proactive approach. Contractors especially will want to know the impact of the new rules and the information that will allow them to plan ahead.

Is your business IR35 ready? You can keep up to date on the latest developments via our IR35 hub or by coming to one of our Preparing for IR35 seminars in 2020. Keep an eye on our events page for details.

retention strategy should serve as a guide to help you get started: • Training your consultants to make sure they’re at the top of their game • Recognising them to boost their credibility among your clients • Rewarding them for their contributions to your business growth and to cement loyalty.

The REC is here to offer our expert guidance and services to ensure you and your team have everything you need to succeed in the years to come.

Find out more at: https://www.rec-irp. uk.com/membership

www.rec.uk.com

07/11/2019 16:18

I N S P I R AT I O N To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com

Q&A

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS

JULIE GRIMES, MD, Jaguar White Recruitment, on why – and how – the best recruiters go that extra mile for candidates Tell me a bit about your business…

I set up Jaguar White in 2011 when my children were very young. I needed to work locally, starting out in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and I couldn’t work long hours in an office. But I knew I could provide as good a service as the big boys – if not better.

I love what I do, and I’m thorough at doing it. As an independent consultancy, I’ve only got a small team, without whom it would be impossible to acknowledge every application or provide valuable feedback to those candidates that haven’t been successful. I can’t believe so few candidates get that basic courtesy.

Can you give an example of where you’ve gone the extra mile?

I helped one gentleman find a permanent position in accounts. He was 56, had been made redundant and spent the past five years in temp contracts – because he believed his age and

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RM December 2019.indd 7

seniority in past roles were blocking his job search for a suitably challenging and fulfilling role that also offered work-life balance.

To add to the challenge, his mum had just had a stroke so he was staying two hours away from home to look after her, while continuing his job hunt. We worked together with the client to arrange 1st and 2nd interviews on Friday afternoon and Monday morning to fit in with his travel and his mum’s care arrangements.

He was one of three candidates I put forward for the role, all of whom I coached for the interviews and briefed about the role and what was expected.

The process took patience and expertise, in the way I handled both client and candidate, but he secured the full-time role and has been doing well since.

The same level of understanding and support is needed for working mums, going after flexible roles that are like gold

dust, or for those with limited experience who’ve been dismissed by other recruiters. You need to coax out the information that sets them apart from the competition and give them the confidence for their personalities and skills to shine through.

People are more than just a CV. And when employers are cottoning on to the importance of diversity, spending this time and attention at the recruitment stage can yield real results.

I’ll always follow up with calls or site visits too to ensure successful candidates are settling in ok, and check if there’s any further support they need.

What lessons can you share about running your own business successfully?

Your standards of service, together with experience, can set you apart from the competition, however big they are.

I won’t recruit for a client unless I’ve seen

them at their premises.

Personality fit and cultural fit is as important as the skills required. And if I can’t explain the business and the role properly to candidates, it’s so much harder to get that right.

Meeting the client, gaining that understanding, then meeting and coaching candidates and running skills checks might mean the process takes longer, but I’ve found clients tend to be happy to pay extra for the thorough service. I now have the confidence to say no to new business, if it would otherwise mean compromising on my standards. You have to choose the clients that are right for you to work with – who respect the time you need to do your job and realise the value you add.

Paying attention to your own personal development and keeping training up to date is also invaluable.

I believe you should never stop learning in order to do your best for clients and candidates alike.

DECEMBER 2019 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 7

07/11/2019 16:18

AWA R D S HEADLINE SPONSOR

THE IRP AWARDS 2019 SHORTLISTS INDIVIDUAL AWARDS SHORTLIST NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR • Krishan Adams, Carrington West • Ayo Adesina, Extrastaff • Keegan Cooper, Evolve Hospitality • Bethan Dixon, New Directions Education • Rhys Evans, Hyper Recruitment Solutions • Amanda Lees, Search Consultancy • Ben Marsh, Human One • Haseena Mooncey, Hyper Recruitment Solutions • Ben Neale, Medlocums • Marianne Wills, Pro-Recruitment

TEMPORARY CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR • Ilya Donets, Carrington West • Heather Eaves, Term Time Teachers • Chris Hornbuckle, C&D Group • Josh Howell, Evolve Hospitality • Isabel Muller, Search Consultancy • Bernard Murphy, Jane Lewis Healthcare • Laura Preston, Redline Group • Andreea Roman, Human One • Tim Stevenson, Gattaca

PERMANENT CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR • Graham Brown, ARV Solutions • Amy Court, Taylor Herrick Recruitment • Nathan Darnell, Oakwell Hampton • Matt Davidson, Pro-Recruitment • Kate Green, Pro-Recruitment • Jamie King, Redline Group • Georgia Walden, Hyper Recruitment Solutions

IN-HOUSE RECRUITER OF THE YEAR • Samantha Green, Encore Personnel Services • Charlotte Hawkins, Virgin Media • Vanessa van de Venter, Siemens

CORPORATE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PRACTITIONERS OF THE YEAR • Girling Jones • Human One • Search Consultancy • Taylor Herrick Recruitment • VGC Group

• Oaklands Global • People First • Robertson Recruitment • SSA Recruitment

BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR • Saffa Ayub, Bramwith Consulting • Danny Brooks, VHR • Jessica Marchant, Sidekicks • Ed Vokes, Evolve Hospitality

BUSINESS MANAGER OF THE YEAR • Fiona Blackwell, Girling Jones • Madona Dartsimelia, Term Time Teachers • Nadia Gilmartin, Jane Lewis Healthcare • Samantha McCune, Evolve Hospitality • Lindsey Thompson, Search Consultancy

COMPANY AWARDS SHORTLIST BACK-OFFICE TEAM OF THE YEAR • Carrington West • Impellam Group • InterQuestGroup • New Directions Holdings (HR Team) • PMP Recruitment • VHR • WorkwithYork & WorkwithSchools

RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR • Guidant Global • Meridian Business Support • VHR PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS OF THE YEAR • Admiral Recruitment • Amoria Bond • Bespoke Careers • VHR

RECRUITMENT TEAM OF THE YEAR • Medlocums Recruitment • New Directions Pharmacy • Oracle Contractors • Randstad • Term Time Teachers • VHR

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

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

8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2019

RM December 2019.indd 8

BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR (UP TO 20 EMPLOYEES) • Brandon James • Cityscape Recruitment • Girling Jones • Human One • Inspired Search & Selection • Medlocums Recruitment

BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR (UP TO 50 EMPLOYEES) • Blayze Group • Bramwith Consulting • C&D Group • Evolve Hospitality • Give A Grad A Go • Hyper Recruitment Solutions • Nurseline Healthcare • Oakwell Hampton • Oxford HR • White Recruitment

BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR (UP TO 150 EMPLOYEES) • Bespoke Careers • Carrington West • Extrastaff • Jane Lewis Healthcare • McGinley Group BEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR (OVER 150 EMPLOYEES) • Amoria Bond • Encore Personnel Services • Pertemps Network Group • PMP Recruitment • Search Consultancy

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Pip Brooking Pip.Brooking@rec.uk.com. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing © 2019 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com

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05/11/2019 16:22

E EMPLOYABILITY EARPIECE CO M M UNITY

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

BY COLIN COTTELL

oger Moore is not your typical business owner. After leading a ‘dodgy’ life on the streets of Bristol, in October he opened his second Roger Moore’s Caribbean Cuisine restaurant in the city.

Now employing 15 people, he has no intention of stopping there. “My ambitions are to open nationwide, and to release cooking sauces and other products,” he says. Although he says he was never in trouble with the law, he admits: “I was doing things that, had I been caught, I would have been in trouble.”

Moore makes no bones about the fact that the only reason he is where he is today is because of the intervention of the founder of a Bristol-based social enterprise. Set up in 2016, Street2Boardroom is the brainchild of Clayton Planter. “I knew Clayton previously, and he engaged me to get involved, but I didn’t really listen – I fobbed him off to be honest,” says Moore. But Planter persisted, asking him what he had to lose by attending the four-week motivational course.

Since doing the course in November 2017, Moore has barely looked back. “The biggest thing it gave me was confidence. It changed the way I think about things. It gave me a different perspective: that what I wanted I could actually achieve.”

Planter, who works full time as a youth worker, says around 50 people have been through the course, with 60-80% not returning to a life of crime.

R

Bridging the gap Planter says he was motivated to set up Street2Boardroom because of the lack of opportunities for many of the friends he grew up with in St Pauls and Easton, two of Bristol’s most disadvantaged areas. He says some of his friends turned to selling drugs, with the result that several ended up getting into trouble with the law.

28 RECRUITER

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But alongside this desire to help others was his own frustration and, indeed, anger that despite having been head boy at his school and sports captain, and “doing things the right way” career-wise, things hadn’t turned out the way he had been led to believe would happen. Rather, he says: “It’s not what you know but who you know, what you look like and your network.” Moreover, having worked for Bristol City Council, where he came into contact with the business world, Planter, who is dyslexic, says: “I realised that most people in the corporate world were no smarter than my friends, and my friends no smarter than them.”

After coming to that realisation, Planter came to the further realisation that the only way to bridge the gap between these two worlds and two groups was “to give them [those like his friends] the right training, the right mentoring and the right support”, after which, he says, “I guarantee it can happen”. And so Street2Boardroom was born.

The idea that a life on the streets selling drugs is good preparation for g for someone else, is certainly y running a business, or working controversial, but Planter is keen to draw parallels between the two orld, it’s profit and loss; on the street, these worlds. “In the corporate world, se money. In the corporate world, you have guys will make money or lose your team; on the street, it’s your crew. On the corporate side, you can be made bankrupt or lose your job; on the street side, you go to prison or you might die.” And in the same way as legitimate business, those involved in drugs on the street also employ sales and marketing strategies.

The link to sales is particularly strong, Planter claims, which is why he has identified recruitment as one possible destination for those who have completed the course. “One way – the right way – is recruitment; the other way is the wrong Roger Moore, owner of Roger Moore’s Caribbean Cuisine way, but they are both restaurant, Bristol about selling,” he says.

“But which person is taking more risk?” he asks.

The person on the street, he les, and you either make it says, “where there are no rules, ile most sales jobs include or you don’t”. Moreover, while e case on the street. a basic salary, that is not the eople before,” he says, “As I have said to many people es so that someone in “if you were to swap the roles he streets, and the a corporate role goes onto the person from the streets goess into a corporate reet going into a role, the person from the street y time. So for me corporate role will win every it’s about how can I transferr those skills into corporate industry?”

While Planter makes the case that those ticular skillset that involved in drugs have a particular is valuable to employers, he admits that so far there has been a reluctance from companies to st of whom have a criminal actually take on people, most

“All some of these kids need, growing up, is an opportunity and a chance to do something else, a chance to earn an honest living”

DECEMBER 2019

08/11/2019 10:56

CO M M U N I T Y

EMPLOYABILITY record. “People can be a bit funny about it,” is the way he puts it, which is why for most of those who attend Street2Boardroom, setting up their own business is the only option. He explains that while a lot of the business ideas focus on fashion, music and sports, he is trying to get course participants “to think broader and more realistically”, citing food shops, or restaurants such as Moore’s, as a good example.

That said, Street2Boardroom has received backing from several organisations. Among these is Bristol-headquartered IT, tech and engineering recruiter Opus Talent Solutions. Founder Darren Ryemill, who first met Planter in 2017, explains that Street2Boardroom “resonates with us on multiple levels. It aligns with the entrepreneurial spirit that flows through Opus on a daily basis, and with who we are in terms of our corporate social responsibility policy and our corporate vision”.

Opus also offers practical support. Not only does it allow Street2Boardroom to use its own boardroom for its workshops, but Opus’s p staff are actively y involved. “Many y of our staff will g go in and give g talks around recruiting, how they got into it and what it is all about,” says Ryemill, adding that “one participant has expressed an interest in going into recruitment”.

According to Ryemill, “a number of relationships have been forged between participants and members of our staff that

E

include idea exchange, CV support and mentoring”.

Opus’s own staff also benefit from the relationship, he says. “It takes our people out of their comfort zone to work with people from different backgrounds and levels of privilege.” He says that while the recruitment industry is open to employing people such as those whom Street2Boardroom supports, unlike his own company, “there are very few that invest in the right training and resources to allow people from that background to flourish”.

Street referrals Street2Boardroom has also developed a close relationship with Avon & Somerset Police, which earlier this y year started referring gp people p to the social enterprise. So far, Planter says 12 people have joined via this route, of whom two have gone on to reoffend. And Bristol City College is interested in developing a college course based on the content of Street2Boardroom’s workshops.

“If you were to swap the roles so that someone in a corporate role goes onto the streets, and the person from the streets goes into a corporate role, the person from the street will win every time” Clayton Planter, founder of Street2Boardroom

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08/11/2019 10:56

The Recruit Venture Group Recruitment Awards 2019 From celebrating some of the most innovative and fast-growing recruitment agencies in the UK, to commending individual success stories, TV comedian Zoe Lyons played host to The Recruit Venture Group’s biggest awards ceremony yet. Held in central London on Saturday (November 2nd) at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, 17 awards were contested by nearly 50 independent recruitment businesses based up and down the country.

Attended by more than 225 recruitment industry professionals, directors, consultants, managers, trainees and other staff, the awards continue to grow in size and stature as the number of agencies competing for awards increases. The awards are a celebration of the achievements of the agencies launched since 2011 with the help of The Recruit Venture Group, which funds and provides ongoing support to 48 independent recruitment businesses across the UK. Its tagline is ‘support, create, invest, grow’, in reference to the fact that its joint venture model breaks down barriers to enable talented recruitment professionals to launch their own businesses. Judges for the awards were Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group, and David Head and Becky Wilson from, industry publisher TALiNT International.

Recruitment Innovation Sutton Recruitment

Office Administrator of the Year Reannon Gardner - Jark Bradford

Recruitment Coordinator of the Year Belmiro Frangoulis - Jark King’s Lynn

Resourcer of he Year Christina Richardson - Top Team Personnel

Trainee Consultant of the Year Antonietta Reda - GotPeople

Consultant of the Year Irena Sabinskaite - Jark Ipswich

Consultant of the Year Reece Nicholson - Tomlin Personnel

Team of the Year Jark Worcester

Best Recruitment Agency to Work For Jark Wakefield

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05/11/2019 16:24

The John Buckman Award The Recruit Venture Group’s 2019 Recruitment Awards concluded with Gary Whittred, Managing Director of Jark King’s Lynn, being presented with a special recognition award – The John Buckman Award. The Award was introduced by the shareholders of The Recruit Venture Group in 2018, in memory of the Group’s Founder John Buckman and rewards the values of entrepreneurship and determination that John lived his life by.

The John Buckman Award Gary Whittred - Jark King’s Lynn

Most Effective Compliance Operation Jark Stevenage

Boss of the Year Glynne Dyer - Vanta Staffing

Best Client Service Jark Norfolk

Best Candidate Care Staff365

Best Newcomer Savi Recruitment

Agency of the Year up to £2.5M Jark Downpatrick

Agency of the Year £2.5M - £5M Tomlin Personnel

Agency of the Year £5M+ Jark Norfolk

Agency of the Year £5M+ Jark Ipswich

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05/11/2019 16:24

E EMPLOYABILITY EARPIECE CO M M UNITY

Clayton Planter opens the latest Roger Moore’s Caribbean Cuisine restaurant in Bristol

The background of those who come to Street2Boardroom is certainly challenging. Planter says that they have an average age of about 25, and many have spent time in prison, received a caution, or generally got in trouble with the police. “Most of them are now starting families, maybe have just had a baby, and they realise they can’t keep doing what they have been doing, and want to change their life.” Around 80% are from a BAME background, and they are mainly men, he says. “People like Street2Boardroom because it relates to them – they can understand that what it says in the title is what we do. That is why people come to us.”

Planter describes the workshop as “a four-week motivational course”.

Looking at the parallels between the skills needed on the street and those required to thrive in the corporate world, the course then moves on to cover mindset and presentation skills, followed by developing a marketing and business strategy. It culminates in a Dragons’ Den-type presentation, where participants present their business ideas to a panel.

Swapping the environment One of the key aims of the course is to take attendees out of their comfort zone, says Planter. One way it does this is by sticking to office hours, and holding it in a corporate environment, he says. “If we did it in their community, and in their neighbourhood, there would be no need for anyone to change,” he explains. “But when you are taken out of your comfort zone, then you are automatically going to have to change, and this means we can change people’s mindset and how they look at things.” Planter can speak from experience, having persuaded his mother to allow him to attend mainly white Caucasian middle-class schools, and not those in the more socially disadvantaged area where he lived. “That’s what made me the person I am today,” he says.

In addition to running some of the workshops himself, often with the help of someone who used to be involved in crime, Planter also brings in outside tutors, with him acting as an interpreter between the tutors who “are talking a corporate language” and those attending the workshop.

However, of equal importance, he says, is the inspirational message sent to attendees when they see Planter, who is from the same community and background, running the show in this corporate environment.

Planter is realistic enough to realise that those who attend Street2Boardroom are ‘a hard sell’, especially to employers. However, he offers a heartfelt plea to give them a second chance. “We have all made

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mistakes in this life. But the bottom line is about looking at people’s potential. For me, it is about understanding a person’s story and their background, and taking a chance with people.”

And he argues employers that do so will get the benefits that come with greater diversity. “If you want to be a company that is innovative, and you still want to be around in 20 years and really doing something for the world, you need to start thinking differently. So for me, it’s about stopping employing people who act and sound like you, and starting to be more open and more creative.”

Fresh from opening his second restaurant, Moore urges employers “not to judge a book by its cover”. “I have done absolutely everything wrong in terms of a criminal lifestyle. I would never have thought when I was involved in things like that I would be capable of something like this.

“All some of these kids need is an opportunity and a chance to do something else, a chance to earn an honest living and to come out of the criminal lifestyle, because a lot of them don’t know or don’t see another way to make money to look after themselves – and often the entire family.” ●

DECEMBER 2019

11/11/2019 11:48

CO M M U N I T Y

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

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@RecruiterMag instagram.com/recruitermagazine/ recruitermagazine.tumblr.com/

From inviting an actor that’s liked, to getting on your bike and taking an ultra-marathon hike, you’ve been getting up to some great fundraising since the last Recruiter…

AST ASTRIID BIKE RIDE SMASHES TARGET SMA Rec Recruiter’s charity of the year Astriid has smashed its fundraising target of £30 £30k with its London to Paris bike ride ride. As Recruiter reported in Oct October’s issue, the challenge saw 30 c cyclists of all abilities and ages trav travel from Tower Bridge, London, to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Cloud-based software company and long-time sup supporter Salesforce matched the fund funding for all of its riders, doubling the sums they have raised and help helping the charity raise a grand total of a at least £40k. Astriid is an online mat matchmaking service that provides mea meaningful work to those with long long-term, often incurable and adv advanced health problems.

I NSTAG R A M dbcharlesrecruitment Coming back from a holiday is always ttough but @recruitermagazine knew how to cheer me up with the latest edition waiting on my desk. Much appreciated #recruitmentreading #latestissue #recruitermagazine

JOSH IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE RECRUITER Hunter Bond recruitment consultant Josh Harrington battled against some of the UK’s top ultra-marathon competitors at Snowdonia National Park in North Wales on behalf of BRACE, Alzheimer’s Research charity. So if covering 33 miles in 10 hours and 48 minutes while scaling four mountains leaves you breathless, seek out his JustGiving page and show your admiration!

WE’LL FUNDRAISE AGAIN AGAIN… Recruitment consultancy Robert Walters Group UK donated £25,428 this year towards its chosen charity – Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity. The bulk of the fundraising took place on the group’s annual Charity Day, where darling of the entertainment world Christopher Biggins (pictured) hosted the raffle and prize auction.

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

The Workplace

BY GUY HAYWARD

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opposite. How much time is wasted every year debating the loss of performance because of Christmas?

At our firm, I love building the tension and surprise of the Christmas party reveal.

From the ‘save the date’ event in October, the teaser campaign through November, the voting of the annual award winners throughout December, right through to one fabulous party, and the judging for the best-decorated desk. It’s an occasion to say “thank you” to everyone.

My particular favourite at our company: we all have a chocolate advent calendar left on our desk, but it is the giant advent calendar for the office that I love the most.

Behind each door is a surprise for four people – Fortnum & Mason hampers, ice skating, cocktails for four at the Ice Bar in London, a Christmas shopping experience, to name a few.

If you work at Swinton Insurance, you’re given a day off to go Christmas shopping – so good. Corinthia Hotels lay on a Christmas party for their employees’ children, who all receive a gift from Santa. Google goes one step further – all 57,000 employees receive one of the company’s new Nexus electronic devices. But it is

“The build-up to Christmas can be so much fun – it can help with performance and engagement, not the opposite” Lego that comes out on top for me – everyone there receives a limited-edition Lego set, which in the future could be worth quite a bit.

And our people appreciate the small things. Christmas Eve off, for one; closing over Christmas, for another.

These things can only benefit us all in terms of loyalty, productivity, sense of connection and a sense of recharge for the new year.

I think of the chap selling computer memory, and can guarantee one thing. He’ll feel like Bob Cratchit from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

He’ll sit around being unproductive and wishing he wasn’t there. His customers won’t be there.

Happy Christmas, and let’s all look forward to a wonderful 2020. ●

↗

GYM CONVERSATIONS TELL many stories. If you listen, many of these conversations are about work and how unhappy people are. Last week it appeared that conversations about Christmas have already started – and one in particular struck me.

A young chap, who from what I could deduce sold computer software, said to his friend he couldn’t believe that this morning he and his fellow workers had been told that they would be working until 5pm on Christmas Eve (again), and that the office would reopen on Monday 30 December.

I find this remarkable. An office not closed over the Christmas period because – actually, I can’t think of one reason that would benefit this chap or the business he works for. Two full months to go, and I wonder how motivated this firm’s people are going to be between now and Santa’s arrival.

The world of work has changed, as has how businesses should look after their people. Our industry has become brilliant at it – we look after our people at Christmas. Shouldn’t everyone, though?

The build-up to Christmas can be so much fun – it can help with performance and engagement, not the

GUY HAYWARD – redefining the modern workplace CEO, Goodman Masson

DECEMBER 2019

08/11/2019 10:57

CO M M U N I T Y

WORKPLACE INNOVATION

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BRING ON THE BRILLIANCE Transformation is now more vital than ever ↗ SOPHIE SABBAGE is a transformational consultant, speaker, trainer, patient activist and author of Sunday Times bestsellers The Cancer Whisperer and Lifeshocks: and how to love them

“Calling myself an agent of transformation is now almost as innocuous as the term ‘life coach’ ”

BY SOPHIE SABBAGE

ACCORDING TO MCKINSEY research, 70% of change programmes fail. Furthermore, in a recent survey with business leaders the word ‘transformation’ ranked highest in the jargon words they want to get rid of (closely followed by ‘disruption’).

To a writer, psychologist and agent of ‘transformation’, this is tragic. Indeed, calling myself an agent of transformation is now almost as innocuous as the term ‘life coach’.

The word ‘transformation’ has been so overused we’ve almost killed it. In society it’s applied to anything from weight loss to installing a new kitchen. In organisations, we have transformation strategies, transformation programmes, transformation directors and so many so-called transformational products being peddled by a flooded market of transformational practitioners that we have reduced it to irritating ‘jargon’. No wonder it has become a promise that’s rarely achieved.

The dictionary definition of transformation is a complete change in the appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that that thing or person is improved. I prefer to call it the shift that doesn’t shift back again.

Last year I spoke at a two-day conference entitled ‘Sustainable Transformation’, which gave me cognitive dissonance. And I said so.

Think about it. When the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it does not need to sustain its butterfly-ness. It just exists as a butterfly. We can sustain growth, learning, performance.

But if you need to sustain transformation then you have not yet achieved transformation.

Arguably, transformation is required more than ever. The need for climate consciousness in the ways we do business. The morphing digital landscape. The world we now call VUCA [volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous].

Dare I mention a looming departure from a controversial union?

So, how can we restore transformation to its IMAG ES | SH UTTER STO C K

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rightful place in human, corporate and social evolution?

1. Is the need real? Assess the need to adapt, improve, evolve, change or transform. These are important distinctions. Learn the difference.

2. Have you earned the right? As I’ve often witnessed, the refusal of leaders to transform themselves invariably cripples the transformation process. Their limits become the limits. Similarly, ‘transformational’ consultants are often change experts more than true transformers. As scientifically evidenced by Professor Torbert’s Global Leadership Profile, which identifies phases of adult development, only 10% profile at the level of ‘transforming’ – 10%. In order words, the capacity for transformation is a rarity, not the norm. Check your consultants and change leaders have earned this badge.

3. Are you ready to fail (a lot)? Vulnerability is one of the top five most resisted factors for authentic transformation: the willingness to actually fail (vs risk failure), transparently, many times along the way. And to be transformed because of, not in spite of, those failures. There is a break in ‘breakthrough’ in case you missed it.

4. Is the commitment unequivocal? If the need is real and the leaders are willing to transform themselves, then it is game on. But the commitment must be unequivocal – to behavioural, attitudinal and systemic transformation. Over a realistic time span and with a proportionate budget.

Remember, incremental growth is often enough. Please stop normalising what is not the norm. Instead, let’s find the places where transformation can breathe and be itself again. ●

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08/11/2019 10:59

E BUSINESS ADVICE CO M M UNITY

ASK THE EXPERT Clients strengthening their in-house recruitment teams is making growth harder.

How should I fight back?

There are reasons that recruitment consultancies add value to companies, and these are the buttons you should continue to push when clients, or prospective clients, are looking to reduce their dependency on external agencies. Four of these reasons are: Market knowledge – with a team working across a range of clients, recruitment companies will assimilate a depth of valuable market knowledge that is hard for in-house teams to match.

Capacity – the volume of roles a company recruits for inevitably varies monthly. It would be inefficient for in-house recruitment teams to staff for peak periods, and this creates opportunities.

Speed, choice and specialist knowledge – niche recruitment companies have an active network of contacts built over many years alongside an extensive database, both of which are maintained and added to daily. This enables recruitment companies to offer clients a wider choice of relevant candidates, faster than in-house teams can manage.

‘Unicorn hunting’ – for in-house teams, filling a role that requires a rare blend of experience and expertise is inefficient, in terms of the time spent scoping the market, engaging and qualifying candidates, and so on.

However, for recruitment companies, the exercise will likely identify multiple candidates who will be of value to other clients.

Highlight how high you set the bar

36 RECRUITER

The SME Coach In the covering note with shortlisted candidates, highlight: the talent pools you have scoped; how many active and passive candidates you considered; your level of pre-qualification on each candidate, and so on.

This level of service should continue through the process, even tracking the candidates’ performance in the years after they have been hired to show what percentage stay more than two years and/or get promoted.

Recruitment companies that deliver a great service, and communicate about what they are delivering, will continue to grow.

Prove yourself with the most challenging briefs Identifying and filling roles that will be hard to fill, or that have stood vacant for some time, will often unlock further opportunities. As these roles can be time-consuming to fill, ask about work that will follow assuming you are successful, and consider whether other candidates identified during the process may generate revenue. Don’t be timid when pitching for these roles – unemployment is at its lowest level since 1971, so now is the perfect time to discuss retainers, and getting clients to pay you upfront for your resourcing time.

Double up on business development Most recruitment companies would benefit from more business development. If you have lots of roles, you can choose the ones most likely to generate a fee in a reasonable amount of time. By focusing on those roles – and ignoring the less promising ones – most recruiters will become far more efficient and successful. ●

↗

Companies are bombarded with in-house recruitment tools, often proposing to make recruitment companies redundant. While there is overlap between resources available to agencies and in-house teams, this doesn’t tell the full story – but nor do many recruitment companies. Recruitment companies need to explain to clients what they (will) do: how hard they work; how thorough their processes are; and, ideally, the return from clients’ investment in the candidates they supply.

Alongside a terms sheet, give clients: a detailed methodology explaining your approach to their brief (what technology you use, where you search, how big your database is, how many candidates you speak to each week, and so on); the experience levels of the delivery team, if appropriate; and a timeline of when to expect key deliverables.

Alex Arnot

ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec and board adviser to more than 30 recruitment companies

DECEMBER 2019

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08/11/2019 11:00

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

“My life role model would probably bly be e my grandma. If I could be anything ng like her, I think I’d be doing okay” y” MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER What was your earliest dream job?

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

I worked at recruiter Bramwith Consulting. I saw an advert, which simply said: ‘Do you want to move to London? Do you play sports to a high level? And do you want to make good money?’ I sent my CV literally off the back of those three questions, having no idea what a trainee recruitment consultant did!

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

My life role model would probably be my grandma. She’s got 12 grandkids and counting, and one great grandchild. She’s really level-headed, really generous. She’s the nicest person I know. If I could be anything like her, I think I’d be doing okay.

In rugby it would my current coach Giselle Mather.

She’s a world cup winner with

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↗

I wanted to be a vet. Two of my cousins lived on a farm in Wales and I thought it was the best job in the world. And then for my work experience, I thought my parents had signed me up to a local vet but they rocked up at school with a suitcase and I went and lived on a farm, and I was farm vet for a week. I pretty quickly changed my mind…

KATIE ALDER Head of client services, SW6 Associates

KATIE ALDER England Ladies. She has done so much for the women’s game, moving it forward, and was one of the first level 4 female coaches. She coached a male side, which at the time was pretty rare and is one of the most passionate people around rugby that I know.

What do you love most about your current role?

The team that I work with. We’ve got a really eclectic team. We’ve got sales people, people with degrees, people who have lived in Australia, people who have come from sporting backgrounds.

Coming into work every day is a genuine a fun place to be and I think that’s quite rare.

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

In rugby, it would be captaining Wasps and playing for England Sevens. In recruitment, it was my first hire when I became a team

manager. I always wanted to run my own team, so getting my first hire was amazing.

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

An entry-level recruitment role in a company with 100% retention. They’ve been running for 11 years and they’ve never lost anybody.

What is your signature dish?

Lime and coconut curry.

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

A candidate once told me he was too popular to get a 2:1 degree – he ended up getting a 2:2.

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

Why are manhole covers round?

What would you regard as your theme tune?

The Wurzels’ I’ve Got A Brand New Combine Harvester – I’m from the West Country!

I M AG E S | I STO C K

08/11/2019 11:08

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05/11/2019 16:27

E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

AIRSWIFT

AMERICAN STAFFING ASSOCIATION

The global workforce solutions provider for the energy, process and infrastructure sectors has appointed Kyle McClure chief finance officer.

The ASA has elected people to serve three-year terms on the ASA board of directors.

The board elected eight directors: Jeff Bowling, the Delta Co; Joanie Courtney, Employbridge Holding Co; Robert Funk, Express Employment Professionals; Jeff Harris, ettain group; Kristen Harris, CSP, Portfolio Creative; Kelly McCreight, CSP, Hamilton-Ryker; Peter Quigley, Kelly Services; and Joyce Russell, Adecco Group US Foundation. The board also approved three chairman appointments: Janette Marx, Airswift; Ranjini Poddar, Artech; and Ken Taunton, CSC, the Royster Group. The ASA board of directors has also elected a new slate of officers for 2019–20: Leo Sheridan, Advanced Group, chairman; Chris Hartman, Allegis Group, first vice chairman; W Benjamin ‘Ben’ Elliott,

ALEXANDER MANN SOLUTIONS The talent acquisition and management solutions firm welcomes Claudia Nuttgens as global head of assessment and selection, and Jane Clark as global head of emerging talent consulting.

ALVIUS Richard Boggis-Rolfe OBE, chair of UK executive search firm Odgers Berndtson, and Belinda Brooke, former head of legal policy and services at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, have joined the board of the talent pool technology software specialist.

40 RECRUITER

Recruitment agency leaders networking organisation Elite Leaders has appointed industry veteran Jeff Brooks as CEO. Brooks brings with him a wealth of experience in the recruitment industry having founded Gresham Computer Personnel and Amdahl. He currently sits on the board of Primesourcing, where he is non-executive chairman.

Brooks’ experience includes five years on the board of Parity Resources, and 10 years on the board of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) between 2007 and 2017.

Randstad, second vice chairman; Threase Baker, TSC, CSP, Abbtech Professional Resources, treasurer; Joyce Russell, Adecco Group US Foundation, secretary.

Other directors currently serving on the board are Jeffrey S Burnett, CSP, Labor Finders International; Susan Dietrich, TOPS Staffing LLC; John A Elwood, CSP, Elwood Staffing Services; James A Essey, CSP, TemPositions Group; Tom Gimbel, LaSalle Network; Karenjo Goodwin, Exact Staff (immediate past

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

chairman); Dan Struve, CSP, Helpmates; Mark Toth, CSP, Manpower Group; and Steve Wehn, AMN Healthcare.

BERWICK PARTNERS The executive search firm has appointed agriculture and fresh food and produce sector leadership specialist Mike Thornhill.

CARESTAFF SOLUTIONS The health and social care recruiter welcomes Suzie Adam as nurse director.

DECEMBER 2019

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08/11/2019 11:09

MERCURY XRM Clair Simmons has been appointed office head of the recruitment software provider’s new office in Sydney, Australia.

NEXXT CRIPPS PEMBERTON GREENISH Employment lawyer Melanie Stancliffe has joined the law firm in its London office.

Heather Ranney has joined recruitment media company as vice president of agency channels.

Redactive Publishing Ltd 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL 020 7880 6200

CONTACTS EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7603 Editor DeeDee Doke Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons

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

Art editor Sarah Auld Picture editor Akin Falope

PROJECTUS CONSULTING

Director Phillip Machell heads up the specialist recruitment firm’s new division, Encore Interim.

Rebecca Cooper has joined the medical technology recruiter as operations director.

Recruitment@recruiter.co.uk

+44 (0)20 7880 6215

deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk

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

ENCORE PERSONNEL

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 6213 Sales manager Paul Barron paul.barron@redactive.co.uk

+44 (0)20 7880 6245 Senior sales executive Joanna Holmes

PRODUCTION +44 (0)20 7880 6209 Senior production executive Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk

PUBLISHING +44 (0)20 7880 8547 Publishing director Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk

RECRUITER AWARDS/ INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS +44 (0)20 7324 2771 eventsteam@redactive.co.uk

joanna.holmes@redactive.co.uk

HEIDRICK CONSULTING

SPACE EXECUTIVE

The global executive search firm in the US welcomes Emily Amdurer as a principal in its New York office, and Christianne Garofalo and David Peck as partners in its San Francisco office.

The Singapore-headquartered multidisciplinary recruiter welcomes Agnes Yee as its new managing director in Singapore.

KAYMAN RECRUITMENT The rec-to-rec firm has appointed Claudia Baptista as head of rec-to-rec in its education/healthcare/ construction recruitment division, and Danny Gebre as head of recruitment across North America in its New York City office.

KORN FERRY Christian Cederwall, George Davies and Steve Mullinjer have joined the global executive search consulting firm as senior client partners.

They will be based in the London office.

YO U R NE X T M OV E A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk City & County Healthcare Group Resourcing operational adviser Transport & logistics Staffordshire £23k-£25k p.a.

RedTusk Graduate recruitment consultant Bristol Healthcare/rec-to-rec £20k-£24k basic p.a.

For more jobs, people moves and career advice go to ● recruiter.co.uk/jobs ● inhouserecruiterjobs.co.uk ● internationalrecruiterjobs.com

CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS Recruiter is the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals. To ensure each issue of Recruiter magazine is delivered to your desk or door, subscribe now at https://subs. recruiter.co.uk/subscribe. Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £35 UK; £45 Europe and £50 Rest of the world • Recruiter is also available to people who meet our terms of control: http://bit.ly/RecruiterCC • To purchase reprints or multiple copies, or any other enquiries, please contact subs@redactive.co.uk or +44 (0)1580 883844 CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2019 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group.

Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2017 & 30 June 2018 – 14,837. is also sent to all REC members

Recycle your magazine’s plastic wrap – check your local LDPE facilities to find out how.

Scan here to get your own copy of

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08/11/2019 11:09

E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY

“We react to what others have to say rather than default to what we think is right”

Alan Furley Resolutions are so last year – try listening instead

’ve come to regard New Year’s resolutions as something to be feared, as they tend to be based on fantasy – a crossed-fingers way of thinking that generally means you slip right back into your old bad habits.

It’s something the recruitment industry is guilty of, and not just at the New Year. Many recruitment leaders talk about wanting to improve. They claim to be implementing better goals for their teams based on a softer approach, one that is more supportive of their employees’ lifestyles and choices. But all the while, the default goals revert to having a Porsche on the drive, a massive house and kids in private education.

There remains an assumption that everyone is motivated by the same things – money and material goods. Yes, these

I

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are a big part of the draw, but now is the time to really think ahead and consider “What else are people driven by?” to help shape your culture in the year ahead.

We’ve done this on several occasions at ISL. My business partner Henry and I have had to accept that we are now ‘the older generation’ in the office, facing cultural changes that look operationally pretty minor, but that have challenged us.

Having music on in the office, and dressing down, have felt like seismic shifts, as we had not been ‘brought up’ like that in the industry – it was suits, all day, every day, and heads down. “You want noise? Pick up the phone!”

Bigger shifts have been adapting a more digital profile for the team, giving them a social platform as professionals, and putting a learning and development

specialist in place. And we’re shaping a corporate social responsibility policy that involves the whole team.

A lot is driven by asking our team what they want, so we react to what others have to say rather than default to what we think is right.

All these measures have supported retention, which means we keep our good people.

But recruitment founders and leaders will know how hard these cultural shifts can be, which is why so many companies remain in stagnation, happy to see mediocre growth in the hope that the dreamt-of ‘big pay day’ drops in their lap, all the while forgetting they will need to take some risks along the way.

But here, there is a danger the business starts to erode because it’s not innovating – instead becoming outdated – and not solving the right

problems or acting as a true consultancy.

Founders and business leaders must step out of their comfort zone to lead their businesses into a new way of behaving. Change takes a long time to embed, so we must also practise patience for the results to take shape.

Finding business leaders outside the recruitment business to learn from, even to be mentored by, is a great way of getting another opinion. Taking this further by going on leading business courses, such as the Goldman Sachs Oxford Business School programme, has helped me immeasurably.

I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year, one filled with action, purpose and meaningful change – not just hot air. ●

Alan Furley is a director at ISL Recruitment

DECEMBER 2019

08/11/2019 11:09

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