Recruiter - June 2015 by Redactive Media Group

June 2015

www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

Recruiting winners The three individual Recruiterr Award winners of the night g reveal what gave them the edge g g in their race to the top in recruitment

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Contents

Behind every Recruiter Award win, there’s a story — perhaps of hurdles overcome, personal circumstances that have been challenged, a business that’s undergone a turnaround, a belief in a dream, or maybe an Award has finally resulted after years of pursuing excellence. 26

This year, a story that emerged in the glow of recognition for Award-winning companies and individual winners was one of mentoring. Where both winners of the Recruitment Agency of the Year categories (Annapurna Recruitment and Phaidon International) were concerned, SThree chief executive Gary Elden was identified by name as an individual who had contributed to their success by sharing his recruitment knowledge and insight with them when they were his employees. Gregory Allen, named In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year, gave us a list of his personal mentors and talked about their contributions to his career and expertise. He also enthused that he, too, wants to ‘give back’ in this way. Mentors are the unsung heroes of success. We congratulate all our Recruiter Awards winners and shortlisted companies and individuals for brilliant achievements — and we offer a special round of applause to mentors who give of themselves to sow the seeds of others’ success.

NEWS 5

RICHARD LEA-HAIR

Left: Our favourite Instagram picture from the Awards ‘No words can explain. #RecruiterAwards #AgencyLife #AwardsNight #NightOut #PinkSquid’

FEATURES

NEWS FROM THE AWARDS

Awards shine a spotlight on recruiting talent The full list of winners at the 2015 Recruiter Awards for Excellence, in association with Anderson Group 6

New on the night

Specially named cocktails and a ﬂying drone added to the evening’s entertainment Charity of the Year

Halcyon’s work with autism Rory Bremner impresses with his political prowess

26 AWARDS COVER STORY Recruiter spoke with the three individual award winners to ﬁnd out the secrets of their success 34 The 2015 Recruiter Awards

in pictures 36 People key to winning ways Winners of both the Recruitment Agency of the Year awards — More than/ Fewer than 100 Employees — reveal investment in people is key for their businesses

REGULARS

10 Tech & tools: Be mobile-

friendly or die

19 Interaction

Soapbox: Greg Wood, Your World Healthcare 19 Agency View: Matt Brooks, Eyzon 21 Soundbites 41 Movers & Shakers 19

ANALYSIS 13 Sector Analysis Construction 17 Global Spotlight on Vietnam 24 Insight Relocation, relocation, relocation: global mobility means recruiters must adapt

Industry moves 42 Bloggers with Bite:

Matt Churchward

WHO’S HIRING? DeeDee Doke, Editor

Scan here to get your own copy of Recruiter

39 SystemsAccountants 40 Alium Partners, Marin

Software & Recruiter’s Top 5 Most Viewed Jobs 24

EDITORIAL Editor: DeeDee Doke T: +44 (0)20 7880 7601 deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk Reporters: Sarah Marquet T: +44 (0)20 7880 7606 sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk; Graham Simons T: +44 (0)20 7880 7603 graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk Contributing writers: Colin Cottell, Sue Weekes Production editor: Vanessa Townsend T: +44 (0)20 7880 7602 vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk Art editor: Adrian Taylor ADVERTISING Business development manager: Tom Culley T: +44 (0)20 7880 7607 tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk Senior sales executive: Lisa-Jane Parker +44 (0)20 7880 7610 lisa-jane.parker@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment advertising: Giorgio Romano T+44 (0)20 7880 7556 giorgio.romano@redactive.co.uk Fax +44 (0)20 7880 7553 PRODUCTION Production executive: Rachel Young T+44 (0)20 7880 6209 rachel.young@redactive.co.uk PUBLISHING Publishing director: Aaron Nicholls T: +44 (0)20 7880 8547 aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk RECRUITER AWARDS Events: Rebecca West T: +44 (0)20 7880 6236 rebecca.west@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@abacusemedia.com • Recruiter is also available to people who do not meet our terms of control: Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £29.99 UK £35 Europe and Rest of the World • To purchase reprints or multiple copies of the magazine, contact Ryan Hadden T: +44 (0)20 7880 7618 ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk

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

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

CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2015 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group. Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

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RECRUITER

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RICHARD LEA HAIR

News

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON RECRUITING TALENT The cream of the crop of the recruitment world was recognised on 6 May at the 2015 Recruiter Awards for Excellence, held in association with Anderson Group. Fittingly, on the eve of the general election, the event was hosted by impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner (below), impersonator of many a political personality, at a packed Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.

RAFA BASTOS

The evening raised £3,664 for Halcyon Training Foundation, a charity that delivers work experience and training for people on the autistic spectrum to improve their job prospects. The event was supported by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS GO ONLINE

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Full list of 2015 Recruiter Awards winners Best New Agency (sponsored by Anderson Group): Finlay Jude Associates Best Recruitment Agency Marketing Team: Major Players Best Job Board/Careers Board: Bubble Jobs Most Effective Recruitment Marketing Campaign (sponsored by RACS Group): It’s all in the detail – Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid Creative/Digital/Media Recruitment Agency of the Year: Major Players Best Graduate Recruitment Strategy: SAP Best Apprentice/School Leaver Recruitment Strategy: Lancashire County Council Best Public Sector Recruitment Agency (sponsored by Itris): Sanctuary Personnel Public Sector In-House Recruitment Team of the Year (sponsored by H1 Healthcare): Birmingham City Council Best Engineering Recruitment Agency: Earthstaff Best Embedded Recruitment Team: World Duty Free Group with ResourceBank Best International Recruitment Agency (sponsored by iFollow Ofﬁce): First Point Group Best Global/International Recruitment Strategy: SAP Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year (sponsored by Biopanel Systems): Sonovate Best Temporary Recruitment Agency (sponsored by Flo Software Solutions): Caritas Recruitment Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency (sponsored by Nova Contracting): Annapurna Recruitment Best Banking/Financial Recruitment Agency (sponsored by ICAEW Jobs): Morgan McKinley Best IT Recruitment Agency (sponsored by RBS): Eurostaff Best Candidate Care (sponsored by Anderson Group): Annapurna Recruitment Best Client Service (supported by REC): EMR Search & Selection Best Candidate Experience: EMC Most Effective Employer Brand Development: The Original Bowling Company in partnership with andSoMe Innovation in Recruitment: Nestlé UK in partnership with Capp & Co Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Organisation (sponsored by CareersinAudit.com): Omni RMS Recruitment Agency of the Year (Fewer than 100 Employees) (sponsored by CV-Library): Annapurna Recruitment Recruitment Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees) (sponsored by Key): Phaidon International Recruitment Industry Entrepreneur of the Year (sponsored by Invest|R Group): Darren Ryemill, Opus Recruitment Solutions In-House Recruitment Team of the Year: LV= In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year: Gregory Allen, Lloyd’s Register Agency Recruitment Leader of the Year (sponsored by ICS): Helen Stokes, Major Players

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News

Thoughts from those at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2015…

“DeeDee Doke asked me to be a judge this year, and I was flattered. I am delighted to be here” NIGEL BARKER, GROUP HEAD OF RESOURCING, LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

NEWONTHE NIGHT

“Yet another amazing evening where we come together to celebrate our wonderful industry. Congratulations to all those nominated and to all the winners. It’s fantastic to celebrate our sector collectively”

Provider of employment and payroll services Key, sponsor of the Recruitment Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees) Award, had launched its rebrand from My Key Pay the previous day. To showcase Key’s rebrand, the novel idea of a special cocktail for the evening went down extremely well at the Awards. “So we thought we’d get everyone’s night off to a good start by serving up Key Bellinis at the drinks reception,” marketing manager Rhona McCallum told Recruiter. “It was great to see how popular they were; they provided quite a talking point!” As for the event, McCallum said: “We’re looking forward to next year already.” Another company flying high during the celebrations — quite literally — was a new sponsor to the Awards, Biopanel Systems. Sponsors of the Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year category, the biometric time & attendance, workforce management solutions firm put its name on a hot air balloon drone that noiselessly drifted over the guests, taking video that was screened live to the audience. Sales and development manager Matt Thomson told Recruiter: “We decided to sponsor the drone as we are a forwardthinking technology company which also produces videos for clients. The video from the event will also be featured in our blog on our site.” And the Sono Showband played on...

PAUL MAXIN, HEAD OF TALENT AND RESOURCING, FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL BASTOS

As well as recognising innovation from recruiters across the board, the event itself played host to several innovative products, marking firsts for the Awards night.

“The Awards help people understand what they need to do to create a great employer brand and a great candidate experience. It helps to promote the idea that it’s more than just about an advert and candidate response — it’s bigger than that” MARIE ASHTON, CLIENT SOLUTIONS MANAGER, TALENT WORKS INTERNATIONAL

Cheers! There were plenty of Key Bellinis to celebrate a win

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

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Earthstaff celebrate winning Best Engineering Recruitment Agency

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News

“I have always thought that the Awards were really important for the industry to acknowledge people and to share that acknowledgement with other people, their peers” CHRIS BOGH, CO-FOUNDER, EPLOY

“It is quite nice to see one happy face of the industry rather than the ferocious competitive attitude it normally carries” PIETRO DEBLASI, SENIOR TALENT PARTNER, ADOBE GLOBAL SERVICES, EMEA

HALCYON HIGHLIGHTS WORK SOLUTIONS FORTHOSE WITH AUTISM Recruiter’s Charity of the Year, Cardiff-based Halcyon Training Foundation, was another winner at the Awards. Voted for before the event by Recruiter readers, Halcyon delivers appropriate work experience and training for people on the autistic spectrum to improve their employment opportunities. On the night, £3,664 was raised for the charity through a raffle and donations. Speaking to Recruiter, development director Iestyn Evans, who was at the Awards celebration, said the sum raised was a “huge amount of money for a small charity like us”. The initial aim was to look to employ two people with autism over the next 12 months to help in its training programmes. However, he said the real value was in the relationships the Foundation can bring by working with recruiters and show them how to “engage clients and how to engage their staff” in working with people on the autistic spectrum. Group finance director at hedge fund Omni Partners, Evans took a pro bono role at Halcyon because as a parent of two young children with autism, he told Recruiter, he worried about them and what would happen in the future when he was no longer there. “It’s massively important to try and get them [those with autism] into employment,” he explained. He gave an example of certain roles at the Passport Office in Cardiff that are repetitive in nature, but suit some people on the autistic spectrum: “Clients of recruiters should be told if they want a good, low-turnover workforce, they should consider employing workers with autism.” THE RAFFLE WINNERS WERE: Nick Root (SR Search) – Magnum of champagne, donated by Davy’s Wine Merchants and Winebars Jodie Koch (Medilink) – iPad Zuzana Lapinova (TTM) – Signed Man Utd football, donated by Morsons International Iestyn Evans speaks to Rory Bremner about the Halcyon Foundation

NO-HOLDS BARRED BREMNER DAVID CAMERON and former Labour leader Ed Miliband were given both barrels •by impressionist Rory Bremner, the host of this year’s Recruiter Awards for

Excellence, in association with Anderson Group. On the biggest night of the year for the recruitment industry and on the eve of the election, the soon to be two-term Prime Minister Cameron was lampooned by Bremner for living in a bubble. Impersonating the PM, Bremner said: “I don’t I think I’ve met one person over the past ﬁve weeks who isn’t an absolutely nailed-on Conservative. Is that a coincidence?” Bremner quipped. “I don’t think it is. Am I living in some sort of a bubble? Are these people living in the same world? People are saying ‘are we going to make the rich richer or the poor poorer?’ I think we can do both.” But the then opposition leader Miliband was not spared by Bremner either or his commitment to stick to his promises, quite literally. Adopting Miliband’s voice, Bremner said: “I’m not like the other guy. I’m not going to lie to you about this. I think you deserve better. I think the whole country deserves better. You want politicians to stick to their promises, so that’s what I’m going to do. Each one of these pieces of paper sets out one of my policies and I’m going to stick to them. Hell, I am going to stick to them. How am I going to do that? By sticking one to each ﬁnger.” But even the ceremony itself did not escape gentle ribbing from its host with the impressionist poking fun at the number of awards being presented on the night. “We have narrowed it down a bit. We have got 178 awards,” he said. “If you don’t win something tonight you are in the wrong business, let me tell you this. We’re going to see the winners on stage, in daywear, eveningwear and swimwear. “We are going to go through each of the categories in turn. We’ll announce the winners, then they go back to their seat, then we’ll have some breakfast. Is anyone doing anything before Monday?”

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Awards in a quote Glenn Knott, senior HR professional, Birmingham City Council and winner of Best Public Sector InHouse Recruitment Team of the Year “The award reflects a considerable commitment to excellence in public sector recruitment. It is very much a team effort and I am proud to receive the award on behalf of Birmingham City Council.”

Mary Pratt, founder, Dare42 Talent “More than 1,000 people in the room all going for awards for one thing — recruiting talent. That’s impressive.”

Matthew Jeffery, vicepresident head of global sourcing & employment branding, SAP “What a great night. A brilliantly organised event that really is in a class of its own. We were delighted to get six nominations and win two prestigious Awards. Congrats to Greg Allen, a very worthy winner of the In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year. I am very proud to be nominated in that category. For those who have never been to this event I would so recommend you make it to next year’s. No doubt it will be bigger and better than ever.”

David Leyshon, chairman, CBSbutler “I would say it is as vibrant and enthused as previous years. It was a typical recruiter crowd. Business is good. Most people are upbeat and everyone wants to celebrate.”

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News

Tech & tools

BE MOBILE-FRIENDLY OR DIE When Google announced it would roll out a mobilefriendly algorithm on 21 April, digital visionaries warned that ‘Mobilegeddon’ was nigh (see box below for criteria). The new algorithm’s aim is to boost the ranking of mobilefriendly pages on searches carried out on mobile devices. The danger for sites that don’t provide a good user experience in the mobile environment is this: they run the risk of significantly dropping in the rankings. With smartphones and tablets the starting point for so many job searches, Chris Bogh, technical director of recruitment technology company Eploy, questions why recruiters haven’t already invested in providing a good mobile experience for candidates. “It shouldn’t be a case of Google forcing their hand, they should want to do it anyway,” he says. Andy Drinkwater, founder of search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists iQ SEO, carried out a test on 4,130 recruitment agency websites before the update and found that more than two-thirds failed the Google mobilefriendliness test and warns: “If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, Google will push those that are higher up the search results.”

Native apps vs responsive route What is likely to be the best route for most recruiters? Probably a ‘mobile-responsive’ design route where the device resizes and adapts the site for an optimal experience on a mobile device. Bogh explains that modern web browsers have improved to the point where mobileresponsive will deliver what many recruiters require in terms of a mobile-friendly site. “You’ve got to ask whether the individual will download an app for a single agency or company,” he says.

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AGENCY AND CORPORATE CAREER SITES MUST BE MOBILE-FRIENDLY TO PROTECT OR BOOST THEIR GOOGLE RANKINGS. RECRUITERS SHOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT IS REQUIRED TO PASS THE GOOGLE MOBILE-FRIENDLY TEST EVEN IF THEY OUTSOURCE WEB SERVICES

Drinkwater agrees. Unless you require specific functionality or a lot of integration with, for instance, timesheets or back office functions, the mobile responsive route will suffice, he says.

Invest proper resource and time There isn’t ‘a quick fix’ to making a site mobile-friendly,

Is your site Google mobile-friendly? A page is eligible for the Google mobile-friendly label if it meets the following criteria: • it avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, such as Flash • it features text that is readable without zooming • it sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom • links are placed far enough apart so that the desired one can be easily tapped

stresses Drinkwater: “You either need to bring a developer in to work on the site styling or have a new site designed in something like WordPress that is mobile-friendly out of the box.” Likewise, 4MAT client development director Andrew Soane adds that getting a great mobile experience with more complex features such as job search is not straightforward and needs careful consideration. “They [recruiters] also need to be pushing their designers hard on how the forms, registration and apply routes will work on mobile devices,” he says. “Approaches such as ‘Register’ or ‘Apply with LinkedIn’ and Cloud CV file upload should be investigated.”

Don’t outsource mobile responsibility Recruiters must take ultimate responsibility for mobilefriendliness. “You know your candidate, so think about their experience,” says Bogh. “This

isn’t down to the technology provider.” Soane points out that recruiters should supply alternative routes for candidates to apply, rather than via a mandatory CV file upload “and no other way to send you their details at all”, he says.

Test and test again Google has provided a mobilefriendly test site that allows the testing of individual pages, so check all areas of the site. To test it, click through from its googlewebmastercentral. blogspot.co.uk. Be sure to test it yourself as if you were a mobile candidate. Finally, remember that fresh, relevant content remains as important as ever to gain a high ranking. Eliminate the risk of being penalised on any count by providing content that is relevant and continually updated in a mobile-friendly format. SUE WEEKES

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Sector Analysis

Construction PREDICTIONS CALL FOR THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS, BUT RECRUITERS WARN OF SKILL SHORTAGES AS THE SECTOR STRUGGLES WITH POOR PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS A recent forecast by the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) predicted that 200,000 jobs will be created in construction over the next five years, taking employment in the sector to 2.3m, a figure on a par with the boom year of 2007. For a sector with an ageing workforce, an often unattractive profile, and one that has historically under-invested in the long-term investment and training needed to build a sustainable workforce, that could spell trouble. However, Phil Beardwood, director at Morson International, says there are signs that the sector is better prepared than in the past. “It is nice to see from a construction industry point of view that they [firms] are getting ahead of the curve by increasing the number of apprentices they are taking on and increasing the amount of training above what they have done historically,” he says. A CITB survey in March supports this view, with 30% of construction companies saying they intend to offer apprenticeships this year compared to 26% in 2014 and 20% in 2013. “A lot of clients are more switched on. They recognise there is no use winning a job if you can’t man it up,” says Beardwood. Andrew Pace, HR director in construction services firm ISG, says that apprentices “are key to the industry”. In partnership with Kew Gardens, ISG has created a new Heritage NVQ for 12 apprentices. And he points to “successful industry initiatives” such as Open Doors 2015, “which encourage young people to experience 21st century construction for themselves”. Such initiatives are helping “to raise the profile and attractiveness of the built environment sector as a vibrant, professional and aspirational career choice for high-calibre individuals”. Bruce Boughton, people development manager at house builders Lovell, agrees about the importance of apprenticeships, though not apprenticeships in the traditional sense. “For us and for many others, it’s not just about a career in the trades, it’s a

SIZE OF UK CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY WORKFORCE

1984

1.9m 2007

2.3m

stepping stone to the world of work, which then leads into the professions,” he says. And, he argues, this must go hand-in-hand with efforts to change perceptions of the sector. As well as bricklayers and carpenters, the general public “don’t get that we need as many quantity surveyors, site managers and other professionals”. Turning this perception around entails employers not only “getting into schools” through schemes like the Construction Ambassadors’ Scheme, but just as importantly educating parents. Developing links between large contractors and educational establishments is vital “if the sector is going to attract the type of individuals that are going to succeed and move the industry forward”, agrees Pace. This goes beyond the more usual hosting seminars and providing students with direct site experience, to “assisting with curriculum development”, he says. Richard Ewing, operations director at construction recruiter Meridian Construction, introduces a sceptical note: “There is a lot of talk about apprentices but I think the industry is lagging behind the demand … I don’t think that people see it as such an attractive industry as it used to be.” Ewing points to the number of “blue collar guys that have retired and left the industry in the past seven years”, leaving the sector short of core workers such as bricklayers and joiners. Paul Jackman, co-owner and director of construction recruiter Thorn Baker, says the sector faces an uphill job attracting young people. “It’s not for everybody,” he says. Even Morson’s Beardwood, who contends that construction has upped its game, says the sector is not out of the woods yet. He predicts a looming skills shortage in the next 18 months to two years. Even if the construction sector has seen the light when it comes to building a sustainable workforce, the next few years look set to answer the question whether it is too little and too late.

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2.1m

Gillian Econopouly, head of policy and research at CITB: “Apprenticeships are part of the answer, but we must also ensure the industry can attract those leaving education or university, potential returners to the industry and those looking to change careers.”

Ryan Scott, senior consultant trade and labour division, Linear Recruitment: “There are a lot more contractors taking on apprentices, but there doesn’t seem to be much to attract the adults.”

Paul Jackman, co-owner and director, Thorn Baker: “The market has improved everywhere but there is still a North-South divide.”

Phil Beardwood, director Morson International: “Hinkley Point [nuclear power station] will require 1,000 steel fixers. There aren’t 1,000 steel fixers around.”

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Interaction

Turn the nursing shortage crisis BOX into a global recruiting export SOAP

Our nursing shortage is unprecedented. All the political parties have pledged more money to fund the NHS, but the problem is bigger than we think. The Royal College of Nursing found that nearly a quarter of registered nurses are set to retire in the next five years. It’s not just a UK problem but a global one. Freedom of information we obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Health and Care Professional Council (HCPC) reveals global registrations of healthcare workers across the board were down over the past year, by up to 20%. So there is a global race for countries to recruit healthcare workers. At the same time we’re now competing with other European countries including Germany, Ireland and increased demand from Scandinavia. We know there are funds to address nursing shortages but these are all band-aid solutions. What, at the moment, is leading to a widening healthcare crisis could be our biggest opportunity, both locally and abroad. As a major UK recruiter of allied healthcare workers, Your World Healthcare is aware there’s a healthy global demand for British medical standards, ethics and training. Our hope would be that the NHS, already under such increased

AGENCY VIEW

GREG WOOD is commercial director for Your World Healthcare

Reaping cross-industry rewards through a Darwinian evolution

Back in the early 2000s, when ‘geek’ became the new ‘cool’, the reward profession took its opportunity to come out of the shadows. Up until very recently, the truly ambitious amongst the newlyreleased über-geeks of the human resources (HR) world, were falling over themselves to get into the financial services (FS) industry. FS was seen by many as the ultimate playground in which to ply their trade. Quite frankly the budgets were mind-blowing, which gave practitioners carte blanche to do as they saw fit, experimenting with variable pay to their hearts’ content. It was fun, high profile and everyone wanted to be part of it. But a decade later, that image seems to be changing. Some seven years on from the start of the global financial crisis (GFC), change is upon us, and has seriously affected what being a reward professional in the banking environment means. Candidates in reward FS because e a are a e leaving ea regulations that are being put in place t as a result of o the GFC are making their roles less fun. Reward professionals’ previous raison d’être d’êtr — to attract, retain and motivate — can no longer be their number one on priority. While still sti the holders of the most highly paid skill set within the HR discipline, discipline they are now forced to interpret, placate placa and comply with pages and pages of legalese. Lawyers, not le geeks, are the new black. The reward function is now, no understandably, obsessed with trying to ensure compliance

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pressures, could be de-politicised by all parties and not subject to short-term changes with each incoming government. We see the need to create an exponential increase in nurse university places across the country, and a larger drive to encourage aspiring healthcare workers to join this burgeoning profession. At the moment, we have countries ranging from Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and most of the Middle East keen to recruit our nurses. Imagine the potential if we could supply these countries in abundance after meeting our own needs? Investing in robust nurse training and having a long-term strategy for increasing numbers over the next decade would not only address our shortfall, but could become our next major global export. We only have to take the example from the Philippines, whose nurses are coveted and appreciated all over the world, to see how this could work for us in the UK. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has suggested that by 2035 there will be a shortage of 12.9m healthcare workers, so we need to take action now. What is currently the blight of our national health service could be our next major global asset.

with somewhat inconsistent and conflicting interpretations of ever-changing fledgling legislation, from the likes of the Prudential Regulation Authority, Financial Conduct Authority, the European Banking Authority and myriad other international regulators. We see many people abandoning FS in search of roles in sectors in which they can continue to use flair and invention — often, ironically, for considerably less money. We’ve also noticed a considerable dropoff in the number of people outside of it trying to fight their way in. There is a benefit to all of this. These market changes are leading the way in encouraging cross-industry moves and opening a whole new set of opportunities for candidates to explore. Historically, businesses come to us and give us a long list of technical requirements for their desired recruit but at the end of a discussion tell us that industry knowledge is vital, and as such are only ever hiring out of a talent pool that is restricted to their industry. I am focused on this population of niche reward specialists but suggest that while it’s happening here, it will happen across all areas of recruitment. Cross-industry recruitment is a good thing — it delivers the evolution of ideas rather than perpetuating the same ones incestuously within an industry bubble. But a warning: as cross-industry recruitment increases, the competition for your candidates also increases. It’s no longer just how you differentiate yourself from your direct commercial competitors but also from the whole employer market. FS departees are also looking at opportunities in FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods], tech, media, pharma, energy and so on. Whenever we see a mini-exodus in a particular sector, it tends to drive a significant uplift in cross-industry recruitment of HR professionals as a whole. A Darwinian evolution, where many recruiters are already reaping the rewards. MATT BROOKS is a partner at HR specialist recruitment consultancy Eyzon

RECRUITER

JUNE 2015

12/05/2015 09:56

Rea s

o ount c o t s

am : yStre

#11

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14/05/2015 10:30

Interaction

SOUND

WEB

BITES

“Is the new Tory government good or bad news for business, employment and the recruitment industry and why?” Gary Cox Owner and managing director, Peritus Consulting I expect the Tory government will have a positive effect on the recruitment industry, especially in the North, with promises of three out of five new jobs to be outside the South-East and focuses on developing new start-ups in the North-West. David Cameron pledges to create 2m jobs by 2020, leading to a demand for quality recruiters, who will get people back into work and help others in finding their first-time employment. A promise for improved transport such as high-speed rail links, extended metro links, widened motorways and new roads will also make commutes to work easier. Kirstin Duffy Chief operating officer, BRUIN Financial The unexpected result was welcomed by the City and the financial services sector in general, and a majority government will give our economy much needed stability over the coming months. It is also very pleasing to see the number of female MPs up to almost 30%, and the Cabinet should be reflective of this [Editor’s note: the new Cabinet is now a third women, after Duffy’s Soundbite]. Whether economic stability will prevail will partly depend on Cameron’s ability to quell the opinions of his Eurosceptic backbenchers. The financial sector relies on a global talent pool, so it is vital the European political elephant in the room is dealt with quickly and effectively. Lucinda Rowe Director, Ten2Two A majority government of any colour has to be good for business confidence and thus the economy. At Ten2Two we specialise in part-time and flexible recruitment and were delighted that the previous coalition government raised the profile of flexible working by extending the right to work flexibly and introducing shared parental leave. Flexible working has so many benefits for businesses and workers… that we are really hopeful the new government continues to give this area of employment the attention it deserves. Watch this space! Matthew Sanders Chief executive, Brookfield Rose I am delighted that they [the Conservatives] will be looking after our country for another five years. I strongly believe that this new Tory government is good news for business, employment and the recruitment industry… I truly believe they will continue to make a difference to our society and our progressively recovering economy. I have great faith in their plans and objectives, which will have a significant impact on the recruitment and staffing industry and wide employment landscape. I believe the Conservatives’ introduction of a new workplace entitlement to Volunteering Leave for three days a year, on full pay, will be a very positive move.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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COMMENT

Recruitment marketers: align marketing message with consultants (28 April) Marketing telling the sales guys what to say around thought leadership — strikes me as the tail wagging the dog. The sales guys are talking to candidates and clients all day, they are the ones with the inside knowledge on trends. Us marketing bods should help the recruitment consultants get their story out.

James Del-Gatto Good point, James [Del-Gatto]. What I explained in this session was that the business drives the strategy, and the marketing team empower the consultants to share the right message.

Alex Charraudeau This was a great talk from Alex and completely agree with [Recruiter’s] Graham [Simons] that avoiding the disconnect between the market is crucial. He also touched on connecting with advocates and using Google Analytics. Both very powerful tools if used correctly and can help tailor content to be as helpful to the viewer as possible.

Neal Rawlinson Microsoft and Specialisterne work together to hire people with autism (10 April) What about people with autism who are gifted at creativity? Concept for games and apps is often a forte.

Alison Evans Labour’s careers advice promise fails to involve recruiters (9 April) I agree with the article that REC [Recruitment & Employment Confederation] members should be on the radar with regard to careers information and advice in schools, as well as a valuable support for employability. Recruiters are synonymous with employers! However, career guidance within schools is the domain of career guidance professionals.

Susan Bailey Recruiters must have more involvement in careers, says young entrepreneur (20 April) I think there is certainly a place for agencies to help in this context. Perhaps a 50-year-old recruitment veteran wouldn’t be quite right, but there are young recruiters out there, perhaps 20-25-yearolds, that are very professional, very good and very successful. These are the types of recruiters that school students can still relate to and may actually take their advice on board!

Christopher Gibson

RECRUITER

JUNE 2015

13/05/2015 14:39

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Recruitment Matters Issue 35 June 2015

Advocacy scheme continues to grow More recruitment companies are jumping on board the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s (REC’s) IRP Advocacy Scheme. IT recruiter Circle Recruitment has announced their full contingent of consultants are now members of the Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP). Recruitment companies who sign up to the IRP Advocacy scheme enrol their recruiters into membership of the IRP. They receive the full beneﬁts of IRP membership, including access to IRP events and a suite of tools to aid their career. Circle Recruitment managing director Steve Ricketts says the accreditation was a natural step for the company. “We have an ongoing focus to provide a supportive environment for staff to ensure they deliver an expert service for our clients. The IRP code of conduct demonstrates our commitment to professionalism and providing the right candidates for our new and existing clients,” he says. “We go out of our way to ensure Circle is an attractive

What’s inside The 2-3 Intelligence and REC Talk More vacancies – more choice, recruiters are still growing and labour market progression

4-5Star TREC

Penguin Random House’s HR director Neil Morrison (below) is chairing this year’s TREC

The team at Circle Recruitment place to pursue a career in IT recruitment, where staff enjoy their work and are rewarded well.” REC chief executive Kevin Green says more recruitment companies are committed to boosting standards in the industry. “To have all of its consultants accredited shows that Circle Recruitment are serious about investing in their people. At the same time, this gives assurance both to Circle’s staff and their clients that the services they provide are top quality,” he says. “It’s a great example for others in the industry to follow. By signing up to the IRP, recruiters are making a commitment to operate at

the highest standards, and through their membership they gain access to tools and resources aimed at helping them do that.” Philip Higgins, managing director of Rullion Group – who themselves are IRP Advocates – says the programme moves the recruitment industry in the right direction. “It raises standards in our industry, it raises standards within our organisation. Plus staff enjoy the beneﬁts package of being part of the IRP, so they feel like they belong to something.” Recruitment companies interested in joining the IRP Advocacy scheme can visit www.rec-irp.uk.com/ advocacy

6Legal lowdown

A summary of the legislative changes that have come in since 5 April this year that affects employment

Institute of 7 Recruitment Professionals Rebecca Drinkwater from KBM Resourcing and James Parsons, CEO and founder of the Arrows Group

and 8 Events Training What’s on the agenda for TREC 2015?

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Leading the Industry

the intelligence

There are a lot of vacancies at the moment. The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in January to March 2015 the UK had the highest number of vacancies since 2008, with 743,000 vacancies, 20% more than in there were in the same month in 2014. Of the total number of vacancies, 38% were in large organisations (employing 2,500 or more people), 18% were in organisations that employed 250 to 2,499 people, and 16% were in microbusinesses, which employ nine people or fewer. A few sectors have had significant gains in number of vacancies, specifically construction, transport and storage, and arts and entertainment. In fact, with the exception of mining and quarrying, all sectors have experienced growth in the number of vacancies this year. Our Report on Jobs data has highlighted the increasing rate of growth in vacancies. This is particularly evident for private temporary and permanent employment, which saw accelerated growth in the number of reported vacancies in March 2015. A consequence of the growth in vacancies is that staff availability has continued to decrease. The Office for National Statistics reports that the number of vacancies for the December to February 2015 period equates to 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy. In contrast, data from December to February 2014 shows there

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were 3.8 unemployed people per vacancy, and in the same period in 2013 there were 5.2 for each vacancy. Report on Jobs reinforces this trend, with staff availability continuing to deteriorate monthon-month. One reason for the growth in vacancies is that employers are expanding their workforce. This year our JobsOutlook data has consistently shown that over 70% of employers are seeking to increase the size of their permanent workforce, and a signiﬁcant minority (approximately 40%) are looking to increase the size of their temporary workforce. Employers are no longer seeking just to replace workers; they want to expand their businesses. As the ratio of vacancies to unemployed people falls, there will be greater reliance on identifying suitable candidates who are already in jobs and who may or may not be actively looking for a new role. Candidates now have more choice. The extent to which recruitment practices reﬂect this is debateable. For instance, a survey by Careerbuilder found that 60% of candidates had dropped out of the process because the application took too long to complete, but a small majority of HR professionals (53%) thought that a long application was useful to screen out those candidates that were not very keen on the role. A lot of vacancies signals choice, but the choice is as much for candidates as for employers and recruiters, who have to react to this.

20 10 0 -10 -20 Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb 13 14 15

Fig 2: Recruiter net profit margin

Nina Mguni, senior researcher at the REC, explains

40 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile

12 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb 13 14 15

Fig 3: Temp profit margin 24 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb 13 14 15

Whose choice is it anyway?

Fig 1: RIB members employee growth

Recruiters are still growing! For the last few months we have talked about the strong revenue growth that recruiters have been achieving; indeed, we now have 15 consecutive months, from January 2014 to March this year, with the median RIB recruiter seeing double digit revenue growth. Figure 1 shows this continual revenue growth for the median RIB recruiter, with revenue growth in March of 12.5%. Sadly, we note that 25% of recruiters have been experiencing declining revenues for the past two years, demonstrating the importance of recruiter leaders understanding the drivers of recruiter success. Focusing now on profitability, Fig 2 shows that median profit margins have been slowly declining for the last 12 months. While we believe this is partly due to recruiters expanding to take advantage of a growing and buoyant employment market, we do caution that there are signs of tightening in gross margins. For example, Fig 3 shows that temp margin has fallen by 1.7% on a year ago. • Chris Ansell is chief financial officer at Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry trends. See www.ribindex. com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2015 12:57

Leading the Industry

Progression nation Tom Hadley, REC director of policy There’s been plenty of talk about ‘progressive politics’ during the general election campaign. Post-election, we can expect another type of progression to be on the agenda – labour market progression. This has been the focus of recent discussions with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) it’s a great debate for us to feed into. Here’s a round-up of our priorities.

The View

Raising awareness of recruitment channels Our regional roundtables with Jobcentre Plus officials, as part of the REC/DWP Partnership Agreement, have underlined the need to continue raising awareness amongst job-seekers of different recruitment channels. Recruitment agencies place 630,000 people into permanent jobs each year and ensure that 1.15m people are in temporary assignments on any given day. However, more people need to be made aware of the agency option, not just as a way into work but also as a means of driving future career progression. Promoting the benefits of agency work Last year we published our Flex Appeal report, which shows that more than one in three people (36%) have worked as a contractor, freelancer or agency worker at some point in their career. The report also shows that 22% of people who currently earn more than £50k have been agency workers at some point. We will continue to drive recognition for the role that the recruitment industry plays in providing first steps into the jobs market as well as subsequent progression opportunities. Driving the good recruitment debate Enabling more people to progress within our jobs market is dependent on employers being more flexible with regards to hiring criteria. With 80% of employers planning to hire more permanent staff over the next three months (according to the latest REC JobsOutlook) in an already candidate-driven market, employers will have to think of new ways of finding or developing the skills they need. Driving this debate is the core aim of our Good Recruitment Campaign, and you can find more information about this at www.rec.uk.com/Goodrecruitment Lobbying for innovative policy solutions Career progression requires advice and guidance on how to make the next step. Creating an effective ‘all age’ careers advice network which covers those already in work is one of the main calls to action in our Manifesto for Jobs. The question is how can we make it work? One of our messages to the next government is that more can be done to tap into the expertise of recruitment professionals. Whilst much of the focus during the election campaign has been on pay and different types of contracts, the fundamental debate we need to drive is how to boost progression throughout our jobs market, for jobseekers and for people are already working in a permanent or a temporary role. This is a key part of our call for the next government to work with our industry to build the best jobs market in the world

On 23 June the REC’s flagship event – the Talent, Recruitment & Employment Conference (TREC) – returns to London, and this year it’s bigger and better. The conference is an opportunity to engage with leading employers on the talent and resourcing challenges they’ll face over the next few years and to explore how our industry is best placed to help them. Employment is booming, with unemployment falling faster than ever before. However, many businesses are struggling to find the capability to help them succeed and grow. Skill and talent shortages are near to crisis point. In today’s jobs market the candidate is king, and employers are going to have to work much harder to attract and retain the people they need. At TREC we’ve got an impressive line-up of speakers from organisations including Compass Group, Dixons Carphone, First Group, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, SAP and Penguin Random House. John Cridland from the CBI will be giving us a postelection overview and Peter Cheese from the CIPD will be talking about the opportunities for employers to innovate. We’re looking forward to welcoming the HR and talent community and REC members to discuss smart resourcing. The conference will comprise a series of panels and roundtable discussions, to allow for maximum interaction and audience participation. We want our delegates to take home insights and guidance that can be implemented immediately. The content includes employer branding, candidate experience, organisational culture and supply chain management. For the full programme, visit www.rec. uk.com/trec For recruiters, the conference is an ideal chance to meet prospective clients and enhance your knowledge about their requirements. Recruiters have a vital part to play in helping employers address issues such as inclusivity, the need to engage older workers, and how to use technology and social media to attract the best talent. The REC’s role is to bring recruiters and clients closer together on defining what good practice looks like in the resourcing space. This is at the heart of our Good Recruitment Campaign, our first major employer-led campaign. The conference is a great opportunity to share what we have learnt since we launched this initiative last year. For more information, see www.rec.uk.com/Goodrecruitment I hope to see many of you at TREC 2015 to celebrate the success of the Good Recruitment Campaign so far.

• You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

• If you want to keep in touch daily, follow me on twitter @kevingreenrec

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The Big Talking Point

Star TREC Penguin Random House’s award-winning HR director Neil Morrison is chairing this year’s Talent, Recruitment & Employment Conference in London. Recruitment Matters editor Michael Oliver finds out why a work-life balance isn’t just important, it’s vital for any company’s success

y friend’s former boss had a thing for ‘clocking’. It was a system where all unplanned breaks were timed. Bathroom break? Clocked. Ciggy o’clock? Clocked too. It was as charming as the tube at rush hour and twice as fragrant – literally. The ofﬁce was downwind from a refuse centre. The clocking system did little for morale, got everyone’s back up and made no sense. He quit after a month. Clocking is the sort of thing Penguin Random House HR executive director Neil Morrison doesn’t care for. “I think there are trust and control issues in a lot of organisations,” he says. “In a lot of businesses there is a feeling that if you can see someone, you know what they’re doing. There is a sense that if I can see it, I can control it, which is total and utter nonsense.” Morrison is the chair at this year’s Talent, Recruitment & Employment Conference (TREC) in June. He’s something of an industry dynamo – his work at Penguin Random House has been lauded, with him winning the

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award for HR magazine’s Most Inﬂuential in 2014 and HR Director of the Year in 2013. It’s easy to see why: Penguin Random House seems like a great place to work. It takes the idea of a work-life balance and breathes life into it. In April, the company introduced summer hours where employees who worked an extra 45 minutes a day between the March and August bank holidays could leave Friday lunchtime. “A lot of people like it, some don’t,” Morrison says. “Ultimately, it’s about giving people a choice.” For many places – including Penguin Random House – choice is a hard sell.

I’m not against an external perspective — as they say, nobody ever got fired for hiring Deloitte — but the idea that there is a silver bullet is wrong

“There are many companies who think if you offer some power and objectivity over work, it’s going to be anarchy. When we extended ﬂexible working to the entire workforce, there were some people on the board who said ‘They will all want it and we can’t handle it’,” Morrison says. But those fears were misguided. “More than 90% of people in our business aren’t interested, but they like to know they can have it. It’s that trust and control and fear that if we allow people some control they’ll make bad decisions, which is a little paternalistic and weird.” Neil Morrison graduated from the University of Sunderland in 1995 with a BSc in psychology. Uninterested in academia, he pursued a career in human resources. “I think it’s a bit of a shame more people don’t come into HR from areas like psychology. We’re about getting the best out of people. If you can understand motivation and human behaviour, then the crossover is massive,” he says. He became group HR director at

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2015 12:57

In a lot of businesses there is a feeling that if you can see someone I know what they’re doing. There is a sense that if I can see it, I can control it, which is total and utter nonsense

Random House in 2008, where he was instrumental in remodelling the company’s compensation and beneﬁts strategy. When Random House merged with Penguin in 2013, he was tasked with pulling two massive organisations together, from the boardroom to the ground ﬂoor. “It’s about trying new things and not being afraid to improve them or ditch them if they’re unsuccessful,” he says. “What happens in a lot of companies, people put a lot of skin in the game, and when it doesn’t work they persist in trying to make it work. Then you get a tension within an organisation, often driven by what HR says is a good thing rather than what the business says is a good thing.” The prospect of large shifts like mergers can sends the shivers up boardroom

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spines. There is a tendency among many to bring in consultants to ease the transition. After all, a fresh pair of eyes is a good thing. But Morrison urges caution. “I’m not against an external perspective – as they say, nobody ever got ﬁred for hiring Deloitte – but the idea that there is a silver bullet is wrong. “What I feel we should be doing is going outside of the HR function within the organisation, and really try to understand what’s going on within the business – the tensions and the opportunities.” The recruitment industry has a part to play, too. Efforts have been made across the industry to smooth the candidate

I’m not against an external perspective – as they say, nobody ever got fired for hiring Deloitte – but the idea that there is a silver bullet is wrong

experience, with many now seeing it as an important part of the HR strategy. “We talk about candidate experience, but I think we talk too much about it and not enough about doing it,” Morrison says. “Recruitment has always been hugely important, and more companies are starting to see it as forming part of a commercial relationship. Even unsuccessful candidates will continue being customers should they have a good experience. But companies could be a lot more focused on what that actually means rather being transactional.” And what message does he hope recruiters take away from TREC 2015? “A lot of people go along to conferences and listen to people speak and think ‘Well, that’s nice. So what?’ But I want to get to that ‘So what?’ It’s a formidable line up of speakers and they will bring a lot to the table.” TREC 2015 is in London on 23 June. Visit rec.uk.com/TREC2015 for more information

Recruitment Matters June 2015 5

14/05/2015 12:57

Legal Update

Legislative changes from April 2015 Abena Darko, legal advisor at the REC, summarises some of the key legislative employment changes that took effect from 5 April 2015 On 5 April 2015 the following changes to statutory pay rates took place: • Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) increased from £87.55 to 88.45 a week. • Statutory Maternity pay (SMP), Maternity Allowance Paternity Pay, Adoption Pay and shared Parental Pay all increased from £138.18 to £139.58 per week. • A six-week higher rate period has also been introduced for statutory adoption pay to mirror SMP. For adoption pay periods that begin on or after 5 April 2015, the ﬁrst six weeks is now paid at 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings and the remaining 33 weeks paid at £139.58 or 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings if this is lower.

in respect of babies born on or after 5 April 2015. However, rights to (ordinary) paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave has been expanded to ‘parental order parents’ of surrogate children due to be born on or after 5 April 2015, and those ‘fostering to adopt’. Additionally, workers are now entitled to time off work to attend adoption appointments. This right applies where two workers have been notiﬁed that a child is to be placed for adoption with both of them jointly and is equal to the existing entitlement for pregnant women and their companions in respect of antenatal appointments; one of them will be entitled to paid time off and the other to unpaid time off to attend adoption appointments. 5 April also saw the introduction of shared Furthermore employees can now take parental leave and pay. Although the up to 52 weeks adoption leave in total from supporting legislation came into force on 1 day one of their employment – ie. they no December 2014, the right to shared parental longer have to work continuously for 26 leave and pay only applies in relation to weeks to qualify. children who are due to be born or adopted The age limit for the entitlement to on or after 5 April 2015. As a result, additional parental leave has also been extended so paternity pay and leave no longer applies that eligible parents can now take parental

leave at any time before the child turns 18. Some other changes that took place on 6 April: • The National Insurance lower earnings limit increased from £111 to £112 per week. • The income tax basic rate personal allowance for 2015/16 increased to £10,600. • Employers secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions abolished for employees under the age of 21. • An increase in compensation limits for employment tribunals, including a weekly cap on statutory redundancy pay from £464 per week to £474 per week and a maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal from £76,574 to £78,335. • New tax reporting requirements came into force for employment businesses or vendors who supply workers that are not already accounted for via their own PAYE system. • The lower and upper earnings threshold for pensions automatic enrolment increased.

Non-standard contracts: are you covered? Non-standard contracts give recruiters an increased responsibility, essentially allowing hirers to pass the blame onto the recruiter if any issues arise. This means recruiters bear a greater level of risk with any nonstandard contract placed, which they need to protect themselves from. As you might expect, this increased risk leads to higher insurance premiums, so recruiters need to be cautious when seeking insurance. One particular issue that needs to be investigated closely is the way that an insurer determines where liability lays in the case of workers using a non-standard contract. Peter Stoll, director

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of recruitment at Jelf Insurance Brokers, tells us that for some insurers “covering non-standard contracts is considered an extra on recruiter policies”. This means that the recruiter has no choice but to seek legal advice for each non-standard contract it places – costing time, resource and of course money. He goes on to explain that as the preferred insurance partner of the REC, Jelf has no such contractual liability exclusions, and that it is included within the cost of the policy itself. This means that if a recruiter enters into a non-standard contract (either intentionally or otherwise) there is no restriction to cover. Peter and his colleagues go that extra mile to check each contract so clients can avoid having to seek legal advice and the costs that comes with it.

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2015 12:57

Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals Rebecca Drinkwater is a consultant at KBM Resourcing and was top student in February’s Level 3 Cert RP exam

What I know James Parsons is the chief executive and founder of Arrows Group

How has 2015 been? It’s been a fantastic year so far. I was very pleased to get the Cert RP and even more to be top student. I studied hard and on top of that I recently passed my nine-month graduate training scheme at KBM, so I’m a full consultant now.

Put your employees first A lot of companies put the client at the front of everything. I believe you have to put the employee at the front. We have an EVP – an employee value proposition. Once you get that right, it ﬂows into a CVP – a client value proposition.

What sectors do you cover? We’re an oil & gas recruitment specialist but we all have specialist areas. I specialise in design and project recruitment. I really enjoy it, there’s never a quiet day and we like to have a personal aspect. I studied zoology at uni, but was always really more interested in the recruitment science part.

Value yourself You need to make a decision early on about whether you’re going to be a lifestyler, or whether you’re going to build a brand. The second thing we had to ﬁgure out was what we were going to stand for. If you don’t stand for high value, you will have your rates pushed down. You have to value yourself enough not to accept a low margin. Clients will say no initially, but in a rare-skills market, they will come back because there is a lack of supply. It’s very difﬁcult to sit down in a room with 10-12 people; everyone needs a horizon to aim for. The ambitions of your staff begin to drive things for themselves.

Any crossover between recruitment and zoology? We have a lot of team projects and presentations. A lot of the reports I did at uni have helped me there, but the actual zoology side of things didn’t cover much. I did a lot about environmentalism and the oil & gas industry, and I used to be involved with voluntary projects at uni, so there was a strong recruitment element to that as well. What’s it like recruiting in the oil & gas industry right now? The price of oil has been down on the past few years, and that has thrown a little bit of caution with some companies about hiring any more candidates. Unfortunately there have been some redundancies in the engineering sector, so they would be ﬁnding that market quite hard. The good thing is there are a lot of highly skilled recruiters looking for work right now, which we love to do too. How did you find the Level 3 Certificate in Recruitment Practice course? I found it really useful. I had been working at KBM for three months when I started and it complemented my training. I found the selling techniques really useful. I’m deﬁnitely a better recruiter because of it, and it’s been really good putting that into practice at work. What advice would you give your younger self on her first day? Be persistent and do not give up – you can receive hundreds of no’s during a month, but all it takes is one yes.

Try avoiding easy mistakes I think I went into the business pretty green and made a lot of mistakes, which were painful to make. A marketing company convinced me to take my logo and turn it upside down and back to front. Every time I handed over my business card people would turn it over. I hired people I’d like to go for a pint with, rather than those who were any good at what they did. I lacked a certain a wherewithal from a commercial perspective. When you’re young, you put your clients on a pedestal and do whatever they ask. Some sectors are easier than others Healthcare requires a much simpler strategy. It’s dominated by one major company – the NHS. But the fact remains it’s domestic, and we’re now the second largest supplier of acute nurses in South-East England. It’s a nice simple business in terms of its strategy, and it contrasts with our technology business because it’s a global business. Transpose your DNA When you’re setting up a branch in another market, you’ve got to have someone you trust to transpose your company’s DNA there. It has to be one of the leaders of the organisation, or a trusted lieutenant to open it up in these foreign ﬁelds. It can’t be someone new. To hear the full interview with James, visit rec.uk.com/ScaleUp

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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Events and training

TREC 2015: on the agenda In its second year, the Talent, Recruitment & Employment Conference will once again provide a unique conference programme designed and driven by market participants, ensuring topical and leading edge thinking is shared and debated. Below is the agenda for this year’s event. For more information, and a list of speakers, visit rec.uk.com/TREC2015 Panel Session 1: 9:30am – What’s new in talent attraction and employer branding

Developing an employer brand which attracts talent is essential in a market where many employers are looking for the same skills. Reputation and perception are becoming more central to recruitment as talent has more choice. A strong, well deﬁned employee offering provides a signiﬁcant advantage in the race for talent. Panel Session 2: 2:10pm – Strategic Talent Sourcing

How organisations are responding to increased competition for talent by looking at different sources for candidates? Which employers are seeking to use new channels and working differently with their partners to attract the talent they need. Is social media delivering new candidates cost effectively? Panel Session 3: 3:25pm – Why providing a fantastic candidate experience is critical

Only 11% of businesses collect candidate feedback. Are your current process and approach providing a good candidate experience? The difference between a good and poor candidate experience is signiﬁcant in retaining talent and achieving superior performance. This panel will explore what great candidate experience looks like.

Round Tables from 10:40am to 12:30pm

1. Nurturing tomorrow’s leaders Every business is worrying about leadership development. Which approaches are working when it comes to identifying, developing and motivating the next generation of leaders? 2. What does good recruitment look like? In a buoyant jobs market, ensuring you have the best approach to recruiting talent is a critical organisational capability. In this roundtable we will explore what good recruitment looks like 3. Giving employees the responsibility to drive their own career Enabling staff to drive their own learning, development and progression is a key feature of a great talent strategy. We will discuss how to create this type of learning environment 4. Making your organisation a great place to work Creating a positive workplace culture delivers signiﬁcant productivity and performance beneﬁts. This roundtable will explore approaches that are proving successful 5. Managing a multi-generational workforce An ageing workforce, as well as talent and skill shortages is creating huge organisational challenges. As well as later retirement and older workers being a new source of talent, how do you manage

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

8 Recruitment Matters June 2015

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an organisation with workers aged from 16 to 70? Does this multi-generational workforce necessitate a more varied suite of managerial approaches? 6. Employee engagement improving performance Organisations are spending over £3bn per annum on engagement activity but employees are less engaged now than ever before. What is going wrong? How can organisations drive more effective people engagement which has an impact on individual and corporate performance? 7. How technology is helping improve resourcing and talent management Deploying the right technology can provide invaluable data, remove administrative work and provide a better candidate experience. This roundtable will explore how technology can make a difference. 8. Is your resourcing supply chain world class? More organisations are seeking to proactively manage external recruitment suppliers via RPO or managed service providers. This can leverage economies of scale and make process improvements, but can also bring its own challenges. This roundtable will explore whether talent and HR have the right metrics, commercial nous and processes to ensure your supply chain delivers the quality candidates required?

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100. Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 8547 Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7009 2173. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young. rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Woodford Litho © 2015 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2015 12:58

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JUNE 2015

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Insight

Relocation, relocation, relocation WITH GLOBAL MOBILITY NOW BECOMING THE NORM FOR MANY FIRMS, RECRUITERS ARE ADAPTING THEIR SERVICES TO INCLUDE HELPING CANDIDATES RELOCATE AND FIT IN TO NEW ENVIRONMENTS The world is getting smaller and companies seeking to expand, or who already have international offices, face a choice — handle the mobility of talent themselves or turn it over to a recruitment agency. In an ever-changing world, employers who outsource their requirements are saving time and money, while agencies have opened up global mobility services to even the smallest companies. “The main difference between an outsourced model and an internal model is how it is delivered,” says Stacie Groce, Air Energi’s head of global mobility, whose organisation moves talent in the oil & gas sector. Groce is based in the US and was brought on board in February to develop the firm’s global mobility offering across employment services, immigration, income tax and social payments and destination services. “Global mobility is changing, and identifying talent for a business critical position can be equally as challenging,” Groce says. “Traditional expatriate programmes have been a standard for most companies. However, with unpredictable changes in business, particularly in the oil & gas industry, companies are trying to respond faster and seize opportunities as presented versus planned activity. Organisations can struggle to identify internally the know-how to develop or locate this type of talent.” Groce continues: “Many companies are large enough to support their own recruitment and global mobility departments but that comes with great investment in the form of money, time and talent — with time being the most coveted commodity.” Saved time is saved money, and the cost savings of using an agency can be considerable, according to Craig Pointon, executive vice president for the Middle-East region at recruitment process outsourcing provider Cielo’s global mobility service Cielo Mobility.

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“Our team has successfully relocated over 7,000 individuals and families from 32 countries into the MEA [Middle East & Africa] region. Industry experts calculate the minimum ‘real’ employer cost of relocating an individual is US$65k (£43.9k). “For an executive earning $105k per annum, when there is a failed relocation the costs escalate into hundreds of thousands in lost productivity, marketshare, repatriation and re-hire costs meaning our team has saved organisations over $455m.” Engaging with candidates earlier in the process reduces the chances of a failed relocation, Pointon points out. “As a specialist talent consultancy, we work with clients much earlier in the process,” he says, “even before the individual is confirmed for relocation, to help make sure he/she is in the position practically and emotionally to make a successful move to a completely different market and culture. Engaging early in the process is hugely beneficial to both the employer and the individual.”

Counting the costs of relocation failures A failed relocation is even more costly for start-up businesses but recruitment agencies have opened up the world of global mobility to smaller organisations. One such agency is Dutch IT recruiter RAVE-cruitment who have relocated and recruited IT contractors and web developers for the past 15 years, offering start-ups the chance to access missioncritical talent such as web developers. Manager Gijs Notte told Recruiter: “What we do is we have brought these talented guys to the Netherlands, taking them under our own contract, which makes it easier to try a foreign developer because a lot of companies we are working for are a bit scared of whether this is going to work. What we can offer them is somebody who is already here, who can start immediately and they can find out themselves if this works or not. “Since we already make the first investment of getting [them] here, there is no investment to be done from the company who want to hire this developer, especially for start-up companies who don’t have a lot of money … We can offer them somebody who is already here, which they can try out; and in eight out of 10 times this guy stays in this company and gets his own contract.” As the world continues to shrink, agencies will adapt and offer the services required to win business, such as helping with global mobility. Harvey Nash, for example, is a name one does not normally associate with relocation services. Commenting on an appointment the global executive recruiter made last year, in which it placed and relocated from Australia the chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, Harvey Nash chief executive Albert Ellis told Recruiter: “Most people will be mobile and will sort themselves out but because of the location, we supported the process. “We don’t lead with that as a service. We’re interested in finding good candidates and putting them into good jobs. “If that so happens that they’re international, then we’ll support them as part of the service.” GRAHAM SIMONS

graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk

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PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD LEA-HAIR

Awards special

Hitting treble top COLIN COTTELL, SARAH MARQUET AND GRAHAM SIMONS SPOKE WITH THE THREE INDIVIDUAL WINNERS AT THE 2015 RECRUITER AWARDS TO DISCOVER HOW THEY ACHIEVED THEIR SUCCESS

RECRUITER

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Awards Profile special

Gregory Allen In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year At the Recruiter Awards shortlist party in April, Gregory Allen, global head of resourcing at business services organisation Lloyd’s Register, commented he felt like the Meryl Streep of recruitment — nominated for recognition on multiple occasions. Now a nomination has turned into a win. He picked up the award for In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year. Allen is responsible for all of Lloyd Register’s resourcing and onboarding for all business streams and across all countries, a new role for the organisation. He happily accepts the challenge: “I had a goal. I always said one day, I want to be the global head of recruitment for a global corporation, so I always wanted to get here”. His impact on the company runs deep. He has completely updated the recruitment processes and practices of the 250-year old company, led a 50% workforce increase, shifted focus from agency use to direct sourcing and reduced spend on recruitment. “My role was a brand-new role, they had not done it [recruitment] before. HR people used to go ‘oh, do I have to do recruitment? Alright, I’ll give it to an agency’. We were 90% agency reliant, [and are] about 80% direct [sourcing] now.” He said knowing when to use an agency comes down to understanding the core roles in a company. Those core roles should be the “bread and butter” of an in-house recruitment team but if the business is asking for a niche role such as a patent attorney or other “once-in-a-blue-moon” roles, then you “send straight to the specialist agencies”. INNOVATING ALGORITHM An algorithm, designed specifically on Lloyds Register’s recruitment history, which Allen developed when he first joined the company, now underpins all recruitment decisions. It combines information on what recruitment looks like to the organisation — actual time against theoretical time spent on recruiting, and revenue and resource impact on recruitment decisions. “So when I get 180 vacancies in one country, I can use it [the algorithm] to determine the length of time to fill the positions in the project. I can determine time and also determine resource so I can say actually, I have 18 recruiters, that’s 10 roles per recruiter, yes we should be able to do that. Or, if we’re looking for 1,000 roles and I have 10 recruiters, if you want me to do this within a year, I need three more people because look at the man years its going to take.” It is also used to inform decisions about when to outsource recruitment to an agency. For example, “if a role is going to take £10k to hire, but you will hire it three months quicker than through direct channels, then you save three months of lost revenue. Therefore the decision you make to use agencies … has a logical, financial and resource reason supporting it”. The judges praised Allen’s strong use of innovation to evolve the recruitment function within the business. Allen paid tribute to his mentors of years past saying they shared the win with him. The first was SJ Sylvester, whom he met while

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“I HAD A GOAL. I ALWAYS SAID ONE DAY, I WANT TO BE THE GLOBAL HEAD OF RECRUITMENT FOR A GLOBAL CORPORATION, SO I ALWAYS WANTED TO GET HERE” GREGORY ALLEN, GLOBAL HEAD OF RESOURCING AT BUSINESS SERVICES ORGANISATION LLOYD’S REGISTER working in the resourcing centre at Merrill Lynch about 15 years ago and who subsequently sacked him. “SJ said ‘get out, you’re not meant to be here’ and then mentored me for the next two-and-a-half years,” Allen told Recruiter. Then, while working for telco Symbian, which Allen left as head of global recruitment in 2009, he met Wayne Coomey who pushed him to do more than just recruit, to understand and become involved in competency development and job profiling, “the HR that sits behind recruitment”. While still at Symbian, he met Richard Lowther who changed his perspective of resource planning and resource management, and provided him with another mentor, Elise Korolev, to help with that change. She was not a recruiter or resourcer; she sat in the strategy team. “That was one of the step changes in my career — she gave me strategy,” he said. But there were many others, he said, those who had told him to read certain things or provided advice at the right time. As well as providing mentoring and coaching internally, Allen is keen to give back and help mentor and inspire other recruiters. “I’m really fired up and passionate about that because I’ve had it.”

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Awards special

Helen Stokes Recruitment Agency Leader of the Year The Awards judges praised Helen Stokes, managing director of marketing and creative recruiter Major Players and winner of the Recruitment Agency Leader of the Year, for her outstanding leadership in turning around the company. Taking over as MD in 2013, after Major Players had been brought back into independent ownership following five years as a Randstad Group company, Stokes was under no illusions as to the task she faced. “The business had lost a lot of brand recognition, it was demotivated generally, and it was disjointed with a lot of people pursuing personal agendas as opposed to a common goal,” she says. In 2013, Major Players made a net profit of just £1k. Among the issues confronting Stokes were “a high sense of resistance to change, and quite understandably a lack of trust in me [by the existing staff] because they didn’t know me”. Stokes says the biggest challenge was “realising I had to win over the hearts and minds. I was saying we are going to do things differently around here. I wanted to radically shake up customer service, internal engagement, and introduce a team approach, and a different culture, and that was very affronting for me to put on people”. TRANSPARENCY AND COMMUNICATION Stokes set to work, eschewing “a wonderful 100-day plan developed at business school” in favour of her “natural leadership style”. “It is all about transparent communication, and building one-to-one relationships with everyone in the business,” she explains. “I invite people to tell me what is going on with them,” she says, emphasising that communication is not a one-way street. “The biggest thing,” she adds, “is to find out what their goals and visions are in life, and not just what they are going to do in the next quarter at Major Players.” Stokes constantly sought feedback from staff, including weekly use of staff feedback platform Benchify, “to find out what people were thinking and feeling, and to understand their vision, their fears and their desires”. Transparency is key. “There are no secrets in the boardroom. People know me. There is nothing going on at Major Players that staff don’t know about.” Stokes worked hard to introduce more of a team culture, removing ownership of candidates by individual consultants “so that we can all benefit from each other’s work and share each other’s knowledge”. The company’s candidate relationship management (CRM) tool, which previously nobody used is “now seen as a value-add”, directly resulting in improved service to both clients and candidates. One result has been a phenomenal rise in the number of temps and freelancers from 10 to 135. In particular, 2014 was an impressive year for Major Players, when it won £1.5m in new business, while net profitability has increased exponentially by 9,000%. Stokes has clearly won the confidence of staff, achieving a 89% confidence rating in a company survey: “I guess for me it is doing what you say you are going to do, and being honest, and being able to lead authentically.” Many leaders would die for such a rating, but Stokes’ response — “I would like to know what the other 11% is” —

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“I GUESS FOR ME IT IS DOING WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO, AND BEING HONEST, AND BEING ABLE TO LEAD AUTHENTICALLY” HELEN STOKES, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND CREATIVE RECRUITER MAJOR PLAYERS underlines the exacting standards she sets, not least for herself. A colleague suggests that Stokes exhibits many of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs — “obsessive, inexorable, magnetic — she is all these things”. But alongside this is her ability “to connect with people on a personal and professional level, in a way that motivates people to want to achieve for themselves”. Despite her success at Major Players, and at public sector recruiter Morgan Hunt, which she built from scratch into an £88m turnover business, Stokes says not all aspects of leadership come easily, highlighting the difficulty of handling popular members of staff “who are overly resistant to change”. The modest Stokes also insists: “I am not an authority on leadership.” This is clearly not an assessment that that the judges or her colleagues would agree with.

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Awards special

Darren Ryemill Recruitment Industry Entrepreneur of the Year “Don’t be paralysed by fear” is the standout advice from the winner of Recruitment Industry Entrepreneur of the Year, Darren Ryemill. “It is something I try and live my life by,” the founder and chief executive of the Opus Professional Services Group told Recruiter. “Fear is actually the commodity you need to trade in. When I’m dealing in the commodity of fear, I come alive.” That embracing of fear has helped Ryemill expand Opus, founded in 2008, at quite a rate in the last year. Between October 2013 and October 2014 he created or acquired six further brands to complement Opus including recruitment process outsourcing provider (RPO) Hinton Search, acquired in September 2014 and boutique recruiter McLean Ross, bought in July 2014. The period also saw the setting up of public sector senior appointments specialist Baltimore Consulting as well as new venture Opus Global Energy and Engineering. The group also opened up two international offices in Amsterdam and Sydney. This expansion means Opus is aiming to almost double its 2014 turnover of £24.5m to £48m this year. But it would be a mistake to think bumper results adding to Opus’ bottom line are the main motivator for Ryemill when sizing up a company ripe for acquisition. “I was talking to someone at the Awards, who is a very senior guy in the recruitment industry and he was asking ‘what kind of due diligence do you do?’ The ultimate due diligence is not based on balance sheets and profits/loss, it is based on the look in someone’s eyes that tells you if they’re up for it or not.” So what does get Ryemill’s entrepreneurial juices flowing? “If I get a feeling about the business, if it’s in a market where strategically it adds value and the rest of the group can benefit from it and leverage operations from it, then this is a business I want to get involved in.” In February he launched Addocura, a recruitment-industry focused management consultancy. The project uses his experience of growing recruitment businesses and offers a package of consultancy to other businesses owners wanting to emulate the growth of Opus. Addocura already has a number of clients, both UK and international, with some paying consultancy fees while some offer an equity stake in their business to receive the services offered. LEADERSHIP TRAINING Ryemill is also aiming to increase recruitment entrepreneurship internally, as well as externally. In 2014 the Opus Group committed £25k to an external management development programme aimed at upskilling the firm’s leaders and managers, including Opus’s internal head of learning and development. An additional trainer has been hired. But Ryemill is at pains to stress his aim is not to create ‘mini Darren Ryemills’ particularly as he enjoys working with people with different skills to his. “Oh my God, no!” he exclaims. “I wouldn’t describe it as creating mini Darren Ryemills. The reason a group of people is strong is

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“I WANT TO ACHIEVE OUR COMPANY AIM, WHICH IS TO BECOME A GLOBAL LEADER IN NICHE AND INNOVATIVE RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS. WE’RE NOT THERE YET” DARREN RYEMILL, FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE OPUS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES GROUP because of their difference, not because of what they have in common. If everybody was just an outstanding batsman, you would never win a cricket game because you would never bowl the other team out.” He likens Talentcubed, an online portal for gamification he set up in 2013, as the same sort of game-changing innovation for the sector to professional network LinkedIn more than a decade ago. “I coined the phrase ‘career simulation’ — the concept of e-learning and the concept of gamification as a learning tool. All of these companies have games that they can use to recruit staff as an attraction tool and as a screening tool.” Having been recognised as Industry Entrepreneur of the Year, one might think Ryemill may think he’s made it, but not a bit of it. He is facing the future without any paralysis of fear. “I have so many things to achieve if you look ahead at what can be done,” he says. “Some of them are numerical. I want to hit milestones of over £100m. I want to open up further international offices. I want to achieve our company aim, which is to become a global leader in niche and innovative recruitment solutions. We’re not there yet. We’re nowhere near that yet. “If you look at some of the global leader businesses, they turnover a billion so why can’t we do that?”

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Entry Tip Please ensure you pay particular attention to all compulsory questions, in order for your entry to be accepted for judging.

INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS 2015

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Bring your company's passion for people to life! The Awards recognise the most insightful, strategically clever recruitment businesses that understand the value of investing in current and future talent. • Show top talent why your business is the best recruitment company to work for! • Show future talent that recruitment is a rewarding career! • Show clients that your company invests in its talent!

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Recruiter Awards 2015 in pictures

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PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL BASTOS

Awards special

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Awards special

People key to winning ways INVESTING IN PEOPLE AND GIVING THEM OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCEED ARE CLEARLY TOP BUSINESS STRATEGIES FOR BOTH WINNERS OF RECRUITMENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS Global staffing group Phaidon International, established in 2004 and led by chief executive Adam Buck, won Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees). Annapurna Recruitment, which started trading in 2009 and led by partners Charlie Appleyard, James Ballard and Nigel Fox, won Agency of the Year (Fewer than 100 Employees). Annapurna also won Best Candidate Care and Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency. Phaidon’s Buck told Recruiter the “biggest buzz” for him “is for people to be able to do things based on their own drive and enthusiasm… And when I started up my business, I looked at that again and thought, that’s what’s going to drive the company forward.” Instead of hiring experienced recruiters, he hired four fresh university graduates, who are still with the business, and spent time getting to know them and getting them to know the business and the vision. He said this helped build a “strong foundation” on which Phaidon could grow. For Annapurna, a key ideal is to “allow people to choose what they want to do rather than telling them what to do”, Ballard said. For example, an employee within the IT division really wanted to recruit for the Berlin start-up market. Ballard was cautious, knowing it was a “notoriously difficult” market but the employee demonstrated a real interest in the market, as well as a clear business plan, “so we just let him run with it”. “Two years later he’s a team leader with five people sat around him doing it and now hiring people from other firms… you give people ownership, responsibility and accountability and I think people will fly. If you just tell them what to do… people don’t; it’s like anything in life, they don’t respond to that.” The hiring of a training development manager and a focus on client and candidate care through its thought leadership communities have resulted in Annapurna staff developing deep sector knowledge. The company recruits for the HR, IT and change sectors. “[At] our events, you get world-leading people talking about content and you’re sat on the table with them; you pick up so much industry knowledge,” Ballard said. Building those long-term relationships has been part of Annapurna’s vision from day one. Also a part of that is corporate social responsibility, as evidenced by their promotion of the Annapurna environmental sanctuary

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and mountain range in Nepal and their charitable platform Annapurna Giving. STHREE LINK But these two companies have more in common than strong ideals — Appleyard, Ballard, Fox and Buck are all formerly of recruitment group SThree. When asked if there was anything in that, Buck described SThree as a “very strong training ground” that “built a strong entrepreneurial spirit that was really good to take and build from”. He added Gary Elden, SThree CEO, taught him “how to understand what’s important in recruitment”. Ballard also referenced Elden as an early mentor, though said Annapurna had plotted its own path based on its own values. Appleyard agreed: “I think we were all trained [in SThree] on how to run a recruitment business well and we have all taken that knowledge with us but put our own perspectives on brands and methodologies.” Fox added that there were many other great recruitment companies run by former SThree staff, and “on that basis you would have to say that SThree hired and developed a lot of really great people and there must be something in that”. Other 2015 Recruiter Award winners with ties to SThree are Sonovate, which won Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year, and Staffgroup, whose subsidiaries Earthstaff and Eurostaff won Best Engineering Recruitment Agency and Best IT Recruitment Company respectively. Richard Prime and Damon Chapple, co-CEOs of Sonovate, a contract finance provider to recruiters, and Mark Znowski, owner of international recruitment group Staffgroup, formerly worked for SThree.

Top: Annapurna collects the Award for Recruitment Agency of the Year (Fewer than 100 Employees), followed by Phaidon International (below) coming on stage to receive the accolade of Recruitment Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees)

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PLAN YOUR NEXT MOVE

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14/05/2015 14:59

OPPORTUNITIES IN SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT Finance Systems & Transformation

Established in 1997, SystemsAccountants is one of the UK’s leading niche recruitment companies and has ranked in the top 15 of the Recruiter Hot 100 for the past 2 years running. Specialising in Finance Systems & Finance Change our solutions encompass: INTERIM CONSULTING

PERMANENT SEARCH

PROJECT MOBILISATION

To enable us to better respond to the global nature of our clients’ projects and the footprints of their Financial and ERP systems we have recently opened offices in Chicago and Amsterdam and have plans to open additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia over the next 5 years. In addition to hiring locally we are also keen to deploy UK staff on secondments to our existing international offices and to play key roles in developing operations, in new geographies. As a consequence we have a number of requirements for experienced recruitment professionals within our UK business: Finance Transformation Senior Interims Consultant

OTE to £140k

Finance Systems Account Manager – Global Clients

OTE to £80k

Business Analytics Recruitment Consultants x 3

OTE to £65k

Roles can be based in London or our Midlands ofﬁce in Market Harborough in rural Leicestershire; and we are keen to speak with applicants who might be interested in being based in Europe or the USA immediately. We are not a cold calling culture. We don’t paint by numbers. We are looking for applicants with a level of social and political sophistication to be able to network with the right clients and candidates and build value adding, lasting business relationships.

For further information please contact our Group MD, Dean Turner:

dean@systemsaccountants.com London: SystemsAccountants Limited 2 Royal Exchange London EC3V 3LN

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Chicago: SystemsAccountants Inc 200 South Wacker Drive Suite 3100 Chicago, Illinois 60606

0207 648 4242 Amsterdam: SystemsAccountants (NL) WTC, Zuidplein 36 1077 XV Amsterdam The Netherlands

www.systemsaccountants.com

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