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June 2018
INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters
AMBERJACK! Focusing on what it does best is the secret to its success, say the winners of four Recruiter Awards
15/05/2018 15:27
Providing assistance for your pension nightmares
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Call us now at 0800 211 8109
to speak to one of our consultants for a 30-day trial
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INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters
COV ER IMAG E | JO N ENOCH
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05 Winning ways
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The full list of recipients of this year’s Recruiter Awards Amberjack backs apprentices Four-times Award winners Amberjack gets behind the government’s Apprenticeship Levy Attract missionaries not mercenaries Social Talent founder Johnny Campbell’s advice for attracting a happier workforce Start-up of the Month: Red Carpet Remedium Partners launches the relocation platform in partnership with Benivo This was the month that was... Contracts & Deals
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FEATURES
THE BIG STORY Recruiter Awards 2O18 Coverage of the Recruiter Awards 2O18, including in-depth articles on some of the winners on the night: Amberjack, The AA, Harrington Starr’s Toby Babb, La Fosse Associates and Syft
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E COMMUNITY 29 Employability: ASTRiiD 32 The Workplace: Guy Hayward
33 Community Careers: Tara Lescott
34 Business Advice: Alex Arnot 36 My brilliant recruitment career: Jack Marsh
40 Movers & Shakers 41 Recruiter contacts 42 The Last Word:
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Alan Furley
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TRENDS Tech & Tools Mobile-first indexing: Time to get your site mobile
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INTERACTION
14 Viewpoint 15
Katie Mellor, CJUK Soundbites
I M AG E S | S H UT T ER STO C K / ISTO C K / KO IS MIAH
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Driving your success by Microdec
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RI Supplier Awards 2017
Winner Best Recruitment CRM
WINNER!
RECRUITMENT INTERNATIONAL BEST RECRUITMENT CRM 2017
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Winning ways
WE LCO M E
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ew benchmarks for recruitment excellence have been set, and participants in the Recruiter Awards 2018 have a brief breather – very brief! – to enjoy business success achieved in the last year, ideally
over a glass of something ice cold in a fantastic location. Well done! What a wonderful atmosphere there was this year, with a friendly competitive spirit yet with a collegial, community feel. Exemplifying this were conversations I had on the night with more than one
“While winning would have been best, they were proud to be included in top-calibre shortlists”
shortlisted participant who told me that while winning would have been best, they were so proud to be included in top-calibre shortlists in their categories. “This was the best shortlist ever,” one
happy participant said. Thanks to all who participated this year and made 3 May truly a wonderful occasion – a sparkling tribute to what recruiters can, and do, achieve! The clock is ticking down to GDPR deadline on 25 May? Are you ready? How are you managing the requirements in your offices around the world? Bring on more sun. We in the UK deserve it after the gloom of the last seven months. Required: sun and heat to fuel the second half of 2018!
THE 2018 RECRUITER AWARDS, held in association with flexr, were held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, where madcap host Milton Jones handed out 31 trophies to individuals and organisations operating across all areas of recruitment. Christos Tsaprounis, head of people & culture, Auto Trader UK, became only the second winner of the Recruiter Impact Award, while Amberjack was a multiple award winner for a consecutive year. Here is a full list of the winners and over the page are just a few of the comments and tweets about the event from those in attendance: RECRUITER IMPACT AWARD Christos Tsaprounis: head of people & culture, Auto Trader UK BEST NEW AGENCY, SPONSORED BY GUMTREE JOBS Peel Solutions MOST EFFECTIVE BACK OFFICE OPERATION, SPONSORED BY CIBSE JOBS Gravitas Recruitment Group MOST EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN, SPONSORED BY APM CAREERS All we need is you!: Guidant Group in partnership with Shop Direct MOST EFFECTIVE COMPLIANCE OPERATION, SPONSORED BY RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYMENT CONFEDERATION gap personnel BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY MARKETING TEAM Acorn Recruitment BEST PUBLIC/THIRD SECTOR RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY PF JOBS Commercial Services BEST GRADUATE RECRUITMENT STRATEGY What Makes You: Babcock in partnership with Blackbridge Communications
DeeDee Doke, Editor
BEST APPRENTICE/SCHOOL LEAVER RECRUITMENT STRATEGY, SPONSORED BY PERTEMPS Morrison Makes It: Degree Apprenticeships – Morrisons in partnership with Amberjack
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BEST CANDIDATE CARE, SPONSORED BY CENTRALUS ISE Partners BEST CLIENT SERVICE, SPONSORED BY TRUST IN SODA Kite Consulting Group BEST CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE Out of This World Candidate Experience: Mars in partnership with Amberjack BEST BANKING/FINANCIAL SERVICES RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY NATWEST LMA Recruitment BEST ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY THE GUILD OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS Fircroft BEST INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY 6CATS INTERNATIONAL NES Global Talent BEST IT/TECHNOLOGY RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY BIOMEDICAL SCIENTIST JOBS La Fosse Associates BEST PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY BROADGATE SEARCH DMJ Recruitment BEST TEMPORARY RECRUITMENT AGENCY, SPONSORED BY THE RECRUIT VENTURE GROUP Class People MOST EFFECTIVE EMPLOYER BRAND DEVELOPMENT The Home of Proper Jobs: Charles Tyrwhitt continued on p6
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37,170 FOLLOWERS
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UPDATE
AS OF 17 MAY 2018
Amberjack backs apprentices BY COLIN COTTELL
RECRUITMENT TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION OF THE YEAR Syft IN-HOUSE INNOVATION IN RECRUITMENT Go North East Bus Driver Routeway: Go North East in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Gateshead College OUTSTANDING OUTSOURCED RECRUITMENT ORGANISATION Amberjack RECRUITMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR – MICRO (UP TO 10 EMPLOYEES), SPONSORED BY CLASS PEOPLE Venari Partners RECRUITMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR – SMALL (11-49 EMPLOYEES), SPONSORED BY FLEXR Trust In Soda RECRUITMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR – MEDIUM (50-249 EMPLOYEES), SPONSORED BY CV-LIBRARY Investigo RECRUITMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR – LARGE (250+ EMPLOYEES), SPONSORED BY QX RECRUITMENT SERVICES Robert Walters
A MANAGING DIRECTOR of the company that won the Award for Best Apprentice/ School Leaver Recruitment for its work in recruiting 60 degree-level apprentices for Morrisons has given her backing to the government’s muchcriticised levy-based apprenticeship programme. Sophie Meaney, MD of future talent and volume recruitment consultancy Amberjack, told Recruiter that the Apprenticeship Levy introduced in April 2017 “was the only thing that has driven change in some early talent strategies” and that “quietly in the background it is driving a greater level of change than the headlines often reflect”. Meaney said that while the new levy-based apprentices introduced in April 2017 had not fully lived up to the government’s hopes, “we are seeing a shift, and organisations that have never hired into an apprenticeship programme before are doing so”. One of the biggest problems said Meaney, was the requirement for apprentices to spend 20% of time off the job in the classroom. According
to Meaney this “can be really hard for organisations in competitive sectors to support”. Meaney said it was a mistake not to change the name of apprenticeships as “it would have been easier for some of the changes to have been driven through”. This was particularly the case with degree-level apprenticeships, “which are very different in nature to what people typically associate with apprenticeships”. Meaney said these along with Master’s degree apprentices had the potential “to be really quite transformative over the next decade”. “The stigma is starting to shift,” said Meaney. Although, she admitted “there is still a long way to go”. “Schools, parents and governors are only just beginning to understand what apprenticeships are all about, but if that happens then I think the stigma will drop off.” • For more on Amberjack, which picked up a total of four awards at the Recruiter Awards, see p16-25.
RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR, SPONSORED BY RECRUITER JOBS Amberjack RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR, SPONSORED BY IRWIN MITCHELL Steve Beckitt: CEO/Founder, SourceBreaker IN-HOUSE RECRUITMENT LEADER OF THE YEAR Katrina Hutchinson-O’Neill: Director of Resourcing, Nationwide Building Society AGENCY RECRUITMENT LEADER OF THE YEAR, SPONSORED BY FLEXR Toby Babb: CEO, Harrington Starr BEST IN-HOUSE RECRUITMENT TEAM, SPONSORED BY IN-HOUSE RECRUITER JOBS The AA
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UPDATE
Attract missionaries not mercenaries
TW E E TS O N TH E AWAR D S
BY COLIN COTTELL
ORGANISATIONS THAT WANT TO ATTRACT the best talent need to transform themselves so they attract ‘missionaries’ rather than mercenaries, according to the CEO and founder of Social Talent. Johnny Campbell told The Innovation Circus: Social Recruiting event at The British Library that many of the most desirable employers in the world to work for, such as Microsoft and Google, attracted the best talent because of their greater sense of purpose. Mission statements such as Microsoft’s – ‘To empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more’ – “created an unbelievable emotional attachment”, said Campbell, which meant that rather than being focused on salary, employees “were prepared to make sacrifices”. He said the two key questions employees and potential employees want answers to are ‘Why do I do this work?’ and ‘Why does this organisation exist?’. It was a mistake to take the view that, for example, more surgeons than bin men saw their job as a calling, Campbell said, as research indicated that the percentage was exactly the same. The task for organisations, he said, was how to change attitudes so that more employees saw their job as a calling. He suggested one way was for employers to change their approach to managing staff so that they focused on producing a happier workforce. “Having the culture to drive performance is the same culture that will attract people to work for you,” he added. The event was supported by Broadbean and promoted by The Recruitment Events Co.
Gethin Roberts, managing director, Drivers Direct Recruitment “It’s the pinnacle of the recruitment year to see who the winners are. There is a real buzz to the evening.”
Heather DeLand, executive creative director, head of comms solutions, TMP Worldwide UK “It’s not a vanity thing like the Oscars. It is about something genuinely meaningful: People.”
James Ballard, founding partner Annapurna Recruitment (after his rendition of Sex on Fire) “Absolutely amazing. Brilliant. It’s quite nerve wracking, actually. Recruiter always makes it interactive. Recruiter always brings it home to the people.”
Graham Palfery-Smith, chairman, 6CATS International “I really enjoyed it very much. The service has been fantastic.”
Cassie Sissons, managing director resourcing services at Amberjack “It was really pacey compared to other awards. It was really fantastic and our clients had a great night.” Andrew Sharp, European head of early talent, Mars, on its partnership with Amberjack winning best Candidate Experience Award “This Award recognises the commitment we are trying to make to improve the attractiveness of Mars as a destination employer of choice. Our leadership teams are thrilled with this accolade.”
STA RT-UP OF THE MONTH MEDICAL STAFFING SPECIALIST REMEDIUM PARTNERS HAS LAUNCHED RED CARPET – A RELOCATION PLATFORM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BENIVO. Remedium’s co founder Philip Braham (left) told Recruiter the new platform provides doctors coming to the UK with information on their destination, how to open a bank account, a rental accommodation service and an interestfree financing option to
help with their rent. A Remedium representative also typically meets doctors at the airport, while a chauffeur is on hand to take them from the airport to their accommodation. According to Braham, the service has been launched with an eye on ensuring doctors have an “extremely smooth” transition over to working in the UK. “It’s to improve retention rates within the NHS. It’s important to us
they have the best possible experience with us as a company. From looking at the market, we haven’t seen another company launch such a product,” he said. The service is headed by Remedium’s head of care transition Rachel Warner, who has been working with Benivo on the platform for the past six months. As it’s a bespoke platform, it can be tailored to doctors’ requirements, Braham added.
And to prove what a buzz there was on the night of the awards, #recruiterawards was the top trending hashtag in the UK!
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THIS WAS THE MONTH THAT WAS… Here is a round-up of some of the most popular news stories we have brought you on recruiter.co.uk since the May issue of Recruiter was published A P R I L •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→
MON, 16 APRIL 2018
FRI, 27 APRIL 2018
NEW PLANNED LINKEDIN PAYMENTS HAVE RECRUITERS OVER A BARREL
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS FOR LORD SUGAR’S APPRENTICE WHITE
A recruiter has accused LinkedIn of having him by the “short and curlies” due to planned changes the professional network is making to its payment terms. Recruiter has seen an email sent to recruitment marketer Robert Woodford, founding director and marketing consultant at The Marketing Junction, from LinkedIn senior vice president Mike Gamson. The email states that from 1 June 2018 customers who spend less or equal to $25k (£17.4k) on LinkedIn’s products and services must pay quarterly via credit card or an upfront payment. But from 1 September 2018, customers who spend more than $25k will now need to make an upfront invoice payment instead of paying quarterly as is currently the case, according to the email. In a LinkedIn post, Woodford revealed five of his agency clients had contacted him about the change to payment terms. “In some cases they [agencies] simply won’t be able to do it based on cashflow and the time in the year the contract renews. But as one owner who I spoke to said ‘they have me by the short and curlies – and I hate that I am in this position’.” More: https://bit.ly/2rFitpu
TUE, 17 APRIL 2018
REC APPOINTS CBI’S CARBERRY CEO The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) has appointed a former recruiter as its new CEO. In a statement, the REC unveiled Neil Carberry as its new CEO. He is currently a managing director at the CBI, leading the business organisation’s work on the labour market, skills, energy and infrastructure. Before joining the CBI, between 1999 and 2003 he was a consultant at search firm Fraser Watson. Carberry will take over from interim CEO and director of finance David Vallance from 25 June 2018. The recruitment trade body has been on the hunt for a new CEO following Kevin Green’s announcement last November of his impending departure. Carberry added: “It’s incredibly exciting to have the chance to lead the REC through the next phase of its development as a voice for the recruitment industry and the fantastic people who work in it. “As someone who started their career in recruitment, I know the value the sector brings, and how important it is that our members can look to the REC for support.”
BBC Apprentice winner James White has spoken to Recruiter about life after winning the reality TV show, the progress of his business and what he has learned from Lord Sugar. White told Recruiter that since being chosen by Lord Sugar at the end of last year, life “had been pretty crazy” and had “absolutely flown by”. Referring to his business Right Time Recruitment, White said it had been transformed from just himself back in November to now employing 17 staff. He added that the publicity since winning The Apprentice meant that applications to join the company ran into the hundreds. “It’s about finding the gems,” he said. White went on to speak about his relationship with Lord Sugar and what he had learned from him. As well as seeing him at board meetings, he said he talked to him “probably two or three times a month”. However, he said that Lord Sugar “was available at any time of the day” and responded to his emails often for advice “usually within 10 minutes”. White said the plan was to grow the business to 25 billing staff within the next 12 months. However, he said it also made sense to set up an office in London, and that there were opportunities for international expansion further down the line. More: https://bit. ly/2ICONUA
More: https://bit.ly/2GeSR86 8 RECRUITER
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FRI, 4 MAY 2018
RECRUITER AWARDS 2018 WINNERS REVEALED The winners of the 2018 Recruiter Awards can now be revealed, following the y. glittering gala awards evening at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 3 May. The evening saw 31 awards taken home by individuals and organisations operating across all areas of recruitment. Christos Tsaprounis, head of people & culture, Auto Trader UK, became only the second winner of the Recruiter Impact Award, while Amberjack was a multiple award winner for a consecutive year (see pp16-25 for more). More: https://bit.ly/2GjVKV4
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MON, 14 MAY 2018
WHO ARE THE RICHEST RECRUITERS IN THE UK?
TUE, 1 MAY 2018
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TOTALJOBS AND JOBSITE PARTNERSHIP A WIN FOR ALL, SAYS STEPSTONE COO Totaljobs and Jobsite, two of the UK’s largest job boards, have entered into a partnership that, according to the chief operating officer of parent company StepStone, is a win-win for both recruiters and candidates. Nick Gold (above) told Recruiter the move would also enable StepStone “to become the biggest player in the market”. From 1 May, recruiters and employers who post jobs on either Totaljobs or Jobsite will have them automatically advertised on the site of the sister job board. At the same time, candidates who register on either site will have access to far greater numbers and choices of jobs. Speaking about the partnership, which has been two years in the planning, Gold told Recruiter: “Candidates get access to more jobs, and recruiters get access to more candidates, so it is a win on both sides.” He continued: “This is big news for us, as it means we can really start to utilise all of our different boards and become the biggest player in the market.” In addition to Totaljobs and Jobsite, StepStone’s UK brands include Caterer. com, RetailChoice.com, CareerStructure.com, Milkround.com and eMedCareers.com.
Several recruiters have featured in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List. This year’s list is the paper’s 30th annual survey of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the UK ranked by net wealth. The 2018 list is topped by Jim Ratcliffe, founder of chemical firm Ineos, who has an estimated worth of £21.05bn. But a number of the recruitment sector’s leading lights also made the list. Leading them at number 64 is Philippe Foriel-Destezet, founder of Ecco temporary employment agency in France, before it merged with Swiss group Adia to create Adecco. Here is the recruitment rich list: ● Philippe Foriel-Destezet, founder of Ecco (Adecco) £2.1bn (64) ● Rod & Sheila Flavell, FDM £224m (530) ● Kevin Coyle and family, Coyle Personnel £170m (623) ● Ged Mason, Morson £170m (695) ● Penny Streeter and family, Ambition (A24 Group) £157m (744) ● Lee Biggins, CV-Library £130m (882) ● Paul Lukic, LA International £119m (962) More: https://bit.ly/2wIKDWj
More: https://bit. ly/2Ii1Ueg
Find more daily news stories at recruiter recruiter.co.uk/news co uk/news p8_9_recruiter_JUNE18_month-that-was.indd 9
MON, 14 MAY 2018
EX-CONSULTANT GIVEN JAIL TERM FOR PUNCHING FELLOW COMMUTER A former recruitment consultant has been sentenced to four weeks in jail in Singapore after an attack on a fellow commuter that left him with a broken nose. In April, Recruiter reported Benjamin John Holman, then a senior consultant in financial services contract recruiting for Robert Walters in Singapore, admitted to punching Jason Ow Zhi Min in February last year, after the latter bumped into him at a railway station. Holman was fired as a result of the incident, while his lawyer pleaded for a fine or a short jail term. However, the deputy public prosecutor had earlier urged the district judge to jail him for at least eight months. Reporting on Holman’s appearance in court for sentencing, The Strait Times revealed Holman was sentenced to four weeks in prison but the prosecution requested a two-week deferment so they can consider filing an appeal against the sentence. The paper added Holman is now out on bail of S$5k (£2,762) and was o ordered to surrender himself at the o State Courts on 23 May. S More: https://bit.ly/2IKhGOs M WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 9
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CONTRACTS SPONSORED BY RECRUITMENT MERGERS
CONTRACTS & DEALS
Eden Scott Eden Scott has agreed a new partnership with NHS Scotland. The Edinburgh-headquartered recruiter has been named as number one supplier on the framework agreement for executive and senior manager search and selection for all NHS boards across Scotland for the next two years, with the option of a further two years.
SpringRole The Global Product Innovation Group of software company Meitu is now using Blockchain professional network SpringRole to validate employment information for internship candidates. This allows students of top colleges in India to certify their experience using the SpringRole professional network.
Talent Works International Recruitment technology provider Talent Works International has agreed a 12-month contract for Amadeus IT Group, a provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. The contract is for the development and activation of attraction campaigns and direct sourcing activities across the technology platforms & engineering (TPE) business of Amadeus.
Workday Hygiene and health company Essity has selected enterprise cloud applications provider Workday’s Human Capital Management (HCM) in a bid to transform and simplify the employee experience and drive engagement for its workforce.
Glassdoor Japan-headquartered Recruit Holdings Co, the parent company of job search engine Indeed, is to acquire workplace review site Glassdoor for $1.2bn (£890m). The cash deal will see Glassdoor operate within Recruit Holdings’ HR technology segment, which also includes 2012 acquisition Indeed. Glassdoor will continue to be led by its current CEO and co-founder Robert Hohman. Recruit Holdings added that it will maintain a hands-off approach towards Glassdoor following the deal, with both Glassdoor and Indeed continuing to operate under their own brands post acquisition. The transaction is expected to close during Q2 of Recruit Holdings’ fiscal year ending 31 March 2019, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
DEAL OF THE MONTH
ALEXANDER MANN SOLUTIONS Alexander Mann Solutions, a global provider of talent acquisition and management services, has been acquired in a deal worth £820m. OMERS Private Equity, the private equity (PE) investment arm of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for municipal employees in the Province of Ontario, Canada, entered into an agreement with current AMS owners, PE firm New Mountain Capital.
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The Curve Group Recruitment and HR outsourcing company The Curve Group has agreed a contract with Gatehouse Bank to provide an HR outsourced solution for the next three years. Gatehouse bank is an ethical, UK-based challenger bank, with offices in London and Milton Keynes, and has plans to extend its portfolio in the near future.
The AMS management team, which includes founder and CEO Rosaleen Blair, will remain with the business and continue to have an active role after the deal is concluded. The proposed transaction remains subject to several conditions including customary approvals by the antitrust authorities and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.
For more information
www.recruitmentmergers.com charlie.watson@recruitmentmergers.com
More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 17/05/2018 11:13
ACQUISITION OPPORTUNITY REFERENCE CW0305 LOCATION London, UK
HEALTHCARE RECRUITMENT AGENCY FOR SALE, LONDON
Key business features
Overview
• Significant year-on-year growth since inception
• Leading sector specialist in healthcare staffing – Healthcare assistants / general nurses • Specialist in temporary staffing – 99% temp • Consistent repeat business through excellent client
Recruitment Mergers is representing a leading healthcare agency
relationships with long-term contracts in place
based in London supplying nurses and healthcare assistants of all
• Superb audit pass rate
grades to private hospitals, nursing homes and the NHS.
• 58% private / 40% NHS • Substantial room for expansion
After experiencing many years of successful trading and rapid growth, Recruitment Mergers has been appointed to market the business for sale.
• 20 employees
Financial Information 2017
The shareholder is looking to dispose of all the issued share capital and
Turnover £5.2m
happy to commit to an earn out with deferred consideration.
Gross profit £1.2m Operating profit £336k
Don’t miss out Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and learn more about this fantastic opportunity.
GET IN TOUCH...
Charlie Watson
Principal M&A Consultant +44 (0)7787 560 553 charlie.watson@recruitmentmergers.com
ARE YOU AIMING TO ACQUIRE OR PLANNING AN EXIT STRATEGY?
WWW.RECRUITMENTMERGERS.COM Mergers & Acquisitions for the recruitment industry
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IN-HOUSE FINANCE & PAYROLL RECRUITMENT SPECIALISTS
Auto Enrolment Specialists with Intermediary Reporting
Working with AWR (Agency Worker Regulations) and WTR (Working Time Regulations)
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Call 01908 268888 Invoice Finance Specialists Calvertan Finance Ltd
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T R E N DS
TECH & TOOLS
Mobile-first indexing Time to get your site mobile SUE WEEKES
Google has started migrating sites that follow best practice to ‘mobilefirst’ indexing. It means indexing and ranking will be based on the mobile version of a website to better help its ‘primarily mobile’ users find what they want. Andy Drinkwater, founder of search firm IQSEO, explains that not every site will be subject to mobile indexing straightaway (Google wants site owners to be ready) but warns that the search engine won’t be able to wait “indefinitely” for everyone: “It means you could have a non-mobile ready site that is being ranked based on the mobile version – not a good idea.”
ACT NOW, DON’T PUT IT OFF
IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Google is telling sites that aren’t in this initial wave of mobile indexing not to panic (sites affected are notified via the Search Console) but the mobile-first algorithm ultimately brings one of the biggest changes to affect search in a long time. Drinkwater has been running tests over the last two years on recruitment agency sites and finds that a third still aren’t mobilefriendly. “Understand how this could impact your business if left unchecked,” he says. “Mobile-first should be a part of any digital marketing strategy.”
Talk to your web design and services company or whoever is responsible for search engine optimisation (SEO) about the current situation regarding your site. Some recruiters have a general reluctance to put their head under the bonnet of their website to find out how it works, but it is important to know how your site functions in the mobile space. Empower yourself with knowledge by finding out what the changes mean at the Google Webmaster Central Blog where there is also a tool to test whether
your site is mobilefriendly.
WHAT IF I’M NOT MOBILE-FRIENDLY? If you don’t have a mobile version of your site, move to a content management system that can provide a responsive version. “Or go for a dedicated mobile design to work alongside the desktop,” says Drinkwater. “A cost at this stage could save money further down the line.” Recruitment software company eploy has been banging the mobile-responsive drum for years. It means the same hyper-text mark-up language (HTML) is sent from your site to
THE NEED FOR SPEED Google has also announced that in July this year page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches. The ‘Speed Update’ will only affect pages that deliver “the slowest experience”, according to Google, but this is another factor to bear in mind when assessing website performance.
I M AG E | SH UT T E R STO C K
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every device. “Google really only wants one version of each of your pages in its search index, rather than find different content on your mobile site versus your desktop site,” says eploy technical director Chris Bogh.
WHERE ELSE CAN YOU IMPROVE? Even if your site is mobile-friendly, look for areas of improvement, especially when it comes to page load times. Bogh explains the kind of things that impact page load times can be quickly rectified by optimising your images and minimising your JavaScript files to reduce their size: “Google stats show that page load time directly affects your bounce rate. There’s a 123% increase in the probability of a visitor leaving your site if
your page load time increases from one second to 10 seconds.”
CANDIDATES ARE MOBILE-FIRST Regardless of Google’s changes, recruiters need to provide jobseekers with a good mobile experience. Assess how easy/difficult it is to complete the entire jobseeker journey on a mobile device on your site. “These days, most of us are ‘omni-device’ users,” says Bogh. “A candidate might search for jobs on their phone on the way to work, then maybe apply for a job on their tablet at home. Make sure your candidate journey is smooth and consistent across all devices.” Drinkwater agrees that an audit is essential: “It isn’t just about search results, but also how to make the most of the traffic that you do get.”
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VIEWPOINT
Coming off board Embracing alternative sourcing methods BY KATIE MELLOR
iven the current skills shortages and recent high employment rates in the UK, our business growth reached a tipping point a couple of years ago. We had a great client base and a brilliant team of recruiters but our biggest obstacle to growth was access to candidates. We had long lists of jobs that we couldn’t fill, and the frustration of calculating the lost revenue every week forced us to seriously review our candidate attraction strategy. We already tracked the source of all our candidates but we decided to take the analysis of this data one step further. We started to analyse the success of each placement and then track how long the candidate stayed with us before relating this back to the original source of the candidate. We discovered that whilst a large portion of our budget was being spent on online job boards, the longevity of these candidates was poor. The placement rate was around 50%, and then only half of these candidates went on to a second placement. We were spending up to £30k per year to advertise on online job boards and we questioned whether this budget could be allocated elsewhere. After careful consideration, we took the decision to trial a few months without paying for any job boards at all, just to see what impact it would have on the business. The result was that we focused our attention on sourcing candidates in other ways and we actually saw an increase in
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“We haven’t paid for job boards for the past two years”
KATIE MELLOR is director of hospitality recruiter CJUK
the quality and quantity of candidates being registered. So much so that we haven’t paid for job boards for the past two years. The three main sources of our candidates are now referrals, our database and social media. Referrals: Interestingly, we saw a dramatic increase in registrations after we removed the £100 ‘refer a friend’ incentive for existing candidates and used the budget to incentivise our recruitment team to ask for referrals instead. Our database: We focus on applying headhunting principles to convert ‘target’ candidates from our database and CRM. Although our candidates aren’t working at an executive level, using an executive search approach has enabled us to find great candidates who wouldn’t have proactively approached us themselves. Social media: Creating a community of chefs on social media (Facebook in particular) and investing in great marketing has helped us generate lots of candidate leads. Anyone who engages with us online is treated as a potential candidate, and we have found that social media is a great way to tap into the passive candidate market. By taking a proactive approach and focusing on the passive candidate market we have managed to increase our candidate registration volumes and reduce our amount of lost revenue by over 50%. In a sector with such chronic skills shortages, we cannot rely on candidates being proactive and applying for jobs that are advertised online. In order to find the best candidates, we had to find the passive candidate market and remove the temptation of job boards, which encouraged us to embrace these alternative sourcing methods.
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I N T E R AC T I O N
SOUNDBITES
WEB CH AT
Are referral programmes the enemy of diversity? JAMES CALLANDER
THUMBS UP TO NEIL CARBERRY AT THE REC Looks like a great appointment of a worthy successor to Kevin (‘REC appoints CBI’s Carberry CEO’, 17 April, recruiter.co.uk)! Great to have the REC with permanent leadership again. Now more than ever it’s important that our trade body interacts successfully with government, employers and other stakeholders as the impending challenges of Brexit accelerate. B R I A N W I L K I N S O N, F O R M E R C E O, GATTACA
TAKE THE IMMIGRATION CAP OFF OUR HEALTH SERVICE I read your article ‘Healthcare recruiters add voices to concerns over immigration cap for doctors’ (2 May, recruiter.co.uk) with interest. I started the Fighting 4 Grantham Hospital community campaign as we have had nearly 21 months without overnight A&E due to the inability to recruit and retain doctors in large rural areas. Now the Pilgrim Hospital at Boston (Lincolnshire) risks losing paediactric services (including midwifery and neonatal) due to its inability to recruit. We have had messages from agencies that work internationally, with medical professionals wanting to work in our NHS, who can speak English and are eager to help. We need the visa cap lifted, if only for NHS workers! Lincolnshire residents deserve the same level of care as any where else in UK. We cannot be left with just one hospital at Lincoln for 750,000 residents.
MA N AG IN G D I REC TOR , F RES H MI N DS
“It depends on how you use them. People’s networks and social circles largely reflect themselves, both demographically and in the way they think. Therefore referral programmes tend to find you more of the same – for good or for ill. However, if you use them intelligently and selectively they can be one of the quickest ways to diversify your business. That bright female graduate in your business will have a network of other female graduates that they will be able to reach and influence far more directly and effectively than you can. Referrals should be just one of many different methods you use to source talent.”
R AJ TUL SIANI CEO A N D FOUN D ER , G REEN PA RK
“Issues arise when referral programmes are not properly thought through and employees only refer candidates like themselves. Furthermore, asking for referrals into prejudiced cultures is not going to change the fundamental problems that an organisation has. It will even damage brand reputation and exacerbate poor levels of trust when referred employees discover the reality of working at an organisation. Developing a diverse and inclusive workplace requires an understanding of the employees you are trying to attract, and the customers you want to serve. It also needs employers to avoid the trap of asking for referrals of people who fit the company mould, rather than those who will challenge and improve it.”
CYNTHIA DAVIS
JODY CLARK
CEO, BA ME RECRUIT MEN T
EMPLOYERS: DEEDS NOT WORDS ON MENTAL HEALTH In response to your article ‘Take staff mental health seriously, recruiters are warned’ (12 April, recruiter.co.uk), yes, this is still a real problem and one that companies need to take more seriously. In most cases saying the right things about supporting employees with mental health and backing this up with real help is the problem.
“A referral programme can be a great tool for internal talent teams to use. However, it may be the enemy of diversity if the leadership hasn’t created a supportive and inclusive organisational culture. In the right setting, engaged employees will happily refer anyone who provides difference of thinking, experience and backgrounds within their network. By diversifying the make-up of the workforce and operating an inclusive and equal environment, a company will be able to harness a broader scope of knowledge, which will help to build a more progressive and commercially successful organisation.”
KERRY GEVAUX
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THE BIG STORY
OUTSHINING THE COMPETITION The 2018 Recruiter Awards took place on 3 May at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair where 31 awards were handed out to an array of deserving winners within the recruitment industry. Recruiter spoke to some of the recipients. First off, Colin Cottell caught up with four-time winner Amberjack to discover how they outshone the competition in so many categories lmost a week has passed since the 2018 Recruiter Awards, but when Recruiter catches up with them, Sophie Meaney and Cassie Sissons, Amberjack’s two managing directors, have clearly not yet come down from the buzz of the evening that saw them, their team and their clients take to the stage not once, not twice but four times. “We had people coming up to our table, congratulating us and saying ‘Who are you?’ And that is the point really,” Sissons explains. “Nobody really does know who Amberjack is. Our candidates don’t know.
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When they call up the Mars hotline, we are working as Mars not Amberjack. In many way we are an invisible brand – and that shows we are doing well.” With the glare of publicity reflecting brightly from their achievement, remaining under the radar won’t be quite so easy for the company that began life in the garage of one of its founders in 2000. But nevertheless, this cloak of invisibility to which Sissons refers is indeed testament to a job well done. As a provider of outsourced services to a range of well-known companies, such as Unilever, Mars, Morrisons and Centrica, being indivisible from its
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clients is one of Amberjack’s key selling points. “We are not an agency,” continues Meaney. “Candidates are not applying to Amberjack, we don’t share candidates across campaigns. We manage the recruitment process on their behalf, under their guise, their brand using a process that is entirely bespoke to them.” With Awards for Best Apprenticeship/ School Leaver Recruitment Strategy – won for its work with Morrisons, Best Candidate Experience with Mars, Recruitment Industry Supplier of the Year, and Best Outsourced Recruitment Organisation, the judges were clearly impressed, with one group praising the
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RECRUITER AWARDS 2018 company’s “great end-to-end [Morrison’s] campaign that is embedded in the business and built for the long term”. If the judges were fulsome in their praise, Amberjack’s clients are also big fans. “I would consider Amberjack a true partner, rather than a service provider. The relationship is built on trust and mutual respect, and we look to co-create solutions and work through challenges together,” says Andrew Sharp, European head of early talent at Mars.
Humble beginnings Amberjack has come a long way since its humble beginnings in founder Jonathan Butler’s garage. After building the company’s own ATS (applicant tracking system) Ambertrack, GradWeb – as it was known then – developed as a web-based technology platform designed purely for graduate recruitment. “One of our first clients, Unilever, is still a client today,” says Meaney, who along with Sissons and CEO Cynthia Bostock make up Amberjack’s executive board. Although things went along quite nicely, Sissons who joined the company in 2012 after a career in recruitment marketing, explains that as the breadth of the company’s offering grew beyond graduate recruitment and into apprenticeships, future leader, MBA and school leaver programmes, and internships, GradWeb no longer “described what we did”. After a rebranding exercise two years ago the name Amberjack was decided upon as better reflecting the company’s culture. “The amberjack fish keeps busy and active, and moves around the ocean getting things done, just getting on with it,” explains Sissons. “It’s conceptual,” adds Meaney, “so it wouldn’t limit our future growth or what we could do.”
Strong reputation There appears to be little danger of that, with the company growing its revenue by 30% in the last two years. According to Meaney, who had been a GradWeb client for nine years before coming on board in 2014, a lot of new business comes as a result of the company’s reputation. “Our first principle is revenue assurance, and making sure our clients today are still clients tomorrow. First and foremost it is doing the right thing by our existing clients, and prioritising those long-term 17
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THE BIG STORY relationships,” says Meaney of relationships over short-term Sissons. “There is nothing she gains. Good things happen as can’t do. She is so passionate a result of those clients being and innovative that we will very happy.” make it work,” says Sissons, A common theme returning the compliment. highlighted by the judges in Although humans will each of Amberjack’s awards always have a role in the was its focus on delivering process, Meaney says she an excellent candidate can only see the trend for experience. Sissons explains more automation increasing. that in the case of Mars, However, she argues that this for example, it is vital this doesn’t mean that recruiters experience aligns with the lose their jobs, just that they company’s “deep family feel will be doing different things. and incredibly values-driven” “What we are finding is that culture. The campaign with our RPO clients, we that followed focused on a aren’t doing less for them but delivering a personalised we are doing different things candidate journey and for them,” says Meaney. For experience, regular example, application form communication, and lots of screening is increasingly human engagement. being replaced by automated The results were assessment tools. impressive, with 41 hires Cassie Sissons Alongside technology and from 2,635 applications, as (left) showing automation, Amberjack has well as a net promoter score off Amberjack’s silverware with also embraced data, whether of 61, all delivered in just CEO Cynthia that is fill rates, reneged eight weeks. Mars’ Sharp says Bostock (right) IM AGE | JON ENOCH offers, client satisfaction rate genuinely caring about the or on diversity. “We don’t just candidate experience is what report,” says Meaney. “We use the data makes Amberjack really special. “As an Human touch for forecasting. We can anticipate things example, challenging our line managers “When we look at our core business, before they happen, and as we often have through the campaign to provide quality, which is future talent, that generation relatively short windows to adjust we can comprehensive feedback in pursuit of a responds brilliantly well to technology – make decisions that make a difference better candidate experience is something they expect to be utilising technology in rather than wait until the end.” I have seen on several occasions.” the process, they do it in their daily lives,” An example was a campaign for GSK, explains Sissons. However, the human where the net promoter score indicated touch is just as, if not more, important, Technology role that candidates were not rating the she says: “What they really value is The Awards judges noted how solutions video assessment stage of the process as having that human aspect at all the were tailored to specific client needs. stages, knowing they can talk to someone highly as other stages. Being aware of Meaney explains how attracting and this allowed the necessary changes to be at any stage is critical.” identifying Unilever’s digitally intelligent made promptly. Indeed, says Meaney, whereas target candidates involved showcasing Meaney says one reason for Amberjack’s previously the majority of calls were that digital capability through a lot of success is its focus on what it does inbound from candidates, “these days it automation and gamification. However, is 50:50, where we are supplementing the best. “We’re clear we are not all things for Morrison’s apprenticeships campaign, to all people: we are future talent and process with that high human touch”. the emphasis was on “helping candidates campaign-based volume recruitment If the human touch remains understand what a career in retail really is specialists. That is what we do day in, important alongside ongoing advances through realistic job previews”. day out and we don’t believe anybody in automation, the relationship between As a company that has always valued understands that better – clients benefit Meaney and Sissons has also been pivotal automation, Meaney says that technology from that level of subject matter expertise. to Amberjack’s success. “We are yin to continues to play a pivotal role in “We don’t compromise on quality and the other’s yang,” says Sissons. “I think Amberjack’s success. In addition to its so we’re not right for everybody, but we each bring something different own ATS, Sissons says the company is where we are a natural fit is in areas to the business.” Asked to explain the now embracing its own chat platform, where clients, often with very strong secret of their own career success, Amberchat, making it “an integral part consumer brands to protect, do really after an awkward pause, each answers of the candidate experience”, as well as value that candidate experience enough for the other. “Her strength is her looking at the bot piece for the “next stage to invest in it.” passionate commitment to people and of that journey”. 18 RECRUITER
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THE BIG STORY THE RIGHT THING TO DO
Christos Tsaprounis receives his award from Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke
Colin Cottell met with Christos Tsaprounis, winner of the Impact Award, to find out what impact his diversity & inclusion initiatives have had he winner of the Impact Award has called on recruiters to understand “to understand their communities better” if they want to truly embrace diversity & inclusion and derive the benefits that a truly diverse and inclusive workforce can bring. Christos Tsaprounis, head of people and culture at Auto Trader UK, was recognised by the Awards judges as someone who has made a profound difference to his organisation, the recruitment profession and the wider world. This year’s winner describes himself as “a people geek and diversity & inclusion advocate”. The judges praised Tsaprounis’s efforts to transform Auto Trader into an inclusive and welcoming organisation, as well as his wider efforts to broaden skills and opportunities by supporting an initiative aimed at teaching children code. They also applauded his involvement in charity work, and how under his leadership
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Auto Trader takes an active role in community events, such as Manchester and London Pride. Tsaprounis, who after arriving in the UK from Greece studied at the London School of Economics before going on to do a Masters degree in HR, told Recruiter that involving your organisation in the local community and engaging with that community was not just a good thing to do, but “is the only way to create an inclusive environment”. “You understand the needs of the people, and a lot of aspects of the people in that community,” says Tsaprounis. This was vital, he explains, “because they bring elements [of their culture and community] to work with them every day”. “When it comes to D&I, it’s important to keep on learning,” he explains, before going on to argue that employers are better able to engage with members of different communities and to attract them to their organisation, if they
understood aspects of, say, LGBT or black history. “Organisations should engage with their communities more,” Tsaprounis urges. This could best be achieved through encouraging employees “to find what they are passionate about to reach out and get engaged with things that are close to their hearts”. Tsaprounis says engaging with their communities and educating themselves about them are not the only ways that recruitment professionals, and the wider profession, can increase their impact. They should also become familiar with developments in the people sciences, and embrace data analytics, he says. Tsaprounis says the proudest moments in his career, which included spells as head of resourcing at The Co-operative Bank and as a recruiter at affordable housing and care provider The Guinness Partnership, had been in creating environments “that are very inclusive to diverse individuals”. At Auto Trader, he explains, this involved three strands: ⦁ creating awareness in all aspects of
D&I ⦁ celebrating individuals and creating
role models ⦁ showcasing the good work done for
charities and in the community, while allowing “members of the community to help our people become more open and more aware”. Tsaprounis says recruitment as a profession is well equipped to rise to the D&I challenge. “There are a lot of people in recruitment with backgrounds from all over the world. It takes a bit of a change of attitude,” Tsaprounis acknowledges, but ultimately “it will be good for business as well as the right thing to do”.
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RECRUITER AWARDS 2018 HONESTY IS THE AA’S BEST POLICY Graham Simons discovers how the Best In-House Recruitment Team turned around the motoring organisation’s talent acquisition strategy by being more open and honest onesty really has proven the best policy in terms of getting the right candidate through its doors, according to this year’s recipient of the Recruiter Award for Best In-House Recruitment Team. Since 2016, the AA has managed to cut staff turnover from 45% to 24%, improve its offer acceptance ratio from 88% to 98% and cut turnaround times for candidate screening times from application to under two days from an average of five. The motoring association has managed to achieve such impressive metrics through a number of measures introduced since 2016, which include introducing a direct sourcing strategy focused on longer-term employee value over short-term reactive hiring. A talent acquisition team was appointed, and recruitment ad agency TMP Worldwide turned to for all candidate management and candidate communications. The firm also developed its employer brand under the slogan ‘Ready for ANYTHING?’, which runs through all recruitment communications – from job postings to its careers site, supported by a redesign of the site in February 2017. And a strengths-based interview process was introduced early last year, requiring the training and upskilling of more than 100 hiring managers. The new careers site also featured the ‘AAbot’ chatbot, which aims to provide candidates with a realistic view of the AA and its culture. But Craig Morgans, head of talent acquisition, HR shared services, learning and development, who was brought on
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Craig Morgans holds the trophy as the team from the AA pick up their award
There were so many different initiatives we implemented that have all had an impact board by the AA in 2015, told Recruiter there hasn’t been one silver bullet in delivering these improvements to candidate engagement. “There were so many different initiatives we implemented that have all had an impact. If we had done just one alone – a prime example is the new careers website – it would have had a small impact, but we’ve needed the other pieces to go alongside it.” Morgans explained before implementing these measures, the AA had a “very cold” recruitment process, which has progressed to a warmer and more engaging one with telephone interviews introduced. This has been
supported by regular contact with candidates, while the strengths-based interviewing has helped identify more appropriate candidate quality. “We are very, very honest as an organisation now and a lot of that is represented in our employer brand proposition and our employer brand messaging that the AA isn’t right for everybody. “If you look at all of our branding … our EVP [employer value proposition] strategy is now Ready For ANYTHING, so if you are a candidate, if you just want a nice, steady job, the AA isn’t right for you. “What we’ve done throughout all of our messaging and all of our branding, advertising, indoor advertising, careers website has just been very honest and upfront about that. “We’re on a transformation as a business. It’s not really an organisation where you come in and cut your teeth – so again, very honest and open about that, and that resonates throughout all of our recruitment process.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 21
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RECRUITER AWARDS 2018 SMALL CHANGES DRIVE SUCCESS Toby Babb, winner of Recruitment Leader of the Year, explains how constantly changing small things leads to big wins. Graham Simons reports he Japanese post-war business practice of kaizen has proven a key contributory factor to Recruiter’s Recruitment Leader Of The Year’s recognition at this year’s Awards. Toby Babb, CEO of global financial services technology and sales staffing specialist Harrington Starr, was recognised by the judges as the “driving force” behind the creation of the Harrington Starr brand. Between October 2016 and October 2017, under Babb’s leadership, the firm has launched and grown its US business by more than 142% year-onyear, while expansion has come with the formation of the Harrington Starr Group, encompassing Harrington Starr (fintech), The North Starr (data, security, software and sales), Harrington Starr Executive Search and Harrington Starr Technology
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Consulting, as well as Harrington Starr Inc in New York. But underlying all of this success has been the idea of kaizen – continuous improvement – which lies at the heart of the company’s values. Babb told Recruiter he first read about kaizen through ex-GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch but learned more at a talk given by Sir Clive Woodward and Sir Dave Brailsford, who masterminded England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup and Team Sky’s cycling successes respectively. “We’ve just tried to look at everything iteratively as a business and make sure that if someone joins the business today or tomorrow, they’ve got as much right to have an idea and implement it, and think about it, and bring it to the table as anyone else. “It’s not just going to be me that’s
going to be coming up with these weird, wacky, wonderful and brilliant ideas. I think it’s more likely to be from everyone in the team thinking about that innovatively all the time. “If you go in and think you’ve got all the answers and you just push it down people – you’re not going to get people who want to stay in the business, as far as I’m concerned. And I also think the whole point of bringing good people into the business is to have different ideas and different ways of looking at things… “For me, to compete [and] continue to evolve to have no complacency about what you’re doing is a really important part of how we’ve grown the business.” And it appears kaizen will continue to influence the firm into the future, with Babb revealing the firm is looking at expanding into sales, cyber and software development recruitment, growing the business in San Francisco and New York, launching a change and transformation brand within the next 18 months, and expanding the business into Europe and Asia.
Recruitment Agency Leader of the Year Toby Babb (centre)
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THE BIG STORY DRAWING ON ITS EXPERIENCES The team from La Fosse Associates on stage proudly showing off their trophy
La Fosse Associates is using its experiences as a fastgrowing company to impart invaluable advice to its clients. Colin Cottell spoke to director David Roberts ounded just 11 years ago, La Fosse Associates, winner of the Best IT/ Technology Recruitment Agency, has seen its revenue, which rose to £62m in 2016, double in the last three years, says director David Roberts. Staff numbers have grown from 20 to 160 in the last seven years. Speaking to Recruiter a few days after the company picked up the Award, Roberts explains that the company’s Talent Advisory Programme, a division launched two years ago, drew on La Fosse’s own experiences across a range of
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areas to help clients. This included how to build a strong company culture and an attractive brand, and how to embed staff in that culture. “We have seen such fantastic growth. We have done a lot of this ourselves, and we can show them [clients] the short cuts,” says Roberts. Such advice was particularly valuable to La Fosse’s many technology start-ups clients that are looking to scale up quickly, he says. Roberts says that clients benefitted from La Fosse’s experience of growing its own headcount. “It’s not just about the
requisition and filling a job, but why are they bringing that person in, and what they are trying to achieve.” Roberts says the advice La Fosse provided came from first-hand experience of what had worked for them as a company. “It’s a lot to do with company culture that starts internally, which fundamentally is about treating people as you would like to be treated. “Our culture is about supporting each other to be as successful as you can. It doesn’t always mean being nice and helpful; instead, it’s about having the openness to have those hard conversations whether someone wants to hear it or not. It’s doing what is right by each other.” Roberts says treating its own staff properly has beneficial effects. “If we treat our people well then it feeds through into a better candidate experience, one of the company’s blanket KPIs [key performance indicators].” This was constantly monitored, he says, and where the target of responding to candidates within 48 hours in 95% of cases was not met, promotions and bonuses were at risk. Roberts said La Fosse’s approach to candidates was an attempt to deliberately distance itself from the perception many candidates had of recruitment agencies that “if you have a job for them they are the most important person in the world and if not they never hear back from you. It is partly good business sense, and partly because it is the right thing to do”.
We have seen such fantastic growth … and we can show them [clients] the short cuts
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RECRUITER AWARDS 2018 SYFT’S STRENGTH LIES IN SIMPLICITY Syft’s CEO Jack Beaman collects his award from Recruiter’s technology editor Sue Weekes (left) and host Milton Jones (right)
Recruiter’s Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year winner always has one eye on the user, as Graham Simons discovered yft is eyeing expansion beyond the UK by the end of the year, says Jack Beaman, the firm’s co-founder and CEO, speaking to Recruiter after the online platform’s recognition as Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year. Set up in 2015, the online temporary staffing platform aims to connect employers and workers, delivering candidates that have been vetted and interviewed by the company’s recruitment team. The Syft app was launched a year ago. The platform also boasts a feedback system enabling users to see employees’ past reviews and performance ratings post-shift. Also, Syft offers perks and benefits to workers, including free phone insurance and discounted gym membership. Award judges commended Syft, saying its strength lies in its simplicity.
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Beaman told Recruiter he and his co-founder Novo Abakare were highly product-orientated, explaining they never lost sight of ensuring the user experience was as simple as possible. “Ultimately, if you don’t look at these things and make it super simple for the end user, then you don’t end up creating something that is easy to use. That’s where a lot of people go wrong. Too often people say: ‘I want to launch a business that does this’ and they focus so much on what they’re trying to do on that side of things, they forget about starting from the end user and working backwards. For us, that’s always been the approach that’s worked well.” Looking ahead, Beaman says Syft’s sector focus will remain on hospitality and industrial, having built up a client base that includes the likes of Compass, Fedex and Harvey Nichols.
However, Beaman revealed the firm is working on providing its software as a service to clients to help them manage their own internal temporary labour. International expansion is also on the horizon. “I think at some point we will look to go out internationally… I could foresee maybe later this year or early next year venturing out and exploring,” Beaman said. “The reality is, the state of the market changes very quickly in terms of which city we consider to be highly competitive or which city has wellfunded competitors, and therefore that changes our tactics and where we think we should go. “And in the last two years alone, if you have seen how quick we have grown in that time, six months is a really long time. “Therefore, it’s hard for me to say in six months or 10 months what will be the most attractive city to launch in because a lot can change in that time.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 25
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Issue 62 June 2018
RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence
The big talking point
Legal Update
Become a Future of Jobs ambassador p2-3
Secretary of State visits REC p4
Job ad language
Events and training p6
TREC
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‘CLARITY OF HIS ASPIRATIONS’
KEY IN CARBERRY PICK A clear vision and passion for recruitment were key factors in the REC appointing Neil Carberry its new chief executive. Carberry will succeed Kevin Green at the top of the REC on 25 June after more than 14 years at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), where he is a managing director. He was instrumental in leading the CBI’s work on the labour market, skills, energy and infrastructure. REC chairman Chris Moore says Carberry’s aspirations for the REC and the recruitment industry were impressive. “Neil impressed the selection panel with his wealth of relevant
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experience against these criteria, the clarity of his aspirations for the REC, and his natural alignment with our ambitions for the future,” he says.
“It is important to us that our new CEO has a broad awareness of the regulations impacting our industry, a deep understanding of what success looks like in a membership organisation, a genuine passion for our sector, and an appetite for delivering operational excellence.” Carberry began his career in recruitment, working for financial services firms for a small search firm before doing a post-graduate degree in Human Resources at the LSE and joining the CBI in 2004. He is a member of the council of the conciliation service ACAS
and of the Low Pay Commission, which makes recommendations about the level of the National Minimum Wage. He is also the chair of a small academy trust. Carberry says he is excited to join the REC at such a crucial time for the recruitment industry. “Technological innovation, changing demographics, the need to improve social mobility and Brexit will all have huge effects on our sector and the wider economy in the years to come, and I want members of REC and the IRP to be able to rely on a vigorous and renewed organisation that is always in their corner,” he says.
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Leading the Industry
THE VIEW
We need you, says Tom Hadley. The REC director of policy and professional services, highlights the key areas for recruiters to watch out for
In its fifth year running, REC ts head of HR & Projects Steve Othen talks about how TREC is bringing recruitment and HR industries together Why is TREC so important? Each year the event is at full capacity with fascinating keynote speakers, panel sessions and roundtable discussions that inspire delegates to make a positive change within their business. We are so pleased that year-on-year, this event brings members of the REC and Good Recruitment Campaign (GRC) signatories all under one roof to discuss recruitment and ensure that their recruitment process is effective and inclusive. What can we expect from this year’s conference? We have already seen hundreds of delegates sign-up for this year’s conference. It could quite possibly be the biggest one yet. We also have an incredible line-up of speakers ranging from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to the vice president, Global Talent Acquisition at IBM – and plenty more. We’re going to be talking about diversity and inclusion, creating a better candidate experience, recruitment technology and how we can design the talent acquisition function of tomorrow – plus much more. Why should people attend? It is such a crucial time for the recruitment industry. The landscape is changing and
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BECOME A FUTURE OF JOBS AMBASSADOR! recruitment will get harder; the solution is to get better at it. No one wants to see the UK fall behind the rest of the world, and this conference provides a solid platform to form a strong collective message by business discussing ways of how we can shape the future of jobs and what that would look like for our industry. What can organisations take away from the conference? The best thing is that you can choose the topics and roundtables that are of interest to you, to make sure you get the most out of the day. The whole day provides real and practical takeaways that are engaging – meaning you’ll get to have your say and have your questions answered, and the fact that we have a mix of established speakers and people that you can speak to first hand. Over the years, TREC has had a real impact on industry. This conference is the first to showcase the great work that is going on in the industry but at the same time it provides a great place to network by bringing the membership of REC and GRC together under one roof. ● To find out more about TREC 2018, visit https://www. rec.uk.com/training-andevents/events/trec-2018
Speaking at a recent roundtable at REC HQ, the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions Esther McVey underlined her commitment to ensuring that “the UK labour market remains the envy of the world, not just by understanding the future of jobs, but creating real results for individuals who want to develop their skills to capitalise on opportunities”. This will require a renewed focus on preparing individuals for the new world of work, which is where we come in. Many recruiters are also working with schools, universities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs); our aim now is to use some of the intelligence gathered through the Future of Jobs Commission’s work to inform these ongoing discussions and to drive further engagement from REC members. Recent feedback from organisations like the Careers & Enterprise Company, the Education & Employers Taskforce and our chosen charity The Opera Global Youth Foundation has reinforced our belief that recruitment professionals have an increasingly important role to play in helping individuals navigate the fast changing labour market. Specific areas where REC members can make a difference include facilitating work experience placements, providing advice and coaching, and taking a lead on inclusion and diversity by working with local charities. We will also be using the ongoing insight from the Good Recruitment Campaign (including the forthcoming TREC conference) to spread the word on how hiring strategies are evolving and what this means for future generations of workers. Everyone should get the chance to succeed through work, which is why we need to build a better bridge between education and the world of work. The ‘Future of Jobs Ambassadors’ network will bring together REC and IRP members who want to help make a difference by providing heads-up to the next generation. Let’s do this! If you would like to become a Future of Jobs Ambassador, please contact neal.suchak@rec.uk.com.
You can follow Tom on Twitter nt @hadleyscomment
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73%
THE INTELLIGENCE D&I STRATEGIES
Thalia Ioannidou, REC senior researcher One of many topics being discussed at this year’s Talent Recruitment and Employment Conference is diversity and inclusion strategies in the recruitment industry. With compulsory gender pay reporting results being published for the first time this year, gender diversity in recruitment is a particularly timely topic for discussion. One of the key findings highlighted in a BBC analysis of the results was the low proportion of women in top earning roles, with only one in three firms having a majority of women among their top earners. Executive search firms play a crucial role in recruiting high-level candidates to toplevel roles in a wide range of
2017 YIELDS STRONG REVENUE PERFORMANCE FOR THE MEDIAN RECRUITER The latest data from Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIBIndex), measuring participating companies’ performance, shows that, following a challenging year across 2016, notably for perm and temp billings, all business lines showed year-on-year improvements for the median RIB recruiter in 2017.
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industries. In 2014, the REC published its ‘Room at the top’ report, which examined the role of executive search firms in ensuring women leaders have access to vacancies at the highest level. We interviewed executive search firms and senior executives of firms outside the recruitment industry to highlight areas of good practice that could be emulated more widely. The report focused on the three key elements in trying to promote gender diversity at the highest level: the executive search firm involved, the hirer and the women candidates for the roles. The report cites the Davies Review’s observation that 73% of FTSE 100 firms use executive search firms, highlighting the crucial role played by these firms in appointing women to senior positions in top firms. Headhunters interviewed for the report highlighted the role they could play by
THE REPORT CITES THE DAVIES REVIEW’S OBSERVATION THAT 73% OF FTSE 100 FIRMS USE EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRMS
working with clients to avoid unconscious bias and ensuring a diverse shortlist for senior roles. As of November 2017, 39 executive search firms (which represent the majority of work supporting board appointments in the UK) had signed up to the voluntary code of conduct for executive search firms to promote diversity at the highest level. Furthermore, the Women on Boards Davies Review Five Year Summary (published in 2015) highlighted the efforts of executive search firms as “a major driver of progress” in doubling the number of women on FTSE 100 boards from 12.5% in February 2011 to 26.1% in October 2015. The Department for Business Energy and Industrial
Average monthly YoY revenue performance across 2016 & 2017, for the median RIB recruiter 14.7%
15%
10%
9.0%
4.6%
5%
3.2%
0 -1.4%
-5% 2016
-5.2%
2018
-10% Perm fees
The most robust performance in 2017 came from contract recruitment, revenues from which were almost 15% higher than in
Contract billings
Temp billings
2016 (when revenues were also higher than the previous year). Whilst perm fees and temp billings were also up year-on-year, this was
ONE OF THE KEY FINDINGS HIGHLIGHTED IN A BBC ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS WAS THE LOW PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN TOP EARNING ROLES, WITH ONLY 1 IN 3 FIRMS HAVING A MAJORITY OF WOMEN AMONG THEIR TOP EARNERS.
Strategy announced on International Women’s Day in March 2018 that FTSE 100 companies are now on track to have a third of board positions filled by women by 2020. However, this year’s gender pay reporting data shows there is still more to be done in ensuring diversity at every level. The REC will be publishing a new piece of research exploring diversity in recruitment and employment this year to continue promoting equality in our industry and in the wider working world. following a year in which revenues were lower, for the median RIB recruiter, than the prior year (2015). Early indications for 2018 (January & February) across all three business lines are also encouraging. Belinda Johnson runs employment research consultancy Worklab, and is associate knowledge & insight director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB) – part of the Bluestones Group. The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex.com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.
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The Big Talking Point
FUTURE OF JOBS
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon Esther McVey
SECRETARY OF STATE DISCUSSES FUTURE OF JOBS AT REC HQ The REC welcomed the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon Esther McVey MP, to meet with recruitment industry leaders and to re-sign the partnership agreement between the REC and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 4 RECRUITMENT MATTERS JUNE 2018
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www.rec.uk.com
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REC director of policy Tom Hadley and Secretary of State Esther McVey
REC chairman Chris Moore and Esther McVey with the signed agreement
Established in 2012, the agreement sets out practical ways to share knowledge between the public and private sector, boost inclusion and opportunities for all, and lead the debate on the future of jobs and good work. The roundtable discussion covered specific hot topics such as boosting gender balance in senior roles and
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key sectors, helping people with disabilities into work, providing support and mentoring for older workers, and promoting opportunities in high demand sectors. Industry leaders shared examples of innovative recruitment practices with the Secretary of State and underlined the increasingly pivotal role that recruitment
professionals are playing in helping individuals access work and ensuring employers can access the staff they need in an ever-tightening labour market. So, what were some of the practical examples that REC members could showcase? Here’s six of the best: • Using new technology and workplace adjustments
to enable individuals with hearing impairments to work in call centres; • Launching specific networks to provide additional support to individuals to reach wider talent pools and boost diversity in senior positions; • Challenging preconceptions and adopting a proactive approach to attracting more women into male-dominated sectors such as construction and rail • Working with schools and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to raise awareness of career opportunities amongst future generations of workers; • Working with clients to update job descriptions and radically review current recruitment procedures and criteria; • Taking a leadership role in their sector (one example was hospitality) to actively attract and retain good people by providing additional support, including a dedicated employee assistance programme for agency chefs. Reviewing the roundtable discussions with the Secretary of State and the updated partnership agreement, REC director of policy Tom Hadley said: “There has never been a more important time for public and private sector employment experts to come together in pre-empting how the changing world of work will impact on businesses and individuals. This was a great platform for sharing practical examples of how recruiters are innovating and for showcasing what our industry is all about.”
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Legal update
DISCRIMINATION By Bunmi Adefuye, solicitor and commercial adviser at the REC
AVOID DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE IN JOB ADVERTS Advertising a role is expected to be straightforward, however if certain words in the advertisement are reasonably perceived as an intention to discriminate, a candidate can point to the advert as evidence in a discrimination claim. The placing of a discriminatory advertisement is not specifically unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, however a recruiter and employer could be liable for discrimination if the content of the advert excludes individuals with a protected characteristic. As a reminder, under the Equality Act 2010, recruiters should not discriminate: • In arrangements they make for selecting who to provide services to or who to offer to provide services • In the terms on which they provide or offer to provide services • By terminating the provision of services to a person or
subjecting them to any detriment • By not providing their services or not offering to provide their services A candidate could argue that he/she was deterred from applying for a job or from using the recruiter’s services because of the requirements in the advert where terminology such as mature, British, bubbly or barmaid were used. Discriminatory requirements should be completely avoided unless it can be demonstrated that there is a requirement for the job that is proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim. An example is, Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2006, which was amended back in November, so public authority employers have a duty to ensure that their workers in ‘customer facing roles’ can speak English, or Welsh in Wales, fluently. The Government’s intention is to
ensure that public services are delivered safely and to a high standard. In addition, an employer can require a job applicant to have a particular protected characteristic but the employer would need to be able to show that having that protected characteristic is a justifiable ‘occupational requirement’. For instance, an employer could justify requesting children actors only to play ‘Oliver Twist’ for the sake of authenticity for the role, which can be objectively justified. Although such requirements will be assessed on a case by case basis. Due to the number of complaints received, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published updated guidance in March 2016 for employers and advertisers on how to avoid discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. The guide contains examples of situations where
adverts can be discriminatory. It also includes suggestions on where to advertise, how to use job descriptions and photographs, and most importantly it reminds recruiters that liability under the Equality Act 2010 extends to the employer and recruiter. If discriminatory instructions are received, the recruiter should ask the employer for a full written explanation as to why they require such a criteria and whether it is a fundamental part of the role. The employer should confirm that their decision does not amount to discrimination. The recruiter should examine the response and decide whether it is a reasonable defence in the event of a discrimination claim. When a recruiter drafts an advertisement, it should not contain discriminatory language; the advert should be accessible and simply reflect the requirements of the role.
EMI SHARE OPTION SCHEMES ON HOLD Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) share option schemes are a popular and tax effective way for recruitment businesses to incentivise their staff and are often implemented by owners with medium-term exit strategies. Due to their generous income tax, National Insurance, capital gains tax and corporate tax advantages, EU state aid approval is required. However, without any prior warning, EMI state aid
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approval expired on 5 April 2018. While the government is negotiating with the EU to renew the approval, any EMI options granted on or after 6 April 2018, but before state aid approval is obtained, will not have the usual tax advantages. Options granted before 6 April 2018 are unaffected and will maintain their tax advantages when exercised even if state aid approval has not been secured by then.
While it is expected the renewed state aid approval will be retrospective to 6 April 2018, it is recommended that no further options are granted before that happens. Whether state aid approval will still be required postBrexit is a different matter… For more information contact Jamie Cassell or Rob Woodward, Saffery Champness, T: +44 020 7841 4000 www.saffery.com
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Inspiration
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS
The View
Lucy Payne is a consultant at The Work People
Kieran Wilson ant is a senior consultant at Redline Group
TOP STUDENT
DAY IN THE LIFE
Congratulations on being the top Cert RP student. How does it feel? I studied really hard for the exam, but I didn’t feel that confident about it. I thought I might have messed it up! So it was a massive shock when the REC told me I was the top student.
My typical day I wouldn’t use the word typical as things can change quickly on the contracts desk. I always ensure I have a plan in place from the night before as to what I am looking to achieve the following day. However, things do drop in, which can take priority and which means things can move very quickly.
How did you find the Cert RP? I was completely new to the industry, so it was really interesting to learn everything from scratch. I think it’s really good for people who work in recruitment who want a qualification to back them up. There’s so much in there about the industry that you might not know, even if you’ve been working in it for a while. What was the most useful aspect? Some of the sales techniques it teaches and a lot of the legal units are really useful in my day to day work. It makes sure everything we do in the office is up to standard. My colleagues come to me all the time with questions about recruitment now – I’ve become the source of knowledge! You started working as a recruitment apprentice – how did you find that? I applied for the recruitment apprenticeship with The Work People and never looked back. I wanted to help people find jobs that they love. Recruitment is challenging but every day is different and it’s so rewarding when people come back to you and say thank you. I feel so much happier – it’s a really good feeling. I finally have a job that I’m good at and that I enjoy. Would you recommend a recruitment apprenticeship to other people? I can see my future and it’s because of the apprenticeship – it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. The Cert RP is a lot of time and mental effort, but it’s definitely worth it. Recruitment is a very rewarding career.
The best part of my job... ...is changing someone’s life. A person’s career is a huge part of their life. It is where they spend most of their time and it is what provides for themselves and their families. I love that I can help people love their jobs. Whether it is helping someone take the first steps in a new contract role, or enhancing their existing career, it has a massive impact on their life – and the best part is, I helped to make it happen! My most memorable work moment Was my first placement. Every placement is important and it makes you feel good, but it is the first placement I will always remember. From initially submitting the candidate to feeling incredibly nervous when delivering the offer – hoping I had done enough throughout the process to close the offer. And it was a success! I love recruitment because... As recruitment is a sale-orientated role that requires great communication, focus, determination and passion to succeed, you must work hard. The ‘work hard, play hard’ mantra is never truer than when describing what we do. With numerous incentives, rewards, events, along with a strong bond with my team and the organisation, I undoubtedly play just as hard as I work. Recruitment can also be very lucrative, and I love to make money! As frank as it sounds, recruitment is a money-oriented business with targets and commission to reward those who are successful.
To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com
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What’s coming up?
TREC AGENDA 2018 DATE: Wednesday, 4 July 2018 VENUE: Grand Connaught Rooms, 61-65 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5DA 09:00 Registration, refreshments and networking 09:30 Welcome Chris Moore, Chairman of REC and President of Group Operations at Adecco 09:45 Introduction Conference Chair, Kevin Green, Chair, The Good Recruitment Campaign 10:00 Panel session: The Future of Jobs Chair: Rt Hon Esther McVey MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Panel: Catalina Schveninger, Global Head of Resourcing and Employer Brand at Vodafone Neil Morrison, HR Director at Severn Trent Rob McCargow, AI Programme Leader at PwC 10:45 Keynote: Jo Youle, CEO at Missing People ‘Dare yourself’ This inspirational talk from TEDx speaker Jo Youle, will cover topics such as taking opportunities and opening doors, not waiting for perfect
moments, putting in the graft, following dreams and ambitions, and changing the world for the better. 11:15 Refreshments and networking 11:45 Roundtable sessions: These discussions, whilst having a facilitator to help manage the discussion, are an opportunity for delegates to share their questions, learning and experiences around a common topic. Roundtable topics and facilitators 1. Candidate experience Ben Gledhill, Head of Resourcing at Yodel 2. Employer brand Sarah Gallo, Head of Resourcing, Employer Brand and Attraction at Tesco 3. Diversity and inclusion Jenny Roper, Editor, HR Magazine Kesh Ladwa, Head of Resourcing for Group Functions, Nationwide Building Society 4. Talent analytics Alan Agnew, Global Head of Talent Sourcing,
RECRUITMENT MATTERS The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT
TREC, now in its fifth year, is a one-day conference for senior decision-makers to engage in high-level interactive sessions about the future of resourcing, talent acquisition and retention strategies. Speakers this year include Jo Youle, CEO at Missing People, on daring yourself to change the world; ‘Google Dave’ Hazlehurst discussing the future of employer brand; and Lucy Adams, author of HR Disrupted, on how HR professionals can add more value to their businesses. We are also delighted to announce that Rt Hon Esther McVey MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will be hosting our Future of Jobs panel – having chaired our Future of Jobs Commission. ● Visit www.rec.uk.com/trec2018 to register your interest Campus and Talent Analytics at Philips Ed Houghton, Senior Research Advisor: Human Capital and Governance at CIPD 5. On-boarding Nigel Barker, Head of Talent Acquisition, Europe at Mondelēz International Simon Fawkes-Underwood, Head of Talent Acquisition at E.ON 6. Legislation; TBC 7. HR tech Bill Boorman, Founder at @BillBoorman Matt Alder, Talent Acquisition and Innovation Consultant at Metashift 8. Building internal talent pipelines Daniel Harris, Talent Acquisition Lead at AECOM Selina Begum, Head of Resourcing at Springer Nature
HR Disrupt talent acquisition Lucy Adams, author of HR Distrupted, will talk about why she thinks it’s time for something different. Lucy will give her views on how HR professionals can add more value to their business, with a particular focus on resourcing and talent acquisition. 14:45 Panel session: What does the resourcing function of the future look like? Chair: TBC Panel: Debbie Robinson, Director of Talent Acquisition – Global Talent Pipelines at PepsiCo Kevin Blair, Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition at IBM Jennifer Candee, Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand at Mondelēz International
13:45 Feedback from roundtable sessions
15:30 Keynote: Dave Hazlehurst, Partner at PH.Creative The future of employer branding
14:15 Keynote: Lucy Adams, CEO at Disruptive
16:00 Conference summary, close and networking drinks
13:00 Lunch and networking
Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 78 Chamber Street E1 8BL. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing © 2018 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.
Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com 8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS JUNE 2018
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MORE POWERFUL TOGETHER
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A personal message from Tim Watts, Lifetime President of Pertemps Network
CALLING ALL RECRUITERS OF ALL DISCIPLINES! WE WANT YOU TO JOIN US AT PERTEMPS. OUR SUCCESS HAS CREATED A NUMBER OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES RARELY SEEN BEFORE As a result of our triumphant ‘Opportunity is around the corner campaign;’ we have a number of new senior vacancies that have opened for people with a proven pedigree in recruitment. I am only looking for the Crème de la crème, recruiters whose achievements and ambition match my desire to retain Pertemps as the most successful agency in the UK. Our reputation has never been greater, our sales never bigger and our commitment to our clients, candidates and our own partners remains.
If so, you are precisely the kind of senior recruiter I am looking for and would be delighted to welcome you with open arms into our family. In turn, I will guarantee you’re rewarded for your efforts with a recognition package and salary that is the best in the industry; you will be part of our award-winning Employee Benefit Trust and work with a family of people who socialise, work hard and have fun! If you are at the top of your game and have aspirations to run a business within a business; write to me personally. Mark your letters ‘strictly private and confidential’ and for the attention of:
Do you tick the below? Proven sales skills Technical & analytical knowledge Ambition, desire, determination A creative thinker Persuasive communicator A natural born leader Ability to influence and communicate with clients People-centric Able to work on own initiative
Tim Watts Lifetime President of Pertemps Meriden Hall Main Road, Meriden CV7 7PT
IS AROUND THE CORNER
OPPORTUNITY
I look forward to meeting with you in person in the near future and making sure you fulfil your career aspirations working with an agency whose future has never looked brighter.
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CO M M U N I T Y
EMPLOYABILITY
E
ASTRIID SHINES A LIGHT ON POOL OF LOST WORKERS BY COLIN COTTELL
T
he founder of ASTRiiD, Recruiter’s 2018 Charity of the Year, says its work is a way “of shining a light on an invisible group” of talented people and “making them visible again”. David Shutts OBE, a former commander in the Royal Navy, set up ASTRiiD (Available Skills for Training, Refreshing, Improvement, Innovation and Development) last year after being diagnosed with kidney cancer in May 2015. It was awarded charity status in January this year. After reaching “a really low point in the summer of 2015”, when he felt “Is that me finished?”, Shutts says the idea for ASTRiiD came to him when his disease stabilised towards the end of that year. He then felt able to ask the CBI, where I had previously worked as a regional director, if he could come back to work. The CBI agreed to him working one day a week as its director for Lincolnshire. “I needed to do other things – not just for the money but to keep my mind active,” explains Shutts. “You have got to have something to focus on other than the illness. That is when it [the idea for ASTRiiD] dawned on me. “After a successful career, suddenly I was just a cancer patient, and I was no longer known for those skills, and it struck me that there must be tens of thousands of people like me, with some sort of long-term illness, but who need or want to work, and who struggle to find work because the standard process doesn’t cater for people like them.
“We want to connect them with organisations that need their ability,” Shutts continues, “and if we do that successfully we believe they will then rediscover what they have to offer, and their mental health will be better as result.” He says he suspects that hundreds of thousands of people a year find themselves in a similar position to his. He points out cancer charity McMillan estimates that between 100,000 and 120,000 people of working age are diagnosed with cancer alone, and on top of this are a whole range of other longterm medical conditions affecting the UK population.
Invisible group Shutts says the problem is that people with such conditions are shut out from the labour market, making them “completely invisible to normal businesses, and employers completely invisible to them”. ASTRiiD is his way of “shining a light on this invisible group of people” and “making them visible again”, he says. Shutts says that what ASTRiiD gave him and continues to give him during this difficult time in his life is exactly
L-r: Steve Shutts with brother David Shutts OBE, founder of ASTRiiD
what he wants ASTRiiD to give other people. Shutts says he can personally attest to the power of people in his position having something to focus on in their lives apart from their illness. “I can absolutely attest that I never think about my cancer – apart from the fact that it makes life more difficult than it needs to be. I don’t wake up in the morning thinking about it; I'm thinking about the charity and what we are going to put up on the website,” he says by way of example. Having the charity to focus on was particularly important last year, says Shutts. “I was really poorly, but even so ASTRiiD was always there for me and gave me that purpose and intent.”
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“I can’t guarantee that every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll feel okay” Shutts says that for someone in his position, who cannot work five days a week because the levels of fatigue would be too high, “there is no way I can apply for a regular job via a regular channel”. Even three days a week could be problematic because of hospital appointments, and the effects of different treatments. And a part-time job could be a problem because “I can’t guarantee every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that I will feel okay”. Putting himself in the position of an employer with a vacancy to fill, Shutts says the likely response to receiving an application from someone with Stage 4 cancer for a five-day-a-week job is “are you sure you could cope with that?”. In his own case Shutts say the honest answer is ‘No’. Employers asking themselves why would they employ someone who is sick when it is likely to lead to potential problems is also a significant barrier to this ‘invisible talent pool’ finding employment, he says.
Open mindset Shutts concedes that for employers with such a closed mindset, ASTRiiD is not for them. However, for more enlightened employers, he argues there are real opportunities to unearth largely ignored talent. “This group of people have all this skill and experience, and it seems such a crying shame that we don’t tap into them,” he says. ASTRiiD could be particularly helpful in helping UK SMEs and micro businesses find the skilled people they need, says Shutts. “A company that employs 25 staff might not need a financial director 52 weeks of the year but having a finance director two weeks a year might be really useful. A company might only need a social marketer two days a month,” he says. Shutts says that with an open mind and a little flexibility from employers this group of people can be put to work in any number of roles. While he concedes ASTRiiD would not be the best organisation to approach if an 30 RECRUITER
employer is looking to fill a full-on five days a week mission critical role as an operations director, he says tasks that “are non-mission critical or those that are two-thirds down the to-do lists’ of a busy person but still need doing” would be ideal. One role on the charity’s books came from a company that wants to upgrade its intranet site. “It’s been on the marketing manager’s list for months. She is far too busy,” says Shutts. ASTRiiD should not be looked on simply as a way to fill a job vacancy, says Shutts. “Think of it as being able to tap into a huge group of people who have multiple skills and experiences,” he says. Shutts says he is heartened by the charity’s first real connection in April, when Peter Buckley, an engineer who is in remission for bowel cancer, started a job with Associated British Ports (ABP) to develop its air quality strategy for the port of Liverpool. “I have never felt as optimistic about the future as I do now,” says a delighted Buckley. Shutts says Buckley’s wife has already noticed a difference, remarking “he is back to his old self”. According to Shutts, two more placements are close to completion.
So far, he says 331 job candidates have registered, alongside 93 companies, who between them have created 36 jobs. Shutts says to date there have been around 200 matches of candidates with jobs. In addition to ABP, ASTRiiD’s clients include high-tech engineering firm Altran and NHS Highlands. Shutts concedes these are still early days for ASTRiiD, with the focus on the next 12 months being to prove that the business model works. Beyond that he says the way the software is configured means that a natural progression would be to extend the concept to include other groups, such as working parents, or graduates with health problems. However, despite his own medical condition, Shutts’ ambitions go further. “I would like to be around long enough to see it established as a significant charity in the UK. If I could see it move to another country like America, I would be absolutely ecstatic,” he says. Having already beaten his original prognosis of two years by almost a year, it would be a brave person to bet against Shutts seeing his ambitions of bringing, not just one but several previously invisible pools of talent into the light.
HOW ASTRIID WORKS People with a long-term medical health condition or with a disability that makes it difficult to apply successfully for standard jobs in the standard way register on the platform. ASTRiiD makes no checks on their condition, but accepts their word. Employers also register, and the customised software developed by cloud computing giant Salesforce, compares the skills and experience they are looking for with the skills and experiences of candidates. As this stage, apart from their skills and experience, the employer doesn’t know anything about the applicant – for example, whether they are a man or a woman. It is only after the applicant agrees to contact the company that their personal details become known. No salary is advertised, and the service is free to jobseekers. However, employers who make a connection for the first time are asked to pay £50 to cover the cost of licensing and to pay for future improvements on the site. Shutts is adamant that ASTRiiD is not a way of exploiting ill people, and the platform has a button on it that allows the jobseeker to have their personal details removed from the system, making themselves invisible again.
JUNE 2018
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Employee Queries are dealt with by us
&RPSOLDQFH is at the top of our agenda
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The Workplace BY GUY HAYWARD
32 RECRUITER
Elsewhere, Survey Monkey gives employees free breakfast and lunch because it “promotes healthiness and fosters a sense of community”. I can remember the days of sneaking off to Prêt [à Manger], grabbing a sandwich, sneaking back to the office before my boss had seen me and then spending 10 minutes eating at my desk before cracking on with my day. In the modern workplace those days are gone. Our people need the benefits that a lengthy lunch break brings. Why not circulate a weekly, healthy lunch menu, making it fun and different every week; help your team understand food labelling; provide fruit in meeting rooms instead of chocolate biscuits; and replace the M&M’s at your desk with baby carrots and celery sticks. Our own monthly lunch series is a firm favourite. Chef Julia cooks the whole business a tasty meal. Our daily fruit drops mean we can stock up on our five-a-day. It might be an old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but Cigna’s research supports this; respondents with poor nutrition had 50% more sickness absences than their peer group. It’s about giving our people the knowledge and options to make better decisions when it comes to their health. Winton Capital Management is targeting this with Javier Lopez, its very own ‘food evangelist’,
“The days of sneaking off, grabbing a sandwich and then spending 10 minutes eating at my desk are gone”
whose advice on the best foods to eat is invaluable. Another firm I recently spoke to, CHX Performance, believes in this approach so much that it’s one of its key pillars, sitting where it should be – beside exercise, not dwarfed by it. It’s the knowledge that comes from people such as Lopez and Life After Hummus that have convinced me that we all should make nutrition a workplace benefit. And don’t forget water. The British Heart Foundation’s hydration challenge – eight cups of 200ml of water a day – is so very important. ●
↗
‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT’ – it’s a concept we’ve all heard of. But it’s one that hasn’t been associated with the workplace, until recently. While corporate wellness has been in the spotlight for a while now, it’s centred overwhelmingly on exercise, with nutrition left behind as the poor relation. It shouldn’t be: proper nutrition is a benefit we can give our people. Why is it so important? It controls your mood, energy, concentration and feeling of fatigue. It’s scientifically proven and a whole new industry has been born from nutrition in the workplace. I like the range of advice that Cigna offers businesses through its corporate wellness programmes, from how to get started on healthy eating through to the practical realities of making it happen. Its emphasis is on a balanced diet you can always enjoy, while avoiding dieting. We love our annual Wellbeing Week that centres on what we eat. During one of these, a nutritional expert from ‘Life After Hummus’ – a provider of wellbeing and nutrition cooking classes – joined us in the office to teach us some cooking skills for healthy eating. The session was educational and eyeopening, but also created a wonderful vibe, with everyone sharing their own favourite recipes, including my own chicken noodle soup.
GUY HAYWARD – redefining the modern workplace CEO, Goodman Masson
JUNE 2018
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CO M M U N I T Y
CAREERS
What do top performers have in common?
E
Find your next move in recruitment on jobs.recruiter. co.uk
BY TARA LESCOTT
↗ TARA LESCOTT is managing director of recruitment-torecruitment firm Recruiter Republic
THIS IS A QUESTION I get asked all the time from consultants, managers and business owners. Everyone wants to know the big secret behind performance, and in a month where so many other people’s performance are being celebrated at the Recruiter Awards, it seems like a good time to talk about it. Everyone wants success, but – and it’s a big but – many fail to get there. Everyone wants the result but few are willing to pay the price to get it… Which is why so many are prepared to pay for the shortcut. The bad news is there is no tool or system or product that will suddenly make you successful. The good news is that you already have what you need to change things if you or your team are not getting the results you feel capable of. Let me explain… I have worked with thousands of recruiters over my 20-year career. I have interviewed hundreds of top performers at all levels and stages of their life in recruitment, and the one quality they have in common is their ability to stay totally fixed on their goals while remaining flexible in their methods. And unfortunately most of the under-performers have this in reverse – doing the same things over and over again (fixed) and over time expecting less and less in terms of results (flexible).
“Everyone wants the result but few are willing to pay the price to get it” Top performers start out with a solid goal in mind, which is firmly attached to a vision of how they will feel when they achieve it. Feeling good about the result they want to achieve keeps them focused on the outcome they seek. And because that commitment is total to that bright and shiny goal – they remain flexible in their methods of achieving it. The vision for what they want is so compelling they don’t give up on it. That client who is saying no? Onto the next one. Candidate didn’t want to move forward? Ok, find another one. They keep moving forward. You have this ability – you probably just haven’t learned to control it yet. Think about a time you really wanted something you didn’t think you could get or achieve… but you did. I bet it started with being a little obsessive over it, daydreaming about when you finally achieved it. Because you invested so
much time thinking about how you would feel when you got there, you unknowingly tapped into a very resourceful state. And because you were in such a resourceful state you programmed yourself to keep seeking opportunities and solutions that would take you closer to your goal. If you are under-performing (in your eyes), then you need to do the same. Ask yourself these questions: 1. What is my ultimate goal? 2. How does achieving that goal make me feel? What will that look like for me? 3. How do the tasks before me lead to my goal? 4. If this immediate task does not get me the outcome I seek, what will I do next? The major problem we all have when we find ourselves in a dry patch performancewise is that we haven’t got fired up about how we will feel when we achieve them. And as we aren’t attaching our immediate tasks to that goal we don’t have the necessary drive to make it happen. So let’s get fixed – actually, no, let’s get obsessed – with our goals and stay totally flexible on our methods. That desk, team, business you know you are capable of leading is waiting for you to take control and be the Top Performer you know you can be. To your success! ●
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ASK THE EXPERT Q: Our temp desk is struggling. What can we do? The Recruitment Sector Barometer that I run in association with Recruiter highlighted that since the start of 2017 an increasing number of companies are struggling to grow their temp revenues. Building a strong temp and contractor (TaC) desk is not easy but it will give you a recurring income and increase the value of your company so it is worth persisting with. TaC desks require a different mentality to permanent recruitment. Efficiency, speed and prioritisation are often the difference between success and failure.
Alex Arnot The SME Coach
Traits of a good TaC desk • Business development (BD) – BD sessions targeting the clients that are most attractive to your candidate base should be a daily activity on TaC desks. • Be proactive: the best TaC recruiters make things happen, for example informing existing and potential clients about candidates with hard to find skills. • Responsiveness – candidates and good clients are bombarded with approaches from your competitors, so when they want to engage, respond promptly. • Planning – because TaC roles typically have a defined life it is important to stay ahead of these cycles ensuring that candidates always have work lined up and clients have the support required. • Reprioritisation/flexibility – as the intermediary between client and candidate, issues will arise that you need to address immediately. Flexibility is critical.
TOP TIPS Look after your existing database Every TaC candidate you lose is one that you need to replace before your desk grows. Use regular candidate service checks to understand what your TaC candidates value about your brand and how you underperform, then implement an ongoing improvement plan. Even if you deliver outstanding service you need to be making it better because your competitors will be improving.
Build your client-base: up your fee rates and your placement ratios
34 RECRUITER
Build your candidate base Ask your TaC team what they need to attract new candidates. Additional marketing budgets may deliver a good ROI but consider other possibilities: • refresh your refer a friend scheme to make it clear, easy and competitive • create a culture where asking for and obtaining candidate referrals is second nature • quiz existing and prospective clients to identify temps they rate highly so you can then approach • leverage your database of permanent candidates – with the right support some of your permanent candidates will likely be suited to a temp or contractor career.
Keep an eye on technology Technology, especially software that helps you source candidates, is evolving rapidly. It can help you identify clients and candidates, streamline your processes and improve margins. If you are not staying on top of developments, you will fall behind the competition. This is an intense, fast-paced market in every way. But play hard and smart and you will thrive.
↗
With TaCs in short supply, plenty of clients are looking for good recruitment consultancies. Using business development to find more ‘sexy’ clients will facilitate retaining existing candidates and attract new ones. In
parallel, meet your clients as often as possible as this builds trust increasing the likelihood you’ll receive head starts on their roles.
ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec and board adviser to more than 30 recruitment companies
JUNE 2018
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‘I love getting others to the next level, seeing them learn and achieve their goals’ ↗
MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER
JACK MARSH, associate director, Source Technology
What was your earliest dream job? Actor. I went to drama school, and wanted to be a screen actor and make it in Hollywood. I love Los Angeles, and wanted the lifestyle.
What was your first job in recruitment, and how did you come into it? I was a consultant at Vivid Resourcing. The girl I was dating at the time was a recruiter. She said I was a good communicator, and had the character to be a good recruiter and earn well. I definitely hadn’t made it in Hollywood, so I thought: why not?
Who is your role model – in life or in recruitment? Floyd Mayweather – it’s controversial, but he has dominated his sport ort (boxing) and been the undisputed uted ng. king for 21 years before retiring. Success comes in many shapes and forms for me, but his wealth, talent, hard work and dedicated approach to his craft and life are inspirational.
What do you love most about your current role? Getting others to the next level, seeing them learn and achieve their goals. After being in the industry for seven years, the coaching element of the job excites me. And that feeling I get
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Jack Marsh when the office moves forward is priceless.
What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career? There have been several in seven years, but my best moment was one of the most recent, when I was promoted to associ associate director at Source Technology. Tar Targets and expectations were high, but everything I said I would achieve I did. For me, it was a proud and career-defining moment.
What’s your top job to fill at the moment? A client of mine in Switzerland is seeking multiple developers. It’s a great company and will be good for our business.
What is your signature dish? I’m not a cook, but if you could make me a meal I’d ask for toad in the hole.
g or cry gh mo Laugh cry, what did your most memorable candidate make you want to do and why? I will never forget a candidate I placed years ago. He used to send me horrible emails on a daily basis. I was an inexperienced consultant back then, so I took it personally – mainly taking it out hard on the boxing bag that week.
What’s the best or worst interview question you’ve ever heard? The best question was when someone I was interviewing said to me: “So what can you do for me?” I love the integrity.
What would you regard as your theme tune? It’s got to be a Biggie Smalls tune. My theme tune is Juicy by The Notorious BIG. Just listen to the lyrics – some teachers at school, and a few previous colleagues, didn’t think I’d achieve anything.
IMAG ES | SHUT T ERSTOCK / ISTOCK
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E RECRUITMENT WWW. RE CRUITE R .CO.UK
View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215
Our people are at the heart of our business. Newbury, Berkshire
We are Amberjack. Experts in future talent and volume recruitment outsourcing, technology and assessment. We deliver unparalleled results for clients such as Unilever, GSK, Mars and PwC, by combining intelligent insights and innovative technology with a passion for customer and candidate experience. And the industry agrees; we won in 4 categories at The Recruiter Awards 2018! We are looking for: Client Partners Ultimately responsible for the successful delivery of client campaigns, you’ll ideally have experience of managing and delivering RPO or high volume recruitment campaigns. You’ll need to be an excellent project manager, with superb team and client management skills. Junior and Senior Assessment Consultants We are interested in hearing from people with an MSC in Occupational Psychology, especially if you have experience of applying that expertise in the context of assessment for selection and are able to spend at least some days each week in our Newbury office. Junior and Senior Technical Developers We offer cutting edge work for C# Developers with commercial and project experience and a genuine passion for technology. We offer a competitive salary/benefits package, a collaborative and supportive working environment, and great opportunities for development. To find out more about these and other career opportunities with Amberjack please visit https://www.weareamberjack.com/about-us/join-our-team/
Recruiter Jobs helping you to attract the best candidates for your vacancies. Recruiter Jobs is the online recruitment site for Recruiter magazine, the principal magazine for recruiting and resourcing professionals. You can search through a wide range of roles; from recruitment consultants to in-house recruitment, based in both the UK and International markets.
Sales Team | recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7880 6215
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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215
W WW. R E C RU I T E R .CO.U K
RECRUITMENT
E
WINNERS OF THE BEST BANKING / FINANCIAL SERVICES RECRUITMENT AGENCY 2018 Come and join a very successful and award winning business! ss! We value our employees in a non KPI & mature environment. t. n Our culture is completely transparent and our staff retention rate is unusually high for recruitment. s:: We have planned growth at all levels in the following areas: • Risk
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• HR
To find out more about our amazing business, ncia all S ervi er vice es please get in contact with Gregg Allan – Director of Financial Services 46 1986 986 email: Gregg.allan@lmarecruitment.com Phone: 0207 246 LMA RECRUITMENT LIMITED, 9 CLOAK LANE, LONDON EC4R 2RU WWW.LMARECRUITMENT.COM
• DRIVEN & SUPPORTIVE CULTURE • ENTREPRENEURIAL VALUES • • PRESTIGIOUS CLIENT BASE • An award-winning recruitment boutique who have served London’s top tier organisations across the banking, private equity and professional services sectors for over ten years. With established Secretarial and PR & Communications desks. Due to growth, we are delighted to be able to offer opportunities to join our close-knit, ambitious and collegiate team: • Consultant – Secretarial Division, Permanent Desk • Consultant – Secretarial Division, Temporary Desk • Consultant – PR & Communications Division All roles are offered with competitive base, uncapped personal commission & bonus, and generous package. Knowledge of the investment sector would be advantageous but much more importantly we seek characters who are: • Entrepreneurial, proactive and autonomous • Keen to learn and continually develop professionally • Ethical consultants with a team-spirited approach Learn more and apply: www.isepartners.com/jointheteam
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ALEXANDER MANN SOLUTIONS: The international talent acquisition and management solutions provider has bolstered its contingent workforce solutions (CWS) team with two senior hires. Melanie Forbes joins as managing director for CWS. Chris Merrick joins as head of sales for the EMEA region, with a focus on CWS.
welcomes Helen Coult (bottom left) as its new regional director Asia Pacific.
AUDELISS: The Londonbased boutique executive search firm has appointed Elaine Pearson as delivery consultant.
BERRY RECRUITMENT GROUP: ALLEN ASSOCIATES: The Oxfordshire-based recruiter has promoted Hannah Bush from recruitment consultant to divisional manager.
Tony Lock joins the multisector recruiter as its operations manager in Kent.
CARESTAFF SOLUTIONS: The health and social care recruiter welcomes Zaph Memon as MD.
EMPRESARIA: Spencer Wreford takes over from Joost Kreulen as CEO at the multi-sector international recruitment business.
ARMSTRONG CRAVEN: The global talent mapping and pipelining specialist 40 RECRUITER
JUNE 2018
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ENDORSED: The online technology recruitment platform has appointed Sam Harrison to MD.
Recruiter’s In-house Resourcing Leader of the Year is taking up a role at online job board organisation StepStone. Katrina Hutchinson-O’Neill, who picked up her award at the Recruiter Awards at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 3 May, has accepted the role of global head of talent & resourcing at the global giant, stepping down from her post as director of resourcing at Nationwide Building Society. During her time at Nationwide, she successfully transformed Nationwide’s resourcing function into a holistic resourcing function, which in addition to delivery, now also spans workforce planning and a sophisticated contingent worker programme.
HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES: The global executive search firm has appointed Rafael Paravicini and Anne Rockey as partners in Zurich and Chicago respectively. The firm has also appointed Jeffrey Mollica, Doug Orr, Jennifer Wilson and Cheryl Chen principals in Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas and Shanghai respectively. Doug Orr joins as a principal in Houston. MERCER: The global consultancy welcomes Robert Baker as its diversity & inclusion (D&I) consulting leader for Europe and the
Pacific region within its London office.
MIRAMAR GLOBAL: David Winch has joined the search firm as MD of Miramar Talent, its latest search product.
MONSTER: Scott Gutz has been appointed CEO at the Randstad-owned careers site.
Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short 17/05/2018 11:18
Redactive Publishing Ltd 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL 020 7880 6200
CONTACTS EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7606 Editor DeeDee Doke deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk
Pedersen & Partners: Zak Marar, Scott Eversman, Daniel Frost
PEDERSEN & PARTNERS: The international executive search firm welcomes Zak Marar within its MENA (Middle East & North Africa) team as a client partner focusing on family groups and corporate functions in the region. In addition, Scott Eversman joins the firm’s London team as client partner and global head of energy practice. Daniel Frost also joins in Asia-Pacific as client partner with a focus on healthcare & life sciences.
with the group consolidating the position of CEO and executive chairman into a single role.
WHITEHALL RESOURCES: The specialist SAP and IT recruiter has promoted Jonathan Atkinson to senior UK new business contracts manager.
ZACHARY DANIELS: The retail recruiter welcomes Rob Archer as a director.
PK EDUCATION: The teacher recruitment agency has made Rebecca Clarke manager, Sarah Hallworth SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) manager, Dan Bazeley secondary manager and Kate Hickey candidate relationship manager at its Manchester office.
RIVIERA PARTNERS: Jeff Campbell joins the executive search firm as director to expand its business in the South-East region of the US.
YOU R NE X T M OV E A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk Amberjack Client partner opportunities Newbury, Berkshire £competitive RedLaw International-focused consultant looking for next move Legal City of London Merco Recruitment consultant Healthcare South-West London £competitive
RSA GROUP: Alex Bennett has stepped down as CEO at the life sciences executive search firm. He is succeeded by current executive chairman Nick Stephens,
colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk
Contributing writer Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk
Designer Craig Bowyer Picture editor Akin Falope ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 6213 Sales manager Paul Barron
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+44 (0)20 7880 6215 Sales executive Rakshy Shekar 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
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+44 (0)20 7880 6245 Sales executive Jonathan Adebayo jonathan.adebayo@redactive.co.uk
RECRUITER AWARDS/ INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS +44 (0)20 7324 2771 eventsteam@redactive.co.uk
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 mysidekick @recruiter.co.uk or +44 (0)20 8950 9117 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. © 2018 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 2016 & 30 June 2017 – 14,995. is also sent to all REC members
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Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7324 2756 Recruitment sales manager Dario Cappelli
Scan here to get your own copy of
17/05/2018 11:18
E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY
Alan Furley Shooting star or damp squib?
Waiting to see how a candidate did in interview is a bit like lighting a firework you bought from a bloke down the pub. Will the firework dash like a meteor, turning November’s sombre skies into a kaleidoscope, spreading light and joy to a lucky few? Or will it go “pffft” while you think “Should I do something useful?” but wonder what on earth that might be, when – suddenly and to everyone’s utter horror – it screams into horrible life, briefly making the place look like an off-planet warzone before doing irreparable damage to the new herbaceous border your wife was just about to show off about. Do not buy fireworks from people you meet in pubs. Candidates, as with cheapo fireworks you’re still kind of paying for, also don’t come with official quality compliance. So sometimes it’s hard to know how they’ll perform, too.
Good recruiters have learnt to apply sense to which applicants they put forward. So perhaps before you push your most recent job to the candidate, take some time to ask them why they are looking for a new role. Or challenge them a little before accepting that they will travel three hours a day for a role paying 10% less than their current one. But there’s only so much anyone can do – ultimately, the candidate has to perform. For many, nerves are a real factor. Add a dash of naivety, and it’s anyone’s guess how they’ll do. This theme came up when my team were sharing the daft things candidates regularly say in interviews, thereby ensuring they won’t get a second. Here are a few:
“There’s no chance that I’ll get a good reference” If you really, really can’t get a good reference, then maybe you need to have a think
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about why that is. Either way, for goodness’ sake – don’t say it out loud.
“I was fired from my last job” (with no explanation) Lots of people get fired, for lots of reasons, and not everyone deserves it. Employers know that. What they don’t know is why you’ve chosen to make a mystery of it. In the absence of information, people imagine the worst things they can think of. Be straightforward.
“I’m just here for the salary” You’re not here at all, then. We’re all here to get paid. But we want to work with people who enjoy their job, and don’t see us as a dreary means to an end.
“I didn’t have a chance to look at your website” No one’s that busy. Lots of people are dim enough to think they can get away with pretending they are.
Alan Furley is a director at ISL Recruitment
“Remind me: what’s the role again?” It’s walking out of this room, because the interview is now effectively over.
“I really want to go travelling next year” So you’ll be distracted, unmotivated and any investment in your development would be wasted, eh? You’re quite the prospect.
“I just want a new challenge” This is a strange one because it sounds reasonable and upbeat. What it can say is that you flutter around like a confused butterfly, not really doing all that much when you land. It’s better to be positive about some aspect of the role, and how it is a development on what you have achieved so far.
JUNE 2018
17/05/2018 11:19
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