Business intelligence for recruitment and resourcing professionals
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C R ONT ENT S 37
INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters
20 A
NEWS
05 Apprenticeship Levy costs hit recruiters hard Large firms say the levy is a millstone around their necks 06 Team is key for success of HR tech start-ups Having a great team is the most important prerequisite for the success of a new HR tech company
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2O THE BIG STORY The 11 most influential in-house recruiters
In-house recruiters are finding new ways to seek out talent beyond the usual places
07 Start-up of the Month: Hesketh James Ex-Kellan Group’s Toby Holt and Amanda Hesketh on their new venture 08 This was the month that was... 10 Contracts & Deals
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TRENDS
12 Insight How Hudson jumped into the Digital Age
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Tech & Tools Is it time to give feedback to recruiters?
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32 13 tips you ought to know about insurance
Our simple steps show how you can minimise risk to you and your contractors
07 HOT 1OO deadline What to do if your company qualifies for Recruiter’s HOT 1OO league table
FEATURES
E COMMUNITY 37 Social Network 40 Community Careers: In-House Careers 41 Business Advice 42 Employability 44 My brilliant recruitment career: Amaranta Gollogly, Profiles Creative 46 Recruitment Advertising 48 Movers & Shakers 49 Recruiter Contacts 50 The Last Word: Gregory Allen
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INTERACTION Viewpoint Roland Sheehan, director at TFS Healthcare Soundbites
I M AG E S | S H UT T ER STO C K / ISTO C K / P ETER SEAR LE
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UPDATE
WE LCO M E
LEADER
H
umans are alive and well in the world of recruitment and talent acquisition, as our annual showcase of top talent among in-house recruiters reveals this month! The 2017 line-up of the 11 Most
Influential In-House Recruiters demonstrates that imagination powers the drive for innovation in recruitment, channelled by clear-eyed pragmatism and troubleshooting capabilities. Meet 11 of the most creative and exciting brains in recruitment starting on p20.
“Roland’s thoughts deserve attention from decision makers who can focus resources where they should go”
Our ‘blog’ columns (Viewpoint, The Last Word) this month feature very personal takes on, respectively, the staffing crisis staring down the NHS, and how those responsible for in-house recruiting and hiring need to make a greater commitment to
improving the candidate experience. With regard to the latter topic, we’re not talking bells, whistles and a ticker-tape welcoming parade for volumes of applicants; what Gregory Allen is hearing candidates say is that they want feedback. I wish we could have published Roland Sheehan’s Viewpoint column in its entirety. Roland, now of TFS Healthcare, is a former nurse and cares deeply about the future of our healthcare system. His thoughts deserve attention from decision makers who can focus resources where they should go. Roll on Roland, and keep speaking out!
BY COLIN COTTELL
Chrissi Evans, legal director Randstad UK & MENA
MORE THAN FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE INTRODUCTION of the government’s Apprenticeship Levy, senior executives at two of the UK’s largest recruiters say that together it is costing them around £4.5m a year, and that fears raised about the levy before it came in are being realised. The legal director at Randstad UK & MENA told Recruiter the levy “was a millstone around the necks of recruitment companies”. However, she went on to say she is hopeful that the government can be persuaded to see sense and change course. The levy had been widely criticised before its introduction as being unfair on large recruiters in particular, because the £3m annual wage bill threshold that has to be reached before an employer has to pay the levy (0.5% of their wage bill) includes the wages recruiters pay their temporary workers. Chrissi Evans, legal director Randstad UK & MENA, told Recruiter that with Randstad paying more than 10,000 workers a week, the levy was costing it “a lot of money” – in the order of £1.5m a year. Evans said there had been “a mixed response in passing the charges on to clients”. “It is a bit of a millstone around the necks of recruitment companies,” she added. Jill Thornton, director of talent at Impellam Group, told Recruiter the levy was costing the group around £3m a year. However, Thornton said Impellam had set up its own training arm so that it can draw on the levy, and was using this to put 159 new entrants through an apprenticeship scheme this year; the money they get back “is very small” [in comparison with the £3m], she added. Before its introduction in April, the Recruitment & Employment ▲
DeeDee Doke, Editor
Big agencies say Apprenticeship Levy costs are hitting them hard
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UPDATE
35,635 FOLLOWERS AS OF 10 AUGUST 2017
Inset: Jill Thornton, director of talent, Impellam Group
▲
Confederation provided evidence to the government that only 4.3% of agency assignments lasted more than the 12 months necessary to qualify for an apprenticeship, meaning that the overwhelming majority of temporary agency workers would miss out. According to Evans, for Randstad’s temps this has indeed turned out to be the case. “The average length of our temporary assignments is nine weeks,” she said. Impellam’s experience was similar, Thornton said. “These [temps] are the
ones who would absolutely benefit,” she added. Evans said she was more hopeful than before the levy was introduced that the government would change its position. She said the ideal outcome would be that the levy wasn’t paid on temporary workers at all. She said she intended to have follow-up meetings with between 10 and 15 policy influencers in the Treasury and the Department of Education. As Recruiter reported last year, her meetings with officials before the levy’s
Team is key for success of HR tech start-ups
With several HR tech start-up businesses in the audience on the look- out for external investment, Daley went on to outline what investors look for when considering whether to invest in an HR tech start-up or not.
BY COLIN COTTELL
A GREAT TEAM IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE for success for tech starts-up in the HR/recruitment sector, according to a serial tech investor and senior vice president at RPO and talent solutions provider Cielo. Speaking at an HRTechTank London event, Paul Daley said that having a great team was key. “An ‘ok’ team isn’t good enough for long-term success,” Daley told an audience of HR tech start-ups, investors and experts. Daley said that ideally a CEO or CTO [chief technology officer] would have industry experience and be from a B2B [business-to-business] background, rather than someone who had only done business with other start-ups.
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introduction had met with a negative response. Evans said one factor that made her more optimistic had been this summer’s Taylor Review, which recommended the government should examine how the levy could be made to work better for those working through agencies. In addition, whereas previously the government “was just trying to get it going, they didn’t want any exceptions or deviations, or anything that would allow people to avoid it [paying the levy], now it is established they will be more open to listening”, said Evans. ●
● Not simply a product but delivers a solution to solve a problem ● It takes the need for an expert out of the equation ● It can be scaled up easily ● Results can be demonstrated ● Serves a huge and growing market ● Don’t be all things to all men, but define yourself within a specific segment of the market ● Find yourself a lead investor in the sector, whose standing will attract others Daley highlighted the importance for start-ups of having a competitive advantage. “Understand the benefits for your customers in the long term, and if you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete,” he advised. Keeping it simple was also important, said Daley – particularly in HR, a sector prone to “complex concepts”, which didn’t translate well into viable business ideas. During the event, a number of HR tech businesses pitched their ideas, which are at various stages of their journey, to a panel of potential investors and experts. ●
IMAG E | ISTO C K
Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news 10/08/2017 15:23
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THOUGHTS FROM…
UPDATE
LT GEN PATRICK SANDERS CBE DSO COMMANDER FIELD ARMY
Last call for HOT 100 entrants
M E SSAGE ON THE BRITISH ARMY’S LGBT FORU M S IT E FROM ARMY LGBT CHAMPION
“The British Army is proud to have many transgender soldiers serving their country and I was proud to march alongside them at Pride this year. Like all soldiers, they are prepared to lay down their lives for their country. We are a stronger and better Army for being inclusive and we benefit from the rich diversity of all represented in the British Army.”
GR ACE PAGE FOUNDER OF HIRE A MERMAID U K , AS TOL D TO BBC NEWS
“Becoming a professional mermaid is a huge investment – tails, training, insurance and so much more – not to mention the amount of time it takes out of your life if you’re serious.”
DON’T DELAY IF YOU WANT YOUR COMPANY INCLUDED IN RECRUITER’S HOT 100 2017. Produced in association with Agile Intelligence, the 11th iteration of this highly regarded and prestigious league table of UK recruiters is due to be published in the January 2018 issue of Recruiter. “Rather than based on sales, Recruiter’s HOT 100 ranks companies by their productivity, and as such is a key performance indicator used by those working at high levels across the recruitment industry. It has built a real track record by consistently demonstrating the link between those companies that get the most out of their people and inclusion on the list,” says Sue Dodd, director of Agile Intelligence, which compiles the list. If you are a recruitment company with sales turnover of at least £5m, gross profit (net fees) of no less than £1.5m and you have a minimum of 20 employees, send your latest audited accounts to hot100@agileintelligence.co.uk no later than 1 September for your company to be considered. Please note global search/headhunters are not included in Recruiter’s HOT 100. ●
STA RT-UP OF THE MONTH TOBY HOLT AND AMANDA HESKETH, TWO FORMER DIRECTORS OF MULTI-DISCIPLINE RECRUITER KELLAN GROUP, HAVE JOINED FORCES TO LAUNCH MANCHESTER-BASED HOSPITALITY RECRUITMENT AGENCY HESKETH JAMES. Holt was previously operations director at Kellan Group recruiter Berkeley Scott, while Hesketh is a former head of HR and recruitment at Kellan. Explaining why the duo has chosen to work together again, Holt says it’s because they like
each other and get on well. “That’s important. Not only that but our skills complement one another’s and we respect each other’s achievements.” In terms of standing out in the market, Holt adds they will resist claiming to do anything differently but will seek to do recruitment properly – “the right way, not the easy way”. “Hospitality and recruitment is what makes us tick,” Holt explains. “When we talk about hospitality recruitment, the conversation doesn’t stop at CVs
and job adverts. We also give back to the industry through our work with both Springboard and Hospitality Action [charities], also career coaching to school leavers and mentoring programmes.” Over the next year, the pair say they will explore new locations. “Our most recent addition to the team, Sarah Lindley, will be establishing our accountancy business in the North-West. 2018 will see us develop the South-West business and take Hesketh James into new locations and markets. Watch this space.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 7
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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 August issue of Recruiter was published J U L Y •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→
FRI, 21 JULY 2017
RECRUITERS SPILL THE BEANS ON CANDIDATES’ WORST CV LIES
FRI, 21 JULY 2017
HUSBAND OF BELFAST ACTRESS BANNED FROM RUNNING RECRUITMENT AGENCY The husband of actress Alexandra Ford, best known for playing Dympna in the BBC Northern Ireland comedy series Give My Head Peace, has been banned from running a recruitment agency for 10 years. The BBC reports Mark Butler, also known as Mark McCrory, of Universal Artists Belfast, faced an industrial tribunal following allegations from a number of actresses of inappropriate behaviour. The banning order, which neither Butler nor Ford contested, also prevents Ford, also known as Alison Ford, from running a recruitment agency or business with any input from her husband. According to the BBC, a statement from the department also revealed Butler has a previous conviction for indecently assaulting a young actress in 2005, with an earlier industrial tribunal into that case permitting him to continue trading, under conditions, between 2010 and 2015. However, this new order now means Butler is entirely banned from being involved in the running of any recruitment agency for the next 10 years.
Ever jumped out of the window to escape the porkies that you’ve told on your CV catching up with you at interview? This actually happened with one of the candidates put forward for interview by a consultant Recruiter spoke to. To mark the first week in our new home, having moved from Farringdon to Aldgate in the City of London, Recruiter took the opportunity to ask a couple of our new neighbours about the worst candidate lies they have heard at interview. Sonia Bhambra, senior consultant at Just IT Recruitment, Simon Taylor, founder and CEO at Triple Seven Group, and Will Gornall, senior consultant at Triple Seven Group company ESG Recruitment, spoke with us on video (see link below to view the interview online). More: http://bit.ly/2hClGnN
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STAFFLINE CONFIRMS NHS PROFESSIONALS BID Staffline’s chief executive has confirmed it has bid for a controlling stake in NHS Professionals and expects to find out this autumn if this bid has been successful. Speaking to Recruiter, Staffline CEO Andy Hogarth confirmed the agency had made a bid for NHS Professionals and expected a decision from government on whether that bid has been successful in September, when MPs return from summer recess. “There is a public sale process, which was started last October. There were originally 35 companies who were interested in acquiring NHSP. That was reduced to six through competitive dialogue. There are rumours that some people have dropped out, and we don’t know for sure but there is a maximum of six companies that have put final offers in and are awaiting results,” he said. “In theory, there was due to have been an announcement before Parliament recessed last Friday. That didn’t happen, which means it’s probably going to be announced when Parliament comes back on 5 September,” he added. More: http://bit.ly/2vHxlbi
More: http://bit.ly/2vbqh5i
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PACK UP YOUR SUITCASE FOR GRANT’S WHISKY’S BEST INTERVIEW IN THE WORLD Grant’s Whisky is seeking three lucky candidates to take part in an interview process involving a 10-day world tour, taking in locations as far afield as Colombia, Poland, India and South Africa. Their journey will echo the trip taken in 1909 by Charles Grant Gordon, the son-in-law of Grant’s Whisky founder William Grant, who set sail with a suitcase of Grant’s. More: http://bit.ly/2vFRSvV
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FRI, 4 AUGUST 2017
MON, 7 AUGUST 2017
PSD GROUP’S ROBINSON FACES DIRECTORSHIP BAN
EX-LOVE ISLAND CONTESTANT’S ADVICE TO RECRUITERS
HARSH WARNING FOR RECRUITERS WHO IGNORE NEW DATA PROTECTION RULES
The executive chairman of international board, management and executive recruiter PSD Group is one of several former directors of collapsed charity Kids Company facing bans of up to six years from holding company directorships. The Insolvency Service revealed that business secretary Greg Clark intends to bring proceedings to get PSD’s executive chairman Francesca Robinson and other Kids Company directors banned from running or controlling a company for between two-and-a-half and six years. Robinson has been in recruitment for more than three-and-a-half decades and led the management buyout of PSD in 2010. According to Companies House, Robinson has 10 current board appointments. They include roles in the PSD portfolio, Portfolio Recruitment, Hoggett Bowers and the in-liquidation Keeping Kids Company. The other Kids Company directors named include Sunetra Devi Atkinson, Erica Jane Bolton, Richard Gordon Handover, Vincent Gerald O’Brien, Jane Tyler, Andrew Webster and Alan Yentob. The proceedings will also allege that the charity’s founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh, acted as a de facto director and should also be disqualified from running or controlling other companies. Recruiter contacted PSD Group and Robinson for comment, but had not heard back by deadline.
Being true to yourself and making the cast and crew laugh are some of the secrets to successfully landing a place on the 2018 series of dating reality show Love Island, says past contestant and recruiter Adam Jukes. According to reports, 80,000 people have already applied to be on the 2018 series of ITV’s summer smash hit show, which involves a group of contestants (Islanders), living in isolation from the
More: http://bit.ly/2uzH8LA
outside world in a villa in Mallorca under the watchful eyes of TV cameras. To survive in the villa the Islanders must be coupled up with another Islander, whether it be for love, friendship or money, with the overall winning couple receiving £50k. Recruiter spoke to Jukes, a senior consultant at Randstad CPE, who made it to day 41 of 45 in the 2016 show, about what sets successful applicants for the show apart. “You’ve got to be a bit different,” Jukes told Recruiter. “Whereas some people go in and are quite reserved, I went in there and was quite out there really. You’ve got to try and make the cast and crew laugh – you’ve got to be funny.”
An employment lawyer has warned it may already be too late for recruiters who have failed to prepare for new data protection rules. With the rules set to come into force next May, if new procedures haven’t begun to be put in place yet, agencies could be hit with fines running into the millions. [We’ve put together useful tips advising recruiters how to comply with the new regulations, which is in the Guide to Recruitment Industry Suppliers 2017/18 supplement, out with this issue of Recruiter.] Government was due to publish details of its new Data Protection Bill on 7 August, which will transfer the EU’s current General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK law. While there is nothing new in terms of the contents of government’s bill, Peter Wright, founder and managing director of law firm DigitalLawUK, warned it may already be too late for agencies that have failed to prepare for the new rules, which could leave them with fines of €20m (£18.1m) for major breach of the new rules. Wright told Recruiter if agencies are only now starting to think about these new rules, it could already be too late to avert the risk of hefty fines. “We have less than 200 working days to go until 25 May 2018, and for a big organisation with multiple offices – or even worse multiple offices in different countries – it may already be too late to get the right things in place in terms of governance, in terms of policies, in terms of training, in terms of insurance and in terms of security in tech solutions.”
More: http://bit.ly/2uzzHnB
More: http://bit.ly/2fncDql
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CONTRACTS
CONTRACTS & DEALS Indeed Job board Indeed has acquired HR technology company Interviewed. Founded in San Francisco in 2015, Interviewed has developed a series of automated screening tools, such as programming tests, personality assessments and language skills. All of Interviewed’s staff, including CEO Darren Nix and cofounders Daniel O’Shea and Chris Bakke, join Indeed as part of the acquisition.
Genesis Employment Services Coventry-based recruiter Genesis Employment Services is sponsoring local football club Coventry City’s goal of the month competition in the new football season. The firm’s branding will also feature on pitchside advertising, alongside news on the English League Division Two club’s website on a monthly basis, in match day brochures and networking events throughout the season.
Boyd & Moore Executive Search Tokyo-based global recruiter Boyd & Moore Executive Search has acquired Japanese staffing specialist TechnoPro. TechnoPro operates across industrial, manufacturing, automotive and technology sectors. M&A specialist Boxington Corporate Finance advised on the deal, the value of which was not disclosed.
trivago Global hotel search platform trivago has chosen to deploy Workday Human Capital Management’s cloud-based HR solution for its 1,300 employees across the globe. The deployment, due to be completed this summer, sees trivago transform day-today HR processes, such as compensation, absence management, time tracking, recruiting, expenses, and performance & development.
Ganymede Energy Recruitment, training and conferencing group RTC’s Ganymede Energy, a division of Ganymede Solutions, has been chosen by energy company SSE to source, train and provide a minimum of 250 dual fuel installers for its smart-meter rollout programme. The initial term of the contract, signed on 25 July, runs until 31 December 2020 and has a revenue value of £28m.
Athona Psychiatry Healthcare recruiter Athona Psychiatry, a division of Athona Recruitment, has been re-awarded sole tier 1 supplier status for mental health doctors. The agreement covers four mental health trusts within the East Midlands region: Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
NGA HR HR and payroll provider NGA Human Resources (NGA HR) has agreed a seven-year deal with UK-based property services provider Connells Group. The group, which operates from 600 estate agency branches across the UK, has chosen NGA HR’s SaaS ResourceLink software as it aims to integrate its HR and payroll systems, standardise working practices, improve internal processes and cut operating costs.
DEAL OF THE MONTH
Hays Talent Solutions Hays Talent Solutions, the outsourced resourcing division of recruitment giant Hays, has been appointed to deliver a UK neutral vendor managed service programme (MSP)
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for construction and development company Skanska UK. The contract covers all non-permanent workers including freelancers, independent professionals, temporary contract workers
and independent contractors or consultants (around 1,000 workers). Skanska UK will work alongside Hays Talent Solutions and its selected suppliers to improve transparency, reduce costs
and increase efficiency in employing and managing a contingent workforce. The contract is initially for five years, with the project implemented from this month, going live between September and October.
More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 10/08/2017 15:23
8–9 November 2017, Manchester Central
CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition Embracing the new world of work
Be inspired at the 70th CIPD Annual Conference. Enjoy a programme that will empower you to become a driving force for good for your organisation, individuals and wider society.
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Conference sessions across 5 subject streams
60+
bite-sized learning sessions in the Exhibition space
190+
exhibitors to meet, ask questions, find solutions
4000+
HR and L&D professionals
It’s more e tha an jusst a confe erencce an nd ex xhibition n The conference will close in spectacular style to celebrate #cipdACE17’s 70th edition. Professor Gernot Schulz will be performing with his full classical orchestra, a combination of musical performance and inspirational talk.
Book your place at cipd.co.uk/ACE17recruit
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#cipdACE17
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TRE NDS
INSIGHT
HUDSON JUMPS INTO THE DIGITAL AGE Digital Works Group transformed Hudson Talent Solutions’ traditional recruitment model to help the recruiter become a leader in the Digital Revolution BY JEFF WELLSTEAD
H
udson Talent Solutions (previously Hudson UK) is known for pure-play recruitment, RPO solutions and talent management services. But like other organisations, they faced market commoditisation and a changing world that posed huge challenges for their customers: transformation driven by technology, new leadership models, the blurring of functional lines between roles and agile working, direct-to-buyer connectivity, end-to-end transparency, and a war for highly skilled technical workers who were born into a digitally native context. Such conditions have created a need for a very different type of business model.
Recruitment has been one of the slowest industries to embrace the radical influences shaping our working landscape. So as traditional 20th century business models are being ripped out by the roots, what’s replacing them? Hudson was in the midst of a massive transformation to change recruiting from a fee-loving meat market and blind capitalistic enterprise into a revolutionary full-service, integrated offering that would steer its existing clients through the turbulent waters of the Digital Revolution. Hudson’s practice lead – digital transformation, Glenn Martin, says: “Traditional recruitment businesses are in the throes of death by a thousand cuts. “Traditional top-down hierarchy models, outdated KPIs [key performance
indicators], commoditisation of people and clients and sales mantras now offer very little value to the end customer or individual seeking a new career challenge. The market is changing and illustrating what it now values – personalisation, empathy and patience; added to this, a preparedness to utilise tech platforms to create meaningful engagement.” In 2016, Martin and Hudson’s director Stuart Packham offered Digital Works Group a partnership that would offer Hudson’s clients a strategic ‘start-to-finish’ capability that would differentiate them in an otherwise bleak and stale market, riddled with fasttalking CV shifters. How could a digital transformation consultancy improve a standard approach to contingent or search recruitment? As partner and practice leader in Digital Works Group’s Digital People practice, my primary mission is to support traditionally structured organisations to prepare for an onslaught of change and transformation, brought on by an exponential acceleration of digital technology. This technology enables organisations to operate like nimble, agile start-ups and radically change the relationships within their organisations, as well as with their customers, partners and
Hudson’s redefined range of services is designed to be flexible to meet clients’ needs Executive search and selection
Outsourced solutions
Specialist selection
Supporting organisations who want to outsource their recruitment function or augment their workforce for a specific project
Specialist recruitment services across a range of professional disciplines
Assessment & selection
Development, coaching & training
Bespoke services for business critical and leadership hires
Tailored services to support clients in managing an effective selection process for recruitment, promotion or development
Helping with development and retention of strong teams and leaders
Recruitment process outsourcing
Volumebased hiring
Permanent interim & contract recruitment
Psychometric assessment
Executive search
Psychometric assessment
Psychometric assessment
Assessment centres
Consulting
High potential development
Project outsourcing
International workforce
Role profiling
Competency development
Role profiling
Competency development
Role profiling
Competency development
Executive coaching
Succession planning
Coaching
High potential assessment
Competency development
Management skills training
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SOURCE | HUDSON
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Services ● Assessment & selection ● Blended workforce solutions (gig economy management) ● Digital contract and temporary recruitment ● Digital solutions across the enterprise ● Employer re-branding & sourcing innovation ● Digital psychometric assessment ● Leadership development ● Organisational design & management ● Outplacement & career transition ● Specialised digital permanent recruitment ● Predictive talent analytics ● Recruitmtent process outsourcing (ISO 9000 certified) ● Risk management & compliance
“We have seen a cultural shift and change to our traditional working practices” 1. The first step was to integrate these offerings in talent solutions for Hudson’s customers in the new world of work. In practice, this meant more emphasis on great assurance, insight and support. As part of this, Hudson has pulled Digital Works Group into preparations for presenting a full-stack digital solution offering to potential Hudson clients. A substantial opportunity continues to unfold as we collaborate on multi-national enterprise with a multitude of subsidiary companies, all of which are undertaking digital transformation at varying speeds. 2. Next up was developing its assessment tools to be relevant in this new world. To that end, their team has developed the PULSE MINDSET™ measure, a scientifically-based assessment to measure attitudes and approaches to transformation. You can’t do all this without taking a long hard look at your internal structure. To deliver on this integrated solution, the Hudson team broke down the walls between the traditional marketing and IT recruitment teams, creating a flatter, more agile structure which mirrors their clients’ need for
expertise in technology, change and digital transformation. 3. And finally, partnerships. Working together to advance your cause benefits all. For example, Hudson looked to Digital Works Group for expertise in an area where they couldn’t deliver. Says Hudson’s practice lead – digital transformation in digital marketing, Siobhan Perry: “The changes we have been making to Hudson are all designed to change the recruitment landscape and create a new sort of talent solutions business – one that is more closely aligned to the issues that matter most to our clients.” Asked what differences the changes had made to Hudson internally, Martin says: “We have seen a cultural shift and change to our traditional working practices. New communication and engagement channels have been implemented, flexible working has been offered and our people are empowered to deliver value … through using innovative approaches, greater transparency and relying less on the traditional transactional approach to recruitment services.” Hudson isn’t a stranger to the topic of the new world of work, it’s been talking about it for over a year. What about your organisation? Are you ready? ●
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even their traditional competitors. The incredible pace of change touches every aspect of how business is currently designed, swept along in the headwind of disruptive forces that are reshaping everything from the ground up. Hudson had undertaken an ‘experiment’ by carving off a portion of its most digitally savvy recruitment team – a cross-section of digitally native recruiters whose careers had centred on supporting digital adoption and transformation – but without knowing they had slipped neatly into the slipstream of modern-day requirements. By creating a Digital Practice, focused solely on the massive tectonic shift in business requirements and digitally centred knowledge, they would seek to offer an end-to-end integrated solution that would include a line-up of consulting and delivery services.
JEFF WELLSTEAD was partner Digital Works Group – Digital People practice leader and is now founder of ex.design, an employee experience design consultancy
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T R E N DS
TECH & TOOLS
Rate my recruiter Is it time to give feedback for recruiters? SUE WEEKES
For many, reading a review on a site such as Amazon or TripAdvisor has become the default way to research goods and services. Some believe that the same peer review process should be available when it comes to choosing recruitment agencies. Antonio Giugno, CEO and founder of Recruitd, aims to have every recruitment company in the world listed on his site by the end of the year, with an option to rate and review them. Giugno currently receives around 14-16 reviews a day from candidates. Meanwhile, Chris Peace, managing director of Peace Recruitment, which specialises in roles for the built environment, has developed a platform that records feedback on its own consultants’ performance based on the level of customer service they deliver. It will launch the platform on its website when the reviews and ratings received have reached critical mass.
WHY DOES THE INDUSTRY NEED TRIP ADVISORSTYLE SERVICES LIKE THESE? The short answer: to deliver more transparency. Giugno said that he had become increasingly aware of industry professionals venting their spleen on professional networks after a poor experience with a recruiter. “I was seeing it every day. I know so many good recruiters out there that I wanted to create a place where good behaviour and performance could be recognised,” Giugno said. Peace said he saw it as part of his responsibility as a managing director to ensure consultants are motivated to do a great job. “The most important thing after family and health for the majority of people is their job,” he said. “Recruiters have a big responsibility but are not governed, and there is no ombudsman. For me it was about handing control back to the employer and candidate, and letting them make educated decisions.” I L L UST RAT I O N | ISTO C K
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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR AGENCIES? In an era when products and services are being rated and reviewed by consumers, recruiters will find themselves more accountable for their actions. Embracing feedback rather than shunning it makes good business and career sense. Peace Recruitment’s platform sends text messages or emails at pivotal points in the months following a meeting with a consultant to garner feedback and give a rating out of 10 for service. Peace hoped that this would mark not just the agency out as best for finding a role but also identify great individual consultants. “People will be able to see the consultant has an 8.5 rating, for example, when it comes to finding architects the best jobs. It’s not a testimonial that you asked someone to type up about your top performers but what employers and candidates really think,” he explained. Giugno similarly believes such transparency
will help good agencies position themselves as the best source for hiring and jobseeking. “It will allow them to showcase what makes them different,” he said.
CAN CANDIDATES AND EMPLOYERS TRUST SUCH PLATFORMS? For such platforms to be credible and trustworthy, they must also be seen to be transparent – this means demonstrating that reviews and ratings are genuine. Both companies have built their technologies with this at the forefront. Giugno explained that while reviewers can be anonymous on the front-end of Recruitd, they must be identifiable on the back-end via an email address. Once this has been verified by his team as a genuine person, the review is approved. A recruiter can claim their entry on Recruitd and build out their profile but are unable to access the review and rating. Peace Recruitment’s platform, built by recruitment-specific digital agency Bold Identities, is coded in such a way that feedback goes direct into the back-end
system and automatically through to the website. “There is zero intervention from the business – I can’t delete them,” said Peace.
TURN A DETRACTOR INTO A PROMOTER Feedback platforms provide one of the most immediate ways of identifying an issue that a candidate or client may have with a consultant or agency and allows the business to tackle it early on. Both Giugno and Peace believe that a company’s biggest detractors can become their promoters if criticisms are dealt with in the right way. “Embrace a bad review by responding to it for everyone to see,” said Giugno. “It shows you are listening and care about candidate experience, which speaks volumes about the agency.” Peace agrees: “People only want honesty and transparency; if you turn a negative into a positive with an individual they can become great ambassadors for the brand.”
IS RECRUITMENT READY FOR THIS TRANSPARENCY? Some recruiters may find the exposure of feedback sites a bit scary. In theory, those who strive to ensure their product and service is the best should have nothing to fear. Peace doesn’t believe lots of agencies will necessarily take the feedback platform route yet – especially bigger ones. “For a small, owner-managed business like us, it is easier to control the culture and processes,” he said, adding: “We set the values such as integrity early on but for me, values are what happens on the night shift or when I go on holiday. It can be difficult in bigger agencies to ensure everyone has those values.” Giugno reports that to date only two or three agencies have asked for reviews to be taken down. “We are dealing with reputation and that is such a sensitive subject,” he said. “But I’m investing a lot of time in meeting with agency owners and explaining the benefits. I believe transparency can be a great thing for the industry.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 15
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INTE R AC TIO N
VIEWPOINT
Crying out for care The nursing profession is in dire need of joined-up thinking BY ROLAND SHEEHAN
am a former nurse and now a healthcare recruiter in London. Recently, nurses have been giving me feedback that their workloads have increased, staff numbers are down and patient case loads are increasing, as are staff-to-patient ratios. Many are rethinking their careers. Over the decade to 2020, the NHS budget will not have kept pace with the ageing and growing population, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The number of nurses from elsewhere in the EU registering to practise here has fallen by 96% in less than a year. Just 46 nurses from the EU arrived to work in Britain in April – compared with 1,304 in the month after the Brexit referendum. More than 38,000 nurses on the register are from elsewhere in Europe – a rise from 10,000 in 2010. However, the shortage of 30,000 nurses is caused by longer-term factors than Brexit. The population is ageing, and caring for an 85-year-old costs five times more than for a 30-year-old. Meanwhile, the caring workforce is ageing, too. In April, Department of Health estimates leaked to Health Service Journal suggested that in a worst-case scenario the NHS could see a shortage of 42,000 nurses by 2026.
I
“The only way to a safe long-term solution is many years of investment”
however, newly qualified nurses have fewer senior staff on the wards and units to support them. Meanwhile, increasing student applications for places has led to the removal of the nursing bursary and the move to a student loan system. Nurses who take out the maximum tuition and maintenance loan will now qualify with around £50k of student debt. But once trained, the starting salary is just £21k, while other graduate salaries are, on average, 37% higher. Retention figures, and my recruiting experience, suggest that nurses do not see the future gains from Lack of support obtaining and self-funding a degree as worthwhile in When I trained as a nurse, we were supported and comparison with other career options. We need to mentored by qualified nurses and other students. Today, ensure student nurses are supported post-registration. The drop-out rates during training do not bode well. The average nurse is £3k worse off in real terms than in 2010. Their 1% annual pay review cap means nursing staff can no longer afford to stay in the profession; scrapping student funding means many students won’t be able to afford to join it. The vacancy rate in the nursing workforce is almost 10%, but it is traditionally difficult for agencies to engage with the NHS on permanent recruitment. There have been government initiatives to reduce agency dependence. Now that working for an agency is less attractive, shifts remain unfilled, predominately on days where there are both a lack of numbers and motivation for nurses.
Easing the crisis
ROLAND SHEEHAN is a director at healthcare recruiter TFS Healthcare
The only way to a safe long-term solution is many years of investment. We need a workforce strategy review that will: look at poor staff morale and burn-out; encourage returners through bonus payments; improve retention through better career structure, progression and support during training; and look at a relevant international recruitment strategy.
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I N T E R AC T I O N
SOUNDBITES
L ET T ER S
SERVICE WITH A SMILE – ALL THE WAY We read the article ‘Public finds hospitality sector has the most intimidating professionals’ (recruiter. co.uk, 24 July) with dismay. We don’t recognise this characterisation of the sector. And we certainly don’t feel that we, nor to be fair any of our competitors, supply intimidating candidates. We can only assume that this characterisation is based on celebrity shows and a portrayal which denigrates the real professionalism of the sector rather than what the public have really experienced. It’s true that there will be times when service may be far from optimal. But this is rare. Never have we known anybody from the public be intimidated by someone with a cocktail shaker or a menu. A M A N D A H E S K E T H A N D T O B Y H O LT, DIRECTORS OF HESKETH JAMES
SPIRIT OF AGENCY RULES Your article ‘Recruiters slam government announcement for mental health workers’, 31 July, was an interesting read and I must compliment Barry Pactor [ttm Healthcare] for his comments and facts – his input isn’t the run-of-the-mill dross. The problem with attraction and retention is the NHS doesn’t employ or hire on a contract basis driven, militant, serious players who get things done and who don’t live in a rose-tinted bubble. Another correction for them and [health secretary] Jeremy Hunt to make is to reduce the focus on the agency arena and target the student pipeline, morale and attrition, so they produce enough staff and hold onto them. Jim Mackey [CEO of NHS Improvement] and Hunt took their eye off the real issue: the UK isn’t producing enough staff. One last focus, which granted is an agency one, is with a successful mission the savings can be invested into hiring more Filipino and Indian nurses by coaching them through IELTS [International English language test system] etc. Thornbury Nursing [Services] agency is [doing this], and is said to have posted its best GM [gross margin] weeks of late… generating circa £500k per week GM! NHSI and the frameworks should apply a blanket ban to Thornbury and the money spent with this agency should be invested into longerterm staffing solutions. Money wasted on agencies that are clearly not operating in the spirit of the agency rules must be redirected to perm recruitment, training spaces and retention. A tighter control and harder line must be taken with the firms who portray a whiter than white image but behind the scenes… CHRIS OSBORNE, RECRUITMENT LEADER AND PEOPLE’S PERSON
Which is your least favourite recruitment buzzword? ANDREW ERRINGTON-THOMAS MA N AG IN G D I REC TOR , CON S ULT IN G P O I N T S E A RC H
“The term ‘reach out’ should only be used by a morally questionable but ultimately goodhearted Chicago detective to a fellow officer in another precinct when a favour is needed to move along the plot line in an American police drama box set. It isn’t something we in Britain should be allowed to say with a straight face and certainly not in business. I would struggle to take a client seriously if they wanted me to ‘reach out’ to someone and ask them how much money they wanted when I know they are talking about salary and not serious crime...”
EMMA-CLAIRE K AVANAGH EX ECUT I V E D IREC TOR , BI E EX ECUT I V E
“While ‘diversity’ has been around for a long time, more recently it has become a buzzword that has been stripped back to its most basic forms of either gender, sexuality or ethnicity. But in my mind, that is not diversity. Diversity is about diversity of thinking, which inevitability leads to needing people who come from very different backgrounds and cultures. Currently diversity agendas are not driven by people wanting it, but by people being told they need to do it, making them less genuine and authentic. Diversity is a buzzword that has become an audit tick box exercise, rather than a genuine differentiator that it is critical to the success of any business.”
WILL GORNALL S EN IOR CON S ULTA N T, ES G RECRUI T MEN T
“A ‘people person’ is a term I hear so much, often as a response to the question ‘why do you think you’d make a good recruiter?’ It’s far too vague. Yes, being able to talk to people is a necessary part of the role, but communication skills are just one piece of the puzzle. Recruiters also need to have skills like commercial acumen and ambition, and they need to be persuasive too. Candidates should be more specific about their skills, rather than using this blanket phrase.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 17
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TH E B IG STO RY 1 1 MOST INFLU ENTIAL IN-HOU SE RECRUIT ERS
INCLUSION KEY FOR IN-HOUSE RESOURCING As organisations adapt to an ever-changing business world, in-house recruiters are finding new ways to seek out talent beyond the traditional methods WELCOME TO THE FIFTH 11 MOST INFLUENTIAL IN-HOUSE RECRUITERS FOR 2017. A lot can happen in five years, and the pace of technological development has meant that many organisations are having to react and adapt to change far more quickly. The world stands at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, reckons the speed of current breakthroughs “has no historical precedent” and “almost every industry in every country” is being disrupted. It falls to the nation’s recruiters and resourcers to ensure organisations have the talent to compete in increasingly complex, disrupted
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and challenging markets. Internally, digital transformation is high on the agenda for many organisations, requiring new and different skillsets, which throws up additional challenges for resourcing departments. Trends this year include a major focus on diversity and inclusion. As well as diversity of gender and race, this extends to education and background. When it comes to graduate recruitment, for instance, many organisations are searching for talent beyond the usual handful of universities. Indeed, we are likely to see more organisations use technology to seek out latent talent wherever it resides, an example being SAP’s Facebook app and assessment methods. Social recruiting has
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METHODOLOGY ► Information and data was gathered from a range of sources in the public domain. Having arrived at our selection, we then asked the individuals what they saw as their main achievements during the past year and main objectives going forward. Wherever possible, metrics such as cost- and time-savings were collected. As always, there will be a degree of subjectivity in a list of this nature but consistent with other years we aim to apply a set of criteria that qualifies a person for inclusion. This is primarily based on the following: the size, scale, scope and challenge of the position and effectiveness in the role; ability to be strategic and add value and position the resourcing function central to the business; the degree of innovation or change brought to the current and/or previous organisation; perceived influence both internally and externally; and extent to which the individual is considered an industry visionary, trailblazer or thought-leader. Industry- or company-specific challenges are also taken into consideration where appropriate.
↗ SCOTT BEAGRIE is a regular contributor to Recruiter. He launched Personnel Today’s Top 40 Power Players in HR in 1999 and continued to compile the annual list for several years after he left the magazine in 2003.
become the norm, but it is now about how expertly these channels can be used and combined with activities in other areas. Artificial intelligence, programmatic advertising, chatbots, and data and analytics are all being embraced, and are becoming a trusted part of the recruiter’s armoury. With serious skills shortages in areas such as digital and engineering predicted, the not-insignificant matter of Brexit and continued global uncertainty, tricky times lie ahead for many. If this year’s 11 are a sample selection of those who populate the resourcing landscape though, solid foundations have been put in place to meet the challenge.
Toby Barnes
GLOBAL HEAD OF TALENT INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS & RESEARCH OPERATIONS, GOOGLE Barnes says he gets “fired-up” by game-changing strategies, making him an ideal fit for one of history’s most game-changing organisations, whose mission it is to “organise the world’s information” and make it universally accessible and useful. To achieve that it needs the brightest talent and clearly Barnes’ track record in sourcing, brand, talent acquisition, workforce diversity, candidate experience and more strengthens the fit. In his previous three roles, he has saved clients and employers more than £14m in resourcing costs. What also makes him very much a man of the moment as far as resourcing and talent is concerned is his predisposition to be data-driven and analytical. His job is to ensure that market insight and intelligence is informing talent pipeline activity. He says keeping pace with “the increasingly complex demand” that Google, and much of the tech world, now faces has been a large part of his focus of the past 12 months. And the year has also been about bringing together teams working in and across multiple time zones, functions and cultures. The biggest challenge he faces is Google’s agility and complexity and, of course, its scale (it employs more than 60,000 across 50 countries). “So being able to anticipate business requirements is critical in ensuring that the demands do not impact our ability to pipeline effectively,” he explains. “This is steadily moving away from more ‘evergreen’ demand where the variable is more about volume than type or location. Constant review of how we stay ahead of this is high on the list!” ⦁
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Toby Culshaw
Syreeta Brown
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DIRECTOR, HEAD OF GLOBAL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY & PROGRAMMES, CITI Transforming the recruitment strategy and infrastructure in a global organisation that operates in more than 160 countries and employs more than 200,000 people is no mean feat. Brown knows how to make things happen in the recruitment function, so financial services company Citi’s digital journey is in good hands. Many of the agendas it has been focusing on require ongoing investment so it is all about demonstrating commercial advantage. “Be that in cost avoidance of going through traditional marketing routes or optimisation in terms of being able to target talent in a more focused way and get them in the engagement process quicker,” Brown explains. One of its missions has been to deliver what the company calls a ‘Remarkable Candidate Experience’. It has reengineered graduate hiring, deploying the Avature applicant tracking system (ATS). This means Citi now has a single global recruitment process for the graduate and experienced space (it deployed Taleo for experienced hire in 2015) in all four global regions. There has also been a major push on marketing and branding, including on all the major social media channels. Citi is currently exploring the use of gamification and data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of hiring that go beyond the usual metrics of time and cost-to-hire. It wants to understand the value created by the process and people Citi hires, which includes assessing quality of candidate, performance in the first two years, and retention and progression. The industry has long talked about the need for new, more meaningful metrics; it will come as no surprise if Brown is one of those at the vanguard. ⦁
HEAD OF TALENT INTELLIGENCE, PHILIPS INTERNATIONAL It is easy to bandy the word “intelligence” around in recruitment circles but for Culshaw and his team it is their raison d’etre. Philips is one of the companies blazing a trail in recruitment by building a talent intelligence team that proactively works across all functions, business groups and markets, using external talent and market intelligence to help inform key decisions about its talent attraction and organisational design strategy. Culshaw, who joined just over a year ago from SAP, where he was head of research for executive recruitment, describes his first 12 months as a “build year”. But he has wasted no time in making sure he and his team are central to the business. The team is already working with key areas such as mergers & acquisitions, strategy, organisational design, as well as the broader business leadership. The aim is to extend the team’s business impact by working closely with the commercial functions to show how talent intelligence can gain competitive advantage. A key challenge has been educating the business, as most business leaders have never seen such a function within their organisation. “Educating them about the new ways we can support their business is a big piece of the puzzle,” he explains. Having shown what it is capable of, the team has created another challenge: keeping up with the demand for its services. “Because of the strong commercial focus of our function, and because we draw a clear return on investment for all work we do, the business has quickly developed a growing appetite for our work,” adds Culshaw. “Keeping up with this demand whilst building the function at the same time has been a hugely exciting challenge.” ⦁
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T H E BI G STORY 11 MOST IN F L UEN T IA L I N - H O U S E R E C RU I T E R S
Kevin Hough
HEAD OF TALENT ACQUISITION (UK & IRELAND), PEPSICO Hough has been busy bedding into a new company and a completely different industry (swap car, life and home insurance for brands such as Oat So Simple, Doritos, Tropicana and Walkers crisps, not to mention a famous fizzy drink) after five-plus years at LV=, where he led the migration to an exemplar direct sourcing model. He and his talent acquisition team at PepsiCo have completed transformation to a new operating model. The team is now “pushing hard” to embed the model and the industry can expect to find out more
about its impact of this and tangible results later this year. The primary objective is to deliver talent “faster” and in a more effective way. “We want to be leveraging more tools such as social/pipelining to engage with talent; and, in addition, building stronger relationships with our TA colleagues across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our biggest challenge (believe it or not!) is getting people to understand just who PepsiCo is and what we do – it’s an amazing organisation with a great culture – and we want people to see and feel this before, during and after their recruitment process.” ⦁
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 11
Jon Hull
GROUP HEAD OF RESOURCING, CARILLION Hull’s commitment in the areas of diversity and inclusion (D&I) secures his place for the second year running. The integrated services company’s graduate programme has delivered above the industry average in terms of D&I with 30% female and 40% BAME now in its intake. This is down to more innovative assessment methods, as well as dropping minimum degree requirements. He has also led a group-wide D&I unconscious bias awareness training programme, backed up with digital games to help embed the learning. His efforts have been recognised externally, being named Resources/Procurement Leader of the Year in the National Centre of Diversity’s Grand Awards this year. Carillion doesn’t own a product, stock
or IP, so stands or falls by its talent and hence alongside his D&I efforts he continues to ensure his team operates as a true business partner, offering a strategic and proactive service to hiring managers. Since joining in January 2015 from Sodexo, he has increased direct hires (only 7% are now agency) and reduced time-to-hire in key roles by half. This year he has pioneered the use of programmatic recruitment advertising, which has further reduced costs and improved attraction in hard-to-fill areas. He knows there is a huge challenge ahead though: an engineering and construction skills dearth. To this end, he and other resourcing heads have set up an industry-wide forum that aims to improve the attractiveness of the industry to all. “I feel we have to solve this as an industry,” he says. Carillion is involved
in some of the country’s biggest critical infrastructure projects so it is no exaggeration to say the nation is depending on him. ⦁
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Matthew Jeffery
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THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 11
VP GLOBAL HEAD OF SOURCING & EMPLOYMENT BRAND, SAP There is taking your recruitment in-house – and then there is taking your recruitment in-house Matthew Jeffery-style. Line up those with expertise in digital marketing, video editing, design, big data analysis, visual artistry, events, social media and more, and you have a dynamic team capable of reacting to any request relating to recruitment or employer brand for the German multinational software company. Output from Jeffery’s truly multimedia teams has included a weekly cartoon, a recruitment computer game, real-time candidate feedback assessments, a Facebook app which matches online behaviours to SAP jobs, as well as a new employer brand. They’ve even come up with a children’s book to give to new joiner parents so their offspring can see what SAP does. Meanwhile, assessment methods have helped to democratise graduate recruitment by introducing a meritocracy rather than focusing on just the top universities. Although awards have come thick and fast, Jeffery is the first to admit that, as a B2B brand, it is not immediately seen as a great place to work compared to the consumer tech brands, so achieving number one place to work in Germany on Glassdoor must rank as among the most gratifying. Jeffery and his team have helped to not just change outward perceptions but also ensure the company has the talent to help shape the future as a key player in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. SAP is all about innovation, helping its clients maximise the benefit of technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing and big data. Jeffery has succeeded in mirroring this level of innovation in recruitment, creating a symbiosis between function and brand that all recruiters should strive towards. ⦁
Sharon Kardam
INTERIM HEAD OF EU TALENT ACQUISITION, MASTERCARD Sharon Kardam’s track record shows she fits the template for a perfect interim – able to make a difference in the short term, while ensuring sustainable strategies are in place for the future. Kardam arrived at Mastercard six months ago, after a nine-month assignment at Easyjet as head of talent acquisition. She says her role is to ensure the function is: “business focused, customer centric and adds value”. Her approach is to question everything through those lenses and drive a team culture where decisions are always made against those criteria. “Even the most sophisticated TA functions can lose touch with what the organisation really needs by almost becoming too self-absorbed – that’s something I’m hyper-sensitive to,” she says. The team is focused on driving up direct sourcing. This year there has already been a reduction in agency spend of around 30%. The team has made use of data to better inform decision-making and the next step is to use it more predictively to anticipate business needs and pipeline talent. Diversity & inclusion is always high on Mastercard’s agenda and the team is close to the 50:50 male-female hiring mark. This is impressive given the talent pool isn’t as balanced as it could be for some roles. “The team source deeply and broadly to uncover diverse talent when we don’t find it in the mainstream,” she explains. Indeed, finding talent in the less expected places is one of Kardam’s stand-out qualities. Another objective at Mastercard is to bring in talent from nontraditional industries/backgrounds. “We help our managers see the value of the varied perspectives and innovation this creates.” ⦁
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Kesh Ladwa
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Catalina Schveninger
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 11
RECRUITMENT MANAGER, WARWICKSHIRE POLICE AND WEST MERCIA POLICE Across the space of a year, recruiting metrics don’t come much better than this. In 2015-16, Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police forces (which have been working in strategic alliance since 2012) had two-thirds (68%) of its vacancies going to agencies at a total spend of £3m. In 2016-17, agency spend was slashed to just £1m. Ladwa came on board in 2015 to lead the implementation of a transformational strategy. The alliance was struck to meet the challenge of reducing policing budgets and provide greater operational and organisational resilience. Recruitment needed to be streamlined and improved from initial advert to the applicant starting and a new applicant tracking system was installed. As well as playing its part in making savings and improvements in efficiency, it has helped to improve the candidate experience. Cue more impressive metrics: 98% of applicants would encourage others to apply; 95% would apply again; and 98% rated the process as excellent, very good or good. Ladwa wants to change perceptions not just within Warwickshire and West Mercia but also for the country’s 43 forces by working with partners such as the College of Policing. He has recently been nominated as chair of the College’s Positive Action Practical Advice (PAPA) recruitment group. Ladwa is big on collaborative working and believes if forces work together they are in a stronger position to bargain with suppliers as well as conduct campaigns. He also wants to break down the myths that surround policing which, he says, go hand in hand with culture change. “The public think of police officers as the only career within policing,” he says. “Behind every police officer are 100 police staff who support them to conduct their job effectively.” ⦁
GROUP HEAD OF RESOURCING AND EMPLOYER BRAND VODAFONE Vodafone’s bold ambition is to be the best employer for women by 2020 and with Schveninger leading the charge, you’d put money on the firm achieving it sooner rather than later. The company has set itself the target of a 50:50 male-female recruitment ratio and its campaign was off to a flyer earlier this year when it launched ReConnect, thought to be the largest recruitment programme in the world for women on career breaks. Schveninger points out Vodafone identified “a great untapped pool of talented women” and launched a global social media campaign during Women’s Week, attracting more than 15,000 applicants. ReConnect is on target to hire 1,000 recruits over the next three years and more than 100 of these women have joined in critical leadership and specialist roles. It has also introduced a “de-biasing toolkit” that features use of artificial intelligence to “gender neutralise” job adverts. Meanwhile, its new digital experience for graduates, Discover, which features a video interview, gamified online assessment and a paperless assessment centre (Vodafone tablets are used instead of paper) has allowed it to process 60% more applications, including from universities that it doesn’t typically target. Despite having launched two major programmes in the last 12 months, Schveninger shows no signs of throttling back. The competition for talent is fierce and she faces a broad base of competitors due to digital transformation. “We compete not only with start-ups but also banks for cybersecurity, software engineers and big data analysts,” she says. Amid the deployment of digital tools and maintaining momentum in areas such as diversity, she also wants to allow recruiters to focus on value-add activities. And they couldn’t have a better role model. ⦁
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Jon Warwick
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 11
HEAD OF RESOURCING, SAINSBURY’S Sainsbury’s in-house resourcing team hired 49,000 people into the retailing business last year from customer services assistants in stores to professionals across a range of disciplines such as trading, food science, marketing, finance and digital. A strong brand and employee value proposition, as well as an effective social and digital media strategy, all make the task easier but with another 50,000 roles to fill in the year ahead, Warwick knows he and his team can’t afford to be complacent. He cites Brexit and National Living Wage increases as challenges but the function also has to confront the changing face of retail as the supermarket, like its competitors, finds itself operating more and more in the digital space. This means new skillsets are required and it has to compete for talent with the likes of Google and Facebook as well as a host of start-ups. Hence, its next big campaign focuses on data and analytics and it features some strong messaging about the importance of data to the retailer. Warwick describes it as a “bold move” in its recruitment advertising strategy to ensure it engages the target audience and showcases Sainsbury’s proposition in a highly competitive market. If it works, it could help position the company ahead of its direct competitors. “As the available talent pool changes at pace, companies may have to change approaches to talent acquisition to keep up,” he says. “Vacancies that were filled easily could quickly become more challenging. We need to stay one step ahead.” ⦁
Chris Wray
NATIONAL RECRUITMENT MANAGER, ANCHOR TRUST Wray is on a mission to change perceptions of the care industry which, in his own words, suffers from the stereotype of being “boring and low paid”, as well as short-term because of lack of career progression. The trust is a not-for-profit that offers specialist residential and dementia care homes at over 1,000 locations and purpose-built retirement properties. An ageing population means that the country is increasingly reliant upon the care industry and it needs the right talent to support it. Wray earns his place for using social media in a fun way but with a serious message to successfully challenge the notions that exist about working in the sector. Campaigns such as #InstaGRAN and #MisCAREceptions, which feature powerful imagery and thought-provoking messaging, as well as Anchor’s own employees, have scored industry-leading engagement rates of 9% on Facebook (the average for a not-for-profit is 5.4% and for other industries, 6.3%). #InstaGRAN, which invites people to take a selfie with the older person in their life and upload it on Instagram, has achieved 10,000 likes and attracted hundreds of authentic selfies from carers across the country. Wray and the trust want to show how a caring nature can be turned into a rewarding career and content from the campaign was later used in a recruitment campaign that proved to be some of its strongest performing advertisements. Anchor has also built a chatbot into Facebook Messenger to engage with and screen candidates. ‘Likes’ and lots of clicks doesn’t necessarily equal a successful social recruiting strategy but its figures confirm the level of achievement. The chatbot has brought about a 62% increase in conversion of people applying. Overall, figures show that the trust has reached 2.9m people, more than 10m ads have been served at £4.55 per thousand. Not bad with a cost per application of just £13.20. Keep up the good work, Chris. ⦁
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Issue 53 September 2017
RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence Future of Jobs
p2-3
Big Talking Point
Legal Update
Awards
Five recruitment leaders, three pieces of advice p4
Tribunal fees
From redundancy to Chef of the Year p8
p6-7
TUNING INTO TEMPS: REC JOINS FORCES WITH IPA TO HIGHLIGHT AGENCY WORK Employers should promote workplace engagement among temporary agency staff by applying the same approach as they do with permanent employees, says a new report published by the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA) in partnership with the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). ‘Tune in to temps: how employers and recruiters can support agency worker voice in the workplace’ makes recommendations for both employers and recruiters for how to promote employee voice and staff engagement among agency workers which, when done successfully, can deliver business benefits such as higher productivity, creativity and innovation while reducing sickness absenteeism and levels of conflict in the workplace. The report makes a number
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of recommendations for recruiters, including: • understanding the motivations for someone working in a temporary way and place them in assignments that support their needs • making sure workers feel comfortable about raising concerns about a placement without fear of penalty • ensuring workers are supported with their professional development throughout their employment with access to training and placements that provide an opportunity to develop skills and progress. Head of policy and research at the IPA Patrick Brione says preconceived notions
that agency workers are ‘second class’ members of the workforce can be countered. “Through two excellent case studies of good practice, this research highlights that when agency workers are accorded the same respect, dignity, voice and support as other employees, it can massively boost their engagement and unlock their productivity, innovation and commitment at work,” he says. “This paper includes practical lessons for employment agencies and host workplaces to consider when looking at how to get the very best out of their agency workers, understanding that small actions can make a big difference.” Commenting on the report, REC chief executive Kevin Green says: “There is a lot of great work being done
by employers and recruiters to ensure that people who choose to work flexibly still benefit from having positive, enjoyable and personally fulfilling experience at work. It’s about treating people with respect and extending the same approach managers would take with permanent staff in terms of giving inductions, providing feedback and making sure temps feel welcome and included.” Green says good recruiters will invest in their workers and see strong employee engagement as a way to build their brand and differentiate themselves in a competitive market. The report is available to download at www.rec. uk.com/news-and-policy/ research/tune-into-temps
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Leading the Industry
THE VIEW
How is the post-Brexit jobs market affecting different regions and devolved nations? Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and professional services, explains
Start-ups can survive and thrive with the REC, says Kevin Green, REC chief executive
The data shows that hundreds – if not thousands – of new recruitment businesses have been started in the last two years. This entrepreneurial spirt is one of the things that makes me proud of our industry: people coming together to set up their own business because they think they can do it better than the incumbents. Our entrepreneurial market is one of the reasons that recruitment has continued to improve as competition keeps everyone on their toes and ensures that candidates get provided great service and we continue to add more value to clients. The REC’s role is to support those that choose to set up a recruitment business because we want organisations in our market to be compliant, professional and adhere to best practice. We want a competitive market based on everyone operating to the same professional standards. That’s why we continue to develop our start-up offering, so that we educate new business owners in the art of running a compliant organisation. All new REC members must complete our Start Up course if they have no experience
REGIONAL EYES
in running a business, or have been in recruitment for less than two years. They must then pass our online Compliance Test within six months of joining, with the first attempt made within the first month. We also provide new members with model terms of business and policy documents, access to our Legal Helpline, and a dedicated account manager. This means two things: 1) It ensures REC members are adhering to our Code of Professional Practice and are fully compliant. 2) It means recruitment start-ups are more likely to survive and thrive. Once a business has got through its first year, it can start to draw upon the content in our Scale Up campaign. This includes 19 podcasts with recruitment leaders, three comprehensive research reports, workshops, masterclasses, and the In the Round events in every corner of the UK. Whether you’re starting up or seeking to grow, join the REC. We will help you on every step of your journey. Follow me on Twitter @kevingreenrec for all things recruitment.
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In the words of US politician Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill Jr: “All politics is local.” Having undertaken an initial charm offensive with incoming MPs and ministers, the REC’s next phase is to work with our regional directors to build local-level relationships. Building this connection is a great way of bringing to life the contribution that recruitment professionals make to the economies and labour markets all over the UK. The feedback from REC members provides great insight into specific priority areas. Recent discussions with the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) confirmed that one of our key post-election messages has been taken on board: the need to ensure the government’s industrial strategy is underpinned by an effective regional skills strategy. REC members play a key role in flagging specific labour market challenges. Donna Parker, MD of Diamond Recruitment and Chair of REC Northern Ireland, issued a stark assessment at our latest meeting in Belfast: “Candidate shortages are increasing every day, and across all sectors.” This underlined a real sense of urgency in Northern Ireland as a steady flow of workers – from trained chemists to logistics staff – are deciding to work over the border in the Republic of Ireland. Equally timely is our work to engage with representatives of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the organisation responsible for implementing GDPR requirements. This will build on the positive dialogue that has already been established and ensure that data protection issues raised by recruiters are addressed. The regional dimension will also help drive awareness of our ‘Good Recruitment Campaign’ as we seek to use Chambers of Commerce as a channel to employers. Whether it is skills, productivity, inclusion or immigration, we will ensure that our industry’s voice remains at the forefront of some of the key political issues of our time on both a national and regional level. You can follow Tom on Twitter nt @hadleyscomment
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24%
THE INTELLIGENCE WITH REC SENIOR RESEARCHER, THALIA IOANNIDOU Tackling uncertainty through job and pay progression Uncertainty has grown in the weeks preceding and following the 8 June general election. This has been primarily reflected in reduced confidence in economic conditions and investment decisions. With a scarcity of candidates and existing skills shortages being exacerbated by Brexit, it is unsurprising that employers are having to increase starting salaries to secure the talent they need. According to our July survey data published in August’s ‘Report on Jobs’, the rate of increase in permanent starting salaries was the sharpest recorded since November 2015. All monitored UK regions saw steep increases in pay, led by the South of England. Similarly, hourly rates of pay for workers in temporary/ short-term employment continued to increase with
2017 EMPLOYEE HEADCOUNT CONTINUES
the rate of inflation being one of the strongest recorded for the past two years. Cost projections relating to salaries further highlight this upward trend. According to a survey of 200 employers in our latest report ‘Perfect match: making the right hire and the cost of getting it wrong’, three in 10 employers across the UK believe starting salaries for new staff will further increase in the next 12 months. Standard salaries for existing staff have also risen, with the NLW pay boost being particularly welcomed by millions of low-paid workers. Again, the majority of employers predict that salaries will continue to increase over the next year, which is good news for workers in the context of rising inflation. Despite rising starting salaries, the perceived increasing risk of job insecurity brought about by ongoing economic and political turbulence appears to be discouraging many people from changing jobs, even if this means they could move
ALMOST A QUARTER (24%) OF EMPLOYERS SURVEYED DURING APRIL-JUNE TRANSFER AT LEAST HALF OF THEIR TEMPORARY WORKERS TO A PERMANENT POST EACH YEAR, MIRRORING THE DIFFICULTY TO RECRUIT PEOPLE WITH IN-DEMAND SKILLS.
up the pay scale. In turn, this could have an adverse effect on productivity as individual career progression slows down. Employers predict greater reliance on temporary workers to address skills shortages. In fact, almost a quarter (24%) of employers surveyed during April-June transfer at least half of their temporary workers to a permanent post each year, mirroring the difficulty to recruit people with in-demand skills in permanent roles. As economic uncertainty continues a year on from the EU referendum, the recruitment industry has a vital role to play in ensuring the long-term health of the UK’s jobs market. A healthy jobs market is one which focuses on the skills, quality and aspirations of the workforce. Through professional and robust recruitment practices, the industry must send a clear message to encourage job
is set fair to continue, the importance of benchmarking performance against other recruiters to maximise performance cannot be underestimated.
Figure 1. Total employees versus last year (%) – quarterly average 16 14 12 10
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8 6
%
The latest information from the RIB Index, sponsored by Bluestones Group, shows that the median industry recruiter increased headcount from January 2017 onwards – the first time that numbers had been up year-on-year since June 2016. Over the same period (January-May 2017), around 6% more employees delivered the median RIB
4 2 0 -2
and pay progression, as well as greater investment in training the domestic workforce as a long-term solution to the skills shortage. Alongside a comprehensive post-Brexit immigration policy that allays employers’ fears about losing access to workers from the EU, this will enable recruiters to support businesses in planning their workforce effectively and improving labour productivity. As a result, not only will wage growth come at less of a cost for businesses, but it will more importantly help businesses and the UK economy at large to recover and flourish. • To read more about the latest recruitment and employment trends, subscribe to the REC/ HIS Markit ‘Report on Jobs’ at a discounted rate of £450 for REC members; or take part in the survey panel to receive the REC’s most up-to-date source of monthly UK labour market data and analysis for free.
Average monthly total employee v last year %
-4 Q1 2015
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1 Q2 2016
recruiter an 11% year-on-year increase in the number of clients billed, similarly driving turnover up 11%. Crucially, however, the average
Q3
Q4
Q1 2017
Apr/May
monthly NDR/GP yield from this increase in activity was just 1.2% higher than in the same period in 2016. As market uncertainty
Belinda Johnson runs employment research consultancy Worklab, and is associate knowledge & insight director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB) – part of the Bluestones Group. The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex. com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.
RECRUITMENT MATTERS SEPTEMBER 2017 3
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The Big Talking Point
START UPS
5 X3 FIVE MASTERS: THREE LESSONS
Starting your own recruitment business is a journey pathed with successes and mistakes, triumphs and hard knocks. The REC’s Scale Up Podcast features 19 of the world’s successful recruitment business leaders and entrepreneurs explaining how they grew their businesses and what they learned along the way. Recruitment Matters listens back to five of the biggest names to feature on the Scale Up Podcast and what lessons they have for budding recruitment entrepreneurs.
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Julia Robertson – Chief executive officer at Impellam Group 1 You have to care about customers, you have to care about candidates, and you have to care about getting that mix right. I’ve never lost that. If I go on a client pitch, I care about winning it. If I’ve got a staff member in a difficult situation, I care about the outcome and how they’re feeling. In a people business, you need to care. 2 The way forward is to provide fulfilling work for people. Fulfilled people, with a sense of purpose, are more productive and are better temporary workers for our customers, and our customers will be prepared to pay a decent margin and help us make an honest profit. 3 Getting it right in a digital age is important, because the candidate’s voice can be heard. In blogs and in chatrooms that talk about brands, we do know that the majority of candidates get a poor experience from the recruitment industry. We’ve got to think about all those people who the recruitment industry doesn’t touch or place and examine how we’re dealing with that.
Peter Searle – Chief executive officer at Airswift 1 When you’re a manager, you’re actually a facilitator. You sometimes get into a position where you think you’re managing people, but you’re actually leading people and facilitating them to do their job better. When you become an internal leader, you don’t get the power to tell people what to do. The reality is you just switch from selling externally to selling internally. 2 When I started on a desk, I considered that during the first five years I was an entrepreneur. Every single one of our consultants should think in exactly that way. People are going to be the core of your business. When I meet a successful business, it’s very rarely been done by someone on their own. I see four or five key individuals around them who have shared
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their skillset and the synergy between them has enabled them to be successful. You need to bring other people in to help you. 3 You need to pick your market and your timing right. It’s probably easier to go into a rising market and it’s probably easier to move into a growing niche. Look for where the trend is and follow it – the trend is your friend.
Brian Wilkinson – Chief executive officer at Gattaca plc 1 I would keep my overheads low and stick to a specialist market I knew well and have relationships in. Resist temptation to open another desk or division in a related market. We are such a fragmented industry that you can build a terrific business that’s focused without being all things to all men. 2 You build your business through the development of relationships. How do you form relationships? By talking to people and meeting with them – you don’t build relationships through a keyboard and a screen. That was true 35 years ago and it will be true in the future. 3 The most important thing for any recruitment business is engaged staff. If you haven’t got that, you’re on a hiding to nothing. It’s relatively easy to engage staff when you’re small and gets more difficult as you grow. You need to treat that as a priority and give it the investment it needs.
Tim Cook – Group chief executive officer at nGAGE 1 Recruiters are brokers, and I think we’ve lost what being a broker means to our customers. You’re either the horrid middle-man who’s not creating value and gets in the way, or you’re creating value by acting in the best interest of your enduser customer. Those businesses that are customer centric as opposed to good customer service always win. 2 People underestimate the quality of leadership and I think people confuse management with leadership. People follow people and if you get those inspirational leaders, people will die
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in a ditch for those boys and girls. That’s what you need to get some mojo up. 3 Do less better. I hate the idea that recruitment is effectively zero based. Customers need to be satisfied and if you’re not good for your customer, you won’t be around very long.
Steve Ingham – Chief executive officer at PageGroup 1 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 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. 2 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 and we use that integrity for conversations on how to grow a career. People expect to see out their careers at Page. 3 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 is going on?” you want to understand the language – and 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 them to China; we grow from within. I’ve been to our offices all around the world and the consistency is phenomenal. Listen to the full interviews – plus 14 more – on the REC Scale Up podcast, available through Soundcloud, iTunes and www.rec.uk.com/scale-up
RECRUITMENT MATTERS SEPTEMBER 2017 5
09/08/2017 09:45
Legal update
TRIBUNAL FEES
SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ENDS EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL FEES (SEPT 2017) By Lewina Farrell, solicitor, head of professional services Employment tribunal (ET) fees were introduced in July 2013. The purpose was: (1) to move towards a self-financing tribunal system and (2) to encourage early settlement of disputes and (3) to price out weak or spurious claims. The fees were set at different levels depending on whether a claim was a Part A claim (simpler claims requiring less ET resources) or a more complex Part B claim (including unfair dismissal, equal pay and discrimination claims). There were separate claims issue and hearing fees. Further fees were payable if a matter went to the appeals tribunal. Claimants could apply for a remission of fees if their disposable capital was low enough. Many warned at the time that fees would drastically affect the number of individuals seeking to enforce their rights and therefore hinder access to justice. Unison issued a
judicial review – it was joined by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (who have also taken a raft of ‘gig economy’ cases). In July 2017 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the employment tribunal fees regime was unlawful. So why did the Supreme Court rule the fees were unlawful? The Court noted that the fees were significantly higher than county court fees. Also the remission regime was very restrictive and even those on National Minimum Wage would have to save for a significant period in order to cover the costs, by which time they might be out of time to lodge a claim. The Court noted that even when people were successful in their claim significant numbers never received the awards they
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were entitled to (indeed, not all claims were financial; they also include claims for written particulars of employment). So paying a fee would place a greater burden in such cases. The fall in claims was sharp and substantial. At the same time, the proportion of successful claims has been consistently lower since fees were introduced, while the proportion of unsuccessful claims was consistently higher. This contradicts the suggestion that the fees would reduce spurious or weaker claims. The Court found that the fees had hindered access to justice, that right having been granted by the Magna Carta in 1215. The Court said “… without such access, laws are liable to become a dead letter, the work done by Parliament may be rendered nugatory [invalid] … the courts do not merely provide a public service like any other”.
Furthermore, the enforcement of employment rights were not just for the benefit of the individual claimant but society as whole. It noted that the fees disproportionately affected some groups, including women and so were indirectly discriminatory. Next steps? The Court has not said that fees must not be charged but that they must be set at a level, which everyone can afford, taking into account fees remission. At the time of writing, we understand that the Government will refund approx. £32m in fees received since 2013. Of course, this will not help those who could not afford to take a claim but are now out of time. We are likely to see more claims in the medium term, including AWR claims (of which there have been relatively few) and more gig economy claims.
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09/08/2017 09:46
Inspiration
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS
The View
Mehreen Ayub tant is a junior consultant at Admiral Recruitment
Bev Parekh is the branch manager at Impact Recruitment Services
APPRENTICESHIPS LEVEL 5 STUDENT What made you look to recruitment as a career? I had heard about recruitment as a possible career and it was something I was really interested in. I loved the idea of meeting and interviewing people every day, and I thought recruitment would be a great opportunity to push myself. I like that it covers a lot of sectors and industries too. How did you find your apprenticeship? Really good – the whole apprenticeship experience went really well. I’ve been mentored and supported the entire time and been given exposure to all areas of the business. My recruitment knowledge has really grown over the past year and that’s really helped my confidence. I have also learned new skills and a lot of valuable things about the working world. What about recruitment appeals to you? It’s such a great industry to get into. You meet people every day and you learn so much about yourself. My current role is sourcing candidates for Admiral Recruitment’s specialist commercial division, dealing with high-end corporates to source and place receptionists. It’s fast paced and target driven, which really appeals to me. Recruiting for temp roles is intense, isn’t it? It really is – there’s no room for error because you have clients and candidates depending on you, so you need to be on the ball and thinking of them. What would you say to someone who was thinking about becoming a recruitment apprentice? They really need to be open to learning all the time – that’s the main thing. Recruitment is such an open career and a great place to hone your skills, and you will be learning all the time. You can’t be afraid to make mistakes because you will learn so much from them too.
How did you get into recruitment? I moved cities and I was looking for a different challenge and wanted to step out of my comfort zone. Recruitment suits my personality with it being such a fast environment, and it’s also a very rewarding industry to get into. What sectors do you recruit for? I recruit in multiple sectors but predominantly for commercial and office-based roles – anything from junior to mid-senior level. Why did you decide to start the Level 5 Diploma in Recruitment Leadership? I wanted to be a master in the field. While I’ve got the recruiting sales background, I’ve never had any formal qualifications or training in management. I took the Level 5 to enhance my leadership skills, knowledge and be there for the team, and serve them more effectively and efficiently. What do you want to get out of the Level 5? I like to be different and there aren’t many recruiters who have done a Level 5. I wanted to know how I could differentiate myself, so being qualified sends that message about the difference about the quality I can offer. I hope it will make me stand out from the crowd. Adding value to the service we provide is always important. How have you found the Level 5 so far? If I had taken this course without having the practical side, I think I would have struggled. But because I have that, everything is fitting in to place. You realise how everything links up. I would recommend it because it gives you the day to day leadership side of things that complements the sales side. It’s an entirely different ball game, and moving from sales to leadership is an interesting transition.
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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Awards
JOBS TRANSFORM LIVES: FROM REDUNDANCY TO CHEF OF THE YEAR Recruiters do great work every day transforming people’s lives. Last year’s winner of the ‘Best Candidate Experience’ award at the IRP Awards was Susannah Lawson at Chef Jobs UK (CJUK). Chef Chris Jones talks about the impact working with Susannah has had on his life In 2014 I was facing redundancy as the pub I was working for was closing down. I had been a chef for a number of years but had never been in this situation before. I spoke to Susannah and she told me what she could offer me if I became a CJUK chef. I was happy with everything but I needed to know that I would be kept busy with work and financially stable. I have a family, so being secure is important to me. Susannah put my mind at ease, and told me that I would have guaranteed hours. Susannah carried out an in depth interview and really got to know what I was looking for. I registered with CJUK and two days later I was out in my first
job. Susannah said I would be kept busy with work, but I didn’t expect it to be so quick! Looking back on the last two years, I have often wondered why I didn’t join sooner. Susannah has offered me a better work life balance: now I can choose the hours I work and when I take my holidays. I used to work 60 hours and get paid for my contracted 40 hours, but now I get paid for every hour that I work and it’s my choice how many hours I do. I get to work in a variety of establishments, which means I’m constantly learning. There are certain skills that I want to improve on in the kitchen – my least confident area is pastry and Susannah is putting plans in
place to help me develop those skills by offering master classes at a local college for me and the rest of CJUK chefs. Last year I was promoted to an ‘Elite Chef’, which means I always have first choice for jobs and Susannah provided me with a CJUK uniform. I was automatically given a place in the competition at the latest CJUK Conference and I went on to win Chef of the Year 2016. • Have you transformed a candidate’s life? Enter the ‘Jobs transform lives: Best Candidate Experience’ award at the IRP Awards to have your great work recognised. Entries close 8 September. www.irpawards.com
RECRUITMENT MATTERS
Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 78 Chamber Street E1 8BL. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing
The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com
© 2017 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.
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www.rec.uk.com
09/08/2017 09:46
INVESTING IN
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THE RECRUITMENT AWARDS THAT PUT TALENT FIRST Celebrate with clients and reward your team
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08/08/2017 18:42
CO NTR AC TO R IN SUR ANCE
13 TIPS TO GET INSURANCE RIGHT Think you know what you’re doing when it comes to insurance and contractors? Colin Cottell tells you how to minimise any risks
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SEPTEMBER 2017
ILLUST RATI O N | S H U TTE RSTO C K
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CON T R AC TO R I N S U R A N C E
AS A RECRUITER dealing with contractors and freelancers, you are probably already familiar with the basics of contractor insurance. You probably have a broad understanding of public, employer liability and professional indemnity insurance, or at least enough to fend off the usual runof-the-mill questions. But with the number of contractors continuing to rise, not to mention constantly shifting legislation, and an increasingly litigious society with end users looking to minimise their risk, just knowing the basics is no longer good enough. Here are 13 things that you as a recruiter ought to know about contractor insurance but probably don’t.
1 Professional indemnity insurance doesn’t end when the contract ends Most contracts, which contractors enter into with engagers stipulate that professional indemnity (PI) insurance must continue to be held six years after the contract comes an end. However, because PI insurance must be in place when a claim is made, cancelling a PI policy can mean that past liabilities are not covered, warns Sharon Sinfield, senior account executive at insurance broker Stackhouse Poland. “It’s always a good idea to purchase PI cover on an annual basis, or run-off cover if the contractor has retired or is no longer working in contracting,” advises Andy Robinson, business development manager at specialist insurance brokers Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance.
2 Insurance can be retrospective Many policies allow contractors to make claims on their insurance retrospectively. “Such policies cover contractors for all previous work and can even go back to the incorporation of the contractor’s limited company,” says Robinson, giving them additional peace of mind even for events or
disputes in some cases relating back many years.
3 Don’t assume your contractors are covered by the agency’s existing insurance Recruiters who supply temporary or contract workers shouldn’t assume they are covered by the agency’s employers and public liability, but should ensure that this is extended to provide contingent worker liability. “This is important, because in the event that the agency supplies a worker to the end user, who doesn’t have insurance, the agency is protected should the worker bring a claim against the agency,” says Sinfield. A policy that is not specific to recruitment may not extend to include dishonest acts of contractors while they are on placement.
4 Employer’s liability cover Contractors by definition work for themselves. They don’t have employees, ergo they don’t need employer’s liability (EL) cover. However, “it’s not quite that simple”, says Robinson. “If a contractor has anyone working for or with them in an administrative or clerical role, for example, it is a legal requirement to hold employer’s liability insurance.” Employer’s liability generally makes up the smallest element of insurance package for contractors. “It is worth bearing in mind, that should a contractor activate the substitution clause in their contract, EL is essential,” adds Robinson.
5 What’s in a job title? “Making sure the contractor has the correct job title on their policy certificate is of paramount importance,” says Robinson. So while your contractors might identify themselves as an engineer, it is essential that the policy certificate stipulates what they actually do. “The recruiter, insurer and the end client can then all rest easier knowing the contractor is correctly covered for the role they are doing,” says Robinson.
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If the chance of lightning striking twice is low, an ‘any one claim’ policy may be a better option 6 It is worth reading the small print As a recruiter, you may feel you have better things to do than read the fine print of insurance policies. But not doing so can result in contractors being at best under-insured, and at worst not insured at all. Here are a few things to look out for: workers who deal with vulnerable people, children and those with physical or mental problems may not be covered in the event of a claim for abuse or mistreatment being brought against them. Even if they are covered, the level of cover provided (the inner cap) could be far less than the level of general cover provided; similarly, a lot of insurance policies exclude damage caused by computer virus transmission even if accidental.
7 Don’t rely on medical defence organisations Many medical professionals arrange their professional medical indemnity through medical defence organisations, such as the Medical Defence Union. However, some of the allied health professionals such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists may not be covered, says Adrian Stewart, business development manager at insurance brokers Caunce O’Hara & Co. For this specialised group of contractors, cover needs to be considered, says Stewart.
8 Know your limits The upper limit on professional indemnity polices can vary greatly. Some policies pay claims ‘in the aggregate’, meaning there is an overall limit of say £1m in any policy year; an ‘any one claim’ policy provides a more
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generous £1m indemnity for each and every claim in a policy year. Even if the chance of lightning striking twice in any year is low, for contractors working in the more risky occupations, an ‘any one claim’ policy may be a better option.
9 ‘No written contract, no insurance needed’ is a mistaken myth “It is often believed that where there is no written contract between a contractor and an engager, insurance won’t be needed,” says Stewart. “In law however, a verbal contract is binding and if a dispute or problem arises an insurer will defend a contractor’s position as long as insurance is in place.” That said, it is always preferable for a written contract to be in place.
12 Overseas exclusions In the vast majority of cases insurance policies for contractors working through umbrella companies exclude work performed in the US or Canada. Similarly offshore work, no matter how brief, is often excluded under umbrella insurance policies, says Stewart.
13 Insurance needn’t be expensive Recruiters often have the impression insurance is expensive. Obviously, the contractors they deal with don’t want to pay any more than they have to but what price piece of mind should something go wrong? Although premiums are driven by a contractor’s occupation, duties and pay rate, premiums generally only cost around 1% of annual income, says Stewart. Contractors who operate through their own PSCs can reduce the cost. “Insurance is a tax-deductible expense for contractors,” adds Robinson. ●
10 Insurance can provide unexpected cover Tax enquiry and legal expenses insurance (TE&LEI) is high on the list of many PSC contractors ensuring that their costs can be met in the event of an HMRC investigation into their tax affairs, including IR35 investigations. What is less well known is that a good TE&LEI policy will also cover the costs arising from contract and employment disputes, and debt recovery.
11 Insurance that goes the extra mile Many drivers supplied by recruiters are engaged via umbrella companies. While umbrella companies’ own insurance policies should provide public liability cover, umbrella contractors can extend the policy to cover damage to the end client’s vehicle. This is known as a ‘driver negligence’ extension, says Stewart.
INSURANCE: THE BASICS. JUST IN CASE YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN Professional indemnity Provides cover for the legal costs and expenses in defending claims that the policyholder has provided inadequate service, or advice, and for any compensation that is payable. Public liability Covers the policyholder if any client or member of the public suffers personal injury or property damage as a result of their actions. Employer liability Protects employers against the cost of compensation claims arising from employees’ illness or injury sustained as a result of the work they do for that employer.
SEPTEMBER 2017
10/08/2017 15:28
7/10 Seven of the top ten recruitment companies in the UK recommend Kingsbridge to their contractors. Want to know why? thomas@kingsbridge.co.uk
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CO M M U N I T Y
SOCIAL NETWORK WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? GET IN TOUCH!
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From running triathlons, handing over and accepting awards, and checking out new surroundings, we’ve all been busy outside of recruiting! I NSTAGR A M
RABC CHARITY GETS SUPPORT FROM RECRUITERS
RECRUITERS IN RACE AGAINST BLOOD CANCER VIA Eighteen recruiters took part in the AJ Bell London Triathlon, alongside 11,000 athletes in the world’s largest triathlon in July, in aid of Race Against Blood Cancer. Two of the super-fit recruiters were Adrian O’Connor (centre, in the camouflage shorts), founding director of financial recruitment specialist Global Accounting Network, and Ben Westwood, director, Hoxton Circle and a director of Race Against Blood Cancer. This is their fourth triathlon and the second on behalf of this charity.
Caption
Eurostaff employees enjoying a fun-filled Awards Day 2017
QUEEN’S AWARD PRESENTED TO AMORIA BOND VIA
recruitermagazine Recruiter mag has moved home! It's farewell Farringdon and allo Aldgate! Nice roof terrace, great walk in (for one Recruiter employee anyway!) and the crates are unpacked after just 2 days! #recruitment #redactivemediagroup #lovelondon recruiterrepublic Looks awesome – office warming party? toprecruitertv Sweet spot recruitermagazine Nothing as yet recruiterrepublic. Must suggest it to the powers that be! Or maybe you could...?! recruitermagazine It certainly is toprecruitertv. Saying that, we wouldn't have got such a lovely scene with the weather today!
TW I TT E R
Paul Griffiths DL, the Queen’s Vice Lord Lieutenant for Greater Manchester, dropped by Amoria Bond’s head office in Manchester for the formal presentation of the firm’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2017, won in the category of International Trade. The Lord Lieutenant presented the Award to managing director Daniel Daw during a reception attended by Amoria Bond’s senior team in nearby Didsbury House Hotel.
EUROSTAFF HANDS OUT AWARDS TO STAFF VIA Earlier this summer, technology and professional services specialist Eurostaff held its Awards Day 2017, recognising the hard work employees have made to the success of the business. All the winners walked away with a trophy and a gift of their choice. The celebrations continued at Madison’s bar and restaurant, where we’re sure everyone had an even better time!
@RecruiterMag instagram.com/recruitermagazine/ recruitermagazine.tumblr.com/
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RE C RUITE R - O FFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER
ACC E S S G RO U P CONTACT DETAILS
Isabel Ubeda E: isabel.ubeda@theaccessgroup.com W: www.theaccessgroup.com/solutions/ recruitment-software/ Stand G17
User-friendly CRM system that streamlines the entire placement cycle serving as a central hub for assignments, contacts, candidates and clients. It integrates with our back-office Pay & Bill software so you don’t spend time collecting time sheets, billing and contract data. Instead, information feeds directly from the CRM. RDB ProNet is more than a ‘traditional’ recruitment software package. It is a ‘Step Change’ in your use of recruitment technology that gives you a rapid return on your investment. Book your demo today.
AFFINITY LEARNING CONTACT DETAILS
David Curtis E: info@affinitylearning.co.uk W: www.affinitylearning.co.uk Stand Number: F28
Affinity Learning is a learning & development consultancy that enables organisations to remain competitive and grow their business to achieve the commercial goals. We specialise in working with both companies and individuals to improve their strategic and operational skills to support them in being more effective. We do this by working in partnership with our clients to help them to form and execute on a learning & development strategy that is aligned to their business strategy. Our learning transformation programme (ALTP) offers clients the support to achieve its commercial goals through the development of its people. Our consultants work with you to devise the best learning & development strategy and then execute using the most up to date techniques. The ALTP gives our clients the opportunity to outsource their learning and development function and have access to some of the highest performing learning and development consultants in the industry.
IDIBU CONTACT DETAILS
T: (0)800 3112750 E: hello@idibu.com W: www.idibu.com Stand Number: G19
A modern way of engaging with candidates It’s time to move to a modern, flexible way of recruiting: Listening, understanding, engaging and supporting. Building trust and relationships with the people that matter. Idibu is a full candidate sourcing platform allowing you to attract and engage the best talent. Build vibrant talent pools and remove admin tasks, giving you time to build relationships with candidates and hiring managers. We help recruitment teams get tremendous results by sourcing talent, building champions and maximising the ROI in your talent pools. If you want to improve your sourcing capabilities, better engage with candidates and build vibrant talent pools then book a call to find out how we can help.
T O B E F E AT U R E D I N T H E R E C R U I T M E N T AG E N C Y E X P O S P O T L I G H T P L E A S E C O N TAC T J O S H . H A N N AG A N @ R E C R U I T E R .C O.U K 38 RECRUITER
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RECRUIT ER - OF F IC I A L M E D I A PA RT N E R
T O B E F E AT U R E D I N T H E R E C R U I T M E N T AG E N C Y E X P O S P O T L I G H T P L E A S E C O N TAC T J O S H . H A N N AG A N @ R E C R U I T E R .C O.U K
ITRIS CONTACT DETAILS
Paul Sangster E: Paul.Sangster@itris.co.uk W: www.itris.co.uk Stand G3
itris is the benchmark for recruitment software, providing recruitment consultancies of all sizes with the optimum tools and features to manage their businesses. Since 1998, itris have built a reputation for enhancing business growth and profitability throughout the UK and global staffing industry. By being both fully configurable to clients’ specific requirements and one of the most feature rich systems on the market, itris contains all the functionality you need, regardless of the type of recruitment or sector you recruit into. We understand the need for flexibility, so the ability to tailor the system and functionality to your business’ needs is offered as standard at itris. You will be able to create unique fields and templates whilst automating key business processes which saves time and reduce administrative tasks. Seamless integrations with accounting and payroll software, multi-job posting and CV parsing services, SMS providers and social media sites means itris is suitable for all your recruitment needs.
O U T S AU C E CONTACT DETAILS
Darren Levers T: 0330 100 8695 E: Darren.levers@outsauce.net newbusiness@outsauce.net W: www.outsauce.net Stand F27
Outsauce provide Invoice Finance, Payroll, Credit Control and other compliant solutions for your Recruitment business. Outsauce’s services are tailored to suit your business’s needs and will scale to grow with you. If you are already trading but feel you may benefit from one or more of Outsauce’s solutions then we will work with other providers to ensure a smooth transition. If you are in the early stages or starting up then Outsauce’s knowledge and expertise can guide you through many of the challenges, helping you avoid common pitfalls and allow you to do what you do best to grow your business safely and compliantly. Make Outsauce (stand F27) your first stop this year and get your hands on an exclusive offer, say hi to our friendly team or take your chance at winning a great prize in one of Outsauce’s competitions.
WAV E G R O U P CONTACT DETAILS
David Jenkins T: 0118 986 8900 E: david.jenkins@wave-group.co.uk W: www.wave-group.co.uk Stand Number: C28
Wave specialise in helping consultancies attract more candidates and has been working within the recruitment marketing and media buying industry for nearly 20 years. Our core offering comprises: • Recruitment website builds • Media buying on all job boards • Multi-posting and advertising analytics We take a holistic approach to your digital attraction, from building an effective website that will attract candidates, purchasing media at the best possible rates, and then posting, analysing and tracking your advertising. We are the only agency to offer this ‘Build, Buy and Post’ approach. We will take the guesswork out of your recruitment marketing. You want to attract the best talent in the most efficient means possible. This is what we do best, and we’d love to do it with you. Come and see us!
T O B E F E AT U R E D I N T H E R E C R U I T M E N T AG E N C Y E X P O S P O T L I G H T P L E A S E C O N TAC T J O S H . H A N N AG A N @ R E C R U I T E R .C O.U K WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 39
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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY
Take a run-up to the high hiring bar
Find your next move in recruitment on jobs.recruiter. co.uk
BY ANDREW MOUNTNEY
↗ ANDREW MOUNTNEY is founding partner at in-house recruitment specialist Aspen InHouse
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WE OFTEN READ about the challenges that are involved, to one degree or another, in finding great talent. Now, however, when it comes to hiring in-house recruiters there’s a new focus that we are seeing increasingly: the high hiring bar. Quite a mouthful, quite a challenge. This trend – particularly prevalent in technology companies and hiring for software engineering roles – is starting to creep into all functions, including recruiter roles. Organisations are no longer seeking to fill a recruiter headcount in their team. Instead, they are specifically focused on making a hire that makes the team stronger. This approach has two points of impact: making recruiting teams stronger in general and, when doing so, seeking recruiters who make the business stronger through some form of technical competence and assessment.
“We are seeing organisations slow down the process and step away from filling jobs” As organisations find themselves competing for technical talent, they want to hire recruiters who know what good or, better still, excellent looks and sounds like, and who can assess for it. Do your homework How can a recruiter prepare to be interviewed against their own hiring bar, particularly when many modern recruiters do not have a role in formally interviewing candidates? ● Keep examples to hand of where you played a role in assessing candidates’ skills. This step may sound basic, but many functions are set up to funnel CVs to hiring managers who make that call. Organisations are increasingly focusing on hiring recruiters who are technically able enough to screen and select engineering talent from a technical perspective, and then ensure hiring
managers are interviewing only those who ‘meet the bar’. ● Be inquisitive. This is something that applies to everything in recruitment at the moment, but at interview, show an interest in the technology a company is working on. Demonstrate your awareness of the talent landscape in that market. ● Demonstrate impact – not just in the hiring funnel but also with your hiring managers. Can you show them at a briefing, or ahead of a hiring campaign, that you understand their requirements and, better still, can shape those to the reality of the marketplace? You need to have data points around salaries and size of working populations, with the required skills by locations and alternative target markets. Quality rather than quantity We are seeing organisations slow down the process and step away from filling jobs. This approach does not naturally feel comfortable to most recruiters, who want to fight it and reduce the requisition load. However, the recruiter who clears the high bar understands that finding quality talent that raises a company’s game is more important than just putting a bum on a seat. ●
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CO M M U N I T Y
BUSINESS ADVICE
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ASK THE EXPERT Q: Sometimes the way competitors work can make it harder for me to be successful. How can I make us stand out from the crowd as a quality firm? The reputation of recruitment companies, as with any sector, can be affected by the behaviours and practices of a minority of firms. However, you can focus only on yourselves. The ambivalent or negative feelings that other recruiters create in you – even if they are simply the result of their own client or candidate care – are an opportunity for you if you provide exceptional service levels. Recruitment firms that set themselves high standards for service will thrive because people will use them again and again, and share their experiences. High retention and referral levels are key to growth. By the same token, recruitment firms that take a short-term view will often find it hard to grow.
Setting the standard The owner(s), the CEO/managing director and the board set the standard for behaviour throughout the company. They need to be accountable. For example, the companies for which I am nonexecutive director have three-year plans, which are shared with the employees. Those plans are broken down into achievable targets (also shared), and the board or senior management team is responsible for delivering these targets. Board members report on their progress against each target, in writing, before board meetings. During the meeting, new targets are agreed and assigned as actions – with deadlines – to the relevant individual. It is clear to everyone that the directors are accountable for specific deliverables. These should include how clients (and candidates and employees) view your service levels and user experience. They should also include how you are improving them.
Cascading the expectations
The SME Coach Here are some of my favourite ways of achieving that: ● Tangible values: don’t just write down what they are. Find a way to meaningfully measure how you perform against them. For example, use a client or candidate satisfaction survey – where possible, face-to-face. Words on a wall aren’t enough. ● Training: provide your team with the skills to feel confident that they will benefit from taking a long-term approach with clients and candidates. ● Reward structures: incentivise consultants to behave as you want them to. For example, if you have a key client programme to deepen relationships with specific clients, then reward those who deliver against the programme. ● Career progression plans: every employee should have such a plan, with clear targets. If they don’t want one, they either lack ambition or don’t want to be held accountable. ● Grey-area guidance and red lines: when a fee beckons, the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour can blur. Red lines need to be clear, and the consequences of crossing them enforced consistently. Senior management should always be available to discuss grey areas, and broad principles will help with consistent implementation. ● Charters: set clear expectations with documents broadly outlining expectations of behaviour for the firm and the client, and the firm and candidates. Such documents will help you attract the types of people you want to work with as consultants, clients and candidates.
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While the senior team must lead by example, expectations are embodied in the company’s vision and values, to which too many firms only pay lip service. Translating the values into the culture results from embedding and reinforcing desired behaviours.
Alex Arnot
ALEX ARNOT is non-executive director to more than 25 recruitment companies.
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E EMPLOYABILITY CO M M UNITY
PAPWORTH TRUST TAKES AWAY THE FEAR OF ‘WORK’ FROM ITS CLIENTS BY COLIN COTTELL
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ork can be a dirty word for Recruiter’s Charity of the Year, Papworth Trust, which is using a novel and counter-intuitive approach to supporting its clients into employment. “The word ‘work’ can be quite terrifying for people who have not been in it for quite awhile,” says Nicola Whiteman, a senior policy officer at the Cambridgebased charity that supports disabled people into work. “Often we don’t use the word ‘work’ for quite a few weeks. We just talk to them about what they want out of life and the skills they have built up previously,” she continues. According to Whiteman, another reason not to talk about employment initially is because it triggers the response ‘I can’t get a job because I will lose my benefits’. This is difficult to overcome, she explains, because the benefit system is based on what you can’t do rather than what you can do. Whiteman says a pilot conducted by Papworth Trust last summer proved the effectiveness of this approach. “We said, ‘Don’t come and talk about work, come in and talk about wellbeing, about life in general’.” This was supplemented by activities such as tai chi and floristry, says Whiteman.
Papworth Trust aims to build up clients' self-esteem first, then introduce them to the world of work
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Over a period of time, she says that eight of the 14 on this course, many of whom had significant mental health concerns and had been “very socially isolated”, went into employment, with two moving into education and training, and two becoming volunteers. These are not isolated examples of the trust’s success. As a sub-contractor to the government’s Work Programme, since 2011 the trust has supported 9,000 disabled people primarily across Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Suffolk into employment lasting at least three months. The Work Programme is aimed at people who have been out of work for six months. In recognition of the valuable work the trust does to address the barriers faced by disabled people, who are four times more likely to be out of work than nondisabled people, in May, those attending the Recruiter
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CO M M U N I T Y
EMPLOYABILITY
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“We find a ‘try before you buy’ approach works well for both employer and the employee”
“It’s about that fear of not having worked”
Awards at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel raised nearly £1.8k to support the trust’s work. With the disability employment gap – the difference the between the 80% of non-disabled working age people who are in work and the 48% of disabled people of working age in employment – standing at 32%, the trust faces a tough task. Whiteman says the big issue for disabled people is fear. “It’s absolutely about that fear of not having worked, that fear of work and that lack of confidence and self-esteem.” Supplementing its unconventional approach, Papworth Trust also supports its clients in more traditional ways. These include employment programmes that help them with the skills and tools necessary for successful job hunting. This might
include group sessions, where clients critique each other’s CVs, says Whiteman. The trust’s employment advisers also run interview workshops. The other side of Papworth Trust’s work is working with employers, telling them about the work it does, but also helping to allay their fears about employing disabled people. Whiteman says employers are reluctant to hire disabled people because they fear it will cost them money – either the cost of having to adapt workplaces or through taking lots of days off sick. However, according to Whiteman these are misconceptions. She says one benefit of hiring a person with a disability is their loyalty. “If they are in a role that is suitable for them they don’t tend to leave,” she says. Whiteman says one of the best ways the trust uses to win employers over is work experience or work trials. “We find a ‘try before you buy’ approach works well for both employer and the employee,” she says. Persuading employers to guarantee job interviews for its clients has also proved effective, says Whiteman. One example given was B&M Bargains Store in Peterborough, which had 120 vacancies and held 50% of the interview slots for Papworth Trust’s clients. “It doesn’t mean they are guaranteed a job but they have as much chance as others,” she adds. Papworth Trust has a long history of supporting disabled people into employment going back almost 100 years. And with its innovative approach, Recruiter’s Charity of the Year 2017 looks on course to continue its valuable work for a good while yet. ● For more, email info@papworthtrust.org.uk
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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY
‘I think having a female owner and MD, and mainly female directors is quite inspiring’’ MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER What was your earliest dream job?
What was your first job in recruitment and how did you come into it? A delivery consultant. I had seen a PR role advertised through an agency, so I applied for it. Next thing I knew I was registering with the recruitment agency and that turned into a job interview. Four weeks later I was working there.
Who is your role model – in life or in recruitment? My role model in recruitment is probably my MD Jen Kinnear and my directors within the company. I think they are a really good example of strong female recruiters in positions of authority. I feel that sometimes the recruitment business can be quite male dominated. I think having a female owner and MD, and mainly female directors is quite inspiring.
What do you love most about your current role? Probably my clients. I mainly have a focus within fashion and lifestyle, so I really enjoy helping some of fashion’s biggest brands, driving their businesses forward and helping them achieve their full potential.
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↗
An archaeologist – I wanted to live in exotic places and explore the pyramids. Somehow, I then slipped into wanting to be a fashion designer, so that’s where the love affair with fashion began.
AMARANTA GOLLOGLY, associate manager, PR & marketing, Profiles Creative
Amaranta Gollogly What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career? Being promoted twice within a year and stepping into a managerial position. I was promoted in April last year to senior consultant and in December to associate manager.
What’s your top job to fill at the moment? A head of marketing position for a leading British fashion retailer.
What is your signature ature dish? Pho bo bien – I can also lso cook a mean steak.
Laugh or cry, what at did your most memorable rable candidate make you want to do and why? hy? I had a really sweet girl, who I helped break out of a boutique agency into o a big global PR agency. In her previous role she was really underpaid. nderpaid. I
got her an £8k increase, a bump up in title and she wrote me a really heartfelt letter and sent me a nice bottle of champagne and flowers, which I thought was really sweet. She definitely didn’t need to do that. She was just so grateful and I felt really proud to have helped her.
What’s the best or worst interview question you’ve ever heard? Are you planning to get pregnant soon?
What W Wh at would you regard as your theme regard rega them tune? tu une ne?? Girll on Gi Gir on Fire by A Alicia licia Keys Keys.
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E RECRUITMENT WWW. RE CRUITE R .CO.UK
View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: jude.rosset@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 7621
Recruiter Jobs helping you to attract the best candidates for your vacancies.
Jude Rosset
jude.rosset@redactive.co.uk +44 (0)20 7880 7621
Recruiter Jobs is the online recruitment site for Recruiter magazine, the prin principal magazine for recruiting and resourcing professionals. You can search through a wide range of roles; from recruitment consultants to in-house recruitment, based in both the UK and International markets. 46 RECRUITER
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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: jude.rosset@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 7621
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E CAREERS I M AG E | REX
CO M M UNITY
ADAPT REC2REC: The North Manchesterbased rec-to-rec welcomes Dawn Parkinson as director, focusing on industrial, commercial, hospitality & catering appointments nationally.
Former Manchester City FC technical director Mike Rigg has joined sports, media and talent search firm SRi as global football adviser, focusing on working with the firm’s football clients in North America, Europe, the UK and Asia. Rigg has worked in global football for more than 30 years, serving in roles from chief scout to chief football officer, technical director and head of talent management for the likes of Manchester City, Fulham FC and the Football Association. His new role sees him work alongside SRi’s global high performance team taking on strategic football infrastructure building, coaching and consultancy services.
permanent risk management team in London from his previous role as partner.
GENESIS EMPLOYMENT SERVICES: The Coventry-based recruiter welcomes Mike Finnerty as operations manager.
BIE EXECUTIVE:
HAYS:
The interim management specialist has appointed Janet Musgrave as director within its HR practice.
The recruitment giant has appointed Andy Martin and Susan Murray as nonexecutive directors.
and technology company NaturalMotion.
KORN FERRY: CATCH 22:
H1 HEALTHCARE:
Paul McQuade joins the facilities and property management recruiter as divisional manager for technical recruitment.
John Gannon joins the Scotland-based healthcare recruiter as head of its permanent recruitment unit.
EAMES CONSULTING: The international recruitment and search consultancy group has promoted Sarah Roebuck from marketing manager to head of marketing. Parvyez Salam is promoted to manager of the firm’s 48 RECRUITER
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JAGEX: Peter Lovell returns to the game developer and publisher as director of talent acquisition. Lovell, who was head of talent acquisition at Jagex between March 2014 and June 2015, is returning to the firm following two years at games
Beatrice Grech-Cumbo is the global executive search firm’s senior client partner in its Chicago office.
MCGREGOR BOYALL: The international recruiter has appointed Charlie Luckhoo as UK managing director and Henny Schipper as a UK director. Other appointments include Lucy Frost as group people director; Richard Lett as MD – international; Jon Neal as regional director for Asia Pacific, in Singapore; Fahad Ahmed as associate director. Dan Fisher and
Marc Tullet have also been promoted to UK directors, and David Hagan to associate director in London.
MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL: Mark Linden has joined the snack company as global head of talent acquisition for Mondelez Business Services. Nigel Barker also joins as head of talent acquisition, Europe.
NATIONAL LOCUMS: The medical recruiter has appointed former RAF serviceman Liam Oakes as HR adviser.
NORMAN BROADBENT GROUP: Dr Paul Aldrich joins
Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short 10/08/2017 11:04
the talent acquisition & advisory services provider as managing director, financial services within its executive search practice.
the recruitment technology provider as account director.
CONTACTS
SKY RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS:
EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7606 Editor DeeDee Doke
The multi-sector recruiter welcomes Natalie Parkinson as business manager in Derby.
deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk
SPHERE DIGITAL RECRUITMENT:
WOODROW MERCER FINANCE:
The digital staffing specialist has appointed Darren Rapp as global senior business manager.
manager.
The joint venture between FDYL, a Yorkshire-based financial consultancy and recruitment specialist, and Birmingham-based recruiter Woodrow Mercer, has appointed David Clark as an associate director within its Leeds office. Patrick Moore also joins as associate director.
[pic: in hi-res]
ZRG PARTNERS: The global
STAFFGROUP:
executive search firm welcomes Julia Williams as managing director in its healthcare and life sciences practice.
The international recruitment specialist, part of Cordant Group, welcomes Saman Tabrizi as its new MD.
VISIBILITY SOFTWARE: The applicant tracking and training management software company has appointed Melissa Goolsby as client success manager. Greg Smith also joins as partner success manager, responsible for its Sage and Abila partner channels.
Redactive Publishing Ltd 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL 020 7880 6200
YOU R NE X T M OV E A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk Concept Care Solutions Recruitment consultant Edgware, London Healthcare £25k-£30k BlueTown In-house recruitment executive London £25k-£32k + uncapped comms Ashley Kate HR Recruitment advisor London HR/Personnel up to £38k
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 7621 Senior sales executive Jude Rosset
Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons
jude.rosset@redactive.co.uk
colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk
PRODUCTION +44 (0)20 7880 6209 Production executive Rachel Young
Contributing writers Scott Beagrie, Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk
Designer Craig Bowyer Picture editor Akin Falope ADVERTISING +44 (0)20 7880 6220 Advertising account manager Josh Hannagan josh.hannagan@recruiter.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7324 2762 Senior sales executive Will Hunter
rachel.young@redactive.co.uk
PUBLISHING +44 (0)20 7880 8547 Publishing director Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk
RECRUITER AWARDS/ INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS +44 (0)20 7324 2771 Events eventsteam@redactive.co.uk
william.hunter@recruiter.co.uk
CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS Recruiter is the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals. To ensure each issue of Recruiter magazine is delivered to your desk or door, subscribe now at https://subs. recruiter.co.uk/subscribe. Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £35 UK; £45 Europe and £50 Rest of the world • Recruiter is also available to people who meet our terms of control: http://bit. ly/RecruiterCC • To purchase reprints or multiple copies, or any other enquiries, please contact mysidekick@recruiter.co.uk or +44 (0)20 8950 9117 CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2017 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group. Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478
Total average net circulation between 1 July 2014 & 30 June 2015 – 18,667. is also sent to all REC members
For more jobs, people moves and career advice go to
VOLCANIC: Matt Gallivan moves to
● recruiter.co.uk/jobs ● inhouserecruiterjobs.co.uk ● internationalrecruiterjobs.com
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Scan here to get your own copy of
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E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY
Gregory Allen Unsuccessful candidates need valuing, too
I have been reviewing candidate experience, thinking about how we as a company can embrace all those who take time out of their day to look at what we’re doing in Lloyd’s Register. I have held workshops with our global talent acquisition leads, to see what people want when they apply for our roles. It was interesting how many ideas came up, ranging from social media invitations to VIP LinkedIn groups, through social gatherings to personal invitations by senior managers. But when we spoke to candidates who had recently applied to Lloyd’s Register, they said all they wanted was to know they were valued and to understand why they had been unsuccessful. My first thought was that our workflows and automated email system must have been broken. Wasn’t everyone getting a notice that they’d been unsuccessful? I then spoke to friends who are looking for new roles. I was shocked to hear their feedback. Automated emails, agencies with no information or, most of the time, nothing.
How can this happen in 2017, when we have more technology and the war on talent is getting tighter and will become more so once Brexit takes effect? Candidate experience will soon become the differentiator. We already know that sites such as Glassdoor deliver instant feedback. Poor interview processes can be on the internet as fast as it takes someone to type a comment. So why do we feel that our applicant tracking systems (ATS) sending cold, impersonal messages to candidates – such as ‘If you have not heard from us in two weeks, please take it that you have been unsuccessful’ – is fine? How can a professional recruitment team even think this is is acceptable, when someone has taken time to fill in your application process, set up an account, create a password and write a whole covering letter?
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Where is it acceptable to give nothing back, apart from the ‘computer says no’ scenario? In my research, we looked at agencies. Why were they not getting back to candidates? Time and time again, I heard from the agencies that they would love to give constructive feedback to candidates. Candidate experience is cash in the bank to a good consultant. On many occasions, the agencies got nothing from their clients to feed back to a candidate who had given up hours of their time, applying and interviewing for a company.
Where is it acceptable to give nothing back apart from ‘computer says no’
GREGORY ALLEN is global head of resourcing at Lloyd’s Register
In-house recruiters should partner with their agencies to fulfil the recruitment promise of great candidate experience. As a result of this research, I can see how our company can become better positioned when competing for talent. Switch off the automated responses. Celebrate our candidates who have chosen to apply to our company. Then, whether successful or not, celebrate their capabilities and respectfully encourage them to stay within our cadre of future talent for our company. Those who didn’t make it this time might be the leaders we need tomorrow. ●
10/08/2017 11:05
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