Recruiter - November 2015

Business intelligence for recruitment and resourcing professionals

DEBBIE SMITH

November 2015

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

ARROWS FOUNDATION Employability among orphans MARK HAMILL The workforce is with him UNLEASHING THE WOLVES Greg Allen reveals his basic instinct

www.recruiter.co.uk

The founder and CEO of Caritas Recruitment outlines her prescription for caring in business

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Bookings

Timesheets

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C R ONT ENT S 44

ING PORAT INCOR itment Recru ers Matt

COV ER IMAG E | PA L H ANSEN

A

D

NEWS

20 THE BIG STORY

05 Future hot jobs

Debbie Smith, founder and CEO of social care specialist Caritas Recruitment on future plans for the awardwinning recruiter

Recruiters need to work out future hot roles with strategists rather than HR

06 Extending GLA’s remit The consultation has begun and new sectors may come under the GLA jurisdiction

28 Here’s to the winners!

06 Innovate or die

We catch up with some of the winners of our 2015 Investing in Talent Awards to find out a bit more about their secrets of success as employers, and inspiring others

Greg Orme’s warning to recruiters

06 Copenhagen calling Copenhagen Capacity is on a mission to attract talent and investment

07 Thoughts from...

41 Social Network 42 Careers Agency/In-house 44 My brilliant recruitment career: Mark Hamill 46 Employability 52 Movers & Shakers 53 Recruiter contacts 54 The Last Word

07 Star recruit: Eva Carneiro, former Chelsea FC doctor 08 This was the month that was...

10 Contracts & Deals

TRENDS

14 Insight BSI 76000 sets the standard to empower people

17

“I celebrate the wolf inside of me — for it was my days in an agency that made me as good a recruiter as I am today”

Tech & Tools Tweeting your way to gain the competitive advantage in recruitment

C

INTERACTION

18 Agency View: Ricky Martin 19 Soapbox: Paul Farrer 19 Soundbites

14

I M AG E S | J E SSI CA BELL / D R EA MSTIME / ISTO C K / P ETER SEAR LE

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E COMMUNITY

Jeremy Corbyn, Daniel Oyelowo and Ed Vaizey

B

FEATURES

50

G R E G O RY A L L E N

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W E LCO M E

UPDATE

Future hot jobs WE LCO M E

LEADER

C

ongratulations to our Investing in Talent winners! It’s rewarding to see so many recruiters stepping up to be recognised as top employers in their own right — and to see how recruitment is offering stimulating and rewarding careers to bright, motivated people.

We encourage you to make your voice heard in the consultation about extending the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to identify worker exploitation in additional sectors that rely heavily on heavy “Recognising manual labour and, too often, the power trafficked workers. of your own See our story on p7 brilliance for more details of is crucial to standing tall as the consultation.

And on 18-19 a professional” November, we hope you will immerse yourselves in the fresh thinking spotlighted at our Recruiter Show at London’s Barbican Centre. We are delighted to present fresh and innovative voices from practitioners — agency and in-house alike — to share their disruptive practices, their learnings and insights with you, their peers.

Recognising the power of your own brilliance is crucial to growing up and standing tall as a professional — and as an industry. Equally crucial is listening to and absorbing game-changing ideas and being inspired to spin off your own unique solution for a different challenge, perhaps in a completely different direction. We’re proud to bring to you some of the most exciting thinking in a sector that refuses to stand still!

GRAHAM SIMONS

RECRUITERS WHO WANT to work out which roles are going to be hot in future should speak to their clients’ corporate strategists rather than HR departments.

This is the advice from Brian Kropp, HR practice leader at best practice insight and technology company CEB. Speaking to Recruiter at CEB’s recent ReimagineHR event in the City of London, Kropp said recruiters looking to to meet their client’s future talent requirements should develop ongoing relationships with their client’s corporate strategists. These individuals advise chief executives about the future vision of a company over the coming years.

“Do not talk to HR people about what skills are going to be the most important,” Kropp told Recruiter. “Go to corporate strategists. If you talk to them about what the company will look like in five years from now and what it is going to look like, then you’re going to be able to get a good idea of what kind of skill sets are going to be required.”

Kropp also called on recruiters to look at what sort of degrees people are studying at university as that will tell them what the candidate market place will look like in future years.

Recruiters should also investigate what sort of patents are coming out. He gave the example of how a few years ago a lot of patents related to drones were issued, and a hot job area currently is the design and building of drones.

Finally, Kropp says recruiters should look at what start-ups are doing as they lead innovation. Their ideas will eventually be absorbed by larger companies which will need to hire professionals who have skills associated with these ideas. ●

DeeDee Doke, Editor IM AGE | GET T Y

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UPDATE

26,889 FOLLOWERS AS OF 15 OCT 2015

Cleaning companies could soon fall under the GLA remit

GLA’s remit could be extended

IM AG E S | A LA M Y /A K IN FA LO PE / G E TTY / I MAG E S O U RC E / R E X

SARAH MARQUET

GOVERNMENT HAS begun consulting on a proposed extension to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority’s (GLA) remit that could allow it to investigate exploitation in all sectors.

The consultation seeks views on four key proposals: ● to establish a statutory Director of Labour Market Enforcement, who will set priorities for the enforcement bodies across the spectrum of non-compliance, from criminally-minded exploitation to payroll errors ● to create a new offence of aggravated breach of labour market legislation ● to increase intelligence and data sharing between the existing enforcement bodies and other bodies to strengthen the targeting of enforcement ● to widen the remit, strengthen the powers and change the name of the GLA to enable it to tackle serious exploitation Sectors currently requiring GLA licences and regulation include agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, and fresh food processing and packaging. The consultation asks whether risks presented in these sectors still justify the licensing of businesses 6 RECRUITER

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there. An extension of the GLA’s remit does not mean licensing would be extended to other sectors.

During a recent webchat, GLA chief executive Paul Broadbent said other sectors at risk of labour exploitation included construction, care homes, car washes, catering and cleaning.

Trained GLA staff could also be given police-style powers to use search warrants to secure crucial evidence, under the government proposals.

Consultation, via the government’s website, closes 9 November. ●

Connect in Copenhagen SARAH MARQUET

Economic development and investment promotion organisation Copenhagen Capacity (CC) is offering free recruitment services as part of its mission to attract and retain foreign investment in Denmark.

Talent director Nikolaj Lubanski describes Denmark

Innovate or die, says Orme Recruiters face “a perfect storm of change”, and innovation is key to survival, organisational change and leadership consultant and Investing in Talent Awards 2015 guest speaker Greg Orme warns.

“Clients are dismantling contingent and managed service models to pick and choose which bits they need and which bits they can do themselves with technology,” he told Recruiter. “Whatever the future holds, recruiters will need to innovate, or die. Sticking your head in the sand isn’t an option.”

Orme, a former chief executive of creative, digital and marketing recruiter Major Players, said to avoid labels of “sharks in suits” and “little better than estate agents”, recruiters must be “purpose-driven”.

“Purpose is directly linked to how people feel about your business. It decides how much passion, energy and creativity employees invest each day — translating into a powerful motivator that’s stronger than a pay packet,” he later told Recruiter.

“Recruitment firms who engender a purpose-driven, customer-focused and innovative culture will keep up with the relentless pace of change because their people will be inspired to dream up gamechanging innovations.”

as a small country with “a lack of resources in human capital”. So to convince companies to invest in the greater Copenhagen area, CC helps businesses attract foreign talent. To qualify for the free help, a company must have a genuine vacancy it cannot fill.

In the past year, CC helped recruit 354 people. It focuses on three industries: life sciences, ICT and clean/green technology.

A challenge is competing with Paris, New York, London or Silicon Valley as a talent

destination. “You don’t have to choose between a career and a family,” he says, referencing the school system and a focus on flexible work in Copenhagen.

To identify talent, it uses LinkedIn, online forums and physical careers fairs. It also targets international students studying in Denmark.

CC receives funding from regional and state government, the EU, grants from various foundations and sometimes a form of cofinancing with the company in question.

Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news 15/10/2015 15:18

THOUGHTS OUGHTS OM… FROM…

Neil Wilson, CEO of Stanton House

JEREMY CORBYN

FIRST SPE ECH BY THE LABOUR LEADER AT THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

“You may be born poor but you don’t have to stay poor. You don’t have to live without power and without hope. You don’t have to set limits on your talent and your ambition — or those of your children”

DAVID OYELOWO

AC TO R , S PEAKING AT AN EVENT LAU NCHING A RE PO RT FROM THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FE D E R ATION AND BACKED BY MOBO

“I was watching TV in the UK and thinking there were very few examples of actors who look like me who I aspired to be like, aspired to have their careers. In order to have those feelings I had to look to the States.”

ED VAIZEY

M IN ISTER OF STATE FOR CULTU RE, CO M M UNICATIONS AND CREATIVE INDU STRIES ON DIV E RSITY IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

“I know from my engagement with this agenda that there are a lot of fed up people who feel that a lot of talk has happened over the last 30 years and we now really want to see progress. I want to see progress as well and my pledge to people in the industry is to continue to hold all the main organisations to account so we can see a real difference being made.”

STA R RECRUIT

Two recruitment specialists advise EVA CARNEIRO, the former Chelsea football club team doctor, on her next career move

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LOGAN NAIDU, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RECRUITMENT FIRM DARTMOUTH PARTNERS Having come from a male-dominated changing room, Eva Carneiro should consider entering the world of high finance and investment banking. She is already adept at handling fragile egos, short tempers and everyone thinking they’re the ‘Special One’.

Her medical training will come also come in useful for the herds of analysts who routinely work 90-hour weeks and suffer from sleep deprivation, exhaustion

Wilson builds Stanton House DEEDEE DOKE

FIVE YEARS ON from establishing Stanton House as a new recruitment business, chief executive Neil Wilson can safely say that the finance/ accounting, change management and digital recruiter is no longer a start-up.

“Coming through that first phase is one of my proudest achievements to date,” Wilson told Recruiter.

Now turning over £18m per year, Stanton House was created following Wilson’s departure five-and-a-half years ago from professional services firm Badenoch & Clark (B&C), where he was first joint managing director and then MD for 10 years. Joining forces with Wilson to create the new business as director and co-founder was fellow B&C veteran Nick Eaves.

Wilson has kept a low profile in the intervening five years as he and Eaves built the business from the ground up. Experiencing “a massive learning curve” in starting up, Wilson said he encountered the “brutal reality” of having to rediscover his own business development and recruiting skills after his years as an MD had forced him to focus internally. At the same time, he was handling all of the managerial and troubleshooting aspects of starting up a business.

“It’s a very humbling thing,” he said. “At first, you feel not like you’re not doing any of it very well.” However, he rates “doing frontline recruitment again, being out there to win business from my network, learning how to do it again” as being one of his best experiences of starting Stanton House.

Stanton House has 45 employees and offices in London, Reading, Edinburgh and Hong Kong. ●

and frequently the ‘hair dryer’ treatment from their superiors.

Rather like their football counterparts, the public perception of a group of overpaid, pampered, ego-driven individuals gathered together to operate as a ‘team’ is a world she knows well.

She might want to omit Chelsea from her CV, though. Bankers like winners, and despite being Premier League champions, you’re only as good as your last game.

SINEAD HASSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF HASSON ASSOCIATES Headstrong Carneiro won’t struggle to find another role.

She acted with integrity, was true to her professional ethics and did precisely what she was employed to do. Any club would be lucky to have her. Moreover, had she not responded to the referee’s signal to come on the pitch, she may well have been in breach of General Medical Council guidelines. Eva’s clearly the right woman for the job and should focus on moving forward.

As for Mourinho, it’s a

shame that the proposed rules to prohibit managers from interfering with medics weren’t already in place.

If they were, it would be him who would have been walking.

Shame — he’d have made a wonderful ref or match official. He’s obviously level-headed, believes in fair play and, most importantly, would put safety of the players first. Or, perhaps he’s good paramedic material, you know, with all those great people skills. He copes well under pressure too, and his instinct for those in need of medical attention is clear for all to see.

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THIS WAS THE MONTH THAT WAS… Here is a round-up of some of the most popular news stories we have brought you on recruiter.co.uk since the October issue of Recruiter S E P T E M B E R •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→ TUE, 15 SEP

T H U, 2 4 S E P

HYDROGEN GROUP BLAMES OIL PRICES FOR DROP IN PROFITS

RECRUITING IN RUSSIA COULD REVOLUTIONISE BUSINESS

A “sustained and material” drop in the price of oil, and therefore reduced levels of hiring, has contributed to global recruiter Hydrogen Group’s declining profits over the last half year.

The group’s unaudited financial results for the six months to 30 June show net fee income (NFI) declined by 30.8% (29.6% on a constant currency basis) to £10.1m.

More: http://bit. ly/1ZyPKxk

FRI, 18 SEP

MON, 21 SEP

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

NEW RULES COULD STOP AGENCY BOSSES ‘DOING A PHOENIX’

The winners of Recruiter’s 2015 Investing in Talent Awards have been announced.

Recognition was given in 16 company categories and three individual categories at a lunchtime ceremony, hosted by Recruiter’s editor DeeDee Doke, at The Brewery in London on 17 September.

Renowned organisational change and leadership consultant, executive coach and author Greg Orme was the guest speaker. ● For more on the Awards, see p6 and pp28-37.

More: http://bit.ly/1Lsb6GD

New rules aimed at preventing company directors from acting improperly could spell the end of agency bosses repeatedly entering into pre-pack arrangements or ‘phoenixing’ x .

The Insolvency Service said id that the Secretary of State’s powers to th w have ave a director of a limited ed company disqualifi ualified were being ing sstrengthened from 1 October. b Included is the ability for the Secretary of State to seek to have a director disqualified if they have a track record of being involved in failing companies.

According to Chris Tutton, partner at employment law firm Irwin Mitchell, the rules could mean recruitment agency bosses are deterred from repeatedly entering into pre-packs where they walk away from company debts by liquidating the company, only to set up another company shortly afterwards, often with the same directors in charge. ●

Being a recruiter in Russia can be a rewarding experience, but common concerns around operating in the country put agencies and businesses off from setting up there.

Speaking at a RES Forum event, Luc Jones, partner for Russia and Kazakhstan at FiveTen Group recruiter Antal Russia, told delegates one of the best things about doing business in Russia was the “very, very” little competition.

“I haven’t counted how many recruitment agencies there are there, but there’s not many.

“Temp work is not common — there’s no such thing as highstreet recruitment.

Getting people on temporary contracts is very uncommon compared to, say, here [in the UK].”

But operating in the country is not without its pitfalls, Jones said.

Adverse business conditions in Russia saw global specialist recruiter PageGroup wind up its operations in the country last spring.

More: http://bit. ly/1ZyRiY8

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Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news 15/10/2015 12:12

28

T H U, 8 O C T

Europe is the next big thing for recruiters •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→ Continental Europe “is the biggest opportunity” for or whitecollar professional recruiters, according to Paul Venables, group finance director of recruitment giant Hays. s.

After Hays announced an 8% rise in group net fee income (NFI) for the e first quarter compared to Q1 2014, Venables told Recruiter that Continental Europe “is the biggest opportunity” as it had finally put the Euro crisis behind it.

More: http://bit.ly/1P2uZXb

DAYS

←‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒• O C T O B E R

MON, 5 OCT

MON, 12 OCT

GANGMASTER STRIPPED OF LICENCE

RECRUITMENT FIRMS RANK IN SUNDAY TIMES TOP TRACK 250

A Stonehaven, Scotlandbased gangmaster has been stripped of her licence after it was found her workers had been underpaid and transported in a “dangerous” vehicle by convicted illegal gangmaster Rimantas Sulcas. The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) revoked sole trader Sheila Wood’s licence immediately because she “exhibited flagrant disregard for the wellbeing of her employees”, authority chief executive Paul Broadbent said in a statement.

More: http://bit. ly/1k1JDkL

Sheila Wood and convicted illegal gangmaster Rimantas Sulcas outside Wood’s home

TUE, 6 OCT

TRANSLINE CONSIDERS ‘ACTION’ FOLLOWING BBC PROGRAMME ON SPORTS DIRECT PRACTICES Industrial recruiter Transline Group is considering taking “action” following a BBC programme involving it and client Sports Direct, which labelled workplace practices at the retailer’s Shirebrook, Derbyshire distribution plant “draconian” and “Dickensian”.

The BBC Inside Out programme highlighted a “six strikes policy” allegedly used by Transline Group under which any agency worker committing actions that affect productivity in a six-month period would no longer be able to work at Sports Direct.

It is not clear whether the six strikes policy is a Transline policy or a Sports Direct policy but the retailer’s other temporary labour supplier, The Best Connection, allegedly operates a similar policy, the programme claimed.

Transline declined to comment on the policy, citing confidentiality of its agreement with Sports Direct. The Best Connection declined to comment and Sports Direct did not respond to Recruiter before deadline.

However, a Transline spokesperson did say: “We are deeply disappointed that the BBC failed to uphold its own editorial guidelines in terms of properly and fairly researching the BBC Inside Out programme. We have reserved our rights to take action to address this.”

More: http://bit.ly/1jv78Ca

9 THIS YEAR’S LIST FEATURES NINE RECRUITMENT AGENCIES •‒‒‒‒‒→

Recruitment agencies have recorded a strong showing in the latest The Sunday Times Grant Thornton 2015 Top Track 250, a league table that ranks mid-market firms by sales.

This year’s list features nine recruitment agencies: Pertemps Network Group (PNG) (11), Rullion Group(51), Independent Clinical Services (72), Best Connection(79), LA International (167), Resource Solutions Group (182), NRL (190), Search Consultancy (222), Petroplan (242) Other recruitment industry-related groups to make the list included recruitment group Brookfield Rose (18) — whose companies include temporary labour procurer de Poel, social enterprise de Poel Community and mobile job search app Zoek; professional services group Optionis (70); and contractor accountancy and payroll firm Danbro (198).

More: http://bit. ly/1LIBwj4

→‒‒‒‒‒•

“We are deeply disappointed that the BBC failed to uphold its own editorial guidelines” TRANSLINE

I M AG E S | G E T T Y / JESS BELL / ISTO C K / MIR RO R P IX

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£38m

NE WS

CONTRACTS

IS HOW MUCH H&Q KOREA HAS PAID MONSTER FOR ITS STAKE IN ITS SOUTH KOREAN OPERATION JOBKOREA

CONTRACT & DEALS

Acorn UK multi-regional recruitment and training company Acorn has acquired B2B Engineering, a Perth, Western Australia-based oil & gas recruiter, via its Australian subsidiary Synaco Global Recruitment.

Adepto Technical Recruitment Recently launched consultancy Adepto Technical Recruitment has agreed a finance facility with SME-focused bank Aldermore to grow its business. The facility will help Adepto to manage payments to contract workers regardless of when the consultancy’s clients settle their invoices.

Capabiliti Indian recruitment and training platform Capabiliti has secured INR2.6m (£26k) in funding from a range of investors.

The funding will be used to expand into international markets, increase the team from 25 to 50 and enhance the technology platform.

Heidrick & Struggles Global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles has acquired Londonbased leadership advisory services provider Co Company for an undisclosed sum.

Co Company advises clients on aspects of organisational performance, including team dynamics, performance management and leadership assessment, development and transformation.

Matchtech Engineering recruiter Matchtech was appointed by the Royal Navy to search for Petty Officer marine engineering technicians as part of a new Navy recruitment initiative.

The 12-month partnership will see the appointment of experienced engineers to positions three ranks higher than the usual entry-level intake.

The aim is to build a team of qualified engineers to maintain the mechanical and electrical systems aboard vessels such as the Type 45 Destroyer.

DEAL OF THE MONTH

Staffline Group Staffing services, outsourcing, training and employability organisation Staffline Group has acquired two firms — transport, industrial and utilities staffing specialist Milestone Operations and Northern Irelandbased multi-sector recruiter Diamond Recruitment Group.

Staffline said the Milestone acquisition represents an “attractive” strategic

fit with its existing driving division, Driving Plus, that will strengthen its geographic reach across the UK, as well as bringing a blue-chip client base.

Monster Global job board Monster has entered into an agreement to sell its 50.01% ownership position in its South Korean operation, JobKorea, to H&Q Korea for around US$85m (£38m).

The transaction is expected to close next month.

Monster sold 49.99% of its shares in JobKorea to H&Q Korea in December 2013.

Penna Recruitment Solutions Penna Recruitment Solutions has won contracts with the Queen Margaret University, University of Edinburgh, Birmingham City University and Oxford Brookes University. The recruiter won all the student recruitment marketing and advertising business for Scottish-based Queen Margaret University, working predominately around media buying and planning, as well as campaign management, social and digital strategy.

The Diamond acquisition is also in line with Staffline’s growth strategy and brings a database of over 59,000 candidates. Staffline continues to seek further deals and investments.

Randstad Randstad is to buy RiseSmart, a San José, California-based technology-led career transition services provider, for US$100m (£65.6m). RiseSmart provides transitioning solutions to companies whose employees are affected by restructuring, downsizing, mergers and similar events.

RiseSmart will operate independently, under the leadership of president and chief executive Sanjay Sathé.

TRU Staffing Partners New York-based TRU Staffing Partners has acquired fellow US recruiter Kennett Group and launched a new division, TRU Cyber, to focus on cyber security recruitment. TRU Staffing operates in the legal technology, e-discovery and litigation support sectors. Kennett Group focused on privacy, cyber security, data analytics and legal technology.

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More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 15/10/2015 12:13

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INSIGHT

SETTING THE STANDARD TO EMPOWER PEOPLE Sally Swingewood, lead programme manager — Governance & Resilience at the BSI [British Standards Institution], discusses the importance of a brand new management system standard for valuing people in organisations

S

tudies have proved that strong relationships between organisations and the people who work within them are built on a sense of being valued. This is a twoway relationship: if a business values its people, recognising individual capabilities and potential, those people are much more likely to value the employing organisation, remaining loyal, productive and invested in its success. This premise, that people are inherently valuable, is the foundation of a new management system standard, BS 76000.

The notion of organisations valuing their people is not new. Initiatives such as Investors in People are well-established and have already helped many workplaces improve the relationships between employers and employees. But to date there has never been anything which takes a holistic approach to how people fit into organisational strategy. By shifting the focus from operational detail to an overall strategy, both organisations and the people who work for them can benefit from a more equal and sustainable working relationship.

As a management system standard, BS 76000 provides a framework for organisational processes to realise the full potential of that relationship. It is acknowledged that despite increased investment in people and recognising the importance of not only recruiting but retaining the right staff, some

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organisations actively striving for excellence can still experience a disconnect. Even those organisations making substantial leaps forward and striving for excellence in the way people are treated can be dissatisfied, with both employers and employees sometimes perceiving the other as problematic, exploitative or otherwise unfair. BS 76000 aims to address this.

Value standard The standard is underpinned by the concept that people are inherently valuable and a fundamental factor in sustainable success. With a requirement that top decision-makers make a demonstrable and ongoing commitment to these principles, BS 76000 provides a structural approach for organisations to develop a flexible, forward-thinking management system which is tailored to individual needs and integral to wider strategies.

For Anne Hayes, head of market development for governance at BSI, BS 76000 is “an over-arching management system standard that helps organisations to assess what they already have in place and address any gaps. It is the chance for those organisations which already demonstrate good practice to achieve recognition and gives those which are committed to improving, a framework to build upon”.

BS 76000 acknowledges that everyone at every level is valuable and that both individually and collectively the workforce needs to be considered at more than just an operational level.

She adds: “Promoting this structured and thoughtful approach to managing people at a strategic level establishes a positive dialogue, adapting to the unique skills and potential of individuals whilst valuing the contributions they make.”

Consensus standard Like all British Standards, BS 76000 was developed using a consensus-based, collaborative approach in response to a societal need. With input from industry experts, academics and organisations such as HR professional body CIPD and the University Forum for HR Directors, it provides a framework for: ● Enhancing organisational resilience and flexibility ● Developing and empowering people, and encouraging employees to feel part of the larger whole and able to influence and participate in the development of policies

IM AGE | ISTOCK

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POWER POINTS BS 76000

r e w o p Em

3 4

⇨

THE FIRST STEP IN MOVING TOWARDS A

PRINCIPLESBASED, STRATEGIC WAY OF MANAGING THE WORKFORCE

● Promoting transparency, accountability, sustainability and effective governance ● Successfully managing change Jim Newell, HR director at BSI, is keen to emphasise implementing BS 76000 is “the first step in moving towards a principles-based, strategic way of managing the workforce, moving beyond standard HR processes”. He adds this “should ultimately allow meaningful businessto-business comparison and allow potential employees to judge if the organisation offering a job is the right fit for them”.

In summary, employees can benefit from reassurance in their intrinsic value, a sense of empowerment, knowing they can influence and affect change. Newell points out that for employers, this investment in employees becomes a “core business

Aims to help organisations fully appreciate and benefit from the inherent value of people working on their behalf. It provides a framework to create an individually-tailored management system, which will help build a mutually satisfactory and sustainable relationship between employers and employees.

Enables enhanced organisational resilience and flexibility; increased transparency, accountability, sustainability and effective governance; a more stable workforce which feels appreciated and an active part of the success of the organisation; increased brand reputation as employees stay in the organisation, developing skills and capabilities, and recommending it as a positive place to work.

Improves long-term stability and staff retention, creates a more productive workforce, a greater sense of fairness — all of which lead to a greater chance of success and sustainability.

This brand new area of standardisation was driven by industry and recognises the need to improve governance and better management of its most important asset: people. It applies to organisations of any size, sector or maturity and is not just for the traditional HR community (or bigger organisations with HR departments). It aids any organisation that has employees, volunteers, interns or other form of staff.

↗

1 2

SALLY SWINGEWOOD is lead programme manager — Governance & Resilience at BSI

differentiator alongside investment in other strategic factors such as products and technology”.

He sums it up by asking: “What organisation does not benefit from improved communications that facilitate and nurture open dialogue, and also show its commitment to the principle that people within its influence have intrinsic value?” ●

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T R E N DS

TECH & TOOLS

Tweet your way to recruiting success Follow the birdie to gain competitive edge SUE WEEKES

DEFINED: Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that celebrates its 10th anniversary next year. Users build up a network of followers and can send out 140-character tweets to share information, thoughts, opinions or whatever else. Users are identified by the @ (at) symbol before their name while a # (hashtag) is used before keywords in tweets and helps to categorise them. Twitter currently has 316m active users every month and 500m tweets are sent every day. According to research carried out by recruitment technology platform Jobvite, more than half (57%) of UK recruiters who use social media for candidate identification turn to Twitter for help.

Twitter landed in the middle of the social media maelstrom of the midnoughties when recruiters were already trying to get to grips with the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook. For many, its use has never developed beyond being a vehicle for broadcasting jobs.

“There hasn’t been a lot of training or best practice,” says David Lahey, vice president, international, at recruitment technology platform Jobvite.

Debbie Smith, head of client services at social media specialist Carve Consulting, urges recruiters to unlock Twitter’s potential to gain competitive edge: “It’s not wrong to post a job on Twitter, but it is certainly not the best way to use what is a hugely useful platform.”

F IVE KEY POINTS

➊ SHOW YOUR PERSONALITY

➋ BUILD AWARENESS AND TRUST

➌ BROADCASTING JOBS

➍ KEEP UP WITH DEVELOPMENTS

➎ KEEP UP THE

Recruitment is a people business and Twitter gives individual recruiters the opportunity to show their personality and directly relate to candidates.

As Lahey points out, a candidate can go on Glassdoor and find out about the employment brand but, as a hiring manager, you can provide some insight into what it might be like to work with you: “For instance, people can look at my Tweets and see I post about subjects such as leadership and music.”

Smith says that recruiters should “be themselves” and share what they find interesting but adds they need to find their “purpose and personality on social platforms”. “Many people don’t think enough about their personal versus professional footprint,” she says. “If many of your followers are candidates, do they want to hear your angry rants about your football team?”

As a recruiter, you want potential candidates, business contacts and peers to follow you, so give them plenty of reasons to do so.

Building trust and awareness are key to this, says Mike Wedge, director of web design and digital marketing specialist, Fifteen Ten. “The more times you appear, the more your target candidates see your name or recognise your logo. Jump into relevant discussions and show up in searches by using the right hashtags,” he says. “You can also attract candidates by showcasing your knowledge; the more insight and advice you can offer, the more they will trust and like you.”

With #jobs being one of the leading hashtags on Twitter, it is a “big mistake” not to use the channel to broadcast your jobs, says Lahey. “Recruiters see themselves as sales people but often overlook that they are also in marketing.”

He acknowledges though that this can add to the pressure a recruiter works under. Find out what functionality is available in your recruitment platform to publish jobs to social media channels as this may make it easier.

Your job posting activity will be far more meaningful though if a relevant talent pool is seeing these jobs.

Smith warns against “shouting out” jobs, likening it to walking into a room “and just shouting out facts”. She explains: “Social platforms are around community and adding value to your followers and connections.”

Be aware of how candidates are using Twitter and keep up with developments on the platform itself. As Wedge explains, Twitter has evolved from a text-heavy micro-blogging tool to a highly visual news platform, “where many users consume their daily headlines and opinion”.

“Twitter has a much larger focus on image and video content now, and tweets that contain images are 35% more likely to be retweeted*,” he says.

Recruiters should also tailor their Twitter feeds so that they are a regular and efficient source of news, information and business intelligence for them. “It’s a hugely effective way of keeping up-to-date with hiring trends, client and competitor news, industry insights and business opportunities,” says Smith.

One of the reasons people love social media is because it is both responsive and spontaneous. It can be hard to be reactive throughout the working day, so build in time for your Twitter activity and be prepared to respond to an event if necessary.

Smith reckons that a lot is possible on Twitter in just five minutes, including checking your @mentions and new followers, clicking on relevant articles and feeding in your own thought leadership, following someone new and replying to a tweet from a potential candidate or prospect to start a conversation.

“And remember the [visible] lifespan of a Tweet is just two to six minutes,” she says. “So you need to keep up the frequency of sharing, retweeting, favouriting, mentioning and hashtagging to make sure you are visible.”

I L L UST RAT I O N | ISTO C K

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* Source: Sprout Social

ACTIVITY

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C

INTE R AC TIO N

AGENCY VIEW

The fine-toothed comb check Perfecting the reference process RICKY MARTIN

s a recruiter I come across hundreds of CVs daily.

While it is important that every section of a CV needs to be carefully thought out, it still amazes me how little effort a candidate will put into the last section of their CV — the reference.

Yet every employer or recruiter should be checking referees with a fine-tooth comb. Employers should consider what type of questions they should be asking, and a significant amount of time should be spent asking specific questions about the candidate. For example, what type of personality do they have? What is their work ethic like? A bad reference can make or break the recruitment process. So how do we perfect it?

A

wrong person, what happens? You’ll have to go through the whole process again.

My advice: spend at least 20 minutes on the phone with a referee. Ask as many questions as possible. Tell the referee about the position you are recruiting for. Be direct — ask them if they are confident the candidate could do the job and do it Employers well. Have they performed similar duties previously?

I’ve come across so many employers, even recruiters, who Don’t forget the person you are speaking to has a spend just a few minutes on the phone speaking to a referee. history of working with the potential employee.

All they want to hear is that the candidate was ‘competent’ Look out for those all-important initial reactions. and that’s it. Big mistake.

These will give you a valuable useful insight into This process should be used to gain a better understanding whether or not you could see this person fitting about the person you’re employing or putting forward for with the/your organisation. a role. Taking on a new employee is not easy. It’s a huge Don’t stop there. Ask about their personality. decision. It involves a lot of time and money. If you hire the What are they like in a team? Will they fit into yours? Ask the referee to tell you more about the employee, such as their strengths and weaknesses. How do they handle success or failure? Do they work well with their colleagues or even managers? You should even consider asking questions about whether the person got involved with activities outside of work. Why not even ask them to tell you something memorable about the employee? And finally don’t forget to ask if they had another opportunity to hire them again, would they?

Recruiters

+ RICKY MARTIN is managing director and founder of Hyper Recruitment Solutions. Find out more at www.hyperec.com or @Hyperec_HRS on Twitter

During the screening process, remind your candidates that the reference could be the ‘be all and end all’ of the application; emphasise the importance of getting that section right. Ask what their referee would say about them. In what capacity do they know their referee?

Ensure they triple-check their referee’s details. Missing or incorrect information will only highlight a lack of attention to detail. It would be a terrible shame if your candidate successfully got through the interview process only to fail on the lack of reference. A simple thing like a reference could get your candidate the job. So make sure you’re giving them the right advice.

Final thoughts There’s nothing better than a personal recommendation. People trust and respect other people’s opinions. Take LinkedIn, for example. Hearing what other people have to say really could make all the difference when it comes to nailing that job. Remember this when you’re about to take a reference or when you’re updating your own referee information. ● 18 RECRUITER

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IM AGE | ISTOCK

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T WEET I N T E R AC T I O N

SOUNDBITES S OA P BOX / W EB CHAT

A LICENCE TO RECRUIT PAUL FARRER

After the Association of Professional Staffing Companies’ (APSCo’s) members’ meeting [see Recruiter, October 2015] to explore the possibility of a BSI standard for recruitment, I am even more convinced that it is regulation with teeth that is required.

If you are trying to improve the overall quality of recruitment service to candidates, employers and those employed in the industry, a standard will have a limited benefit but only if: ● candidates are so aware of the standard that they only go to companies that have it. As APSCo members and previous REC [Recruitment & Employment Confederation] members, our experience is that candidates are unaware of the value to them of our membership in either. They are only interested in the opportunities we have for them ● clients reward those who achieve the standard ● our employees benefit from us having the standard.

A BSI-type approach won’t solve the underlying problem of rogue operators that continuously damage the reputation of our industry by driving a coach and horses through existing legislation with impunity.

We are an industry that is largely contingent based — no win, no fee. As a result, self-regulation is unworkable.

So yes, let’s have a standard, but first let’s get the government to restore licensing. We need a real consequence of breaking the regulations, and we used to have one – a recruitment licence. Gangmasters need one to operate — why not everyone else?

No licence = no business. No licence = no requirement to pay a fee.

We [Aspire] have to have a licence in Singapore, and you have to operate within the rules there.

It’s not about more bureaucracy; it is about enforcing the conduct of regulations put in place to protect candidates and employers. Licensing merely needs funding to be administered and policed, and the will of all professional recruitment firms and our trade bodies to lobby for change.

The industry generates £28.5bn in turnover. A levy of 0.018% on our industry turnover would create an annual running cost of £5m. That would be enough for 50 full-time inspectors, paid £50k a year to audit two firms a day or 25,000 firms a year with £2.5m left for accommodation, travel and lots of advertising to inform candidates and employers what they should expect from their recruitment agency.

Paul Farrer Chairman, Aspire

“Gerard Butler is set to play a recruiter in a new film. What is your top tip for him to make that a realistic portrayal?”

SIMON LEWIS AND RICHARD VICKERS MA N AG I N G D I REC TORS , PAG EG ROUP

Richard Vickers (on left): “When Gerard visited our New York office, I told him tenacity was, without doubt, the most important quality you need to have to be a great recruiter. To the surprise of many, our top billers have all types of work experience previous to recruiting. What makes them stand out is their drive, sense of urgency and mental strength.”

Simon Lewis (on right): “As recruiters we earn our success, and thrive off winning new business and closing deals. Plus, we get to share our expertise with new hires that we constantly train and develop to succeed.

It is a rollercoaster ride, full of thrills and dips, but I guarantee the entire ride is exhilarating.”

LAURI HUL SBERGEN HEAD OF PEOPLE, COMMUNICATIONS & IT, BURGER KING’S EMEA DIVISION

“To make his portrayal realistic, Gerard Butler’s character needs to display the qualities that make a good recruiter in his everyday life. Recruiters are natural problem solvers, we are analytical in the ways we read a company, understand it and fill positions. A good recruiter is also constantly networking; we are relationship builders and problem solvers who understand how to match the right candidate to the right role. If his portrayal reflects these qualities and skills, it will be more authentic.”

EFFI GOUNARIS S EN IOR RECRUI T ER , V IV I D RES OURCI N G

“The key to a realistic portrayal of your character is to really have a deep understanding of the role you are playing. My advice to Gerard Butler would therefore be to spend some time with ME, (just a few years — or perhaps a life time) and I could really help him understand the complex world of recruitment. We can spend the days walking hand in hand discussing business development, the nights will obviously be all about building rapport and when we wake up in the morning repeat business will be on the agenda!”

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TH E B IG STO RY DEBBIE SMITH

F

or the past 45 minutes Debbie Smith, founder and chief executive of social care recruiter Caritas Recruitment, has been describing how she went from principal of a language school in Torquay to managing director of a social worker recruitment business, before jumping ship and setting up her own £70m annual turnover recruitment business.

She talks about how along the way she partnered with serial recruitment entrepreneur James Caan, and participated in a management buy-out.

So her next sentence comes as quite a shock. “I wouldn’t say I am a born entrepreneur,” she says.

Although Smith is at pains to attribute her success to others — “There is no ‘I’ in team,” she says — her achievements as a businesswoman and entrepreneur can be in no doubt.

Under her leadership, Caritas, which

she founded in 2009, has grown every year, and this year expects to turn over £70m. Before that, in the seven years between Smith joining social care recruiter Bluecare and leaving it as MD in 2008, the company grew from three heads to 65.

The success of Caritas and Smith’s role in it hasn’t gone unnoticed. In recent years Smith has picked up numerous awards, the latest being in September when, on behalf of Caritas, she took to the stage at The Brewery in the City of London to receive not one but two of Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards — for Best Contractor Care (UK) and Best Temporary Workforce Care (Specialist).

Despite such recognition, at times the modest and self-effacing Smith gives the impression that her current position owes nothing more than to chance.

“I had no vision to go out on my own [before I founded Caritas],” she says.

CARING TO TAKE CARITAS INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORY PHOTOGRAPHY PAL HANSEN

COLIN COTTELL

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“It’s about managing scale. One thing I am always conscious of is that we don’t dilute quality”

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TH E B IG STO RY DEBBIE SMITH

“I wouldn’t say I am a born entrepreneur”

“I didn’t even have a vision to go into recruitment,” she adds, recalling how a friend advised her: “This is something you would be able to get into.”

While the landmark moments in Smith’s career have been unplanned and unscripted, the same cannot not be said about her approach to Caritas Recruitment. “From day one this was never about building a lifestyle business; this was about market domination. We had a really clear vision about how we were going to make Caritas different, and become the market leader in social care recruitment,” she says. This was based 22 RECRUITER

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on three strands, she explains: high levels of customer service, high levels of compliance, and making Caritas a great place to work.

Attention to detail As she speaks to Recruiter, at Caritas’s offices in the City, the overwhelming impression is of a recruiter who leaves absolutely nothing to chance.

Rigour and attention to detail are the watchwords as she describes how new staff must go through “a rigid threestage interview process”, which includes all candidates who make the final stage meeting Smith herself.

Similarly, whether staff choose the sales or management route, they are given clear targets for exactly what they need to achieve to get to the next level. “There is no dispute; it is black and white,” says Smith.

The thought and attention to detail is such that even the one thing that Smith says “would keep me awake at night” — Caritas providing a “negligent” social worker to vulnerable children and adults — doesn’t, because of specific actions taken to prevent that happening. From the start she invested heavily in compliance, building a separate safeguarding

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T H E BI G STO RY D E B B I E S M I T H

C O M PANY

Caritas Recruitment Founded 2009 • Employees 70 Turnover £50m £70m*

Year ended 31 March 2015 Year ended 31 March 2016 * Projected

Gross Profit £6.5m £8.5m*

W H O I S SH E? team that operates independently from consultants. “I don’t believe sales people can do compliance and paperwork; there is a conflict of interest because they are too driven by their targets,” she says. “You don’t want to be closed down, but you also have to recruit with a conscience, so that you don’t put service users at risk.”

Market challenges Social care recruitment has all the hallmarks of a great market for recruiters to be in. With a candidateshort market and increasing demand by local authorities, what is there not to like? Smith agrees that nobody could describe it “as a poor market”. Yet at the same time, she points out it is not without its challenges.

The biggest challenge is, Smith says, “the instability of the workforce” caused by social workers being in such short supply. “They are constantly being bombarded by a range of agencies offering them a higher pay rate here and a different deal here,” she says.

Not only does the short time social workers spend with clients threaten the quality of care, the knock-on effect has been to destabilise the permanent market, says Smith. In response, Caritas launched Caritas Fidelity in autumn last year, which includes the introduction of fixed-term contracts for locums of up 12 months.

A highly competitive market, in which social workers routinely register with multiple agencies, has also focused Smith’s mind on the importance of attracting and retaining contractors.

“Contractor care is paramount,” she says, underscoring why Caritas has bent over backwards to look after theirs.

It was for this commitment to

SECRET OF SUCCESS “My relationship with our internal staff, and externally within the market place. I don’t take myself too seriously” PHILOSOPHY OF RECRUITMENT “The strategies that you have in place are to the benefit of the sector you are supporting not just to the benefit of you commercially”

Debbie Smith January 2009-present Founder and chief executive [CEO], Caritas Recruitment July 2015-present Board member, Synergy Medical Recruitment February 2014-present Chair, APSCo social work sector group January 2009-November 2014 Business partner, Hamilton Bradshaw Human Capital

contractor care that the judges in the recent Investing in Talent Awards recognised Caritas. Initiatives include one-to-one support from a dedicated consultant, quarterly on-site meetings to assess the working environment, training opportunities and ongoing professional development. Contractors are also provided with a dedicated 24-hour helpline, as well as a strict aftercare policy specifying levels of support for its workers.

The success of these measures in retaining temporary staff is reflected in a churn rate of just 8%. This in turn benefits clients, because with social workers having longer relationships with vulnerable children and adults, local authorities receive a better and a safer service, Smith explains.

She says another challenge faced by the social care sector is the continuing difficulty of attracting people into the profession. In the wake of negative

February 2008-August 2008 Managing director, Bluecare June 2004-January 2007 Sales director, Bluecare January 2003-May 2004 Manager, Bluecare October 2001-December 2002 Consultant, Bluecare September 2000-September 2001 International principal, EF Education

publicity, following high profile cases such as ‘Baby P’, who died of his injuries despite being seen regularly

by Haringey social services, Smith uses her leadership position to raise awareness of social work as a career, and to confront negative views of social worker locums in the media. She is also chair of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) social work sector group.

Teamwork rules Smith emphasises that the company’s success would not have been possible without the efforts of the whole team at Caritas, explaining how the firm’s nonhierarchical, inclusive culture allows everyone to have an input into decision making. “There is an environment of encouraging ideas, in which everyone is involved,” she says.

Caritas uses KPIs (key performance indicators) and targets, but Smith says WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 25

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T H E BI G STO RY D E B B I E S M I T H

the approach is “to treat people like adults, rather than hitting them over the head with them [KPIs]”. Smith is clearly sensitive to the views of her colleagues.

When asked to describe her leadership style, she is keen not to appear aloof, explaining how she hopes colleagues see her as “very collaborative, very positive and encouraging”. Caritas’s annual attrition rate averaging 12% is testament to the success of this people-approach.

Recruitment pedigree Smith first cut her teeth in social care recruitment with Bluecare. But after rising rapidly through the ranks to become MD, she says her career reached a crossroads in 2008, after Healthcare Locums (HCL) bought the company.

“HCL were looking to restructure, and I felt this was a good juncture to step out,” she explains. During her gardening leave she considered other MD roles within recruitment, as well as going out on her own.

After being approached by Hamilton Bradshaw’s Ian Wolter, then chief executive of professional recruiter Eden Brown, Smith says she decided to enter into a joint venture with the private equity firm, attracted by the back office support and infrastructure that it could provide. “From day one we could focus on selling and relationship building and not be distracted by administration,” she says. Funding, which allowed Caritas to start life with 10 staff, was also a big help, she says.

After five years, Hamilton Bradshaw and its CEO James Caan exited the Caritas business, following a management buy-out by Human Capital Investment Group (HCIG) in November 2014. As a shareholder, Smith says HCIG has a strategic role, though “as far as day-to-day operational matters are concerned, the business is very self-contained”.

Although Caritas has grown its gross profit in each year since its launch, Smith says it hasn’t all been plain sailing. She says that budget cuts within local authorities and the prevalence of managed service providers (MSPs) has led to margins being slashed ever since Caritas was launched.

The years 2010-11, when local authorities felt the full force of government austerity, was particularly tough for social work recruiters, she

says. “Demand went from 400 jobs a month to very few; we had to realign our strategy very quickly. We really had to roll our sleeves up, and everyone had to get involved in client development.”

This new strategy worked, and the firm grew its contractor numbers by 40%, taking marketshare from its competitors and managing to grow its gross profit by £200k.

Margin erosion has continued to shape Caritas’s growth strategy.

“We have had to grow volume to counter-balance the drop in margins,” she explains. Yet this too has proved successful, and this year’s gross profit is expected to hit £8.5m from £6.5m in 2014-2015, on turnover up from £50m to £70m.

Growing plans Smith doesn’t plan on stopping there, however. Clearly excited by the prospect, she says the company “has very aggressive growth plans to double the size of the business in the next three years”.

Following the acquisition of Firefly Locums in September, Smith says the company is looking to complement its organic growth with further mergers and acquisitions.

Smith acknowledges that growing Caritas beyond its present size represents a move into uncharted territory for her personally. “I haven’t managed a business of more than 65 staff,” she says, acknowledging that it will require a different skillset. “It’s about managing scale,” she says, adding “one thing I am always conscious of is that we don’t dilute quality”.

She expresses confidence that this can be achieved, however. “We make sure our managers don’t manage too many people, we upskill the consultants, we have good controls and infrastructure in place. It’s about management rigour, and it is definitely scalable.”

Smith may not see herself as ‘a born entrepreneur’ but her words sound like those of someone very much in her element amid the cut and thrust of the business world. ● WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 27

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AWA RDS THE WIN NERS

HERE’S Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards recognise those recruitment firms and individuals who go the extra mile for their temporary workers, contractors and their own staff This year’s awards at stylish City of London venue The Brewery honoured companies and individuals who stood out and helped to enhance the recruitment industry’s reputation as employers in their own right.

Winners of the 19 categories were announced at the lunchtime event, which was attended by more than 300 recruitment professionals and guests. Special guest speaker Greg Orme, a leadership and organisational specialist, offered the audience insight into business creativity and suggestions on becoming an inspiring leader.

There was plenty of time to network and socialise before and after the ceremony, and Recruiter caught up with some of the winners to find out a bit more about their secrets of success.

TO THE

WINNERS! PHOTOGRAPHY

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JESSICA BELL / AKIN FALOPE

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MOST INSPIRING NEWCOMER Freddie Short Opus Recruitment Solutions ► How could an association with the Sex Pistols possibly lead to a career in recruitment? Freddie Short, winner of Most Inspiring Newcomer at this year’s Investing in Talent Awards, made this unlikely link through his mum, whose PR clients included the notorious ’70s Rosaleen Blair, punk rockers. chief executive of “She was quite sales-y, naturally Alexander Mann sales-y, so I thought maybe I could do Solutions, presents Freddie Short with something quite similar to that,” he his award told Recruiter.

Short had no previous sales experience before joining Opus Recruitment Solutions but in two years has established himself as one of the group’s top performers and employee of the month five times.

His managers have praised him for competing against himself. But the sports science graduate says he has been able to thrive at Opus because of a work environment in which consultants all drive each other on to beat ‘personal best’ performances.

Opus provides a 13-week training programme for new joiners, and new recruits are provided with additional support from team leads and an individual mentor. While the programme is tailored for consultants to develop at different speeds, enthusiastic recruits are not held back if they seek to push ahead with their progress.

Short’s enthusiasm was evident. For instance, he asked to attend client meetings at a very early stage in his tenure.

“I was definitely eager to do everything I possibly could. I wasn’t scared of different layers of the job. I wanted to try everything as soon as I could.”

His sport degree has been useful in his recruitment career.

Short has tapped into the sports psychology element of his degree which he says has helped him read candidates’ motivations and drivers to take a role.

“You can tell from what they say what their driver is. For example, if they talk about their family a lot, that could be the problem of why they don’t want to relocate for this role, so can you get them any remote working? Or if they are

mentioning that they have got to apply for a mortgage, it’s a situation where potentially a high day rate on offer could be something that would seal the placement. Those sort of things, listening out for those key bits of information, I think has helped.”

These psychology skills, combined with enthusiasm and an innate drive, have paid off for Short as he has been promoted from trainee to consultant, then to senior consultant and is now team lead for the firm’s contracts division — all in barely two years.

And not surprisingly, given his rapid career progress with the organisation, he says he plans to continue growing his future with Opus.

“I want to stay within Opus. I think they are a great company. I think they have done really well for me and I couldn’t thank them enough basically so I will be here for the long haul.

Whatever positions arise I will be up for it.”

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AWA RDS THE WIN NERS

MOST EFFECTIVE FLEXIBLE WORKING STRATEGY

Awards judge Russell Dalgleish presents Catherine Turner and owner/director Ben Davis with their trophy

Firefly Human Capital ► Effective consultation is the secret to developing a flexible workplace strategy that works for both consultant and recruiter alike, says Catherine Turner, owner and director at Firefly Human Capital.

The firm was recognised as having the most effective flexible working strategy in this year’s Investing in Talent Awards.

Turner previously benefited from such strategies during her 20-year career in recruitment by proving she could be both her firm’s top performer and a mother. She says the business case for having a flexible workplace was obvious from the launch of Firefly in 2012.

Taking this approach into her own company has meant consultants are asked which flexible work approach might, or might not as the case may be, work for them. They are offered the chance to work flexibly on a trial period to see if they can still hit their sales targets. The approach sees both mothers and fathers afforded the opportunity to leave work early to collect their kids or those who have a long commute to be allowed to work from home one day a week.

However, consultation is key, Turner adds, as flexible

working may not work for every consultant. But even consultants on regimented 9-5 hours are offered flexibility if they need to leave work early for a home delivery, for example.

The trade-off is consultants always need to read their emails and be accessible via mobile phone.

A main benefit to the company of this flexible approach is its low staff turnover, which is virtually zero. It has also increased the chances the firm will not lose out on talent, particularly those consultants who have left to have a baby.

“Because I’ve done it, they’ve got proof that it can be achieved,” Turner told Recruiter. “There’s never any question of ‘actually I shouldn’t really be on the same targets as everyone else’ and things like that.

“If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but for me you have to try it. Because I have been given that opportunity myself, I just always wanted to give it others, especially mothers.

You just shouldn’t miss out on an important part of your children’s childhood.” ●

S OUN D B ITES

“They thoroughly deserved it, those guys are huge, doing amazing work and have been fantastically consistent. We are new, proving our concept while expanding, and will be back [entering the awards] next year and hoping to be up on that stage.”

Gary Peters, chief executive of LoveLocalJobs, commenting on Gi Group’s Most Effective Employability Strategy award win, which LoveLocalJobs was shortlisted for 30 RECRUITER

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“It may sound cheesy but what inspires me is creating opportunities, whether that is for our customers or for our employees. I like the idea that something can happen that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for our influence. No individual is bigger than the group — myself included!”

Matt Churchward, founder and director of The Asoria Group and winner of Most Inspiring Recruitment Leader

“In any industry I believe people want four main things from their employer.

They need the tools and infrastructure to be able to do a great job; to feel they are developing professionally; to be well and correctly rewarded; and to work in an environment that they want to be part of and don’t want to leave.”

Guy Hayward, CEO of Goodman Masson, on why his company won three awards

“This recognition indicates we are making excellent progress in our diversity and inclusion work. OpenPage, our global diversity and inclusion commitment, allows us to attract the best people and open up a greater spectrum of talent, regardless of ethnicity, gender sexual orientation, race, religion, age or status as a parent or carer.”

Sarah Kirk, global diversity & inclusion director at PageGroup, winner of Most Effective Diversity & Inclusion Strategy

NOVEMBER 2015

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BEST CONTRACTOR CARE (INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL) Tangent International ► Quality contractor care starts the minute a contractor accepts a role through to the minute they get home at the end of an assignment, even if that assignment is several years long.

That’s the view of Simon Dear, chief executive of Tangent International, which won Best Contractor Care (International/Global) at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards 2015.

He told Recruiter Tangent employs a team of people to “hand hold” a contractor through every stage of an assignment, including the logistics of getting them to site, as well as keeping abreast of potentially endangering situations.

The seven-person care and logistics team is available 24/7/365, something that particularly impressed the judges.

The team constantly scours news coverage for world developments that could endanger their contractors.

For example, they had some contractors in Japan when the 2011 earthquake and

resulting tsunami and nuclear disaster struck. The team immediately set about contacting the contractors to make sure they were ok and then relocated 40 people to other Japanese cities or out of the country. In recent years, Tangent has also helped contractors avoid disaster in the Nepal earthquake, riots in Egypt and bombings in Kenya.

“When we are dealing in high risk locations, contractor care is not a ‘nice to do’, it’s a ‘have to do’,” Dear says.

“We think it benefits the contractors, we think it benefits the customers and therefore ultimately think it benefits us.”

Tangent runs about 1,000 contractors worldwide in high-risk and low-risk countries. ●

Two of Tangent’s contractor care team receive their award from EY’s John Chaplin

→ continued on page 35

“Top tip for inspiring people is to care” B E N J O N E S , S E N I O R C O N S U LTA N T, NONSTOP RECRUITMENT

Award-winning work.

Award-winning people.

Here at Penna, we come to work to make a difference for our clients by finding them the right talent. Collaborative. Supportive. Inspiring.

Accountable. We’re proud of the values that we work by, and we move as one team.

Sure, we’ve got the awards. But most importantly, we’ve got the right people. And as a Times Top 100 Employer for 7 years running, we’ve got a great track record.

So if you’re interested in working for a company that nurtures talent and champions career progression, call our MD Julie Towers on 07764 791736.

penna.com

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15/10/2015 15:06

RACS GROUP IS EXPANDING

UNIQUE CAREER OPPORTUNITY

tĞ ĂƌĞ ƌĞĐƌƵŝƟŶŐ ĨŽƌ ZĞŐŝŽŶĂů ĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚ DĂŶĂŐĞƌƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ h< >ŽŶĚŽŶ Ͳ ŝƌŵŝŶŐŚĂŵ Θ DŝĚůĂŶĚƐ Ͳ EŽƌƚŚ Due to unprecedented commercial growth, RACS Group ŝƐ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶŝŶŐ ŝƚƐ ŶĂƟŽŶĂů ŶĞƚǁŽƌŬ ŽĨ ZĞŐŝŽŶĂů Development Managers. ĂŶĚŝĚĂƚĞƐ ƐŚŽƵůĚ ďĞ ĚLJŶĂŵŝĐ͕ ŵŽƟǀĂƚĞĚ ĂŶĚ ĂŵďŝƟŽƵƐ with experience of the outsourced payroll sector. džĐĞƉƟŽŶĂů ĐĂƌĞĞƌ ŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƟĞƐ ƚŽ ǁŽƌŬ ĨŽƌ ŽŶĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ leading brands in the recruitment industry and a Sunday dŝŵĞƐ sŝƌŐŝŶ &ĂƐƚ dƌĂĐŬ ϭϬϬ ĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͘

ZĞǁĂƌĚŝŶŐ ZĞŵƵŶĞƌĂƟŽŶ WĂĐŬĂŐĞ͗ ͻ ŽŵƉĞƟƟǀĞ ƐĂůĂƌLJ • Uncapped commission • Car allowance ͻ hŶŝƋƵĞ ďĞŶĞĮƚƐ • Inspiring culture

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĮƌƐƚ ŝŶƐƚĂŶĐĞ͕ ƉůĞĂƐĞ ƐƵďŵŝƚ LJŽƵƌ s ĂŶĚ ĐŽǀĞƌŝŶŐ ůĞƩĞƌ ƚŽ ŚƌΛƌĂĐƐŐƌŽƵƉ͘ĐŽŵ ƌĞĨĞƌĞŶĐŝŶŐ ǁŚĞƌĞ LJŽƵ ǀŝĞǁĞĚ ĚĞƚĂŝůƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞƐĞ ǀĂĐĂŶĐŝĞƐ͘

Head Office RACS Group House, Three Horseshoes Walk Warminster, Wiltshire. BA12 9BT

REC.11.15.032.indd 32

0845 604 0571 info@racsgroup.com racsgroup.com

14/10/2015 11:54

Issue 31 November 2015

RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence Leadership and party conference wrap p2-3

Page turner Kevin Green talks with PageGroup’s CEO Steve Ingham p4

Legal update and the IRP

Events and training

Intermediaries and Caroline Foote p6-7

IRP Awards 2015 shortlist p8

CALLS MOUNT FOR FLEXIBLE SKILLED MIGRANT VISAS The Recruitment & Employment Confederation is calling on the government to ease restrictions on the number of skilled migrants entering the UK. It says the current pointsbased system is harmful to the UK economy and undermines the rights of businesses to hire according to need.

The UK’s skilled migration route provides a points-based system for companies to sponsor workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) on a Tier 2 skilled visa.

Companies applying to sponsor non-EEA workers must first apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship, with more points allocated to

@RECPress RM_NOV_15.indd 1

roles earning higher salaries.

The government’s Migration Advisory Committee is reviewing the Tier 2 visa system and is looking to tighten the rules around entry.

Among those changes include introducing a levy for companies recruiting migrants outside the EEA, and setting time limits on jobs listed on the Shortage Occupation List.

REC policy advisor Hannah Feiner says the changes won’t help businesses.

“The long-term solution to skills shortages lies with upskilling the UK’s future workforce via apprenticeships, vocational qualifications and improved careers guidance – but improvements in these areas will take time to

deliver,” she says. “Access to international labour must remain unhindered until a time when the UK is able to produce enough suitably qualified candidates.”

The REC wants a system that “prioritises migrants of greatest benefit to the UK”, regardless of the size of their salary.

The migration cap is being felt across sectors that rely on migrant workers.

The chief executive of NHS Employers Danny Mortimer says more than 1,000 nurses it wants to sponsor have been rejected because they haven’t met the minimum salary cap for sponsorship.

He says clinical services are being put at risk.

“Non-EU nurses are invaluable to the NHS,” he says. “Whilst we are experiencing a mismatch between supply and demand, we are asking that this is recognised and that nursing be placed on the shortage occupation list for the next two years.”

The REC is still calling on members to submit case studies about the way the Tier 2 system has affected them. Email Hannah Feiner at hannah.feiner@rec.uk.com for more.

www.rec.uk.com 14/10/2015 16:54

Leading the Industry

THE VIEW

Plenty to ponder from the latest round of party conferences, says Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and professional services

How important is leadership to your business? Very important, says Kevin Green, REC chief executive

We’ve heard a lot about leadership recently, be it Sir Alex Ferguson’s new book or from Stuart Lancaster after England’s failure at the Rugby World Cup. That’s why for the REC’s first ever charity dinner (5 November) we’ve invited World Cup and Olympic winning coach Sir Clive Woodward to talk about how leaders develop winning teams.

Leadership is the key differentiator in our industry.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of our industry’s most prominent leaders, Steve Ingham of PageGroup (pages 4-5). We spoke about how he runs a global business with a turnover in excess of £1bn, operating in 35 countries with over 5,600 staff, and about how the business model used by Page has proved itself over the last 40 years.

Page focuses on organic growth – no acquisitions.

They invest in a few key geographical markets and extend the disciplines they cover, but they always stay in their core professional space. They recognise that it takes time to get it right in new markets, so they play the long game and have retained a strong balance sheet to enable this.

The most important thing that emerged from our chat was the importance of lead-

PARTY ON… ership to a people business like recruitment. We don’t have many other assets other than the people we employ.

So finding great people, giving them real responsibility early in their career and developing them in the medium term is the most important activity of the recruitment CEO. Steve also talked about the importance of getting culture right because this is what enables retention. To grow a successful recruitment business, you need a pipeline of future leaders and a culture that’s about teams and not individuals.

At the REC we’ve always known this and that’s why we are the industry’s leading provider of qualifications and training. But the demands on recruitment leaders are intensifying – the market is growing; candidates have more choice; and clients demand more. So to enhance our offering we’ve partnered with Elite Leaders to provide more development for recruitment entrepreneurs and leaders.

We need world-class leaders who can help our industry reach its full potential and to change perceptions so that we are recognised as true professionals.

2 RECRUITMENT MATTERS NOVEMBER 2015

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You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevingreenrec

The annual circus of the party conference season was an opportunity to be the voice of our industry at key debates around jobs, skills, pay, productivity and social mobility.

As the depleted Lib Dems regrouped under their new leader, it was bright blue skies over Brighton as Labour emerged bleary-eyed into the new political dawn of the Corbyn era. While up in Manchester, the Conservative hordes basked in post-election glory.

Pay and progression were hot topics. Employers are concerned about the National Living Wage but there was a broad consensus that more should be done to boost career progression. Our recent Getting On report is helping to position our industry at the forefront of this debate.

The skills deficit was also high on the agenda, with shadow business secretary Angela Eagle making the link to the productivity debate. Meanwhile, the Chancellor announced a new Infrastructure Commission to accelerate the delivery of skilled staff for new projects. Our ‘Report on Jobs’ has highlighted shortage areas and we’ll continue to use our data to inform policies around skills and immigration.

Good recruitment and flexible working patterns were also part of the mix. Jeremy Corbyn recognised that “people like the independence and flexibility of being selfemployed”, something that also applies to the thousands of people who choose to work as contractors and agency workers. Labour MP Tulip Siddiq honed in on the need “to create more diverse workplaces by addressing unconscious bias”, and David Cameron’s speech included references to eliminating discrimination and boosting social mobility.

What’s next? With the EU referendum looming large, our priority will be to contribute to the debate around the best outcome for the UK jobs market. We’ll also be working closely with REC members to build on recent discussions in the conference halls, breakout rooms and hotel bars of Manchester and Brighton.

You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

www.rec.uk.com

14/10/2015 16:54

22%

THE INTELLIGENCE Workers in low-paid jobs need to be given opportunities to grow, says Diana Beech, REC senior researcher Low-paid jobs are too often perceived as ‘bad’ jobs. This is neither rational nor justified, as much low-paid work is vital to our society. Low-paid jobs are also attractive entry points into work for those without experience or qualifications, as they enable people to make a living whilst building up skills and experience.

Getting On, a new REC report exploring progression for workers in low-paid jobs, reveals that more than one in five workers in the UK can be classed as being in low-paid positions. That equates to more than 5.1m workers, or 22% of the UK adult workforce. According to the latest figures from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings,

STILL GROWING SLOWING I have been talking for some time about how the welcome revenue growth that recruiters have been seeing has been slowing. This downward trend continued in July with median RIB recruiter revenue growth slowing to 4.3% in July.

Additionally a quarter of RIB members are seeing revenue growth of more than 18% – a stunning performance when inflation is hovering around zero.

Worryingly more than a

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the median full-time gross salary in the UK is £518 a week.

Yet, bar staff – the UK’s lowest paid workers – earn less than half of this at £253.60 a week. Retail workers fare only slightly better at £278.70, whilst care and industrial workers also rank among the lowest-paid occupations.

With such large numbers in low-paid employment, we ask what government, businesses and recruiters can do to help low-paid workers unlock the full potential of their jobs?

The government has already taken steps to improve earnings for low-paid workers through the introduction of the National Living Wage (April 2016), which is set at £7.20 for workers over 25. Yet increasing pay is only half the battle.

Our research shows that many workers would appreciate inwork training to move them on in their careers. Employer-led funding for training for those aspiring to move into areas facing vital skills shortages

THE MEDIAN FULL-TIME GROSS WEEKLY SALARY IN THE UK IS

£518 YET, BAR STAFF – THE UK’S LOWEST PAID WORKERS – EARN LESS THAN HALF OF THIS AT

£253.60 1 IN 5 WORKERS IN THE UK CAN BE CLASSED AS BEING IN LOW-PAID POSITIONS. THAT EQUATES TO MORE THAN 5.1 M WORKERS, OR 22% OF THE UK ADULT WORKFORCE

would obviously be of benefit to both workers and businesses alike.

Employers, too, can do much to motivate their workforce. Discussions with workers revealed that creating a positive working environment can boost workers’ morale and thus help to increase productivity levels. Putting in place effective management structures ultimately helps workers to feel valued and understand their progression opportunities.

Figure 1: Recruiter turnover growth

30 20 10 0 -10 Aug 13

Nov

Feb

May 14

quarter of RIB members are seeing revenues lower than a year ago, a situation that has persisted for the last two years. Indeed a quarter of RIB members are experiencing revenues more than 6 ½ % lower than this time last year.

Aug

£278.70

a slowing in the UK labour market, with growth in vacancies slowing from over 25% a year ago to 8.5% in August of this year.

The number of people not employed but not seeking work fell 0.7% in the last 12 months to 8.99m.

40 ■ Upper Qtile ■ Median ■ Low Qtile

-20

RETAIL WORKERS FARE ONLY SLIGHTLY BETTER AT

Finally, recruiters – as the first port of call for many – not only play a vital role in putting people into jobs, but also helping workers to build a successful career. Our research shows that recruiters often have the specialist knowledge about what it takes to progress in certain sectors, so partnering with businesses and local education providers could give agency staff added value to employers, as well as facilitating workers’ career progression.

%

LOW PAID, BUT HIGHLY IMPORTANT

Nov

Feb

Jul 15

This extreme divergence in revenue growth demonstrates the importance of bench marking performance against other recruiters to maximise performance.

The slowing revenue growth is clearly related to

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.

RECRUITMENT MATTERS NOVEMBER 2015 3

14/10/2015 16:54

The BIG talking point

IN CONVERSATION

TURNING THE PAGE

A CONVERSATION WITH STEVE INGHAM REC chief executive Kevin Green talked with Page Group chief executive Steve Ingham at the 2015 SIA Executive Forum Europe about the future of the company and why making a profit in China upset him KG: How did you grow into new markets? How do you go about building scale?

SI: It’s certainly not easy, and all the assumptions you make are probably going to be wrong. The key is having the right team to go in there. We use proven individuals who’ve been successful in the group.

If their skills are appropriate, we’ll put them into those new markets and then we’ll hire locals and overcome the challenges of building talent in that market. Obviously there are roadblocks and we overcome those – sometimes very slowly, sometimes very fast.

KG: Tell me about the differences between fast and slow: is it about team, market or relationships?

SI: It’s always about people, but sometimes you don’t get the

timing right. You don’t always hire the right people straight away. It’s about understanding the key things you need to do to be good at recruitment in a particular market. Most revolve around people. In mainland China, for example, we had 20 people for 10 or so years, but when we finally cracked the code of all these particular issues, we accelerated very quickly. We now have more than 450 people there.

KG: How’d you crack the code?

SI: For China, it was hiring the right individual. The chap who works for us there had been working for us in the UK for 17 years, and he felt it was the right time to make a career move. He was in charge of 20 people in the China office. I would phone him every month and find out how he’s getting

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on with his house and his driver and all that sort of thing.

I remember after six months we talked about the shape of the Chinese business, and he said: “Great news, Steve. We’ve made a profit.” I said: “That isn’t great news.” In the UK, we’re very focused on making profits, you see. So he said: “What do you mean? Surely making profits is the primary concern?”

And I replied: “Remember the vision we had, which was in three years taking the business to 200 people? Where are we from that first 20?” He said to me “17”. He realised he’d used six months of his objective of trying to get to 200 to cut three people to make the profit he did. At the end of the day I can see why, but we had to change his way of thinking, and then figure how to hire great Chinese people to come on board to do recruitment.

KG: How do you recruit people and how do you grow them?

SI: We have been very consistent in our growth strategy. We don’t chop and change during downturns or upturns. Many people have done 20 years plus in the business, and hundreds have done 15 years plus. And because they’ve done that, they trust the business totally.

We use that integrity for conversations on how to grow a career. People expect to see out their careers at Page.

KG: How do you structure talent growth?

SI: The first thing in management and leadership is to make sure a group of people are seen as a team and not as a group of individuals.

Our incentives are focused

www.rec.uk.com

14/10/2015 16:54

“I ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE OUR CLIENTS PAY US FOR OUR SKILLS, BUT CLEARLY TECH IS GOING TO MAKE THE SKILLS WE DO FASTER, GREATER, MORE PRODUCTIVE AND EFFICIENT”

on team performance rather than individual performance.

By the time you’re at a level where you can influence group performance, many of those people will have shares in Page and know they have to do their bit to get the end result.

them to China, we grow from within. I’ve been to our offices all around the world and the consistency is phenomenal.

the main thing is I’d lose a lot of integrity internally. The opportunities that arise go to us, not to others.

KG: What are the pillars of

KG: A lot of recruiters talk

your culture?

to me about being a listed business. What’s your take on Page being one?

SI: People have to breathe our KG: How do you build that culture?

SI: It’s a challenge and avoiding acquisitions helps. I’ve known most of my management team for 20 years and that means it’s a very social environment, but it also means there’s a lot of integrity and trust there. If you call someone up to ask “What the hell is going on?” you want to understand the language – I don’t mean Mandarin or Spanish, I’m talking about the Page language. We don’t hire someone from a competitor or outside the industry and move www.rec.uk.com

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values, and the most important one for me is integrity. If I can’t trust someone, they’re gone.

KG: A lot of recruitment firms focus on acquisitions, which Page has avoided. Have you ever been tempted to buy another business?

SI: Not really, and it’s not occasional; I get more than one offer a week. We’ve never done it, we probably wouldn’t be very good at it. Buying people into your business is dangerous. I’ve seen many that have gone wrong. But

KG: What is the strategy going forward?

SI: It means spending a lot of your time focused on shareholders – they do own your business. There isn’t a week where I don’t meet a shareholder. You do feel your days could be better spent in an office running operations and advising people, but you have to respect the relationship you have with shareholders. In terms of the business, we can run things as we please. I’ve never had a shareholder tell me we shouldn’t go to a country or make a hire – that doesn’t happen.

SI: The fundamentals will continue. I absolutely believe our clients pay us for our skills, but clearly tech is going to make the skills we do faster, greater, more productive and efficient. We’re also only interested in moving into markets with high-growth potential. We will only go to countries that can potentially offer us an operating profit of around 30%. There are a couple of others we’ve got a watch on: Japan and India.

For Japan we want to crack the Nikkei, and we’re some way towards doing that.

We have 50 people in two offices in India, but our profits aren’t at 30% just yet. But if we can tick all the boxes, then both are very exciting opportunities.

RECRUITMENT MATTERS NOVEMBER 2015 5

14/10/2015 16:54

Legal update

WORKING WITH INTERMEDIARIES

By Lewina Farrell, solicitor and head of professional services at the REC The REC Legal Helpline continues to receive a high number of queries regarding how to work with intermediaries including umbrella companies, CIS intermediaries and personal service companies. This is for a variety of reasons including the Conduct Regulations opt out, the ITEPA changes in April 2014 and new reporting from April 2015, and the recent consultations on travel and subsistence expenses relief (T&S) and IR35. Members are also concerned about employment status and who should do what checks on the temporary workers.

Before an employment business engages with an intermediary it must do the appropriate due diligence.

REC has prepared a detailed intermediary checklist for use by its members. In brief employment businesses should check: • The intermediary’s incorporation details including where it has been incorporated, who

the company officers and shareholders are, its VAT registration; • The intermediary’s trading history and credit record – on a daily basis we come across new umbrella companies/CIS intermediaries. When only recently incorporated they have no or a limited trading history – all businesses must start somewhere but you will be paying significant sums to this intermediary on a weekly/monthly basis so you need to know it is financially stable; • That the intermediary will hold monies received from the employment business in a separate trust account and that the account is held in the UK. If the intermediary folds and the funds are not held separately, they may be claimed by the insolvency practitioner and not paid over to the temporary workers/contractors either for some time or at all. The employment business may then face a claim from those individuals to be paid directly

even if it has no liability to do so; • What ID, right to work, DBS, professional qualifications checks does the intermediary carry out on the temporary worker? How does the intermediary manage the Conduct Regulations opt out process?

• The terms on which the intermediary will engage any contractors/ temporary workers. If a CIS intermediary, how does it assess that the temporary worker can legitimately work CIS? • How the intermediary pays the temporary worker. If a PSC, does it treat all pay as employment income, or does it pay part salary, part dividend and if so, why?

Does the intermediary apply T&S expenses relief and if so, how – this is particularly important given the proposed removal of T&S expenses relief from temporary workers from April 2016. Check that the temporary worker will

receive all of the tax/ NICs relief claimed on their behalf; • Has the intermediary or any individuals running the business ever been investigated by HMRC and if so, why and what was the outcome? We see lots of claims that the intermediary is 100% HMRC compliant or that a QC has confirmed that it applies T&S correctly or a particular supply model is legitimate. Remember that HMRC will never confirm that a business is fully tax compliant (or indeed whether it is investigating a particular company); • Has the intermediary ever received an employment tribunal claim and if so, what was the outcome?

For more information REC model contracts have been drafted to protect employment businesses. See the model contracts and the full intermediary checklist at www.rec.uk.com/legalresources/model-documentlibrary

WORKPLACE WELLBEING IS COMING We all know the importance of looking after our physical and mental health, right?

We understand there are four key indicators to our prolonged health and wellbeing, which will see us remain fit and active throughout our working lives and into our dotage: • Weight. Excess weight (obesity) is a key cause of diabetes • Exercise • Smoking 6 RECRUITMENT MATTERS NOVEMBER 2015

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• Excessive alcohol consumption This could be wrong!

Another approach could be by an extension of the Duty of Care requirements with the onus placed on employers to take further additional responsibility for the wellbeing of their staff by way of additional legislation.

The Work Foundation recommended three main ways the government could contribute to building a

healthy, productive UK workforce that is fit for the present, and fit for the future: • Integrating specialist support for older workers into occupational health and back to work services such as Fit for Work • Encouraging individuals and employers to plan early on for the health challenges of working in later life • Changing attitudes and creating an age friendly working environment

including the removal of the 26 week rule and extension of the right to request flexible working.

One thing is clear: workplace wellbeing is coming.

Stuart Scullion, is commercial director at Punter Southall Health & Protection, an REC Business Partner, and chairman of the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries

www.rec.uk.com

14/10/2015 16:55

Inspiration

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS

The View

Angeline Jordan is a learning and development consultant at Cordant Group

Caroline Foote is the managing director of Careers Move Group

TRAINING

WHAT I KNOW

How has your year been?

It’s been really busy in the training group because the company is growing and and growing. I completed the Fast Track Cert RP last year and come the December exam, I will have put 28 people through. My pass rate is 95%.

Four important areas for recruiters Listening: The ability to listen to both candidate and clients; there are so many people who talk over them all of the time. There’s nothing worse than a candidate coming in and spending an hour with us, and then we do something opposite to what they asked for.

Passion: We want someone who really enjoys the role and really wants to do a good job.

Expertise: You need to be an expert in your field with a continuing interest in the subject.

Customer service: Absolutely critical. A career for a candidate is a huge part of their life and we help facilitate that. It’s one of the biggest things recruiters do. We need to be a trusted and reliable partner.

What do you love most about being a recruitment trainer?

I like working with the different levels across the business – from apprentices to senior managers and everyone in between. It gives me an understanding of all elements of recruitment. I suppose with all parts of training is that if it makes people’s jobs easier, then that’s great. The feedback you get from that makes it all worthwhile.

How do you see the industry right now?

I think the main thing is the industry is very candidatedriven. Going forward, the focus will be on skills shortages.

It makes learning and development more important than ever. We have to help people grow and develop. It ties in with the coaching culture we have. We’re also looking at things like social media, apps and ways you can have bite-sized learning without the cost. It helps them use the facilities they’ve got.

What is one thing you’ve realised about your role?

Recruitment is a 24/7 job now. I’m looking at using the tools we’ve got at Cordant to bring it together and make it accessible. We use social media to harness the learning.

Networking is vital For agencies and professionals it’s all about finding roles that internal recruiters can’t. You have to have a really extensive network and they can be both physical networking, through to virtual through tools such as LinkedIn. Having been around for a while, we have quite deep networks, but it needs to be seen as a living and breathing thing.

Keep an eye on partner relationships We’re doing a piece of research about the relationship we have with clients and seeing what valued partnership means to us. We’re seeing an increase in client relationships as we move further away from recessionary times. Clients are prepared to look at fairer fees for finding niche talent. They want to work more and more with knowledge-based agencies. We’ve had some major PSL wins and that’s all been down to the fact we embrace working in a different way. I think the next 12 months is going to be pretty good.

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

www.rec.uk.com

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Events and training

AWARDS

2015 IRP AWARDS SHORTLIST THE 2015 IRP AWARDS WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER IN LONDON. SEE WHO’S ON THE SHORTLIST FOR THIS YEAR’S TROPHIES COMPANY CATEGORIES Best Back-Office Support Team Amoria Bond, ID Medical, Meridian Business Support, Nursing Personnel, Picture More, Rethink Group, Staffgroup IRP Advocate Company of the Year Rethink Group, Serocor Solutions Best Corporate Social Responsibility Practitioners Bruin Financial, Equal ApproachID Medical, One Step Recruitment, Prospectus, Rock Recruitment Specialists, Stafflex, TTM Healthcare Best Recruitment Campaign and Client Partnership Abacus Professional Recruitment, Meridian Business Support, Omni RMS, Pro-Force Limited, Sanctuary Personnel Limited Best People Development Business Award GPRS Recruitment, ID Medical, Meridian Business Support, Pro-Force Limited, Serocor Solutions Best Company to work for (up to 20 employees) Bond Williams Professional Recruitment, BranWell Ford Associates Limited, Carrington

West, Charity People, Cathcart Associates Limited, Give A Grad A Go, Marc Daniels Specialist Recruitment, Seven Search & Selection, Supertemps, TARA Professional Recruitment Best Company to work for (up to 50 employees) Blayze Group, BPS World, Consillum Group, Gleeson Recruitment, The Oyster Partnership, Understanding Recruitment Best Company to work for (up to 250 employees) Amoria Bond, Caritas Recruitment, Darwin Recruitment, Empiric, ICG Medical, Liquid Personnel, MSI Group, ReThink Recruitment, Staffgroup, STR, Swanstaff Recruitment Best Company to work for (more than 250 employees) Capita Resourcing, ID Medical, Meridian Business Support, Penna, Pertemps Network Group, Phaidon International, Search Consultancy

Best Candidate & Client Experience Stuart John (Abacus Professional Recruitment), David Bamgbade (CRG), Jamie Sharratt (GPRS Recruitment), David Tait (Redmill Resourcing), Jane Gaunt (Redlaw Recruitment) Sian Williams (Supertemps) Best Newcomer of the Year Anup Mistry (Keystone Employment Group), Aija Maddocks (Redlaw Recruitment), Oscar Silbergberg (Core-Asset Consulting), Kristin Small (Right Click Recruitment), Georgina Turner (Forces Recruitment Services), Martin Webber (Letterbox Recruitment) Executive Search Consultant of the Year Jonathan Benjamin (Redlaw Recruitment), Maggie Hennessy (Penna), Joshua Rayner (Rayner Personnel) IMA Interim Consultant of the Year Toni Hall (Penna) Anthony Lewis (Penna), Ross Markall (ReThink Recruitment)

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES Recruitment Apprentice of the Year Zohra Hussain (Brightred Resourcing), Ulrika Lawrence (ARM), Cassie Moore (ARM), Chanel White (BPS World)

Permanent Consultant of the Year Simon Atkins (Pertemps Network Group), Camilla Clarke (Give A Grad A Go), Claire D’Amelio (Energize Recruitment), Jon Hunt (Lawes Consulting Group), James

Kent (People First), Addie Marks (GPRS Recruitment), Antonia Phoenix (ReThink Recruitment), Sian Williams (Supertemps) Temporary Consultant of the Year Vicki Armstrong-Smith (Supertemps), Sharon Atwal (ID Medical), Emilia Fasano (The Oyster Partnership), Katie Holdsworth (Class People), James McGauley (ID Medical), Adam Razzell (Advanced Resourcing Managers), Lisa Robinson (Red Personnel), Nick Rowe (Carrington West), Suzanne Sherriff (Bond Williams Professional Recruitment) Business Manager of the Year Lara Dawson (Penna), Helene Turley (University of Wolverhampton Careers and Employment Centre), Ranjit Nandha (ID Medical), David Weir (Penna), Kimberley Winnall (Pertemps Network Group) Business Leader of the Year Matt Fox (Dynamite Recruitment), Tony Goodwin (Antal International), Michael Helleur (ICG Medical), Ian Munro (CRG), Deenu Patel (ID Medical), Shubber Raja (Medilink Consulting), Stephen Rogers (Swanstaff Recruitment) Book your table now at www.rec-awards.com

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

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 Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing

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

© 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.

8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS NOVEMBER 2015

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www.rec.uk.com

14/10/2015 16:55

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→ continued from page 31

Hitachi Capital Finance’s John Atkinson (l) and Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke (r) present MD Francis Jones with TXM’s award

BEST RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR — SMALL (FEWER THAN 50 EMPLOYEES) TXM Recruit ► The involvement of TXM Recruit’s directors at the selection stage for new staff is crucial in embedding the company’s culture as a great place to work, according to the managing director of the engineering, IT and technology recruiter and winner of the Best Recruitment Company to Work for — small (fewer than 50 employees) at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards.

TXM Recruit won the award for a number of initiatives, including an apprentice scheme for new recruits, a three-month induction programme, and the firm’s policy of hiring and developing internal talent. The judges were also impressed by how the commitment of employees towards the firm’s corporate social responsibility and charity activities helped create a great atmosphere.

Managing director Andrew Midgley told Recruiter that none of these initiatives would work without the efforts of the firm’s directors. “We are

“Recruiters will need to innovate, or die”

a business, but we are also a family, and that is very important to us,” said Midgley, who went on to explain how the company’s policy of directors meeting potential recruits at the interview stage was the first but crucial stage in creating that type of work environment.

“We have a relationship with those individuals from the interview stage so they have bought into not only the company but ourselves,” said Midgley. “We are always talking about our philosophy, so when we want to announce initiatives and when we want to get a message across it is relatively easy, and it is not too much of a difficult conversation.” ●

GREG ORME, GUEST SPEAKER

Senior internal recruiter Abi Agyeman and operations director Tracy Jeffery are delighted to receive their trophy

MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR MANAGERS AND/OR EXECUTIVES Amoria Bond ► Developing almost of all its leaders internally has resulted in a minimal need to recruit senior talent externally at Amoria Bond.

The international recruiter, which picked up honours for Most Effective Professional Development Strategy for Managers and/or WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 43

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Executives at the Awards, has developed 35 of its 36 leaders internally.

Under its professional development programme, managers undertake an in-house workshop called ‘Stepping into Leadership’.

The programme, launched four years ago, sees an in-house team of six supervise executives’ and managers’ development through day-to-day performance coaching, along with mentoring from senior managers and directors.

Investment in the firm’s future leaders has not come cheap with £450k a year spent overall on the professional development for managers and executives — equivalent to £12.5k per head. But according to managing director Gareth Lloyd, that investment has paid off.

He told Recruiter: “Last year we increased EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] by 76% to £2m, on an increase of gross profit of 31%, with only an increase in sales heads of 18%. That’s probably the best example of ROI [return on investment].”

Despite this success, the firm does not intend to rest on its laurels in terms of the programme’s ongoing development, Lloyd adds. “I think we are constantly adapting and improving it right now,” he says. ●

“Retention must remain our primary objective” G U Y H AY W A R D , CEO GOODMAN MASSON

MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR NEWCOMERS Purple Consultancy ► Removing responsibility for training new recruits from busy managers took training and development at design and digital recruiter Purple Consultancy, winners of the Most Effective Professional Development for Newcomers Award at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards, to the next level, according to the company’s founder.

“It is difficult for the existing management team to have the time to do this [train and develop staff] in the cut and thrust of daily business life,” founder Toby Thwaites told Recruiter. He said the decision to appoint Matthew Williams as head of training and development to run the company’s Academy when it opened in September 2014 made Purple’s team picks a huge difference. “We always had a focus on training, but in order for us to primarily train people with up their award from Awards judge Tara no experience, we wanted to have Lescott (l) someone specifically to do this. To have someone, who is focused 100% on providing specific and intensive training, is probably the biggest difference to how it was before,” said Thwaites.

Williams had been instrumental in developing Purple’s 13-week Academy training programme, said Thwaites, and this enabled Purple to attract and develop a regular flow of people “with the personal attributes we look for”.

Thwaites said the £150k investment in the Academy was money well spent.

“Of the 10 trainees who have started in the Academy, six have gone on to join the main business, and the chances of them having a long and successful career are a lot higher having experienced the Academy regimen,” he said. ●

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 45

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Speakers include: KEYNOTE SPEAKER Dr John Sullivan, internationally-renowned HR and recruitment thought-leader from Silicon Valley

SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW – BUILD YOUR REPUTATION WITH CANDIDATES AND CLIENTS THROUGH TOP QUALITY EVENTS AND COMMUNICATION Toby Babb, founder and managing director, Harrington Starr

EMPLOYER BRANDING AND THE REVOLUTION IN RECRUITMENT MARKETING

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CO M M U N I T Y

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

E

From climbing mountains to leaping off skyscrapers, what some of you are up to when you’re not recruiting DRIVING SUCCESS VIA Recruiter Alexander Daniels is once again sponsoring businessman David Walley’s car in a prestigious Porsche racing m campaign. Last year, Birmingham and Bristol-based Alexander he Daniels sponsored David’s Porsche GT3 in his maiden season as a driver in the 997 GT3 Cup. The recruiter is continuing to support him as he steps up into the GTC group in a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car.

DE POEL’S PRESTON REACHES PEAK VIA

SANDERS SCALES CITY HEIGHTS VIA

Matthew Sanders, daredevil chief executive of Cheshirebased recruitment group Brookfield Rose, has become one of 40 intrepid adventurers to take part in the ‘City Three Peaks Challenge’ — the longest civilian abseil and the first time anyone has ever abseiled from the top of three of the City of London’s most iconic buildings: The Gherkin, The Cheesegrater and The WalkieTalkie.

GLEESON GOLF VIA

Andrew Preston, managing director of temporary labour procurer de Poel and sister companies de Poel health+care and de Poel Education, has raised over £3k for charity by climbing the highest peak in North Africa. The daredevil MD climbed Mount Toubkal, in the Atlas Mountains, in support of Scope to raise money for people with disabilities and their families across the UK. We’re sure he feels on top of the world!

TW I TT E R Josh @jhannagan Sep 30 @RecruiterMag set up at the @recexpo come and see us at E10 #recruitment

Birmingham-based Gleeson Recruitment Group, corporate partners of Midlands Air Ambulance, recently took to the green to fundraise for its chosen charity. Over £1k was raised on the golfing day, with the team of (l-r) James Hemphill, Grant Thornton associate director, tax; Jim Little, jobseeking financial director; David Corns, ADAS group financial controller; and Sam Perry, Gleeson business partner, named champions.

ADECCO’S WIN4YOUTH TEAM CONQUERS TRIATHLON VIA A team of 80 Adecco Win4Youth ‘ambassadors’ from 37 countries completed the Mallorca Škoda Triathlon as the highlight event of the 2015 Win4Youth project.

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

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

Attention all women recruitment leaders!

Call to action to bring on the next generation

BY TARA LESCOTT

↗ TARA LESCOTT is managing director of rec-to-rec agency Recruiter Republic

I JOINED THE recruitment industry via a male-dominated company and a male-dominated industry. It was tough, and I learned fast that to survive, gain promotion and be accepted, I had to play like the boys. At times it was uncomfortable, at times it was unbearable and at times it was fantastic.

However, the end result was that I set out on my own to launch my own firm. Yes, I had always had an ambition to own my own business but the final push to go it alone was the realisation that I had reached my limit in my current situation. After having my second child I could not accept the compromise it would take to balance work and home without losing income or status. I refused to compromise.

I got lucky. I had the resources and experience to take control. But not all women in recruitment have the same choices. Our industry is hideously short on talent — so why do so many firms fail to retain their female workforce?

➊ LACK OF FEMALE ROLE MODELS There just isn’t enough proof of what women can achieve

➋ UNEQUAL PAY/ PROMOTIONAL CRITERIA Leaving recruiters feeling undervalued but powerless to change it

➌ INFLEXIBILITY FOR WORKING MUMS Resulting in too many women leaving the industry altogether

This can and should change. Not only is it unfair, it’s just plain bad business. Look at the number of women vs men in leadership roles across the industry. Until there are more women leaders there won’t be any lasting change So how do we advance more women into leadership roles?

We can mentor, develop and encourage the current population of female recruiters. We can teach them how to navigate the challenges that typically cause issues for women and give them the confidence and the skills to tackle them head on. We can develop their management skills and we can champion flexible working options for working mums.

This alone would have a huge impact on our industry, resulting in much higher retention and more balanced management teams and boards.

So this is a call to female recruitment leaders to reach out to the next generation of women in recruitment. Anyone that has faced any of these challenges has the power to help others to advance by sharing their wisdom and knowledge as well as providing much needed support.

I’m honoured to have been asked to join a mentoring group to help fellow women recruiters but I wonder what could be achieved if every senior woman in recruitment today took it upon themselves to mentor one fellow recruiter? What could the impact be? What if every woman in recruitment sought out a mentor and asked for help?

Let’s stop talking about it and harness the power we actually have to make a real change. I’m in — are you? ●

RECRUITMENT JOB ACTIVITY ANALYSIS of data compiled through Recruiter Jobs, Recruiter magazine’s job board, reveals the importance of location, with Greater London being a jobs hotspot, and jobs overseas being of particular interest to candidates within certain sectors.

G R E ATE R LO N D O N

Greater London came out on top when it came to the share of recruitment jobs, with a third of all jobs (33.55%) registered in the last month. South-East England and East Anglia were the next most popular locations, with 17.2% and 12.1% respectively. The healthy state of the jobs market in these regions as indicated by these figures was confirmed by the interest of jobseekers on the site, with Greater London seeing a 16% increase in applications per job, and East Anglia a 6% jump.

33.55% OF ALL JOBS WERE REGISTERED IN GREATER LONDON – A THIRD SHARE

Focusing in further on Greater London, the sectors with the biggest increase in jobs per user in the last month were property (+382%) and construction/built environment (+325%) Over the three months ended 30 September, the figures for these sectors were even higher at 408% and 422% respectively.

+382% INCREASE IN JOBS PER USER IN PROPERTY SECTOR

42 RECRUITER

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

E

Lack of ambiguity This may be holding back your in-house recruiting career

BY ANDREW MOUNTNEY

↗

%

CO M M U N I T Y

ANDREW MOUNTNEY is founding partner at in-house recruitment specialist Aspen In-House

▶ Looking at salaries within Greater London, more than 68% of all vacancies were advertised with a salary below £60k. These were also the jobs that saw the highest increase in the number of job ads per user.

103% RISE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS DIGITAL/ INTERACTIVE SECTOR

M

68% SALARY <£60K

◀ The digital/ interactive sector saw a 103% rise in the number of applications per job in the last month, and a 48% rise in the number of applications per user.

More than one in five (23.88%) of the jobs in digital/interactive were based overseas, with 17.91% based in Greater London.

Overseas jobs saw the biggest rise in interest from candidates with a 633% increase in applications per job, and a 190% rise in job applications per user. Digital/interactive recruitment jobs in Asia and Australasia were particularly attractive to candidates as evidenced by a 90% jump in job applications per user.

633% RISE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS DIGITAL/ INTERACTIVE SECTOR

+325%

INCREASE IN JOBS PER USER IN CONSTRUCTION/ BUILT ENVIRONMENT SECTOR

M

23.88% BASED OVERSEAS

17.91% BASED IN GREATER LONDON

M

THE CONVERSATION around in-house recruitment gives the impression the function is moving to the next phase. The emphasis is on the long term: workforce planning, talent communities, better understanding and application of data affecting recruitment and retention.

Here’s the thing. The main theme of the conversations happening with hiring organisations is different: “We need people who can handle ambiguity.”

This means different things to different people guided by the size and type of organisation.

It’s having an impact on hiring decisions for in-house recruiters particularly at leadership and business partner level, and it’s hard to prepare for an interview.

Here’s what hiring organisations mean: ▶ Our hiring volumes change • Expect to go from 10 open requirements to 40 and back down to 20 in a week ▶ Our hiring managers are inconsistent • We have a process and structure for selection but our hiring population is still picking at the edges of it • Sometimes they operate way outside process in engagement of agencies or approach to interviewing ▶ We have no process • We interview and make offers.

Beyond that we have no common ground ▶ Everyone thinks they own recruitment • You will be working with a hiring manager, their manager wants to know what’s going on, there’s a dotted line to an HRBP [HR business

partner] you’ve never spoken with and the internal mobility team wants to prioritise an at-risk employee for the role but as you own the req, so you herd the cats ▶ We have no system • We operate off a combination of Excel and a shared drive You’re starting to get the picture… You may be thinking, how do people work like this? The reality is, many people have to.

Organisations are better at identifying how this affects recruitment, hence the statement: “We need someone who’s used to dealing with ambiguity.”

It’s hard to prepare a CV for this without background information but you may see the ambiguity requirement on a job description.

This is more clearly tested at interview as opposed to being assessed on CV but here are some of the things you can do: ● Demonstrate how you dealt with significant changes in volume — not just the numbers — but how you responded with your delivery. ● Make clear who your stakeholders are. Do you have a defined small group of them or is this diverse and eclectic? ● Have you been in a recruiting function while a business, or HR, go through a change programme?

Share that experience.

While there are great opportunities in organisations who look for people comfortable with ambiguity, realise each situation is different and not for all. If the interview process leaves you feeling uncomfortable, and you do not feel you can be the person to work through the change, you may not be right for the job. ● WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 43

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E CAREERS RS S CO M M UNITY

“Our dog’s part of the family, so we like to be able to take him with us as well” MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER Earliest dream job: Professional tennis player. The first Wimbledon I watched was when Boris Becker won when he was 17 years old and I thought I would love to throw myself around Centre Court.

↗

How did you get into recruitment?

I was working in the Czech Republic as a brand manager for Murphy’s, the Irish stout. In 1999, I met a fantastic Irish lady from Antal International at the St Patrick’s Day ball in Prague, who asked if I had ever thought of joining a search business. I had no idea about it at all but it appealed to me because it was with people. So on April’s Fools Day in 1999 I started in executive search in Prague.

n d a y to a h it g lso rtun youn in a I po y a p op ke m to S y a l t mi fa

MARK HAMILL is chief executive of executive search firm SpenglerFox

Mark Hamill

Has your name helped or hindered you in the world of recruitment?

I don’t think having the same name as the actor who plays Luke Skywalker in Star Wars has quite helped me get reservations at restaurants around the world, but it’s always put a smile on people’s faces. And I was a huge fan of the movies as a kid, so as a kid it was fantastic.

What do you love most about your current role? I think the opportunity every day to hear something new and develop a new relationship. I have a huge passion to hear what makes people tick.

What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career? Probably yet to come. There’s been so many highs. I had a candidate who rejected a role I offered him four years ago. Two years ago he asked if we would still be interested in him joining the team and he’s turned into one of our strongest practice leaders around the world.

44 RECRUITER

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NOVEMBER 2015

Do you prefer a staycation or holiday abroad? Holiday abroad always. I have twin six-year-old boys and a 12-year-old dog. Our dog’s part of the family, so we like to be able to take him with us as well. We hop in the car and drive on the Continent.

Outside the office, where would you like to interview a candidate or be interviewed? Breakfasts are great, lunches are good and I drink a lot of coffee, so meeting people in a café or a new place I always find interesting.

What’s your top job to fill at the moment? I’m doing a president EMEA for a technology company.

Laugh or cry, what did your most memorable candidate make you want to do and why? I had a candidate who was a successful entrepreneur and had built a business

in Central & Eastern Europe. He said ‘I have built the business up to a certain point, now I want to give my kids an experience in a different market’. He took his young kids to Spain for a year.

The kids got a more international experience and the family had a whole different family experience. Later, I also had an opportunity to take my young family to Spain, and we spent six months there for the winter.

The inspiration from that candidate was less a laugh or a cry moment — it was more a story I was inspired by.

Make us an offer we can’t refuse.

For me, I would always give a moneyback guarantee if the client is not satisfied with the work we’ve done — up and until the shortlist. ●

IMAG ES | AKIN FALOPE / DREAM ST IM E / ISTOCK

15/10/2015 14:17

EMBRACING CHANGE... the future of umbrella companies R

employment business?” – for this is the potential reality if your contractors opt out of using umbrella organisations.

As one of the UK’s largest umbrella and accountancy service providers, we have had calls from concerned recruiters who have heard that some small umbrella companies are planning to close if the legislation goes ahead from next April.

During our conversations with recruiters, we have discussed the changes in previous years and the shift away from the agencies offering an in-house PAYE service, where the contractor becomes the employee of the agency. Many have informed us that they do not want to go down this route for a number of reasons:

obust umbrella companies will survive the government’s proposed changes to travel and subsistence allowances for contractors, despite reports to the contrary.

However, we do not believe that the tax changes will be the death of all umbrella companies. For many of the UK’s 4.5 million self-employed workers, well run umbrella companies will remain a viable alternative to setting up their own limited company - or simply trying to take care of their tax matters themselves.

In the countdown to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement, when HMRC is expected to be given the green light to stop most contractors claiming travel and subsistence expenses, freelance workers and recruiters must consider their options on how to deal with the changes.

Confusion about the best financial model to deal with tax issues is not going to alleviate the concerns of millions of contractors, who may stand to lose around £150 a week under the proposed changes. Yet confidence in their financial arrangements is pivotal to ensuring that they are not under HMRC’s scrutiny.

Danbro supports more than 7,000 freelance workers, with over 4,000 choosing to operate through Danbro’s umbrella company. Almost 20% of those freelancers don’t claim any expenses, yet still find the model suits their needs.

For recruitment agencies the question is “Do you really want to become an

1. The increased costs of employment • Employers NI • Statutory Sick Pay • Statutory Maternity Pay, and Paternity Pay • Holiday Pay • Dealing with employees Attachment of Earnings demands • Pension auto- enrolment contributions (by 2018 the employer contribution will be 3%) 2. Additional fixed support costs • Increased number of full time employees in the payroll department • Additional software costs • Additional HR support costs 3. Increased possibility of losses if the contractor numbers decline 4. Lack of focus on the core service of recruitment Well run umbrella companies already have the appropriate processes, systems, staff and structure to operate as an ‘employment organisation’, looking after the interests, rights and concerns of the contractors.

Many contractors and recruiters have realised that they should work with a trustworthy specialist provider, who normally would be chartered accountants,

Damian Broughton, Managing Director of chartered management accountants Danbro

chartered management accountants or chartered certified accountants. They should review the financial status of umbrella organisations to ensure that they are solid and secure - use Companies House website and credit reference agencies.

Contractors and recruiters should beware of any financial schemes which sound too good to be true – and alarm bells should ring if the provider is operating off shore tax systems.

Whatever option contractors decide to choose to handle their tax matters, it is critical that they take sound, professional advice now and don’t wait until next year.

To find out more about how these changes could effect your contractors, contact us today on:

01253 600 140

www.danbro.co.uk | enquiries@danbro.co.uk

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E EMPLOYABILITY CO M M UNITY

ARROWS HITS THE SPOT HELPING INDIAN ORPHANS

BY SARAH MARQUET

O

n a July 2014 visit to Delhi, Arrows Group chief operating officer Adrian Treacy was being driven back to his hotel from a client meeting late at night when he came literally face-to-face with poverty and homelessness.

Stuck in one of Delhi’s plentiful traffic jams, Treacy looked over to a motorway flyover. “And there was a young girl… and she had a piece of carpet,” Treacy recalls in a conversation with Recruiter.

“She was about three years of age, so the same age as my eldest son. I thought ‘God, she’s young, where are her parents?’.

“I just looked over and was wondering what she was going to do with this carpet, and in between this massive group of people she literally just put it

down on the floor and lay down to go to sleep.”

She was not the first homeless person he had seen in the country, but as she was about the same age as his son, it “really hit home”.

Hotel staff had advised him not to get out of cars while travelling through the city at night, so he was therefore unable to personally help that one girl. But that “shocking” encounter, as he described it, led to the creation of Arrows Foundation, a trust affiliated with the technology recruiter, which has developed an employability and fundraising programme to support both individual children and an orphanage in India.

Initially, the idea was to buy a house, staff it and run it as an orphanage. But they soon realised their efforts would be more effective in raising money and, perhaps more importantly, offering their skills, he says.

“Our skills aren’t in looking after an orphanage; our skills are actually enabling these children to get skills to work, give them opportunities for jobs and then fundraise to help around running the orphanages.”

So Arrows teamed

up with an orphanage for girls in Gurgaon, a financial and industrial centre near Delhi in the National Capital Region.

The orphanage is one of 13 run by non-government organisation (NGO) Udayan Care, an organisation that had been recommended by a director of Arrows’ Indian business.

“They were like

“I looked over to a motorway flyover and there was a young girl… she had a piece of carpet and she literally put it down on the floor and lay down to go to sleep” ADRIAN TREACY

46 RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2015

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‘the money’s great’, but the big thing they [the girls] need is an opportunity,” Treacy says.

The girls from that orphanage — all 13 of them, aged 5 to 15 — now go to Arrows’ offices to learn skills in technology, marketing, design, sales, and so on, but also to get a taste of working life. They will do so for at least two years.

The orphans might not have otherwise not been able to access such work experience.

“When I was looking for work experience as a kid,” Treacy explains, “my parents would have been able to help me, or they’d be able to say ‘Oh, I’ve got a friend, you can go for a week’s work and sit in an office and do a bit of admin’. They [the orphans] have got no one to help them.”

Increasing the urgency of the orphans’ plight is a looming deadline: when they turn 18, the girls have to leave the orphanage. In some cases, they can go to halfway houses, but they still have to work, which is “very difficult” to find.

“So our idea is if we get them experience, even if they don’t work for us, they can then go out and work with our clients or they can at least say they’ve worked for an international company… that’s going to be a lot more powerful than them going out and saying I’ve done well in my education but I haven’t got a job.”

As Arrows head of marketing Ash Bakrania points out, the job market in India is highly competitive; even for young people with a roof over their heads and family connections, it is tough to find a job. Kids without that stand no chance, he says.

Along with the skills Arrows is helping these girls

Th th e gir orp e Ud ls fro Gu han ayan m reg rgao age Car e off ula n co in wo ices rly to me i r i n n A k an d t expe India rrow rai rie fo s' nin nc r e g

to build, the experience is also growing their personal confidence. Treacy says a “big thing” for the girls is just getting the train to the Arrows office and understanding what actually going to work means.

The actual work the girls do within Arrows is classed as volunteer work, but all will be awarded a certificate at the end to prove what they have done.

In addition, Arrows has set up an e-volunteering programme whereby anyone from around the world can volunteer to help the girls via videocalling platform Skype and, one hour at a time, help them with their English or any other skills to increase their employability.

“So we’re not trying to change the world but everybody can help somebody and if we can help one person gain employment, that would be a great thing… it would be a bonus if we can do lots and lots.”

Some Arrows staff have taken on the volunteering spirit — “quite a big thing in India”, Bakrania explains — by independently developing and putting on courses for the girls, focusing on areas such as interview techniques.

Arrows has extended its support to some 18-year-olds who have left Udayan Care’s orphanage, by also helping them with interview skills.

This is 'project one' for the Arrows Foundation and it will consider scalability. Both Treacy and Bakrania make it clear the effort is not just an Arrows-specific project either, saying they have already got some of their customers wanting to get involved. “The more the merrier,” Treacy says.

The ideal situation, they said, is to sustain an orphanage long term.

Initially, it is focusing on raising £10k to sustain this particular one for one year.

Of what they raise, 90% goes directly to the girls, to cover costs such as food, clothing, education and counselling.

The first money-raising challenge will see an Arrows team scale Mont Blanc in France next summer. They are also considering implementing a voluntary salary sacrifice scheme for staff. ●

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 47

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15/10/2015 12:23

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14/10/2015 12:12

The challenge SPO NSO RE D COLUMN R A N D S T A D I N H O U S E S E R V I C E S

The right chemistry Bio Products Laboratory’s growth plans were held back by inefficient recruitment processes and difficulties sourcing the right calibre of applicant on time to meet its production plans.

Bringing on-site business partner Randstad Inhouse Services on board has resulted in instant cost savings – and a better quality of match

C

Darren Cox, Chief Human Resource Officer, Bio Products Laboratory Sally Cleary, Managing Director, Randstad Inhouse Services

hemistry is an integral part of professional relationships and the recruitment process – as well as being at the heart of everything Bio Products Laboratory (BPL) does. As a manufacturer of life-saving blood plasma products for the past 65 years, it is committed to both current and future patient care, and is well known for its innovation and professionalism. Employing almost 650 people at its Hertfordshire base – and a further 1,700 in the US – the business is experiencing significant growth. However, its recruitment processes were not delivering the required volume of production, scientific and support staff to keep pace with its rate of expansion.

Having taken the reins as Chief Human Resources Officer at BPL in March, Darren Cox was immediately confronted with the task of growing the workforce by almost 25% and reducing the time to fill the advertised vacancies. In fact, time to hire was far above optimal levels. “Our hiring managers were spending almost a third of their time sifting through speculative applications, many of which were from unqualified and unsuitable candidates – there was no quality control process in place,” Cox says. “The conversion rate from interviews to actual hires was as low as 10%... But there was no clear plan to affect change.”

Cox then approached Randstad Inhouse Services (RIS) Managing Director Sally Cleary about potential solutions to BPL’s recruitment dilemma.

A plan was swiftly drawn up. The first step saw an on-site workforce management team from RIS set up at the BPL complex. With the Randstad team of Black Belt Lean Six Sigma-trained workforce analysts supporting the on-site team, they first audited the current situation, then created a project plan, and started to overhaul the existing processes.

BPL saw immediate results. Hiring managers’ time was freed up instantly as they no longer had to sift through poor quality applications. “Assuming control of applications through one central point and pre-screening applicants immediately removed many of the inefficiencies in the system,” says Cleary.

Employees compared the change to switching off a leaky tap that instantly freed up more time for doing their day jobs running BPL’s business.

Time savings weren’t the only benefit to BPL; the business calculates that it saved over £50,000 in the first four months alone. “The impact has been so immediate, that the rest of our business is desperate to work with this solution so that they can see a similar result for their teams,” Cox said.

In fact, he pointed out, “we’ve had to manage line manager expectations about how quickly we can roll the proposition out to the broader business because we want to make sure that we bed down this new way of working first. It’s been like holding the reins of a runaway horse.”

He adds, “Given the issues we’ve faced previously, it’s a great problem to have.”

The time taken to fill the vacancies has been significantly reduced. The quality of interviews has dramatically improved, and BPL is pleased with the speed at which RIS has brought about positive change. “We see this as very much a long-term relationship and regard the on-site staff as an extension of our own HR team,” adds Cox. In terms of successful chemistry, the relationship between BPL and RIS clearly has all the necessary elements.●

↗

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN THE CHALLENGE? Contact Tom Culley at tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 49

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E RECRUITMENT WWW. RE CRUITE R .CO.UK

View the latest jobs at www.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: emmanuel.nettey@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6234

Chase R2R Just for Recruiters!

At Chase R2R, we place recruitment staff into roles across sector, throughout the UK. Here are a few snippets: Divisional Manager, Office Support: Milton Keynes, £40k Basic.

Senior Consultant, IT: Birmingham, £30k Basic.

Divisional Manager, Construction: Nottingham, £30k Basic.

Manager, Accountancy & Finance: Leeds, £35k Basic.

Branch Manager, Education: Northampton, £33k Basic.

Senior Consultant, R2R: Sheffield, £21-28k Basic.

Fantastic packages available for Consultants Upgrade your life in 2016 – now is the best time for recruiters to demand an excellent package. Invest in yourself today.

Working with Chase will give you access to: Best Packages Available

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www.chase-r2r.com 58 RECRUITER

REC Nov15.indd 58

OCTOBER 2015

info@chase-r2r.com 0114 223 6000 15/10/2015 09:09

View the latest jobs at www.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: emmanuel.nettey@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6234

DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR Construction London City

Package £110,000

|

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

RECRUITMENT

E

to £50,000 Base + Comm + Bonus + BeneÀts

A senior level recruitment role with an excellent package is now available for a Manager within the Construction sector that is capable of leading and developing a team in London. This is your opportunity to join the management team of an established and highly successful built environment recruitment Àrm.

Using your existing expertise, you will be recruiting for management level candidates within the construction sector while also focusing on leading and developing your team of existing Consultants.

Working within an environment of high quality service you will Ànd the ethos within this Àrm is based on successful outcomes and client satisfaction rather than pure KPI’s and as such offers a progressive working environment.

This role would suit a strong manager that currently combines billing and management that would like to focus on senior level appointments with a Àrm that operate an elite and grown-up working environment.

Reporting directly to the MD, your peer set will represent some of the most high proÀle and biggest billers in the industry.

This role will suit a frustrated manager that wants to have a direct reporting line in to the owner of a business, wants the freedom to run their own division and seeks a respected and aspirational brand.

Call Richard Lescott today to Ànd out more: 0203 301 0789 or 07907 568165

HEAD of INTERIM HR London

Package c£80,000

|

to £42,000 base + Comm + Zero Threshold + Guarantee + BeneÀts

One of the UK’s preferred HR recruitment brands now seek a senior level recruitment professional to lead and develop their emerging HR Interim practice.

As a long-established and high-performing brand within all areas of HR recruitment this Àrm have a really smart and effective way of embedding themselves with elite brands and as such have an impressive client portfolio.

With strong perm and search practices they now wish to focus on the expansion of their interim practice offering an experienced HR Recruiter a great opportunity to really “own” their own area of the business reporting to Director level.

Working with existing clients that already respect this brand you will raise the proÀle of this Àrm’s interim capability and strengthen their already impressive candidate pool. While you will be expected to develop new business this probably only represents 10-20% of your role, the focus here is on maintaining and further developing existing accounts while generating highly sought HR talent.

For more information about how you could be working at this brilliant Àrm please contact Tara Lescott today on 0203 096 6338 or 07598 236769

For more great opportunities in recruitment please visit our website today

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WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 59

REC Nov15.indd 59

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

A DVA N C ED ME DI CAL P ER S ON N EL SE RVI CE S: The US medical staffing recruiter has appointed Glen French as chief financial officer to join its leadership team.

A DVA N C ED R ESOURCE S G R OUP : The Chicago-based recruiter has hired Jim Johnson as chief operating officer.

A D EC C O : Nicole Burth Tschudi is the recruitment giant’s new chief executive for Switzerland.

AGILE-1: The international workforce management solutions company has a new country general manager for France in the form of François de Yrigoyen.

B LU E O CTO P U S : The Yorkshire-based recruiter Blue Octopus has appointed David Gawthorpe to the newly-created role of head of sales & training.

BRI GHTWORK GROUP: The Scottish recruiter has hired Helen Jones (below, left) as its new financial controller.

BURBE RRY: The luxury fashion house has hired Leanne Wood to the newly created role of chief people and corporate affairs officer.

CHG: The US-based recruiter CHG Healthcare Services has appointed Mark Law as chief operating officer.

COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR: Richelle Luther has been recruited as senior vice president and chief HR officer at the US-based firm.

CRF HE ALTH: The healthcare company has appointed Christopher Whitbread as director of global talent acquisition.

DHR I N TE RN AT IONAL: Global executive search firm DHR International has 52 RECRUITER

NOVEMBER 2015

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Fast food chain McDonald’s has promoted David Fairhurst to the newly-expanded role of corporate executive vice president, chief people officer.

The role sees Fairhurst oversee global HR with additional responsibility for global training. He succeeds Rich Floersch, executive vice president and chief HR officer, who will retire at the end of the year.

Fairhurst joined the global restaurant chain in 2005 as vice president of people and was promoted to CPO of Northern Europe in 2007.

In 2011, he was appointed CPO of Europe.

Earlier this year, he became corporate senior vice president, international HR and strategy, with responsibility for global design and systems.

Fairhurst will be relocating to McDonald’s global headquarters in Chicago to take up his new role.

promoted Karin WarwickThomson to managing partner, global insurance practice, along with Ciara Finegan-Taylor (left) as principal.

ERESPONSE: The recruitment training and development specialist crowd safety division has hired event security and crowd safety expert Robbie Naish (right) to help to deliver a variety of crowd safety, dynamics and security-related training programmes to the

company’s clients across the world.

EXPECTAT IONS RECRUIT MENT S E RV IC E S : The multi-sector recruiter has made Dawn Walker Warwickshire regional director.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short 15/10/2015 12:23

HA C K ERR AN K: Former Facebook executive Grady Burnett joins as president and chief operating officer.

HEID R IC K & STRUGGL E S : The global executive search firm has hired Thomas Snyder as global practice managing partner for consumer markets. Meanwhile David Pruner joins as partner within its industrial practice.

KOR N F ER RY: Kathy Vrabeck joins the international executive search firm as partner in its Los Angeles office. Amanda Williams joins as client partner in its global financial markets practice.

L A U R EN C E S I MON S: The legal recruiter has appointed Clare Butler as global managing director to oversee the firm’s global operations.

MA N P OW ERGROUP : The recruitment giant’s new director of talent is Jo Pursaill.

Stefano Scabbio has been promoted to president of the group’s Mediterranean and Eastern European operations

from regional managing director for Italy and Iberia (Portugal and Spain).

MRINETWORK CANADA: The Toronto-based recruiter has appointed Mark Cosens as vice president and general manager for the group’s Canadian operations.

division of global specialist recruiter PageGroup has made Nicola Taylor operating director of its HR and secretarial & business support businesses across London.

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

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 7556 Giorgio Romano

deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk

giorgio.romano@redactive.co.uk

P E DE RSE N & PART NERS:

Contributing writers Colin Cottell, Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend

Luis Vilatela joins the international executive search firm to head up its new Mexico City office as country manager for Mexico.

Meanwhile Manish Joshi joins as principal within the firm’s Mumbai team in India along with Dan Nathan as principal within its London office.

RAN DSTAD HEALT HCARE: Abigail Tremble is the new president of the global recruiter’s healthcare brand in the US. Jos Schut joins as chief HR officer for Asia-Pacific.

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

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

S E L L I CK PART NERSHIP: Martin Parr joins as manager of the legal staffing specialist’s qualified finance division.

S PE N CE R O GDEN: The global recruiter has appointed Richard Thompson as the firm’s UK rail division as sector head, Mark Jackson as head of the firm’s aerospace & defence division and Will Carter as head of its nonenergy construction division.

biography, to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk p60-61_recruiter_peoplemoves.indd 61

Reporters Sarah Marquet, Graham Simons sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk

vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

Creative director Mark Parry Picture researcher Akin Falope Picture editor/photographer (work experience) Jessica Bell ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 7607 Sales manager Tom Culley tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk

Senior sales executive Josh Hannagan

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

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

RECRUITER AWARDS/ INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS +44 (0)20 7880 6236 Events Rebecca West rebecca.west@redactive.co.uk

josh.hannagan@recruiter.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 redactive@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 Abacus e-Media T: +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email redactive@abacusemedia.com CONTRIBUTIONS

Fresh Partnership Senior consultant Generalist, engineering £19k-£25k + bonuses Dudley, West Midlands

GNB Partnership Executive search consultant Construction/built environment City of London

CONTACTS

PAGE P E RSONNEL: The

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Hudson Recruitment administrator Office support/secretarial £negotiable Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Redactive Publishing Ltd 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP 020 7880 6200

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.

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Recruiter is also sent to all REC members

Scan here to get your own copy of

15/10/2015 12:23

E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY

Gregory Allen Unleashing the wolves

My first foray into Recruiter magazine followed an appearance some years ago on a panel at an APSCo [Association of Professional Staffing Companies] event at which I made the statement: “Don’t mess with our brand.” I went on to discuss how recruitment agencies had the responsibility of multi-million pound brands when they took on board resourcing projects.

I think about this statement often. I remember that when working for a small start-up, we used our agency network to evangelise our brand and our EVP [employer value proposition] across the resource pool of software engineers. And it worked.

The technique of partnering closely with agencies was used over and over again, enabling us to recruit for different behaviours and competencies, and to map in the changing EVP, thus delivering to the business the fast-moving requirements of a start-up.

Such strategies are all about unleashing the wolf…

A wild beast, ruthless, the top predator, top of its game.

Specialist agencies will drive return on investment.

Part of the recruiter’s responsibility is about taming the wolf, while keeping all of the wolves’ natural killer instincts.

I have a team of recruiters who are brilliant, but no one is good at everything — the 80/20 rule applies. We are

54 RECRUITER

good at 80% of what we do and not so for the other 20%.

This 20% is the sweet spot for agency usage. This is where you get the bang for the buck, in terms of 100% focus on specialist and rarely sought-after skills. It is an arena where you might not have played in regularly or at all. Here is where you need to make your voice heard above the rest, to attract and retain the right resource.

Here is where all your focus and investment in your agency pays off.

Getting a good agency mapped into your brand and EVP is great — then watch them go to market with the elegance of a true hunter, complete with erudite cadence and precision.

When I worked for a larger company, we had over 200 agents — a pack of hungry wolves, dangerous to candidates and customers alike. Navigating where and who was doing what was a Herculean task.

But we tempered the behaviours, through setting up recruitment boards and resource councils.

By offering information and being open to true

performance and delivery, these once feral and entropic services are transformed into the skills of the honed predator — all the while your organisation is transforming from an agency-biased delivery model to a direct model.

The agencies are now used for the right purpose and are given their own responsibilities, frameworks and payment terms when required, rather than just ‘spray and pray’.

Embody the brand and EVP to your agencies, and spend time with them so they can become the evangelist, mirroring your behaviours and messages.

Ultimately it’s not about domesticating the wolf.

It’s about using the natural instincts of the hunter to hunt the prey you desire.

There will be a time to unleash the wolves in the war for talent and a time for controlling them — so that they are not too savage but not yet tamed to become man’s best friend.

That edge will be worth paying for, and will drive revenue in your organisation through filling roles that you

don’t have the expertise to find.

For myself, I celebrate the wolf inside of me — for it was my days in an agency that made me as good a recruiter as I am today. ●

+ Gregory Allen is global head of resourcing at Lloyd’s Register and winner of In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year at 2015’s Recruiter Awards

NOVEMBER 2015

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