Recruiter May 2012

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May 2012

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BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

Nicola Binning Taking g her team m to the top p of the mounta ain: KPMG wins Best Reccruitment Team at Recrruiterr’ss Awards for Excellencce

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BLEASDALE TRIBUNAL HCL’s founder awaits the verdict in June following the Employment Tribunal hearing in London

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THE CHALLENGE Milestone drives Norbert Dentressangle’s operation for The Co-operative Group in Andover

DEVELOP YOUR RECRUITERS US HR consultant urges in-house recruiters to improve leadership skills

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Contents 26

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What jubilation and pride were evident at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012 gala on the 2 May! It’s a night we look forward to every year, which climaxes nearly a year of planning and, for some of us, ending all too soon. This year, winning and shortlisted entries shared stories of farsighted innovation, building and rebuilding teams and businesses, design and implementation of long-term visions, and energy. We have shared a few of the ‘back’ stories behind some winning entries in this issue of Recruiter, and we look forward to sharing more with you in the months to come. Well done to the winners and shortlisted nominees! On a darker note: we await with interest but also with deep concern the impending results of the recent Employment Tribunal involving recruitment entrepreneur Kate Bleasdale and the current leaders of the recruitment company Bleasdale founded, Healthcare Locums. From the often sordid nature of the allegations presented, this case shows all the signs of a potential pyrrhic victory for which ever side the tribunal agrees with. The accusations from all parties are chilling. Arguably the biggest loser in this case is the recruitment sector itself.

DeeDee Doke, Editor

NEWS Recruitment’s Olympians go for gold at the Awards

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The winners from the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, headline sponsored by Eploy, are announced

HCL Employment Tribunal case nears its conclusion

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The verdict from Kate Bleasdale vs HCL is expected in June

Improve development

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Help in-house recruiters to think more creatively 8 Online Recruitment 10 News Digest News from the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012

FEATURES 26 COVER STORY Profile Nicola Binning, KPMG 35 Recruiter Awards for

Excellence 2012 The event in pictures 39 Keeping your staff happyl An inside look at some of the best recruitment agencies to work for

REGULARS 22 24 24 32

Soapbox Soundbites Letters The Challenge Milestone Operations and Norbert Dentressangle

48 Movers & Shakers Industry moves 58 Bloggers with Bite

ANALYSIS 14 News Analysis Exclusive: Going into battle with leadership 16 Sector Analysis Media 20 Global Spotlight on Chile 14

WHO’S HIRING? Eight pages of Recruitment Advertising 49 Ruth Moran 50 JPA 51 Orion 52 Kelly Services, Industria 53 Redline, Kare 54 Rullion 55 AES, D&B 56 Lioness Consultants

SEE INSIDE: Recruitment Matters EDITORIAL Editor: DeeDee Doke T: +44 (0)20 7880 7601 deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk Senior reporter: Colin Cottell T: +44 (0)20 7880 7603 colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk Reporter: Sam Burne James T: +44 (0)20 7880 7606 sam.burnejames@recruiter.co.uk Contributing writer: Sue Weekes Production editor: Vanessa Townsend T: +44 (0)20 7880 7602 vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk Art editor: Adrian Taylor ADVERTISING Advertising director: Andy Daniel T: +44 (0)20 7880 7607 andy.daniel@recruiter.co.uk Display sales executive: Tom Culley T: +44 (0)20 7880 6205 tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment sales executive: Richard York T: +44 (0)20 7880 7608 richard.york@recruiter.co.uk Editorial & advertising fax +44 (0)20 7880 7553 PRODUCTION Deputy production manager: Kieran Tobin T: +44 (0)20 7880 6240 kieran.tobin@redactive.co.uk PUBLISHING Publishing director: Anne Sadler T: +44 (0)20 7880 6213 anne.sadler@redactive.co.uk RECRUITER AWARDS Events: Lindsay McClenaghan T: +44 (0)20 7880 6225 lindsay.mcclenaghan@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@alliance-media.co.uk • To purchase reprints or multiple copies of the magazine, contact Andy Daniel T: +44 (0)20 7880 7607

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2010 & 30 June 2011 – 16,362. Recruiter is also sent to all REC members R d ti M Redactive Media di Group 17-18 Britton Street London EC1M 5TP

CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2012 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group. Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

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News

RECRUITMENT’S OLYMPIANS GO FOR GOLD AT AWARDS

WINNERS ATTHE RECRUITER AWARDS BEST RECRUITMENT TEAM: KPMG AGENCY OF THE YEAR: Amoria Bond RECRUITER OF THE YEAR: Mark Kelly, SThree

(Computer Futures, Dublin) (Highly Commended: Colin Minto, G4S) BEST TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION: TribePad by Talent on View (Highly Commended: Creed Communications for Lifestyle Services Group Employee Referral App) OUTSTANDING OUTSOURCED RECRUITMENT ORGANISATION: Transline Resource Group BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR: McCarthy

Recruitment INNOVATION IN RECRUITMENT: Boots UK BEST IT RECRUITMENT AGENCY: Nicoll Curtin MOST EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN: McCann

London Graduate Recruitment Campaign BEST BANKING/FINANCIAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY:

The economy may be bumping along the bottom, but you wouldn’t have guessed it as recruiters came together earlier this month at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel for the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, headline sponsored by Eploy. Conviviality, celebration, laughter and wild applause were the order of the night as almost 1,000 recruiters gathered in the Great Room to recognise the very best examples of recruitment practice. In London Olympics year, Recruiter’s editor DeeDee Doke urged the audience to “be proud” after successfully coming though “another marathon challenge” during the last 18 months. “You have gone that distance and deliver that gold every day to your candidates and your clients,” said Doke. The Awards were hosted by Rufus Hound, who held the audience’s attention throughout with his acerbic brand of comedy. This year’s event featured 28 different Awards, including new Awards for: Best

FOR MORE ON THE AWARDS, GO ONLINE

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Onboarding Strategy, Best Recruitment Agency Marketing Team, Best Apprentice/ School Leaver Recruitment Strategy and Best Technology Innovation. Alan McKinnon, head of recruitment delivery at Transport for London, one of this year’s judges, summed up recruiters’ achievements. “What impressed me, given the country’s tough economic climate, was the creativity shown by a range of organisations in a tough market.” And Chris Bogh, technical director of Eploy, highlighted how even in troubled economic times opportunities continue to exist. “It’s the perfect year to promote ourselves as part of the recruitment industry,” he said in reference to Eploy’s headline sponsorship of the 2102 Awards. During the evening, recruiters raised almost £2,500 for Aspire Oxfordshire, this year’s Awards charity, which helps disadvantaged people to find work. In addition to Eploy’s headline sponsorship, the 2012 Awards were supported by Arrows Group, Boox, Cloud 9, CV-Library, Exchange from reed. co.uk, Fish4jobs, K & B Accountancy Group, Liquid Friday, and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. ● For further coverage from the event, see pp6-7, 35-36 and the Profile on Best Recruitment Team Award winner KPMG on pp26-28.

Oliver James Associates BEST INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY: Antal

International Network BEST GLOBAL/INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY: G4S BEST PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RECRUITMENT AGENCY:

Goodman Masson MOST EFFECTIVE EMPLOYER BRAND DEVELOPMENT:

LV= with ThirtyThree BEST GRADUATE/TRAINEE RECRUITMENT STRATEGY:

Boots UK BEST ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT AGENCY: CBSbutler BEST APPRENTICE/SCHOOL LEAVER RECRUITMENT STRATEGY: Network Rail with Work Communications BEST TEMPORARY RECRUITMENT AGENCY: Milestone

Operations BEST PUBLIC SECTOR RECRUITMENT AGENCY:

Sanctuary Personnel BEST CLIENT SERVICE: Sanctuary Personnel (Highly

Commended: Transline Resource Group) BEST RETAIL RECRUITMENT AGENCY: Elite Associates Europe (Highly Commended: McCarthy Recruitment) BEST EMPLOYEE REFERRAL STRATEGY: Lifestyle Services Group with Creed Communications BEST CANDIDATE CARE: Tangent International BEST CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE: Farrer & Co BEST EMBEDDED RECRUITING TEAM: Meridian Business Support at Procter & Gamble BEST ONBOARDING STRATEGY: Network Rail BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY MARKETING TEAM: Impact Recruitment Services BEST NEWCOMER AGENCY: Annapurna HR

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Random thoughts from Recruiter’s Awards for Excellence 2012

From the point of view of the judges, it was good to see the right people winning the awards CHRISTOPHER CLARK, PRINCIPAL, HIGHFIELD ADVISORY

HCL TRIBUNAL CASE VERDICT IN JUNE A decision in the Employment Tribunal in which Kate Bleasdale, the founder and former executive vice chairman of Healthcare Locums (HCL), is suing HCL and several former colleagues for unfair dismissal, victimisation and sex discrimination is expected in June. During last month’s 15-day hearing at Kingsway Employment Tribunals in central London, evidence was heard from Bleasdale and a number of her former colleagues. Bleasdale’s claim for £12m in damages relates to events in 2010 and early 2011 that led to Bleasdale’s suspension and subsequent dismissal in March 2011, following the discovery of “serious accounting irregularities” at HCL. Evidence of the irregularities included doctored emails and invoices loaded onto Barclays’ invoice discount system twice, as well as discrepancies between figures in the management accounts and the ‘true figure’. Bleasdale claimed she informed the HCL board of problems with the accounts, that

Kate Bleasdale: tribunal verdict due next month

there had been a cover-up, and that she had been dismissed for whistle-blowing. “I am the only one who when I found out the truth told the truth, and tried to deal with the truth,” she said. Bleasdale blamed former finance director Diane Jarvis for adjusting the accounts to artificially inflate the company’s earnings. However, it was put to Bleasdale that Jarvis had said that “every figure had been agreed with you”. Following Bleasdale’s suspension, HCL

SWIFT CHALLENGES FRONTIERS OIL AND GAS RECRUITER •Swift Worldwide Resources

has recently opened an office in Accra, Ghana and has initiated moves to set up in Iraq by the end of 2012. Two staff members have been based in Accra for several months, Swift James Allen EMEA managing director James Allen told Recruiter. “It’s an exciting market, very buoyant, and something we’ve been watching for a while,” he said. “It’s one of the fastest growing economies worldwide at the moment, and the discovery rate is up around 70% — for every 10 wells they dig, in seven of them they find oil… It’s crying out for a company like us to go in there.” He added: “We feel now is the right time to go

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in and establish ourselves. It’s already bearing some early fruit.” Allen described the country as “very well established, very safe, very secure”. In Iraq, the Recruiter Fast 50 company has begun the registration process for a local Iraqi operation. Once completed, Allen said Swift will open in “probably the Basra region to support some of the client work we have going on there… with a small team initially on the ground to get the ball rolling”. Building operations from the ground up is nothing new for Swift. Allen said: “Whatever it takes, wherever it takes us — we don’t get put off by challenging or frontier locations. In fact, that’s what we look for. They’re usually more rewarding, and they set you apart from your competition.” In other Swift moves, its head office, staffed by chief executive Tobias Read and chief financial officer James Dymott, relocated from London to Houston, Texas, late last year. The company exited Nigeria recently, citing requirements for increasingly greater percentages of Nigerian ownership in businesses such as Swift.

appointed David Moffatt, then interim chief finance officer, to investigate Bleasdale’s actions. A subsequent disciplinary process by Alastair Liddell, HCL’s former deputy chairman, led to Bleasdale’s dismissal, a decision upheld by HCL non-executive director David Henderson. Bleasdale claimed she was singled out for being a woman because none of the men working in the HCL finance team were suspended or dismissed. However, Peter Sullivan, HCL’s chairman, told the tribunal: “You were the one where the buck stops. It has got nothing to do with whether you are a man or a woman.” Bleasdale also questioned Moffatt’s and Liddell’s independence. “I believe the whole process was unfair, prejudiced and selfserving,” Bleasdale said. However, other witnesses said Moffatt and Liddell were the best people available. During the tribunal, Bleasdale also accused former HCL chairman Alan Walker of sexual impropriety, an allegation that Walker denied. COLIN COTTELL

OFFICE ZEBRA’S GREEN IS KEEN TO HUNT FOR BUSINESS Shane Green, formerly the head of UK operations with staffing firm Kelly Services, believes that he can “really take advantage” of the tough financial climate as he takes his newly-founded commercial, executive and IT recruiter, Office Zebra, to market. “While I know everyone’s talking about the market being awful,” he told Recruiter, “that’s really good news, because someone like myself can take advantage of that, when there’s a lot of people who have been operating for a number of years who are struggling.” Having received funding from three acquaintances and then opened Office Zebra in East Molesey within six weeks of registering the firm, he now looks to expand further within six months. Asked by Recruiter why he went for Zebra as part of the company’s name, he replied that the company’s whole identity is “supposed to be a bit of fun”. “Finding a job should be fun,” he said. “It could be daunting, but it should be fun”.

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News

Rufus Hound took the whole audience through the evening with him. Congratulations to him

A wonderful night to celebrate everything that is good about the recruitment industry

I had a baby this week and honestly [winning] this tops off the best week ever

ANN SWAIN, CEO, ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL STAFFING COMPANIES

KATE MCCARTHY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MCCARTHY RECRUITMENT

GRANT MORRIS, ELITE ASSOCIATES EUROPE (WINNER, BEST RETAIL AGENCY)

DON’TTREAT PEOPLE AS ‘JUNK BONDS’

HELP YOUR RECRUITERS TO THINK CREATIVELY

• RECRUITERS MUST CONVINCE employers to examine and amend their perceptions of people who have been made redundant as “the junk bonds of the workplace”, a leading US human resources consultant has urged. In US investment jargon, ‘junk bonds’ are the investment of last resort. Ron Katz believes that the potential value of people who have lost their jobs is misunderstood and significantly underestimated. Speaking to Recruiter recently in San Diego, US, Katz emphasised that agency and in-house recruiters alike have a responsibility to organisations, nations, economies and the world to hire people who have lost their jobs to “reduce turnover, have loyal employees and have Ron Katz overqualified or fully qualified employees. You can get incredible talent for lower cost”. Katz is founder of Penguin Human Resource Consulting and an adjunct professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “I heard the long-term unemployed referred to as ‘the junk bonds of the workplace’,” he said. “First of all, ‘junk bond’ is a colloquial name. What they really are is highrisk investment vehicles, unless you’re trying to sell them. Then you call them high-yield investment vehicles. And that’s what we want from employees — high yield. People without jobs are not junk.” He went on to debunk the myth, which he referred to as the “iPhone approach”, that people who have been jobless for six months or more are no longer at the cutting edge of technology. Because jobless people can often access subsidised training or will volunteer at organisations where they can use their skills, “they haven’t fallen behind”, he said. “That’s a myth. They’re keeping current.”

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A leading US human capital consultant is urging in-house recruiters to improve their professional development by taking a new look at how front-line practitioners’ jobs are designed. If recruiters continue to focus primarily on processes and targets, the sector will fail to develop leaders capable of moving into the highest levels of business, Joe Shaheen, managing director and senior consultant, of Joe Shaheen Human Alliance, has warned. “Recruiting as a profession is not ready to produce leaders unless major structural shifts take place,” Shaheen told Recruiter recently. “If you’re a VP [vice president] of recruiting, you’re stuck there. You don’t go into another function, not traditionally.” Elaborating, Shaheen explained: “Every recruiter has to do process-oriented things. But if you’re going to develop your recruiters, you have to design their job spec so there is a component that allows them to play, to think creatively — like to come up with new ideas and initiatives, even if it’s 5% of their time.” “Most of today’s recruiters are doing just 100% recruiting. There is no opportunity for any type of growth, and that is the truth.” Examples of ways to diversify the work experience include job rotation, and designing role specialities which are not based only on “what it is they’re recruiting for or what division or what location”, he said. “Mix it up. Give them opportunities for leadership early on. Let them have something that they own.” Shaheen also proposed having recruiters shadow various roles within their organisation. Shadowing can deepen understanding of the business itself, improve skills in recruiting into particular jobs and open recruiters’ eyes to capabilities they would need to advance. He summarised by saying: “The jump between the recruiting suite to the C-suite is a deep understanding of the business. I think sometimes we don’t have that. You can no longer look only at talent.”

Contract News Capita: the outsourcing firm has acquired employee benefits consultancy Bluefin Corporate Consulting. CareerBuilder: the jobs board has acquired CEVIU and Top Language Jobs, respectively Brazilian IT and languages specialist job sites. Eploy’s flexible cloud recruitment software will be used by specialist manufacturer Oxford Instruments.

Exsurgo: with private equity backing from Hamilton Bradshaw, the retail, sales and marketing recruiter has acquired recruiter Daniel Williams Consultancy.

HCL: the healthcare recruiter will use Itris recruitment software across its business Jobtrain Solutions: the recruitment software firm has secured a three-year, global contract to supply support services firm Rentokil Initial. Online Resourcing: the

DEEDEE DOKE

recruiter will be sole provider of online recruitment for FMCG giant Mars in the UK.

CAREER SITES ARE ‘TERRIBLE’ SAYS ALDER

Penna: Northern Irish HR

A leading social recruiting expert has bemoaned the current state of corporate careers sites. Speaking at an event hosted by web services firm 4MAT, Matt Alder said of many such sites: “They’re terrible.” The speed at which technology is developing is a contributing factor, Alder said. He added: “I don’t think anyone sets out to create a terrible site. It’s a big challenge to have a careers site that’s relevant and effective.” At the same time, video is one of the greatest attractions on mobile-optimised career sites. Alder said “too many talent acquisition pieces [online] are text heavy”. Video, he said, is “the way forward” in imparting the best possible messaging to prospective candidates.

consultancy Whitewater Consulting has been merged into HR services firm Penna Ireland.

Sheffield Haworth: the

“It’s a big challenge to have a careers site that’s relevant and effective”

search firm has acquired banking search specialist The Meyer Partnership.

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Online Recruitment

GAME-CHANGING APPROACH TO APPS PEOPLEFLUENT USES GAMIFICATION TO TRACK TALENT AND DRIVE ENGAGEMENT WITHIN AN ORGANISATION S-based Peoplefluent is claiming to break new ground by building in gamification into a talent management app. Gamification is the use of game design techniques and thinking to drive higher engagement or adoption in a non-game environment or context. Workforce Explorer Challenge is designed to help managers gain a better insight into the talent within their organisation and forms part of the latest version of Peoplefluent’s Workforce Explorer iPad app. Chris Caldon, senior vice president, sales at Peoplefluent, said the proliferation of tablet devices and the increasing expectation among end users of a “consumer-centric” experience were major factors in their decision to use gamification but the overall

U

Managers can track talent within the organisation

driver is to find a way of increasing adoption of the software. “The best way to get people to utilise these apps is to start changing the metaphor by which they are learning how to interact with them,” he said. “The gamification aspects and the game mechanics we’ve factored into the design get managers to use the apps on two levels: it helps them understand how to use and navigate their way through the app in a fun way and in doing so the games drive out the underlying data that the organisation holds.” The app links to disparate data sources within the organisation, such as record-keeping and HR systems. At the moment, the applications work with the Peoplefluent talent management product suite but Caldon said that

Elliot Kidd (right) with Tony Wilmot

Prestigious brands sign with free-to-use site NEARLY 3,000 EMPLOYERS have registered

Chris Caldon

Richard Hamilton Matthew Jeffery

the company’s ultimate aim is to open the app up to other systems. The app uses this data to create questions such as whether the manager knows who are the top three performers in the company or which two employees have Java backgrounds. “The manager gets pointers, tips and instant feedback on where to find this information if they don’t know it,” explained Caldon. As well as questions, rankings and ratings, Workforce Explorer Challenge also features music, sound effects and animation. Caldon adds that gamification will be factored into all its products across the talent management spectrum, including sourcing and recruitment. “For instance, a resourcing manager could use gamification to learn about succession strength for key positions and understand where succession weaknesses are,” he said. “I believe we are on the cusp of the next wave of transformation in apps, especially in the area of talent management where user adoption is critical for better decision-making. When making a decision about talent you want to make sure your managers are fully informed and understand the data available to them.” Richard Hamilton, marketing director of the recruitment business Guru Careers, believes that although there has not yet been any “large-scale” implementations of gamification into recruitment products, it has a real value for employers and agencies. “Pure gamification is about driving engagement, encouraging interaction and pulling people into a technology product to get the data you need … we’ll see a lot more uses of it coming out of the woodwork.” Guru Careers is working on a new application tracking system (ATS) and is exploring the benefits of gamification. When speaking at the Alexander Mann Solutions Sourcing Innovation Summit earlier this year, Matthew Jeffery, head of EMEA talent acquisition

“A resourcing manager could use gamification to learn about its succession strength”

with the free-to-use recruitment website Staffbay.com since its formal launch last October, with Rolls-Royce one of the most recent to sign up. Other high-profile organisations that have registered include L’Oréal, Serco, Tottenham Hotspur and VW Group. Co-founder Elliot Kidd told Recruiter that Staffbay is also currently working on integration with Facebook Connect, which will enable jobseekers to connect their Facebook identity to their Staffbay profile. It is likely that further integration other social media and professional networking sites will follow. Kidd founded the site with Tony Wilmot, with whom he also runs Frontline Recruitment, a network of high street agencies. They recognised that technology was changing the shape of recruitment and designed Staffbay.com as a way to bring candidates and employers together to find out more about each other. Both sides can build personal or corporate profiles which can include videos, images and documentation. Kidd and Wilmot derive no revenue from Staffbay but haven’t ruled out devising ways of monetising the site in the future. It is currently funded by Frontline, which opened its sixth office on 1 May in Weymouth, Dorset. www.staffbay.com

and global talent brand at the 3D design software company Autodesk, predicted that gamification would be one of the tools of “new recruitment, version 4.0”, forming a key part of a social recruiting strategy. “Gamification is not about adding games but learning from the process of what games are about. How do we make someone have one more play and ensure they keep coming back?” he said. www.peoplefluent.com www.gurucareersnetwork.com SUE WEEKES

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DIGEST

Awards tweets and comments @DavidSThornhill Good luck to everyone attending the #RecruiterAwards2012 tonight with @RecruiterMag! Have a good night everyone! @pmodley On my way to the @RecruiterAwards, am presenting an award, hope I don’t fall flat on my face! @matalanjobs Had a great night at the @RecruiterAwards there’s always next year! @SussexMatt Great win for #G4S thanks @RecruiterAwards! @stephbluesky Well deserved! RT@RecruiterMag: Well done, Antal International Networks, Best International Recruitment Agency @tinycvonline @RecruiterMag @TribePad Well done. Maybe next year it will be us — tinycv.net @iCobus @RecruiterMag @cbsbutler Congrats to Dave [Leyshon] and the team for winning best engineering recruitment award. Well done! @Antal_Intl @RecruiterMag Thank you for such a lovely event! Very very GREAT! @SimonNJayne @RecruiterMag @bootsukofficial congratulations to all at Boots from @savilleconsult! @HWBRecruitment Big congratulations to all of the winners @ RecruiterAwards – looked like a great event! @TheRecruiterHub Well done to all the winners at the @ RecruiterAwards last night. @LeeHarding83 Wonder how many sore heads there are after last night’s @RecruiterAwards @thefrontcovers @RecruiterAwards – The Front Covers were delighted to play at last night’s awards. Terrific awards. Terrific audience!

Mark Kelly collects his award from Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke and host Rufus Hound

KELLY IS TOP RECRUITER •

THE WINNER OF THE RECRUITER OF THE YEAR AWARD at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence, headlined sponsored by Eploy, said that building relationships with clients and candidates as well as passion for the job were fundamental to his success. Mark Kelly, sales team manager at IT recruiter Computer Futures in Dublin, part of the SThree Group, won this prestigious accolade after billing £879,756 between October 2010 and October 2011. Kelly made 103 permanent placements in that period, with an average fee of £8,541. Kelly told Recruiter: “I think that relationships are very important in this market, and trying to understand client needs. When you understand the candidate’s motivation for moving, you can bring it together with the needs of clients. It is also about being passionate about doing that. “The candidates work with me through referrals, and they understand that I have their best interests at heart.” As a sales manager, Kelly continues to recruit, however, he said his ambition was to move into a directorship role, making use of his Masters degree in business strategy and management. Marcus Francis, a director of SThree, told Recruiter: “Mark is an exceptional talent and someone that is definitely going all the way to the top, in my opinion. No job is too big or too small for Mark and he will do anything to ensure the client and the candidates happy, and thinking outside the box in working to develop those relationships. “Mark is an exceptional talent and someone that is definitely going all the way to the top, in my opinion. “He has taken over a management role officially over the last six months, and the performance of the team has increased massively based on Mark’s ability to lead from the front and getting the team to follow his strategy.” The award is confirmation that “all his hard work and ability is really paying off”, he added.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL BASTOS

Roopesh Panchasra, director, recruitment, Expedia Sharing an evening with some of the brightest sparks within our recruiting industry and a chance for the hard working internal recruiting team from Expedia to let their hair down and be thanked for their hard work, dedication and continued efforts throughout the year. Although we didn’t nominate ourselves for any of the awards (goal for next year) this event is a unique opportunity to allow an organisation “Great evening like ours, that push our for bonding, for teams pretty hard, to demonstrate our laughter and for appreciation and sharing a glass or gratitude for their two with those that achievements. Great for bonding, we expect so much for laughter and for from” sharing a glass or two with those that we expect so much from.

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DIGEST

Aspire Oxfordshire is charity of the year ASPIRE OXFORDSHIRE, Recruiter’s chosen •Charity of the Year, highlighted its work

with the long-term unemployed and those whom society has written off, through an inspirational video shown at the event. The charity also benefitted by around £2,500 raised on the night at a casino event held after the awards were presented. Aspire Oxfordshire’s chief executive Jenny Fox and head of development and fundraising Jane Harris both attended the event. Harris told Recruiter after the evening: “From the moment we arrived we were bowled over by the number of people approaching us with innovative ways of supporting our enterprises and trainees.” She went on to say that both herself and Fox received “many, many offers of work placement opportunities and advance notice of upcoming vacancies” as well as the “invaluable donations”. “The success of our organisation is so closely shaped by our corporate partners and it was refreshing to be reminded that we are not alone in our commitment to seeing some of society’s most disadvantaged citizens turn their lives around through employment.” Since the Awards, Aspire has been shortlisted to the final three for the Oxfordshire Business Awards 2012 Oxford Times Charity and Community Award, in addition to working on a pilot for introducing full accredited training across Aspire’s enterprises, funded through Oxfordshire County Council. “This is due to start in June,” Harris added. “More excitement!” www.aspireoxford.co.uk

News

MCCANN’S HONESTY PAYS DIVIDENDS PROVED •TOHONESTY BE THE BEST POLICY

for advertising agency McCann London, which won the Most Effective Recruitment Campaign award at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, headline sponsored by Eploy. As Jamie Copas, client services director, told Recruiter: “The bottom line is that the advertising industry has a certain perception that it is all glamour, going on agency shoots, and meeting supermodels and celebrities.” Copas said the reality is that graduates joining the company are expected to do their fair share of mundane tasks such as photocopying and tea making. In the past, graduates’ unrealistic expectations led to a mismatch, and this in turn resulted in a high turnover of staff, he says. The company’s 100-year-old motto is ‘Truth Well Told’, and McCann’s award-winning strategy was built on honest and open conversations. This included ‘a truth line’ on Skype for callers to ask staff any questions they liked. McCann also took its recruitment team to 10 cities around the country in search of new and more diverse talent, including nongraduates and older applicants. Ten candidates were selected for the next stage, six weeks paid work and training in the company, after which three people were appointed. During this period, applicants were provided with a mentor, who worked closely with them answering their questions and concerns. The so-called McCademy was run by successful graduates from previous years. “They take it very seriously, and if the applicants aren’t good enough that reflects on them,” said Copas.

REFERRING EMPLOYEES THE LSG WAY LIFESTYLE SERVICES •GROUP’S Best

G4S WINS ACCOLADES AT AWARDS ONE OF THE SUCCESS STORIES at this year’s •Awards was security solutions firm G4S, not

only winning the accolade for Best Global/ International Recruitment Strategy, but also seeing its head of resourcing Colin Minto highly commended in the Recruiter of the Year category. One of the largest private sector employers in the world, it recruits on average 200,000 new staff a year, the judges praised Colin Minto (right), poses G4S’s moving from a number of “disparate” with Lisa Scales of Talent recruitment processes across the business to on View, whose TribePad the creation of a single global strategy, “one platform won Best sleek, high-performance recruiting machine”. Technology Innovation “We knew we were doing a lot of groundbreaking work in terms of corporate resourcing strategy and technology adoption and implementation,” Minto told Recruiter. “But to have that recognised by such a wide and experienced group of judges is delightful.” He adds that “it’s something that we can proactively talk to our customers about”.

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Employee Referral Strategy not only delivered 132 referrals on its first day, between October 2010 and October 2011 it was responsible for around 50% of the group’s volume recruitment. According to LSG’s head of HR Michael Carter, the snappily named Bucks for Buddies saved the company £500,000 over two years and helped reduce staff turnover by 5%. And all this was achieved on a budget of just £10 per employee. To achieve this success, Carter said it was vital that the scheme was correctly “positioned internally” within the company to drive employee engagement. This was gained by the full internal communications capacity of the company. Working with Blackbridge Communications, this included banners on the company’s contact centre TVs, leaflets and branded mugs. Getting line managers on board by running workshops, as well as a reward of £500 or £700 for a successful referral, were also huge factors in the campaign. Carter emphasised the importance of keeping the scheme fresh, most notably, with the launch of a specially designed smartphone app. Carter outlined the key components for any successful referral scheme: “You have to make it simple, and make sure your employees understand the scheme. If you get that tick in the box, then your employees are going to be engaged and will use it. The other aspect is keep innovating, and don’t let it become static.”

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what our clients

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In all dealings to date, we have found the team to be great people to deal with, consultative, and without the usual “sell sell sell” approach. Paul Martin, Client Relationship Director, ARM

The service is superb. The support we receive from staff at eploy® is second to none.

We found eploy® to be a cost-effective solution that is straightforward to manage and easy to use and offers optional back-office functions. The hiring portal has been well received by managers who welcome its collaborative nature and flexibility.

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eploy® were proud to sponsor the Recruiter Awards for Excellence this year which once again was a fantastic evening! We would like to send our congratulations to all of the winners! Images courtesy of Rafael Bastos

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Eploy® helped to deploy a technical solution to support a client and proved to be extremely knowledgeable, flexible, responsive and offered sensible suggestions throughout the process. David Turnbull, IT Manager, Advantage Technical Resourcing

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News Analysis

GOING INTO BATTLE WITH LEADERSHIP

CREDIT: SAM KESTEVEN

At Recruiter’s latest book event, invited thought leaders listened to and discussed themes surrounding Stephen Bungay’s book on leadership in organisations. Sam Burne-James reports

or both those recruiters who recruit leaders into client organisations, and those who seek to grow and develop their own firms, leadership is an important theme. The nature and practice of leadership is the subject of Stephen Bungay’s book The Art of Action, itself the topic of Recruiter’s recent exclusive book event, which was attended by six recruitment, resourcing and talent executives. Formerly of the Boston Consulting Group and more recently a published military historian, Bungay’s childhood passion for war games and history shines through. But even if war and history don’t hold the same interest for you, fear not — Bungay’s hobby-turned-career provides a unique and enlightening perspective on leadership in any organisation. Following a crushing military defeat to Napoleon’s France in 1806, widespread reforms were enacted in Prussia’s military and across the state — starting, as chance would have it, with the recruitment to the officer corps. Military leader Helmut von Moltke’s summary of the leadership principles that came out of this, paraphrased by Bungay, say that to achieve good command “you must be clear about your intent, you must explain to each subordinate unit as much, but

F

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only as much of the higher intent that they need in order to achieve their purpose — cut out noise”. You must also achieve, Bungay says, a high degree both of autonomy among your subordinates, alongside a certain obedience, or alignment. Difficult to reconcile though these may seem, Bungay comments “there is no trade off to be made — the more alignment you’ve got, the more autonomy you can grant”. Bungay adds to this, concluding that the key to moving forward as a business is a “virtuous circle”. Think, or learn, and then do, or adapt, as shown in the diagram (below). “Do that faster than your competitors, and you will win — you only have to do better than they do.” A key problem with leadership, says interim executive Matt Hudson, is that “the people who end up making the big strategic decisions tend to have demonstrated their worth in being able to run a tight operation”, and as such can find that innovation and re-invention challenging, as well as keeping their distance and avoiding meddling once they’ve dispatched the command. But this can be mitigated, adds Hamish Nisbet, talent acquisition leader at GE Capital. He describes how within GE, potential leaders are educated and tested “in assignments through an executive programme, so taking them out of their comfort zone but in controlled or time-limited periods” — although he admits that the difficulty of taking in people from outside the organisation can prove a further challenge. When these leaders, wherever they may come from, are in place, they would do well, says Bungay, “to answer the Spice Girls question — ‘tell me what you want, what you really, really want’, and then go into more detail” — saying he has a number of consulting clients who insist on this as part of every meeting. The Spice Girls’ question, comments Hung Lee, director and founder of social recruitment consultancy WiseManSay, is one recruiters often fail to address in the face of their leaders — their clients. “Recruiters,” he says, “don’t do well at all at actually

Think (Learn)

Do (Adapt)

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Key facts Event was attended by Alastair Cook, chief executive of HR recruiter Digby Morgan; George Griffin, HR firm Penna’s director of learning and development; Matt Hudson, interim executive; Hung Lee, the founder and director of social recruitment consultancy Wise Man Say; Hamish Nisbet, EMEA talent acquisition leader at GE Capital; and Tony Vickers, director of finance and accountancy recruiter Balance Recruitment.

Stephen Bungay is also the author of Alamein (2002) and The Most Dangerous Enemy – A History of the Battle of Britain (2000)

Bungay on giving commands: “Clarity is the enemy of detail” On strategy and goals: “Task + purpose = Intent”, “Intent + situation = decision” On executing plans: “You have to act in line with the intention – the why dominates the what” The Art of Action – How Leaders Close the Gaps Between Plans, Action and Results

pushing back to the client and saying, ‘well you’ve said you want, a guy with 10 years’ experience, but what is it you’re actually looking to recruit?’,” preferring to rely on tried and tested recruitment methods. Drilling down to what people really, really want is something that George Griffin, director of learning and development at HR services firm Penna, already puts into action. “Some clients will come to us,” he says, “and say we need to build better leadership — do us some leadership, do some management development.” Griffin then asks them to describe what they expect the leadership to do. Ask them: “Well in the next 18 or 24 months or five years, what do you need them to do, how do you want them to think, feel, behave? And what you’re really doing there is creating a leadership brand; you’re creating the parameters in which people can operate.” It’s one thing giving these parameters, says Alastair Cook, chief executive of HR recruiter Digby Morgan, but these easily get forgotten. “Actually what I should be doing is asking them to repeat back the message” — with Bungay agreeing that back briefing is vital, and indeed a key part of the Prussian model. Nonetheless, giving appropriate parameters, concludes Cook, is perhaps the ultimate leadership key. “My job as a leader,” he says, “is to give the parameters in which to flourish — I don’t want to pay people and then tell them how to do their job. And I don’t want [to employ] people who want me to do that.”

“Some clients will come to us and say we need to build better leadership”

If you would like to participate in or sponsor a future book event, contact editor DeeDee Doke on +44 (0)20 7880 7601 or commercial director Andy Daniel on +44 (0)20 7880 7607

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Media

Sector Analysis

Media

Stakeholder Comment

THE WORLD OF DIGITAL, CREATIVE AND COMMUNICATIONS IS A FAST-MOVING SECTOR. RECRUITERS AND COMPANIES MAY NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX TO FIND THE RIGHT SKILL SETS

“A really very interesting world,” says Steve Hutson, founder of digital staffer Superstars, speaking about digital & creative recruitment. He adds that it is ever-changing, with an increasing, challenging “amalgamation of skills”.

Anne Eden-Russell Recruitment manager, Guardian News & Media “Like many organisations with high-profile consumer brands we often assume that the characteristics that attract consumers to the product will also attract the best candidates and retain engaged, quality talent. In many ways this is true. But it’s not the whole picture. Our employer brand arguably has to work harder because it has two distinct audiences — candidates and employees. And it has multiple messages to deliver to multiple audiences.”

GNM employs around 1,500 people, but internal resourcing is also the key recruitment method at Propellernet, a digital marketing firm employing just over 30. Propellernet’s insight director Stefan Hull tells Recruiter most of its staff were recruited through its internal referral scheme, and the firm now has “almost got a waiting list for certain positions” and also rarely uses agencies. Successful though the scheme is, Hull admits it has always been “a struggle” to recruit the right people, but he acknowledges that the technical versus creative skills balance is inherently tough, saying: “I don’t think we ever expect anyone to arrive here and be fully au fait with either.” Stefan Ciecierski, chief executive of digital and creative recruiter Nakama Group, which operates across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, confirms that this difficulty is seen across the markets it operates in, saying: “The shortage of available candidates is getting more and more difficult by month.” Another problem is that because employees are often assumed to have their vocation in the specific field, wages have remained low despite, as he describes it, “how important to somebody’s need to sell product or make more money” these individuals can be. Superstar’s Hutson adds some perspective. Asked if there are skills shortages, he replies: “Of course,” but adds: “There’s plenty of really good talent; what we have to do is open our mind to find where they are.” And with Ciecierski saying “salaries [are] starting to become very attractive”, this is happening: “We have seen something quite interesting, which is people with strong maths backgrounds and so on looking at our sector for the first time — because the financial services sector isn’t what it was.”

Phil Clarke sees a similar trend, with the IT, digital and communications worlds all coming closer together since he co-founded recruiter ClarkeWood Consulting in 2009. In this time, SEO [search engine optimisation] talent has always been highly-prized, with roles continuing to grow, while PPC [pay-per-click advertising] is now trailing off, and amidst all this, Clarke notes the emergence of “social media marketing” as a sector, as marketing people “get onto the digital bandwagon”. Bandwagon or not, for Anne Eden-Russell, recruitment manager at Guardian News & Media (GNM), developing a strong employer brand in the digital age is a major concern (see Stakeholder comment), and alongside this, digital development roles have become one of the top three busiest areas of recruitment across the whole business. Good news for agency recruiters? Actually, no. Eden-Russell has recently put together an inhouse recruitment team, and since January only uses agencies for “particularly niche or hard-to-fill roles”. Within the creative sector, most players are smaller companies, with sector skills council Creative Skillset saying 84% of industry firms have fewer than 10 people and only 2% have more than 100 employees.

IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A STRUGGLE TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PEOPLE, BUT THE TECHNICAL VERSUS CREATIVE SKILLS BALANCE IS INHERENTLY TOUGH

Stefan Ciecierski Chief executive, Nakama “It was pleasing to see the government in its rather clumsy way acknowledge that there is an opportunity in our sector in the budget, however there’s a lot more to be done… One of those issues is employing contractors and temps — it hasn’t become easier to be a contractor or a temp in the last few years and we’re operating in sectors which are by nature very project-orientated.”

Stefan Hull Insight director, Propellernet “The way we work as a team, we have some very technical people and we have some communications professionals, but everyone’s expected to have skills that sort of overlap really. What that means is that it’s not like we can put out an advert that says ‘PR professional’.”

SAM BURNE JAMES sam.burnejames@recruiter.co.uk

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Account Manager: £34,977 (▲£1,684) Web Design: £31,366 (▲£1,123) Graphic Design: £28,136 (▲£334) New media: £45,057 (▼£280) Search – SEO & PPC: £34,271 (▲£344) Account executive: £24,434 (▲£830) Average (all media, digital & creative): £35,676 (▲£580)

REED.CO.UK

14.8

16.2

14.6

Q4 2011

Applicants/job

Q1 2012

14.1

17 Q1 2012

Q3 2011

16.2 Q4 2011

Q2 2011

15.8 Q3 2011

Q2 2011

14.9 RECRUITER

Q1 2012 11.2

Q4 2011 9.6

Q3 2011 10.8

Q2 2011 10.2

Q1 2012

Q4 2011

Q3 2011

Q2 2011

TOTALJOBS.COM.

Jobs (000s)

16

AVERAGE SECTOR SALARIES AND CHANGE OVER THE YEAR

21.2

25

19

20

■ Marketing, advertising, PR ■ Media, new media, creative

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EXPERT OPINION OPINION SPONSORED EXPERT

JOB BOARD

M&A BACK IN

VOGUE? ack in the heady days of 2004-2008 it seemed that there was a job board acquisition being announced almost every week. The major media players such as DMGT, Trinity Mirror, and News Corp were looking to diversify their operations away from print, and subsequently the generalist job boards (often backed by those same media players) looked to deepen their offerings and audiences through the acquisition of strong niche websites. Then it all seemed to go a bit quiet…or at least it did until the last 2 months or so. The job board landscape is unquestionably changing again, and changing in an interesting way, with the very top of the market at the forefront.

B

By Dan Martin, Managing Director, Broadbean Technology

Back at the beginning of April Stepstone announced the acquisition of TotalJobs Group for a cool £110m, bringing both businesses under the Axel Springer umbrella. Later on in the same month, Evenbase, the recruitment division of the Daily Mail Group (DMGT) which includes major job boards including Jobsite and Oil Careers, announced the acquisition of leading job search engine Jobrapido, with an initial outlay of some 30m. And finally it is now very much public knowledge that Monster (globally the biggest of them all) is in effect on the block.

Whilst it is hard to see a clear pattern between these deals it clearly highlights a market experiencing significant change. Good businesses are still able to attract substantial valuations, and major multinationals such as Axel Springer and DMGT are still looking to invest. There have been many rumours regarding potential interest in an acquisition of all or parts of Monster, and when the outcome of this emerges it will perhaps be the most telling development of all. The price tag is likely to put off many of the traditional acquirers within this sector, potentially leaving the way open for one of the new breed of digital businesses operating in the recruitment market to step forward. Both LinkedIn and Facebook have been mentioned as potential acquirers, and a pretty compelling argument could be put forward linking either of these with an acquisition. Even Google has been mentioned in the same breath.

At this point none of this potential interest is any more than supposition, and it is entirely possible that nothing will change at Monster. Even so, the last couple of months have already seen more strategic developments in the job board market than the whole of the last 2 years. Unquestionably these are interesting times … watch this space!

For more information visit www.broadbean.com

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Market Indicators

Global Spotlight on Chile THE CHILEAN MINING INDUSTRY HAS HUGE TALENT DEMANDS AND DOMINATES THE CONCERNS OF LOCAL RECRUITERS, BUT IT IS BY NO MEANS THE ONLY AREA OF GROWTH With political and economic stability, strong regulation and low levels of corruption, Tom Warwick, 1st Secretary of Trade and Investment with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Chile, tells Recruiter the country is “generally recognised as the best place in the region to do business”.

LABOUR FORCE AND GDP OUTPUT BY SECTOR

Population: 17.1m (UK: 63m), land mass: 756,000 km2 (UK: 273,610 km2) Just over a third of the population live in the capital, Santiago de Chile Currency: Chilean peso ($) $100=£0.13, £1=$790 Minimum monthly wage for workers aged 18-65: $172k (£220) The country’s median age is 32.1 years, the second highest in Latin America after Uruguay, at 33.6 years (UK: 40 years) Top destinations for exports: China (24%), Japan (10%), US (10%), Brazil (6%) Top origins of imports: US (17%), China (14%), Argentina (9%), Brazil (8%)

SPONSORED BY SAM BURNE JAMES sam.burnejames@recruiter.co.uk

UNEMPLOYMENT AT YEAR’S END AND GDP GROWTH 10

13.2% 23% 63.9%

5.1% 41.8% 53.1%

Labour force

GDP output

■ Agriculture ■ Industry ■ Services

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Percentage

SOURCE: CIA WORLD FACT BOOK

8 6 4 2 0 -2 2007

2008

2009

2010

■ Unemployment rate ■ GDP growth

2011

SOURCE: CHILEAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS, WORLD BANK AND CHILEAN CENTRAL BANK

When Warwick talks about doing business in the country, he means more than just doing business. He explains: “A common mistake is to believe that you can make inroads into the Chilean market without visiting”, with high importance given to personal introductions and face-to-face time. This said, it doesn’t take a flight across the Atlantic to understand the importance of mining within the country. Giordano Righi, managing director of Hays Chile, says it is “the key contributor to the nation’s GDP” — and to its labour market as well, with more than one in three jobs posted “related to the mining industry”, with geologists, senior mining engineers, superintendents and senior mechanical engineers among the most-keenly sought skills nationwide. Likewise, Pedro Lacerda, MD of Randstad Chile, has mining talent issues top of his list of current concerns, noting that it is projected to see a shortfall of nearly 100,000 professionals by 2015 in Chile alone. This is a good thing for candidates in the sectors, however, with Righi saying that professionals within mining tend to earn “at least 25% more than specialists in other industries”. Another strong industry for Chile is retail — with the country having what Warwick at UKTI describes as “a massive network of FTAs [free trade agreements]”, with the country a popular entry point into Latin America as a result. Also ever strong in Chile are agriculture and fishing, but as Karina Perez, director of Robert Half Chile, says, the cyclical nature of these businesses, and low salaries, make them fairly unattractive to jobseekers.

Not so in mining and engineering, says Righi. As such, a key concern of Hays Chile, he goes on to say, “is to accelerate the recruitment process by highlighting the importance of quick decisions within a candidate-driven market”, one in which good candidates across sectors “can expect several job offers at once, and will change jobs roughly every three years”, something which he thinks “does lead to a lack of candidate commitment”. Across industries, commentators speaking to Recruiter agree on one thing: the difficulty in finding foreign language-speaking professionals — English being the principal language wanted, with Portuguese also in high demand in the Spanishspeaking country. As the country and its economy globalises, and its retail, mining and other industries continue to grow, the number of foreign professionals coming into the country must also rise. Perez calls labour migration laws in Chile “restrictive”, but Lacerda says that with 30% more expatriates coming into the country every year, the number of overseas workers can only continue to expand to meet what he calls “a real need for ‘top talents’ in Chile”, especially in the retail and, of course, mining industries. Something else due for expansion in the country, Perez says, is the reach and ability of its recruitment industry, which she says “still has need to develop in terms of research methodology, specialisation of consultants and temporary work”. “The labour market in Chile,” she says, “will be ever more specialised and more complex”, adding with enthusiasm there is “a good challenge” in store for all those working in it, and its recruitment industry in particular.

key indicators

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Opinion

Soapbox

Don’t pre-judge candidates OVERCOME BIAS TO ACCESS THE WHOLE LABOUR MARKET We’ve recently seen situations where managers interviewing candidates for jobs may have inadvertently excluded parts of the labour market when selecting new employees. By applying personal bias, they do themselves and their firms no favours. Post-interview feedback has been that candidates have been ‘over-qualified’. Sometimes managers say ‘we don’t think they will stay in the role’ or simply ‘they’re too good for the job’. So why is this happening? Is it that managers think that new recruits will overshadow colleagues? Has the hiring manager simply pre-judged the candidate and allowed that bias to sustain through the interview? And has the manager bothered to find out why the candidate really wants the job? Managers will likely have many years of experience in recruiting staff. Potentially they will have built a picture of the workers currently in the firm and those who have been in the firm and since left. Using this picture they will have built opinions — for example, that older workers are only working towards retirement and therefore are uncommitted or that younger people have poorer sickness records. Such pictures lead to bias and prejudice.

As recruiters and HR consultants, we need to advise and educate our manager clients. We must understand our candidates so that we can explain why their CV has been submitted in the first place. Often candidates’ strengths need to be emphasised so that hiring managers see the total picture; that way we can better ensure objective interviews. The recruiter — whether agency or in-house — has a privileged relationship with the manager and must explain objectively why a particular candidate is the best person for the job, regardless of age or apparent previous seniority. That objectivity needs to be adopted by the hiring manager too. If a manager has thought through what skills, knowledge and attitudes they need, and has an in-depth interview with a candidate to find out who they really are and what they can offer, then perhaps these candidates will be better placed. This will give those who have lots of experience a fair chance and give firms an opportunity to benefit from maturity and higher competency. We can’t all be striving for the next job up the ladder; sometimes our circumstances change. The economic situation in the UK means

SOAP

BOX

that there are many excellent candidates available in some professions. While there was once an argument that if someone had been made redundant they were probably bottom of the heap anyway, recession after recession has made companies make redundant those they would rather keep. These higher-skilled workers now seek any job of any form to keep their families together and pay the mortgage. Highly skilled candidates can join and immediately help reduce costs: they need little induction and little, if any, training before they pull their weight; candidates with high competence can add to the firm’s ability to differentiate its products from its competitors. Experienced workers are also better able to deal with customers and to apply their work/ life experiences to the benefit of the firm. Our appeal is therefore for objectivity. Managers must be clear about the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need, and strive to recruit someone who fits that bill and none other. That way, both hiring organisation and candidate win. JOHN BERRY is director of HR management consulting firm, TimelessTime. JO HERBERT is

managing director of Dash Recruitment

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Opinion

Letters

Soundbites

In your organisation, when you look at the performance of your recruiters, what kinds of metrics are valid for your business? David Henry Vice president, marketing UK & Ireland, Monster

Want to find the best rec-to-rec firm? Meet them for a coffee

I HAVE SEEN numerous conversations on LinkedIn and other social media where people have been discussing the recruitment-torecruitment (rec-to-rec) market. The most recent discussion was entitled ‘Does Recruitment to Recruitment work?’ The majority of those who were commenting had had bad experiences as a candidate (not many comments from a client perspective) and as such had been put off from ever using one again. Rec-to-rec is a fast-growing sector with few, if any, barriers to entry and as a result there is a huge disparity in how much value a company will add. A good rec-to-rec company will be invaluable; conversely a bad one is likely to add nothing and could even end up harming your career. Which one you get could be viewed as luck, but there are some things that you can do to mitigate this risk. A friend of mine has been a fund manager for the past 10 years, has been happily employed in the same business for six years but meets his preferred recruiter every six months for lunch or a coffee. This means that they have built up a strong relationship; he can gain market intelligence, be kept up to date with any interesting opportunities and if he does become proactive in the market then he can go straight to someone that he knows and trusts, who will represent him effectively. My father-in-law works in a senior role within facilities management and does exactly the same. Why don’t recruiters do this with a rec-to-rec company? Surely, as a recruiter they can see the value of having a strong relationship with an expert that is entrenched in the market? My advice would be to build a relationship with a rec-to-rec company, even if you are perfectly happy in your current role. If you wait until you are looking and then put your CV on a website or apply to an advert then it really is a lottery who you will be working with. Ask your friends who they rate. Have you been particularly impressed by the way that someone has approached you in the past? Are they still keeping in touch with you? Who has recommended them on LinkedIn – could you get in contact with them and ask for an honest opinion? Do you have any connections in common that you could trust – what are their thoughts, how often have they kept in contact with them? There are a lot of bad recruiters out there, but they won’t last long in the rec-to-rec market; anyone who has been in the market for a decent amount of time would be worth getting in contact with. If a rec-to-rec isn’t happy to meet you for a coffee on the understanding that it is purely to start a relationship (and that they won’t get an immediate return on the time invested), then I would suggest that they are more interested in ‘quick wins’ rather than relationships, and would end the conversation and move on to the next one. Michael Bowden, director, Bowden Mays

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New hire quality is essential. We look to see how well a new hire is progressing at three, six and 12 months into their tenure. Candidate satisfaction is a key measure of effectiveness; carrying out satisfaction surveys help significantly improve the process and it also gives us insight into our employer brand and how that can affect our candidate attraction on future projects. Source of hire is also key; looking for the relationships between candidate source and tenure can often lead to insights, which can help us improve the recruiting medium or execution. Vivien Morgan Managing director, ABPM Financial Recruitment

The customer is king, so at ABPM Financial Recruitment we monitor client satisfaction through the level of referrals and repeat business — and direct contact. That said, it’s just as important that our candidates feel they have received top-notch service so their referrals are another useful pointer. Naturally we review the success of placements: always a good indicator of our recruiters’ matchmaking skills. Wayne Searle Head of organisational development & talent acquisition, Cable & Wireless Worldwide

There are only four metrics that should concern any recruiter — quality, time, cost and experience. The first three are simple: quality of applicants, time spent recruiting and the cost of delivery. However, I believe that experience is critical. Operating in a hugely competitive market for talent as we do, it is important to us that the recruitment experience of the unsuccessful candidates is as positive as it can be. In a socially, digitally connected universe, an unsuccessful but disgruntled candidate could cause lasting damage to our reputation as a quality employer.

IF YOU HAVE A LETTER OR WOULD LIKE TO BE A CONTRIBUTOR TO SOUNDBITES, EMAIL VANESSA.TOWNSEND@RECRUITER.CO.UK

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Profile

Nicola Binning COLIN COTTELL SPOKE WITH KPMG’S HEAD OF EXPERIENCED HIRE

After winning the Best Recruitment Team at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, Nicola Binning, KPMG’s head of experienced hire, celebrated into the night with her team. Speaking to a delighted Binning shortly afterwards, it was clear that the award had scarcely come as a surprise. After collecting her from the stage, an excited Binning, surrounded by her ecstatic colleagues, told Recruiter: “I knew we were the best team, and this just tells us that everyone else thinks this also.” Only a couple of years ago, the possibility of KPMG winning such an award would have been frankly unbelievable. In the words of one the recruitment team’s key stakeholders, the team “was broken” and characterised by “changing leadership, and lack of direction”. Two years on, as Binning speaks more in depth to Recruiter at KPMG’s cavernous offices in Canada Square, right in the heart of the UK’s financial centre, it is clear the 70-strong recruitment team, which makes between 1,500 and 2,000 hires per year, has been transformed. As Adrian Harkin, a people partner at KPMG, says: “Now they partner with us to understand our business, attract the best talent and have a flexible team delivering a great return on investment.” Such a transformation didn’t happen over night. Binning says the UK team has been through several distinct stages, since she joined it in 2010 from KPMG in Delhi. “Initially, it was around having clarity of vision, putting some of the basics in again and making sure the team were focusing on the right things,” she says. “It was quite directional,” she adds. At that stage, Binning says her task was to build the team. But she could only do this by talking to the business and persuading it of the recruitment team’s worth. “For the first year it was about cost avoidance,” says Binning, and the promise that if the business invested in her team, it would save them money by reducing agency spend. It’s a promise that Binning has delivered in spades, with cost savings of £9m last year, clearly a major factor in winning over the business. This has allowed Binning’s team to grow from about 30 to 70. Put another way, the whole cost of recruitment, including the cost of running the team, its RPO and advertising, the overall cost per hire is around 40% of what it was three years ago. But impressive though these figures are, Binning says that saving money is only one of a number of key principles underlying the way it operates. “Does everything we do make a better experience for the

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candidate? Does it drive value to the client? And does it improve our efficiency and costs savings?” For Binning, the key to all this is ensuring that she has the right people in her own team. Not only must recruiters have the right experience and knowledge, for example in digital media, but also the right attributes. And those attributes in turn have to align with KPMG’s brand, namely a global mindset, forward thinking, value adding, expert and passionate. “These go right to the core DNA of KPMG,” says Binning. Indeed, for Binning her team is at the heart of the team’s success. As she explains: “No matter what the process or the system you use, if you have got the right people in the team, then they all take personal accountability for how they can do better, and for how they can improve things. And rather than me just saying that, I have got 70 people saying it, and that is very powerful.” As a sportswoman, who played front row for the Old Albanians rugby team, as well as a sailor in the Fastnet Race, Binning is used to working closely with others. “Right in the middle of the action, leading from the front, I suppose. I have very much got a team background, so maybe I have taken that into my role and see it as a team working together,” she says. Binning, who worked for Michael Page and Spherion earlier in her career, says that most of her team are ex-agency. However, she is not interested in those who “just want to move away from sales”, but for people who will get satisfaction from seeing the person they recruit prosper within KPMG. With a flat organisational structure within the function, Binning admits “I can’t offer recruits everything”, for example a guarantee of becoming a senior manager in two years. However, she adds: “I can guarantee that they will have the best opportunities to build relationships and skills, and develop personally.” Important though the cost savings have been, Binning says that winning the trust of KPMG’s partners and its HR team has been much more than just

SECRET OF SUCCESS “You have got to enjoy what you do. You have got to enjoy it and live it”

CV May 2010– present: UK head of experienced hire & global mobility

Previously: senior resourcing/ management roles in KPMG global service, Delhi, KPMG global forensic, in continental Europe, and in the UK

HR/recruitment roles in AXA Insurance, JP Morgan, Spherion, and Michael Page Finance

BA in Business Studies, University of Brighton

NICOLA BINNING’S PHILOSOPHY

“SIMPLE, FLEXIBLE, INNOVATE, COMMUNICATE — IF YOU HAVE GOT ALL THAT RIGHT YOU AREN’T IN A BAD PLACE”

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL BASTOS

Profile

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Profile

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03

saving money. And key to that has been the introduction of account managers. Rather than one part of the business, say audit, having to deal with a different member of the recruitment team for each of its different type of vacancies, “now the leader of that business knows that they only have to deal with one person, who is accountable to them”, Binning explains. At the same time as having “that client service mentality”, Binning says the relationship is not all one way. “We are on a journey together,” she says. And this involves both influencing the business and even holding it to account. “If they don’t give us candidate feedback within 24 hours, that is keeping the candidate waiting,” says Binning. Being proactive is a big theme. “We are trying to move from ‘here is a vacancy let’s go and fill it’ to ‘what pipeline of talent do we need in the future?’ That could be three months, six months, 18 months down the line,” she says. As she points out, “90% of the talent pool we engage with aren’t looking for a job”. KEY FACTS Being proactive also includes being an “incubator of talent”. So KPMG provides audit, tax for example, where a change in the and advisory services market requires a new skill set “we Around 10,000 staff in have got to think how we can build the UK out a service line to that client”. Binning says that whereas in the 556 partners past, the first port of call would have been to look externally, now the first 22 offices in the UK stage is to look internally. This includes asking whether existing staff can be 43% of staff are women trained up. Binning’s team manages about 500 transfers in and out of KPMG UK receives 60k the UK each year. “Using internal applications a year headhunting skills to work with the business, that is the direction of travel,” she says. Looking ahead, Binning says, ideally she would like to recruit based on “measuring the potential of people rather than just purely what they have done in the past”, although she admits this is some way off. Binning, who in her spare time enjoys travelling, several times refers to being on a journey. And she recalls one meeting at KPMG, where she explained the magnitude of the task ahead. It must have filled her colleagues with a certain amount of trepidation as she told them: “I cannot tell you what the next step will be or how the journey is going to unfold. All I know is that we are at the bottom of the mountain and we will be at the top of the mountain, and we are going to be there together.” Two years and one Best Recruitment Team award on, Binning allows herself a modicum of congratulations. “We were broken, we are fixed. But are we delivering the best that we can? In an ever changing candidate-driven and client-driven market, we need to continue to be agile, flexible, and continuously thinking about how we deliver a different and better service.” As a sports lover, Binning needs no reminding that as in sport so in recruitment: while awards are great, you are only as good as your next game.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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. / ) % %+ ) ) ' )/n% )% ' ') +)< . n- ) / ) ) ')%n ) %/n% ')n n) 7 !n '' %n) n % n '+!! %) ) % + +) ) !% ''< ( )+ ) - % )R n + ) n )3 n-n n n' % +! -n +n ) % +' ) / n) / ')< Jonas Anderson RDF Group Recruitment consultancies of all kinds choose Itris Recruitment Software because it adds value to their business. It delivers total functionality and a high level of integration with third party applications, without the need for additional modules or conďŹ guration. Inspired by recruiters, Itris can easily be conďŹ gured by you with no specialist training needed. It’s built on the highly scalable SQL Server platform so it can grow as your business grows. Our total system support will help you maintain a competitive advantage and ensure it’s always working for you. And best of all, upgrades to new versions are included as standard. It’s the total package, and probably the most cost-effective investment you can make for your recruitment business today. 0845 680 0660 www.itris.co.uk

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Recruitment Matters Issue 5 May 2012

What’s inside 2 The Intelligence

A review of the REC’s Jobs Outlook and the thoughts of Recruitment Index Benchmarking’s Chris Ansell

3

REC Talk

Kevin Green on gaining a competitive advantage and the FWC visits Manchester

The Big 4-5 Talking Point Help REC boost our global brand at CIETT 2012 It is just days until an international audience arrives in London for the REC/CIETT World Employment Conference, the only global recruitment industry event. The REC will welcome recruiters from Scandinavia, South Africa, China, Australia, Japan and the USA and many of their sister organisations. Anna Wicha, director general of Adecco Poland, says she expects CIETT to define two or three priorities for the industry to focus on. “There are no common definitions on the global industry and the lack of jobs across the globe means there is plenty to talk about,” she says. “I expect the event to help define our priorities and develop a plan of action.” Meanwhile, Natalie Singer, chief operating office at the Federation of Natalie Singer African Professional Staff-

ing Organisations, says the conference is an important platform for the industry. “I want to unpack the burning issue of our sector’s brand and how we elevate our profession to be seen as one of value to all parts of the labour market,” she says. “In South Africa the image of the industry has been very poor so it will be helpful to learn from out international counterparts how to turn things around.” Yukiko Nagashima, president of the Japan Staffing Services Association, told RM there will be plenty of informed discussion at the REC/ Ciett event. “Global enterprises need the strategic, comprehensive and localised solutions for crossborder recruitment,” she says. “Recruitment companies must provide them with global RPO services by understanding their business strategy at an international and local level.” CIETT takes place on 24 and 25 May. To find out more visit www.ciett2012.com

RM outlines the changes to pension legislation affecting all recruiters

6 Business Matters

More expert legal advice, Staffline Group’s Marshall Evans gets texting, and news about the REC’s business partners

7

Institute of Recruitment Professionals Interviews with IRP Award winner Jo Edwards from Tate and in-house Regional Director Stephen Reilly

8 Dates for the diary Compliance will be the main talking point at the REC’s June AGM

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REC Research

the intelligence This month Roger Tweedy outlines some of the findings from the REC’s Jobs Outlook survey

Median revenue growth 20% 10

Many commentators follow the REC’s Jobs Outlook survey because it is the only monthly update on future hiring intentions. Here are some recent trends: • Employers’ use of social and professional media in recruitment is increasing. At the end of last year 27% of employers reported using social media to support permanent recruitment. However, nearly two-thirds (65%) of employers are unlikely to use social media in recruitment during 2012. • The strategic importance of agencies to employers is increasing. Nearly three-quarters (72%) now believe that agencies support and help them to meet their corporate objectives – up from 66% at the start of 2011. • ‘Quality of Service’ remains the key factor affecting the choice of agency. It is seen as ‘very important’ by 70% of employers; ‘service’ is followed by ‘Price’ (65%). • Having an agency which can meet ‘peaks in demand’ is very important for 58% of employers. Notably, helping managing economic uncertainty increased in importance; by December 33% of

employers felt this was vital. • Spare workforce capacity reduced significantly in the second half of 2011. In December, 27% of employers said that they had no spare capacity and would need to create new jobs in order to grow. • At the end of last year, 76% of employers believed their temporary staff had similar pay rates to permanent hires undertaking similar roles. Some 14% thought temporary workers would earn more if they were permanent and 9% thought they would earn less. Employer awareness of the REC increased from 36% to 38% over 2011 – helped by the REC’s new Working Paper research series and AWR client seminars. More employers also believed that it was important to use agencies that were a member of a professional body that promoted standards – up four points over the year to 52%. • Roger Tweedy is director of research at the REC

How much capacity do you have without creating more jobs? 100%

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0 -10 ■ Revenue growth ■ Employee growth

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Revenue growth varies In the last few issues of Recruitment Matters we have noted that median recruitment company revenue growth has slowed significantly over the last 12 months. The latest data from Recruitment Index Benchmarking (RIB) shows that the situation is now slightly more complicated with a wide variation between different recruitment companies, although some are doing well. Overall median revenue growth has slowed to below 4%. Recruitment company employee growth has slowed to the same value (see top graph), unlike in recent months when revenue growth was lagging revenue growth. RIB’s data reveals that more than one third of recruitment companies are now experiencing revenues lower than they were a year ago, yet one in five recruitment companies are generating revenues more than 50% higher than a year ago. Recruitment companies that are heavily exposed to contractors are finding it particularly tough, with the median contractors’ revenue growth down by more than 25% (see bottom graph). Permanent revenue growth has been falling steadily over the past few months. This has been driven by falling invoice values, which are down from around £4,500 to £3,200 in the last 12 months as invoice-tocontract salary has fallen from 18% to just over 11%, as recruiters discount to win business. • Chris Ansell is chief financial officer at RIB. The RIB index provides members with bespoke confidential reports on industry trends. For details see www.ribindex.com, email info@ ribindex.com or call 020 8544 9807

www.rec.uk.com 10/5/12 12:04:33


Leading the Industry

What’s new on the policy and campaign trail The REC has had discussions recently with Employment Minister Chris Grayling and Employment Relations Minister Norman Lamb, as well as the Department for Education (DfE), Cabinet Office and the European Commission. We are fighting our corner on policy issues with one underlying objective – to ensure the work of recruiters is recognised. The DfE is now more aware of the role agencies play in helping ex-teachers back into the profession and we are increasing awareness amongst politicians of the contribution our industry is making to boosting youth employment. • Tom Hadley is the REC’s director of policy and professional services. You can follow him on Twitter: twitter@hadleyscomment.

Policy highlights Red-Tape Challenge: we continue to call on Government to streamline existing regulations such as the Conduct Regulations Procurement: we are talking regularly with Government Procurement Service (GPS) and argue that a different approach is needed for high-level ‘specialist’ roles, and cost control priorities must be balanced with a focus on safety, quality and sustainability of supply Pensions reform: the REC has launched its practical support programme for members called Pathway to Pensions… http://www.rec.uk.com/pensions Tax: the REC is on the Government’s ‘IR35 Forum’, enabling us to take forward the views of REC Technology and other members. Revised IR35 guidance is imminent Public sector: we will keep pushing that the flexible staffing arrangements are ultimately cost-effective and should be seen as part of the solution AWR implementation: we are tracking how the regulations are impacting on the ground through the monthly AWR Monitor… http://www.rec.uk.com/ awrmonitor

FWC heads north Interest in the REC-led Flexible Work Commission (FWC) continues to grow following a successful regional client roundtable in Manchester on 11 April. Gillian Econopouly, the REC’s head of policy, says it was important to take the FWC out of London where employers have different needs and drivers when it comes to flexible working. The event was held in conjunction with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. “We spoke to clients involved in industries such as engineering and construction,” she says. “One company told us how in the downturn it was unable to keep its factory open five days a week so instead of laying off staff it adapted everyone’s hours between Monday and Thursday. The staff have embraced this and now do not want to go back to five days. Retention levels have risen.” Econopouly adds that one accountancy firm attending the roundtable reported that graduate talent was increasingly expecting more flexible working conditions, while other clients said flexibility meant bringing in exceptional talent it could not afford to employ full time, such as consultants, on short-term projects. During May representatives from the FWC will meet with individual employers. Members are asked to contact the REC with suggestions.

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The View When talking to members at various REC events, discussion often turns to how recruiters can get a competitive advantage as the market is maturing and client behaviour has changed for good. We forecast the market will grow at a slower rate over the next few years of between 4-7%, so to grow at a rate beyond the market recruiters must take market share from their competitors. To achieve this they must differentiate themselves by demonstrating clear expertise in their market segment; this is about being seen as an industry thought leader. Do you or your team, for instance, speak at industry events or contribute to trade magazines? Is your website as well as your social media presence jam-packed with content? Do clients and candidates come to you to learn about the industry? An alternative way of competing is to be the most cost effective provider, to do this you must have a relentless focus on removing waste. To become a lean operation you must use technology to drive process and improvement. The key message is to be clear on how your business competes and do not try to be all things to all people. Great businesses know which customers they don’t want as well as the ones they crave. As the market changes the REC is responding to this new environment and we will support our members by helping them thrive and be successful. If you want to support the REC’s new strategy please get in touch. I am also keen to engage with as many of you via twitter @kevingreenRec. I also hope to see many of you at CIETT 2012 on 24/25th May. • Kevin Green is the Chief Executive of the REC. Follow him on Twitter @kevingreenREC

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The Big Talking Point

Prepare early for pension auto-enrolment Recruiters must act now to ensure they have plans in place to automatically enrol their workers into a qualifying pension scheme

N

ew pension rules mean agencies will have to offer a workplace pension and automatically enrol qualifying workers into the pension scheme. This includes agency workers meeting certain criteria. These reforms are being staged in by company payroll size over the next few years, with the largest recruiters beginning to contribute to a scheme

Stage is set Pension auto-enrolment is being introduced in stages for all employers. • Employers with 250 or more staff are being staged from 1 October 2012 to 1 February 2014, with the largest employers coming in first. • Employers with 50 to 249 members of staff will be staged from 1 April 2014 to 1 April 2015. • Employers with 30-49 staff will be staged from 1 August 2015 to 1 October 2015. • Employers with less than 30 members of staff will be staged from 1 January 2016 to 1 April 2017.

Useful websites: www.nestpensions.org.uk www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/ employers

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from this October, while smaller recruiters have more time. Recruiters must understand their responsibilities under the new scheme and their staging date so they can begin making preparations. Advice is available from The Pensions Regulator. One of the most important elements for recruiters is understanding exactly which workers they have to auto-enrol and when. The REC has launched Pathways to Pensions, a new member support package with an online toolkit. The programme includes regional workshops, two of which were held in April with two more planned for 18 June (Manchester) and 26 June (London). Pathways to Pensions explains that agencies must automatically enrol both their temps and directly hired staff who are aged between 22 and the state pension age, once they have reached the salary threshold of £7,475 annual earnings, equal to £143.75 per week. Workers will

then have to opt out if they do not wish to participate in saving for a pension. Businesses can, however, apply a ‘postponement’ period of up to three months for each worker before automatically enrolling them. Just as there is a gradual approach to staging dates, there is a similar ‘phasing in’ of contributions, which begin at 1% by the ‘employer’ (the agency) and 1% by the employee. Eventually, employers must put in a minimum contribution of 3% of an employee’s qualifying earnings. The employer contributions will be added to any tax relief and the worker’s own contributions to give a total minimum contribution of 8% of qualifying earnings when the scheme is fully implemented. Agencies can choose from a range of pension providers to meet their duties, one of which is NEST, the National Employment Savings Trust. NEST is a defined contribution workplace pension scheme, which has been set up with government backing. Helen Dean, managing Helen Dean, managing director of scheme development at NEST

www.rec.uk.com 10/5/12 12:05:31


Pension reform — the numbers • In 2010 average life expectancy in the UK was 78.2 years for men and 82.3 years for women • 90% of employers will seek advice on pension reform • Without reform private pension saving will crash from £40bn to £30bn by 2050 • 90% of workers regard an employee contribution as ‘attractive’ • Nearly 60% of potential scheme members are under the age of 40 • 71% of people think the language used around pensions is too complicated (source: NEST/ONS/DWP)

director of scheme development at NEST, says recruiters should set up a project team to plan for automatic enrolment. This means bringing together all parts of the business that may be involved – such as HR, finance, IT, payroll and any pensions adviser. Companies can either use a single pensions provider for all staff, or use a provider like NEST as a base scheme, providing compliance within a wider benefits package. NEST has information on the reforms and project planning templates to help recruiters with their preparations. “One critical element is making sure your data is accurate, up-to-date and in a format that can ‘plug in’ to whichever scheme you use,” says Dean. “An agency may need to think about using different arrangements for different groups of workers and determine how it will ensure it meets its requirements for staff with fluctuating pay levels.” Ian Luck, director of employee benefits at Smith & Williamson, the accountancy and financial services group, believes the three-month postponement period and exclusion of pension benefits from the definition of pay under the Agency Workers Regulations, could confuse some recruiters. “The employer of an agency worker is whoever is responsible

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for paying them,” says Luck. “They are the ones who must select a qualifying pension scheme and fulfil the employer duties.” He adds that if employers move towards taking on staff with contracts of less than 12-weeks in order to avoid the additional requirements of autoenrolment, this could create additional administrative costs. “The employer duties include identifying which category

A guide through the pensions maze The help members understand the complicated world of pensions reform the REC has launched its Pathways to Pensions support programme.

The programme includes: • A series of regional workshops with pensions experts from The Pensions Regulator and NEST • An online guide to auto-enrolment which can be downloaded • A pensions toolkit with a client briefing, a preparation checklist and a list of frequently asked questions http://www.rec.uk.com/pensions There are also plans for a new forum for payroll professionals in the agency sector to share best practice.

workers fall into under the pension legislation, and they must make pension contributions on their behalf,” he says. Luck says employers cannot offer inducements to staff to opt out of the pension arrangements, nor can they ‘screen’ out potential employees who may wish to stay opted into the pension plan. One agency already adapting to the pension changes is specialist pensions industry recruiter Sammons. Associate director Joanne Whittington says she has been aware of auto-enrolment for a number of years. “We have already met with and chosen our advisers and providers and everything is well in hand, despite our staging date being more that two years away,” she says. REC head of policy Gillian Econopouly says the organisation has lobbied hard to help make the new regulation workable for the industry. “The REC has secured some key concessions which mean recruiters will not have to enrol people from day one but can postpone for up to three months,” she says. “This is crucial for short-term temps. We are currently working with The Pensions Regulator and DWP to clarify a few remaining aspects of auto-enrolment, such as how postponement will work in practice.”

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Business Matters

Legal Q&A Lewina Farrell, head of professional services at the REC, answers your legal questions. Q: My client has made an offer of employment to my candidate and has now called me to retract that offer. Can I still charge them a fee? A: You may be able to charge your client a permanent introduction fee if it has retracted an offer of employment from a candidate, but this is dependent on the terms of business you agreed with the client and what the contractual clauses state. Some contractual terms may only make an introduction fee payable where the client has used the candidate. If this is the case a fee will not be payable if the client retracts the offer before the candidate starts work. In other circumstances, the contractual document may state a fee is due where the client has ‘employed’ the candidate. Then it is arguable that the client is still liable to pay the agency if the job offer is withdrawn after the candidate accepts it. If you are using REC Permanent Terms of Business the client is liable to pay a fee on the ‘Engagement’ of the candidate. ‘Engagement’ has a wide meaning within the contract and includes the ‘employment’ of the candidate. This would mean the client is liable to pay a fee if they offer the candidate ‘employment’ and retract it before the candidate begins work. There is an optional cancellation fee clause in the REC Permanent Terms of Business, which states the client is liable to pay a cancellation fee where an offer of ‘Engagement’ has been made to the candidate and the client has withdrawn the offer before the candidate has accepted it. Depending on the contract terms, your client may be entitled to a rebate of the fee paid, either in full or on a sliding scale. Check your terms of business to clarify whether any rebates are offered and, if so, at what percentage rate. • Please note that this is generic advice and readers should obtain specific advice. Corporate members can get further help from the REC Legal Helpline on 020 7009 2199. Also check out the Legal Resources on the REC Website www.rec.uk.com

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The Text Interview… Marshall Evans This month we share texts with Marshall Evans, group operations director at Staffline Group plc and chair of the REC’s Employment Policy Committee. Recruitment Matters: What have you been doing this week? ME: Senior managers’ meeting, Gangmasters Licensing Authority board meeting, Staffline Group plc board meeting, interviewing for new people and visiting branches. RM: What’s the most important issue for you and your company at the moment? ME: To create a level playing field for the industrial recruitment market, secure more new business, find good people, and develop and challenge them. RM: How is the Employment Policy Committee reacting to the current economic situation? ME: Members expect advice on legislative changes that impact them, such as pension auto-enrolment. We must lobby and communicate so members comply with the law. RM: What makes a good recruitment consultant? ME: Integrity, commitment, persistence and energy. The rest we can teach or train.

Business development Establishing value for your business The recruitment industry may be at the heart of driving economic recovery in the UK but recruiters must still regularly review their own suppliers to get the best value. The REC has a Business Partnership Scheme where suppliers offer discounted services to members. Recruitment software company Voyager, is one supplier involved in the scheme. Recruiters save at least £1,195 from the Voyager-exclusive REC offer, which includes free installation and training. Alan Brown, senior consultant at Skills Testing organisation Thomas International, offers REC Members free access to his company’s Job Profiling tool. This product helps recruiters identify the behavioural requirements of any role. “We’ll support them through the process and provide feedback to clients, giving REC Members a competitive advantage,” he says. • For more information visit: www.rec.uk.com/businesspartners

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Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute stitute of Recruitment Recrruitment Professionals Profess

Leader of the pack

An ear on the inside Stephen Reilly is the only one of the IRP’s voluntary Regional Directors not to work for a recruitment agency. Nevertheless, the in-house resourcing leader at engineering and project management services company AMEC has served his time in agencies – between 1997 and 2005 – and says there are major benefits to having worked on both sides of the fence. “As a client I know what I expect from agencies in terms of a professional service but I also have empathy with consultants in what is a difficult market. In fact, I spend a lot of my time internally supporting my recruiter suppliers and the good work they do.” Reilly loves being the IRP Regional Director for London and helping to fly the flag for the industry when it comes to improving its professionalism and image. “I am there for whenever I’m

needed and 2012 will be very busy for the London region. We have already held breakfast seminars, training events and a pool competition. There are numerous occasions where people can network and share concerns.” He adds that being a Regional Director raises his standing in the eyes of his suppliers and his internal customers because it gives them the extra confidence that he understands the marketplace. “My company’s success in an industry where there are significant skill shortages is ultimately linked to how well my team does its job and the support I get from my consultancy suppliers.”

Award time again The 2012 IRP Awards will launch in early June, celebrating professional excellence and inspirational work across the recruitment industry. The awards are free to enter and there are individual and company categories including the coveted Recruiter of the Year award. The deadline for entries is 30 July and the presentation ceremony will take place at a top London venue in November. • Register your interest at www.rec-awards.com

Being a leader in difficult times takes a special kind of person. Jo Edwards, managing director at Tate, the specialists in office recruitment, believes it is her inclusive style of management which helped her win the Business Leader of the Year honour at the IRP Awards. “I like to include everyone in the decisionmaking process,” she says. “I want people to present their ideas and give me feedback. This helps to motivate everyone, which boosts candidate satisfaction and helps us to win new business.” She talks about the “pain of disconnect” and how the business will suffer if Tate’s 110 employees do not feel engaged with its goals and objectives, particularly in the current economic climate. There is the ‘Jo Edwards Roadshow’ where she visits different branches and chats to staff, and an annual conference where employees are invited to approach her with their views. “I have been in recruitment for more than 20 years and what I have learned is that in good times and bad you must maintain strong face-toface relationships with staff as well as clients and candidates,” she says. “Technology has advanced and underpins our processes but it must never replace actually talking to people.” She accepts that recruiters have had to add value to improve the p offer service they off clients. One initiative the Tate has been th which Guides whi clients with provide clie information detailed inf on topical aareas of interest such as AWR and flexible working.

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

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Events

Dates for the diary Compliance takes centre stage at AGM The REC’s AGM takes place on 13 June and one of the key elements will be a vote to agree the REC’s new compliance framework. A fundamental shift in the way members are required to demonstrate compliance is proposed with the Code of Professional Practice and regulation. The REC wants to introduce an online Compliance Test that all members must pass at least once every two years to continue to be a member. The REC is also proposing that from July, any new member must pass the Compliance Test to become a full member and use the logo.

This added level of compliance will reinforce the REC as the key driver of professional standards within the recruitment industry. Clients and candidates will know that REC members have demonstrated a high level of professionalism. The REC is in discussions with government and other stakeholders about this new approach to member compliance and has received considerable support. The aim now is to attract more members’ support for the proposal. • For more information about the REC’s Compliance Review, or the Compliance Test, visit: www.rec.uk.com/compliancereview

Training highlights — JUNE Demystifying Social & Digital Media 7 June (London) Who should attend? Recruitment consultants, managers and business owners who wish to understand more about social and digital media as a business tool. What you will learn: You will identify a social and digital media strategy that fits your existing business, define which opportunities, platforms and channels will be most suitable and understand how to use them to develop your business. You will also learn how to develop policies and procedures to avoid social media pitfalls and how to recruit and attract candidates using a variety of different platforms. How long is the course and how much does it cost? One day (09.00-17.30) and costs £397 plus vat for members or £567 plus vat (non-members). http://www.rec.uk.com/training

Pension preparation Don’t forget the REC is hosting a series of regional workshops to advise members on pension auto-enrolment. Experts from The Pensions Regulator and NEST will attend and the workshops will include an AWR pre-litigation case outline and an open AWR Q&A session. It costs £175 plus vat to attend and the first two events take place in Manchester (14 June) and London (26 June). The REC has also launched Pathways to Pensions, a new member support package with an online toolkit.

Recruitment Matters The official magazine of The Recruitment and Employment Confederation 15 Welbeck Street, London W1G 9XT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com

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Last chance to book for CIETT 2012 Don’t forget there is still time to book your tickets for CIETT 2012 at The Landmark London on 24 and 25 May. Among the speakers will be Dr Lynda Gratton, professor of business practice at London Business School, Professor Richard Scase, one of Europe’s top thinkers on corporate change, and the REC’s chief executive Kevin Green. Keynote speaker at the black tie dinner on 24 May is former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press secretary Alastair Campbell. A one day ticket costs £245 plus VAT for REC/IRP members (£450 non-members), with two-day tickets £295 (£600). Tickets for the black tie dinner are an additional £150.

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2144, Customer Services: 020 7009 2148 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street , London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Anne Sadler. anne.sadler@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6213 Consulting Editor: Carol Scott. carol.scott@rec.uk.com Editorial: Editor: Steve Hemsley. steve.hemsley@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Deputy Production Manager: Kieran Tobin. kieran.tobin@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6240 Printing: Printed by Southernprint © 2012 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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The Challenge

Going the extra Milestone to deliver Marc Fleckney Milestone Operations

FINDING HEAVY GOODS VEHICLE DRIVERS IN HAMPSHIRE WAS GOING TO BE TOUGH. MILESTONE OPERATIONS CAME TO NORBERT DENTRESSANGLE’S RESCUE

THE CHALLENGE When industrial and logistics recruiter Milestone Operations first competed for a contract to supply Norbert Dentressangle with heavy goods vehicle drivers, they weren’t successful. European transportation and logistics specialist Norbert Dentressangle operates and manages the transport and logistics at The Co-Operative Group’s newest regional distribution centre in Andover, Hampshire. It was a high profile contract win for the logistics company, as this was the first time The Co-operative had outsourced its transportation to a third party logistics provider. Norbert Dentressangle put out a tender for agencies to supply 36 LGV1 & 2 multi-drop convenience store drivers, who would be treated as permanent staff and placed into a rota pattern. Norbert Dentressangle initially chose a supply agency, not Milestone, following the tender. However, after just a short time it became obvious that the agency was failing. Al Humphries, head of

“We took a risk with Milestone, but they picked up the project and saw where it was failing”

procurement at Norbert Dentressangle Logistics UK, explained that implementation with the initial supplier wasn’t working out: “The perception was bad,” he told Recruiter, “and there was pressure from the customer.” Humphries decided to turn to Milestone. Marc Fleckney, head of corporate sales for Milestone Operations, told Recruiter that Milestone wasn’t on Norbert Dentressangle’s preferred suppliers list (PSL), but nevertheless Milestone was eager to take up the challenge. And the challenges were great. Fleckney said it was “arguably one of the most difficult areas in the country to find LGV drivers”. Andover is a quiet market town in Hampshire, surrounded by small towns and villages, with only the UK military really having any significant presence. Candidate attraction was going to be tricky.

THE SOLUTION Fleckney immediately handpicked two recruiters and put them onsite at the distribution centre. He saw that the previous supplier was struggling to recruit drivers locally and realised that a multi-pronged approach was needed. This included speaking with the local Jobcentre Plus and devising a number of Open Days in towns within a 30-mile radius. Jobcentre Plus also advised Fleckney and his team about towns and cities around the UK with large numbers of unemployed whose

Key Lessons “Customers and our driver Colleagues pay our salaries! We try to put this concept of delivering top quality service to them at the very heart of our business — and not let any of our guys forget it” “Have faith that your reputation for dealing with people decently pays dividends in the medium and long term. It has certainly worked for Milestone” Marc Fleckney

profile matched the requirements for the contract. Milestone set about contacting and relocating those drivers who were willing to move to the area. As the UK military has such a large presence in Andover, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence’s Career Transition Partnership and local Garrison Resettlement units, Fleckney and his team designed a programme for those leaving the military and those that were still on active service but could legally work at weekends and other times. Milestone has a long-standing relationship with a Polish recruitment partner, so Fleckney approached them and designed a bespoke recruitment, assessment

Al Humphries Norbert Dentressangle

and induction programme to bring drivers over from Poland and Eastern Europe. The final part of the strategy was a scheme to attract newly qualified LGV1 drivers and those who had their LGV2 licence but wanted to up-skill to an LGV1. By recruiting newly qualified drivers and those wanting to be trained up, Milestone could increase levels of retention. So with its driver training partner, Advantage HGV, this became an added recruitment arm. “We also introduced Smile Miles, a loyalty scheme that rewards good drivers,” Fleckney said. And the multi-pronged approach certainly worked, as over a 12-week period Milestone provided Norbert Dentressangle with drivers for full-time and ad hoc positions to cover The Co-operative’s peaks and troughs. Graeme Evered, general manager, Co-operative Andover, told Recruiter the company knew at the time it would be a challenge when it opened in Andover but he was impressed at the way Milestone came in and went further afield for drivers. “It gave us the flexibility we needed,” he said. Humphries was also impressed. “We took a risk with Milestone, but they picked up the project and saw where it was failing,” he told Recruiter. “They bring a new approach to the workplace.” Just one reason, perhaps, why they won Best Temporary Recruitment Agency of the Year at Recruiter’s recent awards celebrations.

Al Humphries Would you like to be involved in The Challenge? Contact Vanessa Townsend at vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

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Recruiter Awards for Excellence

G

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL BASTOS

lamour and glory characterised the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, headline sponsored by Eploy, on 2 May at the Grosvenor House Hotel. From large organisations to small, winners, nominees and the rest of the recruitment community came together to celebrate achievement in spectacular fashion. The 28 awards were presented in record time by comedian Rufus Hound and a host of industry figures, leaving celebrants time to dance to the music of live band the Front Covers, test their mettle at the casino to raise funds for charity Aspire Oxfordshire and for that all-important recruiter activity, networking. It was a night to remember.

Guests arrived at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane and were treated to a night of awards, good food and drink, and plenty of good company

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Recruiter Awards for Excellence

Once all the awards were handed out, the celebrations could begin in earnest. Guests filled the dance floor, posed for photos and tried their luck at the gaming tables, where all proceeds raised went to Recruiter’s Charity of the Year, Aspire Oxfordshire. Entries will be open for 2013’s Awards around September — so don’t miss out for next year!

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Best Agencies to Work For

CREDIT: RAFAEL BASTOS

Kate McCarthy (centre) and some of her team collect the award for Best Recruitment Agency to Work For at this year’s Recruiter Awards for Excellence, headline sponsored by Eploy

Keeping your staff happy and loyal HOW DO YOU FIND THE BEST RECRUITMENT TALENT — AND MORE TO THE POINT, HOW DO YOU KEEP THEM? SCOTT BEAGRIE DISCOVERED SOME RECRUITMENT AGENCIES WHO MAY HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER

Brutally competitive,” is how Dave Way, managing director of recruitment consultancy Marks Sattin describes the market for recruitment talent. The financial recruitment specialist, shortlisted in Recruiter’s Best Recruitment Agency to Work For category, reckons the days are long gone when a firm could simply provide a consultant with a desk and phone and “tell them to get on with it”. “Over the years, new hires joining any business are increasingly looking for more and more out of their potential employers,” he explains. “Recruitment in essence is all about relationships and the relationship you have with your people, which are your key asset.”

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While it remains a tough jobs market, other factors have served to compound the problems of recruiting and retaining good people. According to Gareth Lloyd, director of professional recruitment services firm, Amoria Bond, also shortlisted as a best agency to work for, loyalty can be hard to earn for several reasons in the present market. “People don’t want a job for life anymore and these are the first generation of people who are happy to move around. Added to that is globalisation, and people generally have a lot more choice,” Lloyd says, adding: “It’s massively important to be considered a great place to work in this sector with the amount of movement that goes on in the market.” The body of entries for the Best

Recruitment Agency to Work For category underlines just how many firms are going more than the extra mile to keep their employees happy and engaged at work. And there’s also no shortage of creative thought being applied to the challenge with everything from mind, body and soul therapies to a specially tailored mortgage fund to help young professionals save for the deposit on their first property. The inclusion of playground slides could even become de rigueur in recruitment offices over the coming years, with more than one entrant citing them as a potential fixture to make the workplace more fun. What is clear is that the basic employee offering has to amount to so much more than it did even just a few years ago. Benefit

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Best Agencies to Work For

packages that include private healthcare, childcare vouchers, cycle-to-work schemes and subsidised gym membership are widespread alongside an increasing number of flexible working options such as working from home. Huge emphasis is also placed on environment, with breakout areas often decked out with 3D and flat-screen televisions, pool tables, table tennis, games consoles, table football and giant Jenga. And alongside free fruit, it’s not uncommon to find employers offering free breakfasts and lunch. “People are at work a long time and it needs to be a place where they feel engaged, happy and inspired,” says Kate McCarthy, managing director of Cheshirebased retail recruitment specialist McCarthy Recruitment, another firm shortlisted in this category (and the eventual winner). Alongside free cereal, milk, bread and fruit, McCarthy offers staff home comforts such as a free Starbucks coffee machine, free tea, a large toaster, two ovens and a large American style fridge freezer, as well as a picnic and barbecue area outside and an onsite gym. “It [the office] is a home from home. When we designed it we sat in a room and asked everyone what they wanted,” she explains.

RESPECT AND TRUST Claire Owen, leader of vision and values and founder of marketing recruitment agency, Stopgap Group, agrees that employers should make the time people spend at work as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. “I think employers have a moral and social obligation to give staff more than just a pay packet,” she says. Stopgap’s wide-ranging benefits package includes an annual sum of £500 for staff to put towards anything that is good for their mind, body or soul (the sum increases by £100 each year up to a maximum of £1,000). But Owen stresses that benefit packages alone aren’t what creating a great place to work is really about. “Our benefits are okay but I don’t think they are probably hugely better than anyone else’s. It is the attitude towards our staff that makes it a great place to work,” she explains. “We treat people with respect and trust, and that is as valuable to our staff as the £500 mind, body and soul programme or 30 days’ annual holiday. That is where a lot of businesses fall down they say ‘look at all these benefits we offer but we don’t trust you enough to let you work from home’.” Certainly any package of benefits designed to attract and retain talent needs to have depth and resonance behind it. Way at Marks Sattin suggests that lack of follow through on some of the “gimmicky or faddy” approaches to employee benefits is “prevalent in the industry”. “So what we have benefited from is just being really honest, transparent and doing what we say we will do,” and he

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Amoria Bond not only offers its employees paid-for trips abroad, but encourages a social responsibility culture where staff fund themselves and travel over to Las Ladaras in Peru to help build homes in one of the poorest areas in the country

“I think that Amoria Bond is a great place to work because there are so many positive incentives ranging from monthly lunch clubs to quarterly holidays to destinations including Las Vegas. It is a company that really rewards people for working hard in terms of earning and personal recognition from the directors and managers. In addition to this, there is a fantastic charitable foundation which supports people in difficult living conditions. There is a fantastic company culture where everybody is keen to help each other to improve in their own roles and you get all of the training and support that you need to succeed in recruitment.” Richard Grogan, recruitment consultant, Amoria Bond

“I’d been working in IT recruitment for a couple of years when an opportunity arose at Penta and immediately I saw such a difference in culture, sense of togetherness and opportunity, not only on the earnings front, but also to develop my career. Initially, I worked in IT contract moving over to IT sales and more recently I have been given the opportunity to join the international team and specialise in permanent placement across telecoms. This move across the business was supported with excellent training, coaching and mentoring bringing me upto-speed quickly and efficiently. I have also been given management responsibilities as part of my career development and this has been facilitated by an intensive six-month leadership programme which I have just completed. I can’t imagine working for anyone else in the recruitment business and I’d sum it up by saying it’s the opportunity to learn and grow, it’s the people, it’s the strong sense of team and family, it’s the fact that I trust and respect the senior leadership team and finally it’s the rewards and recognition. Russell Adair, team leader, Penta Consulting

adds that a consistency of approach needs to be maintained whether the economic climate is booming or in decline. “If you are consistently looking after people it gives them comfort and allows them to be positive,” he says. “This is something we’ve been really strong on, whether it was during 2006 or the depths of 2009.”

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Undoubtedly a large part of looking after employees involves offering career development and training, often one of the

first things to be cut during a recession. But it is a major focus for those keen to remain employers of choice. Amoria Bond’s Lloyd cites it as the “key differentiator” and claims his firm spent more than £12k per head on training its sales staff last year. He also points out that the average ratio between its sales staff and the middle office support functions (trainers, coaches and sales support) is 3:1. “We liken it to a university or top public school with small classes where a lot of impact is made,” says Lloyd, who goes on

As Charter Supporter of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Stopgap staff can take part in the annual challenge

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IF YOU WANT THE BEST CANDIDATES, YOU NEED TO BE WHERE THEY ARE. Online Mobile Social Print Local

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Best Agencies to Work For

to explain that the company has a diverse collection of people involved in delivering training programmes that includes external trainers from the US alongside an in-house team and a British sports psychologist who works with the England rugby team and helps with their mindset. “The stand-out benefit [of the training] is getting people from what we call time-to-productive — ie when they start to be productive — and that is improving every year.” Penta Consulting, which specialises in staffing solutions for the mobile computing and connectivity sectors, has similarly heavily invested in its training programmes and developed its own talent management platform or hub that employees can use to develop their skills and monitor performance. Kristian England-Smith, head of recruitment training and development, points out that when potential employees have been shown the training hub, dubbed the Pentacademy, they have felt “very secure in signing up” to the company. “All of our company’s experience has been poured into this portal. You take the journey as you learn and then that allows you to enter the market at an accelerated rate rather than have to wait and learn through all of your mistakes,” he says. “In our opinion it is one of the main benefits of joining Penta because there is almost a virtual guarantee of success.” The shortlisted STR Group based in Portsmouth, which recruits for the technical, health and professional sectors, has also developed its own training programme which includes an e-learning platform. According to chief executive Richard Crawley, it “trains from scratch” 40% of its workforce. “Training is symbolic of STR and what we stand for,” he explains. “We want STR to be synonymous with quality and we want top quality talent to be working in a highly motivated, engaged and supportive environment, and hopefully that translates into top quality service.” As well as a key part of its employee value proposition, the in-house training programme also means the organisation is less susceptible to any talent shortages. He says: “There’s a gap in the market for one to two years’ experience because a lot of organisations did not train or hire new talent during the tougher economic times.” The company’s first ever trainee still works at the company 11 years on and STR has seen its retention rate, which stands at 81%, improve year-on-year. Crawley puts this down to a carefully selected blend of benefits and initiatives which as well as more traditional healthcare, dental insurance and childcare vouchers, includes a wedding bonus, long-service awards, a high achievers club, all-expenses paid holidays for top performers, a company discount card and early finishes on a Friday. A recent survey revealed that 100% of employees are engaged with the business.

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Top: STR Group’s modern open plan offices in Portsmouth. Left: Last year’s top 10 billers were taken on an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. Above: Heroes and Villains — one of many dress-down days to raise money for charity

“Having worked here for over seven years, I have seen the company evolve and remain committed to nurturing and developing its staff, believing that maintaining a motivated and loyal workforce will create opportunity for all. STR’s focus on its employees makes it an exciting place to work for a number of reasons. Winner of numerous awards for its training and development, starting as a trainee consultant I have worked through the training academy and was later given the opportunity to gain an REC qualification. Through continuous development, support and training my career progressed which enabled me to be part of STR’s in-house Leadership Academy [a six-month comprehensive course that encompasses all of the aspects of running a successful team].” Lisa Pinhorne, senior consultant, FMCG, STR Group

RETENTION RATES UP While the recession has inevitably meant people tend to stay in jobs longer, many of the companies entered for Recruiter’s Best Recruitment Agency to Work For category are able to demonstrate a payback from their efforts in the shape of steadily improving retention rates. Shortlisted medical recruitment company, Your World Healthcare, vaunts a 96% retention rate over the past two years. “We don’t really lose staff and if anything

they move within the company,” says managing director Tony Moss. “We have payroll staff who used to be resourcers on desks and recruitment consultants who are now doing compliancy work.” Your World offers a well-rounded range of benefits but clearly the family atmosphere cultivated within the organisation plays a big part. Whenever new members of staff join a welcome night is held on the Friday to make them feel part of the team and the company operates an

Your World Recruitment netball team (in white) lines up with the England netball team (in red)

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info@cloud9umbrella.com | +44 (0)20 7718 0296 | www.cloud9umbrella.com 39

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK RECRUITER JANUARY 2012

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WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK RECRUITER MAY 2012

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Best Agencies to Work For

internal social network where social events are arranged. It stages an annual bringthe-children-to-work day on which Moss assumes the role of party games organiser. Family-friendly policies are evidently one of the hallmarks of the modern employer of choice and at some agencies there is an underlying ethos to be more inclusive of family life. At McCarthy Recruitment, employees’ offspring, referred to as The McCarthy Children, are involved in social events. “The wives, husbands and families are all an important part of [the business],” says Kate McCarthy. “And it’s about making sure they feel appreciated as well.” A significant proportion of agencies now offer home or flexible working options in recognition of the demands of family life, which has surely helped some mothers return to work. London-based finance recruiter Goodman Masson, which has been operating for nearly 20 years, has gone a step further than many by establishing a dedicated leadership development programme for women. “In our industry the top fee earners are often women and once they start a family they tend to leave and not come back, and we’re losing an enormous amount of talent,” says chief executive Guy Hayward. “I wanted a development programme that facilitated a genuine career [progression] for mothers who wanted to come back to work and I have four to five individuals who work on a part-time basis from home who are mothers and who add enormous amount to the organisation.”

Raising money and having fun at Marks Sattin: (left) a sports day, (below left) taking part in the London Bikeathon and (below right) Secret Santa goes to the next level in the office

“As a graduate I was unsure of what to expect embarking upon my first professional role. However, Marks Sattin has surpassed my expectations and provided me with all of the support and training I’ve needed to forge a successful career in recruitment. It is a meritocratic environment within which hard work and determination are constantly rewarded, and the fact that most of the senior managers and directors within the organisation joined themselves as graduates is a real testament to the prospects that are on offer to those prepared to work hard. Marks Sattin is led by an exceptional senior management team who demonstrate a philosophy of leading by example, and unlike many other recruiters, they work incredibly hard to nurture, develop and retain internal talent, even during such challenging economic times. I believe this is one of the organisation’s key strengths and something unique in this industry.” Shelley Kehily, senior consultant, professional services, Marks Sattin

GIVING BACK Alongside flexible working options and other more enlightened workplace initiatives, a key part of being seen as an employer of choice is authentic involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. As part of this, recent years have seen an increase in the number of organisations offering practical as well as financial support to the charity sector and initiatives that allow employees to fulfil a desire to give something back. At Your World Healthcare, employees are actively encouraged to take part in charitable events and are offered paid leave. It is undertaking a Three Peaks challenge and skydiving events for the Teenage Cancer Trust, as well as sponsoring and supporting two Olympic hopefuls. Meanwhile, Way says Marks Sattin has become “passionate” about its charity work over the past few years working closely with leukaemia and lymphoma charities. More recently, the company has partnered with a community special school in White City, where every Friday consultants go to help out. “The time we put in as well as the financial support we give them has become really rewarding for both sides,” says Way. “The guys really enjoy it and myself and the other directors go there quite

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frequently. The feedback we’ve had from the school’s department heads in terms of the influence our guys are having is really encouraging and rewarding and the children are getting a lot out of it.” At Amoria Bond, employees may be rewarded with trips to Las Vegas, closing parties in Ibiza and an all-expense paid Michelin starred restaurant lunch club but its charity work is increasingly important to the company and its employees. Last year, 15 volunteer employees travelled to Peru on a self-funded trip to assist with the building of 30 homes to re-house 120 local people. “There were people on good money as well as recruiters in their 20s who maybe hadn’t been to South America before,” says Lloyd. “It made everyone open their eyes and really focus on some of the good you can do. More importantly it made them realise how lucky they are.” The company’s stated aim is eventually to build 100 homes for Las Ladaras through its own charitable trust.

MORE STAFF BENEFITS Other recruitment firms are proving that they are attuned to some of the other economic and social challenges facing their own workforces. Goodman

Masson’s Mortgage Fund could be regarded as extremely timely in its aim to help employees get a leg-up on the property ladder. With current lending restrictions by banks, Goodman Masson’s Hayward recognised the difficulty young professionals in the industry have in raising the 20-35% deposit necessary to purchase a one-two bedroom property in London. “So I thought if we could somehow create a system where in three years’ time somebody could have sufficient monies for a deposit on a property it would a) create high employee engagement and b) ensure we had good retention within the organisation,” he explains. “What drives ultimate performance, like in many businesses, is the longevity of the people who work for you.” In straightforward terms, the Mortgage Fund scheme works by individuals paying 20% of their annual salary into the fund and in three years’ time the company tops that up by one third. If an employee added a percentage of their bonus into that fund, whatever the value after three years the company would add 50% to the fund. Feedback and take-up has been highly encouraging, says Hayward, with 21 people already opting for the scheme out of a

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Best Agencies to Work For

Best benefits from the best Benefits provision: most common benefits excluding commission and bonus arrangements.

As well as relaxing in the purpose-built chillout room (above)and taking part in fun days (left), eight Goodman Masson employees, including CEO Guy Hayward, trekked the Great Wall of China in 2011 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (above left)

“From the beginning Goodman Masson has made me feel valued and crucial to its success. This has never been something I’ve felt working for other companies and really does serve in making me want to give 100% and achieve the best that I can. The fact that I actually look forward to getting up in the mornings to come to work speaks volumes. The people, the atmosphere and the environment all serve in making me feel lucky to be working for the number one company in London.” Rebecca Johnston, administrator and events assistant, Goodman Masson

workforce of 130 (35 already own their properties). Goodman Masson also operates a similar arrangement to help students pay back their student loans. Both schemes form part of the company’s Benefits Boutique, which allows employees to create their own tailored benefits package to the value of 20% of their basic salary. Options include buying and selling holiday (up to five days either way), interest-free loans to buy a car, for home improvements, or as new parents. “I’m in a challenging industry where retention of my people is hugely important to me and we spend an inordinate amount of time looking after them,” adds Hayward. In an industry which sometimes had a reputation for bad practice, often seen as being solely driven by sales targets and full of consultants who are only interested in commission and bonuses, the entries into this year’s awards amply demonstrate that many of today’s employees expect a far more holistic approach from their employers when it comes to their reward and benefits. Encouragingly they also underpin that recruitment firm bosses have a genuine desire to create companies for which people want to come to work. No-one can deny that this doesn’t link back to performance and indeed there is hard business data to show that such strategies and initiatives really do pay off: Amoria

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Bond, for instance, doubled its profits last year and is on target to do the same this year, while STR is on track to deliver a 40% rise in turnover. Being crowned a great agency to work for requires a mix of measures and benefits, some tangible, some more atmospheric and cultural and it is anticipated that the organisations showcased here provide plenty of ideas and inspiration for others. Of course much is made of recruitment being a people business and as a final point, recruitment firms should also remember to make best use of their own stock-in-trade when creating a desirable place to work. “Having a good workplace is partly down to the people you have in it,” says Stopgap’s Owen. “Our recruitment policy is pretty rigorous and it isn’t about how much money they are going to make but how they are going to fit in. We’ve turned down people on paper that would probably be highperformance in terms of fees but would have been disruptive to the business.” Similarly, Kate McCarthy says her recruitment policy is based on “behaviours” as opposed to specific experience. “We’ve all got the same desks and PCs but it’s people that make an office,” she says. “I’ve got a fun, vibrant team and we all like coming to work. When I’m not here, I miss my team.”

1. Private healthcare (56%) 2. Pension (54%) 3. Flexible working arrangements (32%) 4. Childcare vouchers (30%) 5. Cycle-to-work scheme (24%) 6. Subsidised gym membership (22%) 7. Life assurance/insurance (20%) 8. Fine-dining experiences for top performers (18%) 9. Season ticket loan (12%) 10. Dental insurance (12%) 11. Duvet days (12%) Note: results are based on where those benefits are specifically detailed in the awards entries received.

The top 10 most popular allexpenses paid holiday destinations for top performers 1. Las Vegas 2. Majorca 3. Ibiza 4. Marbella 5. New York 6. Miami 7. Marrakesh 8. Dubai 9. Monaco 10. St Tropez

Other interesting statistics 14% Number of companies which highlighted the importance of their luxury coffee-making machines to staff in their awards entries. Less than 4% Lowest rate of staff turnover Three The number of companies which used a Dragons’ Den type exercise for staff to pitch and develop new ideas. Outcomes included the development of a business app and the purchase of a greyhound! The firms mentioned in this article were all entrants in the Best Recruitment Agency to Work For category at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2012, headline sponsored by Eploy, and was written and researched before the eventual winner was announced.

SCOTT BEAGRIE

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Movers & Shakers

ADDERLEY FEATHERSTONE: •Martin Thayne is the new

BACK TO THE UK FOR HEAP AT HAYS

managing director of the executive search firm. ADECCO: Steven Kirkpatrick •takes up the new role of MD –

general staffing for the group, responsible for the Adecco Retail, Elizabeth Hunt, Office Angels and Spring Personnel brands. David Clubb, previously Office Angels’ MD, has left the business. Robert P Crouch becomes regional head of North America for Adecco.

International recruiter Hays has appointed Nigel Heap as UK & Ireland managing director. He moves from the role of managing director for the Asia Pacific region at Hays, and replaces Royston Hoggarth in his new role. Hoggarth had been UK & Ireland managing director for just over a year and a half. Heap has been with Hays for nearly 25 years, the last 15 of which were spent within the group’s Asia-Pacific business, which is now its largest profit contributor. Heap remains a member of the group’s management board and continues to report to chief executive Alistair Cox. As part of the shake-up, Nick Deligiannis will take over as managing director, Australia & New Zealand. Christine Wright is appointed as operations director, Asia, responsible for the day-to-day operational management of business in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

ALEXANDER DANIELS: The •financial, corporate governance

and executive recruiter has appointed Steven Underwood as principal consultant. ALCOA: The global metals •producer has promoted Mike

Barriere from chief talent officer to vice president, HR. TAYLOR: The rec-to-rec •firmASTON has made Andrea Saunders

MD.

•appointed Grant Hodgetts as

BOYDEN: The search firm has

executive director for Australia, and Sue Smith becomes a partner in London.

Barrett becomes chief diversity officer at the global auto maker.

H1 HEALTHCARE: Jackie

Edwards becomes recruitment and compliance manager at the healthcare agency.

BRIGHTPOOL: The financial services recruiter has appointed Angela Hickmore as MD.

JAM RECRUITMENT: Alison •Humphries leads the new

CITITEC: Steven Ewer becomes •permanent team manager at the

internal training division of the manufacturing and engineering recruiter.

IT recruiter. EAMES CONSULTING GROUP: Ceri •Burns has joined the financial and

professional services recruiter as a senior consultant in Singapore. EVENBASE: The digital •recruitment group has appointed

John Frith as HR director. FOUR FINANCIAL: Carl Meyler •becomes business manager at the

financial recruiter.

FRAZER JONES: The HR recruiter has appointed Kayne SteinbornBusse as associate director.

•the newly appointed HR director

GARWYN GROUP: Anne Thorne is

at the liability loss adjuster.

• GENERAL MOTORS: Kenneth J

LAURENCE SIMONS: Laura •Rusche is the managing

consultant of the legal recruiter’s new Chicago office.

•Bradley, Michelle Greensword OAKLEAF PARTNERSHIP: Zoe

and Lucy Nadler become senior consultants at the HR recruiter.

RECRUITER

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for Asia Pacific for the executive search firm.

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

Oldbury Howard Senior permanent recruitment consultant/ head of permanent recruitment Finance/banking/ insurance £45-55,000, plus excellent commission structure and other target driven bonuses London, West End

Kelly Services Senior and lead consultants £Competitive salary and package London

SELLICK PARTNERSHIP: Nives Feely is the new finance director at the financial and legal recruiter.

•John P Doyle is executive vice

SLAYTON SEARCH PARTNERS:

president at the Chicago-based search firm.

Style Incorporated Senior recruiter – digital and ecommerce Rec-to-rec £Competitive London, West End

SWAN IT RECRUITMENT: The specialist SAP recruiter has appointed Sean Young as director of EMEA sales.

THE RETHINK GROUP: Steve

Wright becomes chief financial officer at the business and technology recruitment group.

PEDERSEN & PARTNERS: The global executive search firm has made Ewan Walton head of the Gulf region, with Amjed Shacker taking on his previous role as head of Saudi Arabia.

RECRUITMENT: •TheTWENTY multi-sector agency has

PLATINUM RECRUITMENT SERVICES: Naomi McCarthy is

president and CEO of the talent and technology consultancy.

business manager and Trevor Anderson and Andy Gray business development managers at the multi-sector recruiter.

WORK GROUP: Hayley Brooks•bank becomes MD of Work

Email people moves to sam.burnejames@recruiter.co.uk

48

PROCO GLOBAL: Matt Hill has •been appointed to regional MD

Your next move?

made Peter Kitchin director of commerce.

Industria Personnel Services Driving division contract manager Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Warwickshire £Competitive + bonus + car + laptop

INFORMATION SCIENCES: •RonVOLT Kochman is the new

Communications.

FOR MORE APPOINTMENTS, GO ONLINE

RECRUITER.CO.UK WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

10/5/12 12:03:07


Appointments

View the latest jobs at www.recruiter.co.uk

To place your advertisement E: andy.daniel@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 7607

www.recruiter.co.uk

The Recruiters’ Recruiter www.ruthmoran.co.uk Leeds Office:

Manchester Office:

10 Butts Court, Leeds LS1 5JS Telephone: 0113 246 0062 Fax: 0113 243 3353

The Chancery, 58 Spring Gardens Manchester M2 1EW Tel: 0161 228 2666

Executive Search and Selection or Senior Interim Recruiters Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Harrogate Basic £35-70k OTE £100-150k This highly regarded Executive Search and Selection Recruitment Consultancy has been in operation since the late 1980’s and has seen exceptional year on year growth. Members of the IMA (Interim Management Association), they were also the first business with headquarters in the North to become a member. Essential skills: candidates must be proactive business developers, with the ability to bring on new clients and service them effectively as this is very much a 360 degree consultant role. This is genuinely an excellent time to join this thriving business. The culture is mature and supportive, an excellent team environment without the restrictive practices found in certain areas of the industry. For further information contact Ruth Moran on ruth@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

Branch Managers Required – Huge expansion across the West Midlands - Driving ££££££££ High Basic, High OTE, Car or car allowance, large co bens, profit share This is a fantastic opportunity to join one of THE major players in recruitment today.You should already be working in the Driving sector of recruitment and already be a successful Branch Manager or Senior Consultant and be looking for your next move to one of the major players in this sector. Whilst this is a start up opportunity, you will have the backing of one of the biggest names in Driving Recruitment, a name which will need no introduction, but carries the credibility and gravitas one will need for a start up. You will need to be a dynamic self starter, ambitious, professional and be looking to be the architect of your own career. You will need to manage the needs of a constantly changing marketplace and workforce. Continuously review and develop service provision in line with agreed standards. Contribute to the development of the company through the input of new ideas and initiatives aimed at improving market share profile and contribution to the industry. Learn understand and utilise all relevant systems efficiently and effectively. Ensure continuous professional development with reference to appropriate legislation industry codes of conduct ISO and company best practice. For further information contact Neil Prestwich on neil@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

Area Development Managers x 2 – Driving – West Midlands or the South West Basic to £40,000 High OTE, Car, large co bens, profit share This is a fantastic opportunity to join one of THE major players in recruitment today. You should already be working in the Driving sector of recruitment and already be a successful Branch/Area or Regional Manager and be looking for your next move to one of the major players in this sector. There are two roles, one role covers the whole of the West Midlands the other the whole of the South West. You must have the drive, passion and enthusiasm to take this area to the next stage in its development and have the adaptability to deal with a variety of stakeholders with very differing requirements. You will need to manage the needs of a constantly changing marketplace and workforce. Continuously review and develop service provision in line with agreed standards. Contribute to the development of the company through the input of new ideas and initiatives aimed at improving market share profile and contribution to the industry. Learn understand and utilise all relevant systems efficiently and effectively. Ensure continuous professional development with reference to appropriate legislation industry codes of conduct ISO and company best practice. For further information contact Ruth Moran on ruth@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

The Recruiters’ Recruiter RUTHMORAN_FP.indd 36

Consultants and Managers Leeds, Manchester , Sheffield, Rotherham, Runcorn, Nottingham, Birmingham and Liverpool basics £25-45k plus commission, car allowance etc. OTE £50100k. Various sectors including Financial Services, Insurance, Accountancy, Oil and Gas, Food, FMCG, Construction, Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, HR, Legal, Medical This extremely well established, multi-site recruitment consultancy was founded over thirty years ago years ago and since then has established itself as a market leader with offices throughout the UK.Working across a range of specialist sectors, all individually managed, they are now looking at all levels across the aforementioned sectors. A long established client with a low staff turnover, a pleasant, supportive working environment and excellent training with genuine future prospects. The ability to deal with clients of all levels, manage and motivate a team is essential. Forward thinking and professional, this recruitment consultancy focuses on providing a quality service to both candidates and clients alike and as a result of this they have won a number ofrecruitment industry awards over the years. For further information contact Neil Prestwich on neil@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

Branch Manager Professional – Purchasing/Supply Chain/ Logistics – North London (Watford) or Central London £££££££ competitive Basic, HIGH OTE + Excellent large Co bens Blue Chip Major Player Due to their continued expansion, this MAJOR blue chip client now require a Branch Manager for their new operation in Central or North London. This is a rare opportunity to join one of the most recognised names in the recruitment industry and offers both the rewards and career opportunities one would expect from a large player. You will need to be highly ambitious, professional, target driven and have the credibility and gravitas to succeed at this level. A strong sales focus will be required, as this will be a new location for this Division and is being driven off the back of the successful set up of the Northern and Midlands operations. You will need to be an excellent business developer, have strong organisation skills, be self motivated and be prepared to lead from the front. You MUST already be working as a Branch Manager or Senior Recruitment Consultant in the recruitment industry and preference will be given to those candidates with Logistics/Transport/ Purchasing and Supply recruitment experience, although previously successful candidates from other sectors may be considered. For further information contact Neil Prestwich on neil@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

IT Recruitment Branch Managers/Consultants – Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham & London Basic salary £20-40K OTE £50-100K Our Client is a leading IT Recruiter, part of a Global Professional Recruitment Consultancy and IT Outsourcing provider with 30 offices across Europe, USA and Asia, Based in their highly successful and prestigious Leeds and Manchester offices they are looking for professional sales driven Recruitment Consultants, those wanting a change of sector or experienced IT Recruitment Consultants looking for a fresh challenge. The ability to work as part of a supportive but highly motivated and dynamic operation is a must. Prospects within this role for future career progression are excellent as is the potential to earn excellent rates of commission. There couldn’t be a better time to move into IT Recruitment as this market is highly buoyant. For further information contact Ruth Moran on ruth@ruthmoran.co.uk, 0113 2460062 (lines open 8am until 9pm weekdays and Saturdays).

For current updates or to register online log on to our website on www.ruthmoran.co.uk

RECRUITMENT AGENCY

10/5/12 15:04:11


How far will you go? When Ben Lexcen included a winged keel design on a new racing yacht, he was taking a big gamble. But when the Australia II team won the 1983 America’s Cup, they brought to an end the longest winning streak in sport – no one had defeated the Americans since 1851! Sometimes it’s hard to know you’re on the right track. But look around carefully, consider all the options and you might find that your next job takes you further than you ever dreamt. Here at JPA we take our role as advisors to candidates and clients extremely seriously. We hire the best, and that means we can do more to help you find the perfect job. JPA | Exceeding the boundaries…

To see a full list of the opportunities available please visit our website

www.j-p-a.com.au for a confidential discussion to discuss roles contact Robin Clarke in JPA’s Sydney office +61 2 8249 4033 | robin.clarke@j-p-a.com For more information on recruitment roles in Asia

www.j-p-a.asia For roles in Asia please contact Dominic Thurmott in our Hong Kong office +852 2815 2114 | dominic.thurmott@j-p-a.com JPA are recruitment to recruitment specialists Australia | Dubai | Hong Kong | New Zealand | Singapore | UK TM

Australia & New Zealand Calling all returning Australians and New Zealanders! The UK economy is suffering so come home to a buoyant market? Package – Dependant on level of experience The Australian and New Zealand economies are booming and in turn increasing the demand for experienced Recruitment Consultants across all sectors. We have relationships with all major National and International brands who would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. We have the ability to initiate the process prior to your departure from the UK giving you peace of mind knowing you will have had or will have interviews arranged. We offer a proactive and personalised service. Test our service and email robin.clarke@j-p-a.com

IT Recruitment Consultant Sydney/Melbourne/ Singapore/Hong Kong $90k basic + OTE + superannuation + LAFHA + benefits – Warm Account Manager Role! This IT specialist is an incredibly strong IT brand where forging PSA/PSL relationships are part of their business model and with that have both 360 and Account Manager roles in IT where delivery and relationships are key. This global brand still have the commitment to being a boutique and a specialist for their clients, offering great desks in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as Australia, where you can take advantage of strong candidate and client relationships to work with from day one, a brilliant brand, environment and commission structure to be incentivized by. If you have any IT recruitment experience and want to work in the sun with brilliant people in potentially warm Account Manager roles or challenging business development roles, get in touch today. Contact emily.spencer@j-p-a.com

Oil and Gas Recruitment Consultant Perth/Brisbane/Sydney to $80k basic + OTE + superannuation + LAFHA + benefits Bored with Britain? Is it time to up sticks and move down under? Progress your career by joining a well known Oil and Gas recruiter. They are seeking someone to work on a warm contract & perm desk and in time build their own team! Core responsibilities include filling roles by end to end recruitment and quick response placements, client relationship management, marketing and new business development, candidate management. Candidate requirements; O&G or Engineering recruitment experience, strong billings and a stable work history. New job, new country, new lifestyle … an amazing new start! Contact robin.clarke@j-p-a.com

Engineering Recruitment Consultant Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane/Perth to $80k basic + OTE + superannuation + LAFHA + benefits Water, power, oil and gas, civil and mechanical engineering are all verticals that my well known and successful client requires strong consultants in as they are finding their markets buoyant from the resources boom all over Australia. Projects are getting signed off, clients and demand are extremely strong in these sectors and should you have consistent experience in one of these areas and be serious about Australia, my client can complete from the UK and leave you with a role and knowledge of the company before coming over. This is a great firm with a quality brand for being a specialist, knowledgeable player in the market with great commissions available—you would be hard to match out here with any better. Contact emily.spencer@j-p-a.com

Accountancy & Finance Consultant

IT Recruitment Consultant

Sydney – Boutique agency

IT specialist agency – up to $80k + LAFHA

$80k + LAFHA – Very strong, credible brand If you are thinking of relocating to Australia and want to make a good career move at the same time this is the opportunity for you! This growing specialist accountancy & finance recruiter has built a solid reputation since their inception and their brand is synonymous with quality which has placed them in strong position going into 2011. They have a mature environment where consultants will be given free reign to run their desks but also have the full support of the two very hands-on directors. You will be highly motivated and eager to build a successful desk where you will receive lucrative monetary rewards. This is an exciting, young and fun company. Contact lisa.martin@j-p-a.com

Sydney

This company is a specialist IT boutique who have been in operation for 11 years and in that time have build a reputation as being a reliable and very knowledgeable IT specialist gaining trust and respect from their clients and candidates. With offices in both Sydney and Melbourne the brand is recognisable and they can list some major blue chip organisations and Microsoft Gold partners as their clients. With a warm client base and sales driven, fun and lively environment this is a great place to kick start your Australian recruitment experience! You will not only have the opportunity to build a successful desk quickly and benefit from their very low threshold but also make friends and enjoy all that Sydney has to offer on team day/nights out. Contact lisa.martin@j-p-a.com

Contact us today to get a copy of our Australian and Asia relocation guides JPA is an employment agency and advertises all registered vacancies, having sought agreement from their clients to find candidates for these roles, in accordance with the Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003.

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A number of our clients will complete the interview processes via telephone interviews/video conferences meaning you have a role secured before you move.

10/5/12 16:33:41


ARE YOU FEELING FED UP? Internal politics, lack of recognition, poor team work, long working hours, unrealistic sales targets, no support, inadequate training, high staff turnover, some managerial decisions, uninspiring incentives.

If we have touched a nerve then please read on... Recognised by “The Recruiter” as one of the UK’s 50 fastest growing companies in 2012 This is just one of a number of recruitment industry awards we have recently received public recognition for. Orion, of course we are always pleased and proud to receive any industry accolade but as you would imagine they don’t just fall on to our laps. “Recruitment just got better” has been Orion’s slogan since our conception. This applies not only to the services we provide to our clients, but also importantly to how we value, support and retain our own staff. Having spent 16 years recruiting staff to come and work for us, we know that we offer a unique working environment for likeminded people to flourish and enjoy what they do without internal distractions.

Through continued expansion and growth we are now looking to appoint more like minded individuals within the following sectors. ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT x 2 Recruiting both permanent and contract professionals in a diverse range of engineering and manufacturing sectors you will become a vital addition to our well established and genuinely supportive engineering recruitment team. Responsible for servicing some of our existing clients as well as being tasked with penetrating and developing new business and revenue streams we are keen to talk to Engineering Recruitment Consultants with a minimum of 12 months experience.

AEROSPACE / DEFENCE RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT We are currently recognised as one of the industry’s leading players within the Commercial Aircraft Interiors market and are very hungry to capitalise on our current success and reputation. We plan to diversify and strengthen our presence within additional sectors of the Aerospace and Defence market .We are now looking to appoint an experienced Recruitment Consultant with an interest and desire to work in the Aerospace and Defence market.

SENIOR AUTOMOTIVE RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT / TEAM LEADER To complement our existing engineering and aerospace businesses we are keen to penetrate and develop a strong presence within the UK’s thriving sector. This role is going to suit someone who has effective new business development skills and a proven track record in automotive recruitment. Equally it may suit a Senior Engineering Recruiter who is attracted by the opportunities within this market sector and has the ambition and personal attributes to build their own team.

LOCAL AUTHORITY / HOUSING ASSOCIATION RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT Off the back of our successful trades & labour division based at Aylesbury, we are looking to return to the market of local authority and housing association maintenance. The job initially will be predominantly new business based, so strong sales skills and experience is what is required to launch this division. A genuine opportunity exists for this person to establish and develop a separate business entity and team.

Our package includes: • Attractive basic salaries • Generous commission schemes • Monthly, quarterly and annual company sales incentives • Personalised incentive schemes • Company car or car allowances for senior staff • Pension contributions • Up to 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays • Bonus days holiday for your birthday

For further information regarding our careers visit our website www.orionelectrotech.com If you are interesting in applying for one of vacancies please email chris.benham@orion-group.co.uk or telephone him in the strictest of confidence on 0118 9239215

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Industrial/Driving Contract Managers Northampton, Coventry or Leicester

Industria Personnel Services Ltd are seeking experienced senior consultants to join their established teams as a Contract managers. Industria is one of the regions premier recruitment companies with branches throughout the region providing a wide range of recruitment services to business partners throughout the UK.

• • •

We offer excellent career prospects, with incentives and full support to help you progress.

We offer an excellent salary package. You must have experience as a senior consultant within the Recruitment Industry.

• •

You must have excellent knowledge of WTD and legislation compliance.

If you feel you have the right skills for this position and would enjoy a new challenge please contact us for a confidential discussion or email your CV.

You must have good rapport building skills, excellent organisational and communication skills required. Key responsibilities of a Contract manager: •

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solutions over the telephone and face to face. Offer a quality service to clients by selecting applicants through good job matching and compliance control. Monitor performances to ensure that the client and contractors are consistently satisfied. Recruit and sustain a workforce by interview and selection of quality driving applicants. Advertise for candidates in such a manner that will generate the largest/best quality response whilst complying with legal requirements. Generate a good rapport with all user clients. Achieve targets and adhere to agreed work/action plans

If you think you have the right skills for this position and would enjoy a new challenge why not contact Michael Walker for a confidential discussion on (0781) 6751081 or e mail michael-walker@industria-jobs.co.uk

Obtain maximum business levels by selling Industrial recruitment

RECRUITER

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JANUARY MAY 2012 2012

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“Driving our franchisees to accelerated profitability” Are you ready to run your own recruitment business? Do you have you the ambition and enthusiasm to make it a success? Redline Recruitment is a successful company who have been specialising in the supply of temporary drivers and warehouse personnel to the logistics industry for over a decade. Included in our client portfolio are most, if not all, of the major UK and global logistic companies. By using our proven business format you could be serving these clients from day one of your operation starting. We are looking for professional recruitment consultants and managers who are ready to take the step to running their own business. We do not make any claims about salaries except to say that if you are prepared to work hard the rewards can be significant.. Our full package includes, • A “turnkey package” which includes computer equipment, stationery, etc. • Specialist logistics business softwear • Company and VAT registration. • Assistance with office procurement. • In house technical and softwear training. • Administration training. • Business and marketing sales training. • Assistance with application for bank funding. • Detailed manuals • Full ongoing business support. We have built our business on our reputation for quality and service, we want to pass these ideals on to you.

Why work it when you can own it? “Are you a successful healthcare recruiter”? “Are you ready to take the first steps and reap the rewards of your own successful healthcare recruitment agency”? “Are you looking for a new challenge in a strong recession proof market”? Kare plus franchising offers you continued support in all areas of running a successful healthcare recruitment business. Kare Plus is a leading provider of Nursing and Care staff to the NHS, Care Homes, Nursing Homes, Prisons and Specialist Units. We have more than 20 years experience as a healthcare recruitment company and have established procedures for the provision of care and nursing under the regulatory guidance of the CQC (Care Quality Commission). Kare Plus has been franchising territories for more than 10 years and is rapidly expanding its base in line with market opportunity and the company’s projected growth. Our support team includes sales, marketing, clinical and compliance expertise, so you the franchisee can feel secure and be able to concentrate on developing a successful and lucrative business. We are looking for business minded individuals who want to work hard but reap the rewards, not just financially but also as a provider of a valuable service to your community. Changes in the NHS and new government directives are driving the healthcare market towards the private sector and Kare Plus are well placed to take advantage of this opportunity. We have territories available and existing national contracts with a tender division to assist franchisees in gaining new contracts. If you would like to know more about this opportunity or would like our prospectus please contact us in the strictest confidence: Jas Khera Franchise Coordinator Kare Plus (Franchising) Ltd, E: info@kareplus.com T: 0845 094 8122

Contact us today for a copy of our franchise prospectus.

Call 0844 576 0345 or email franchise@redlinerecruitment.com 39

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® THE CARING COMPANY

www.kareplus.com WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK RECRUITER MAY 2012

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Managing Director - International The Rullion Group, which has enjoyed over 35 years as one of the UK’s leading recruitment specialists with an annual turnover in excess of £270m, is looking to extend its operations internationally. Our experience of providing diverse disciplines, on either a contract or permanent basis, to our customers, in our core markets, spans some four decades. We are now looking to provide those services in the international marketplace. We are looking for a talented individual that has experience of working in the international arena and has the skills and ambition to develop a business from conception through to a profitable and successful business within the Rullion Group. Focusing initially on the engineering sector and developing additional product offerings as the business develops. The Rullion Group works with many customers in the UK that would provide a platform for international expansion. It is the intention to establish permanent operations overseas as the business progresses. The position would initially be based at the Group’s head office in Altrincham. Applicants will need to be high achievers with a demonstrable track record in sales and most importantly, self starters. If you feel that you have the relevant experience and drive to be successful in this very demanding role then apply to: Philip Higgins, Managing Director, Rullion Engineering Personnel, PO Box 124, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1FB. email: philip.higgins@rullion.co.uk Tel: 0161 926 1745

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We are an Equal Opportunities employer and actively encourage candidate applications from all sectors of the community. WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK RECRUITER JANUARY 2012

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Recruitment Consultant Permanent Appointments Working from home or from our offices in Worcester

For over 20 years AES has been providing innovative recruitment consultancy specialising in offering a range of services to a small select client base; we are in the quality not quantity market.

Working from home

An office based role

If you want to strike the work/life balance and are fed up working for someone else AES can: I Provide you with the systems, software, web access and support you will need to be an effective and efficient Recruitment Consultant from home I Provide accommodation when you are training or in attendance at the head office in Worcester I Introduce you to a High Street Bank if you can’t raise the initial investment. Please visit www.aesco.co.uk/home-based-recruitmentconsultancy.html for details.

I AES has an excellent pay to sales ratio for example for £120,000 worth of sales per annum (two sales per month) you will earn around £57,000 per annum I Good working hours (you don’t work Friday afternoons) – If you can’t do two sales per month in a working week of 37.5 hours you are inefficient I AES does not pay high basic salaries (average is £17k per annum) preferring to reward people (extremely well as it happens) for their performance and success.

If you would like to apply to work in our offices please visit www.aesco.co.uk/about-us.html. If you remain interested email Colin Smith FIRP, at colin@aesco.co.uk quoting job reference 103716.

Make it Work for Design & Build! Looking for a lifestyle change? Interested in making agreat living within a strong economy?

Sounds perfect? We want to hear from you today!

Design & Build is a specialist recruiter to the Engineering, Construction and Resources industries in Australia, with an excellent track record of growth and an award winning company culture.

Apply by sending your resume and cover letter to:

We are currently seeking experienced and motivated Consultants for our Sydney and Melbourne of¿ces, with the promise of full sponsorship, excellent bene¿ts packages and hot desks for the right ¿t.

www.facebook.com/ designandbuildrecruitment

directors@designandbuild.com.au or call +613 9094 0999 to enquire.

www.designandbuild.com.au 39

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TAKING CARE OF YOUR PRIDE Experienced Digital Recruitment Consultant Basic salary negotiable Circa 30k with uncapped commission OTE 100k plus West End, Full time My client, a well established Recruitment Consultancy specialising in the digital Àeld are seeking experienced Digital Recruitment Consultants to join their rapidly expanding team. You will be based in ofÀces in Covent Garden.

Recruitment Consultant SAM / AM Delivery Basic salary to 25K with excellent commission structure - uncapped, like for like commission that doubles if target is exceeded City of London, Full Time Are you an enthusiastic, keen, personable individual eager to make money and pursue a career within Recruitment? An excellent position has arisen for a Recruitment Consultant, focused on Delivery and Account Management, based in The City for an expanding consultancy.

IT Recruitment Team Leader Salaries and incentives are highly competitive and they are one of the Àrst IT recruitment Àrms to truly embrace Áexible working hours Bromley, Full Time My client offers a unique environment in which ambitious people thrive. They have a reputation as an employer that recognises and rewards talent and they have won numerous awards for excellent and innovation.

Experienced Recruitment Consultant Salary is negotiable, for the right candidate they will look at £25 - 40K PA, with an uncapped, staggered commission structure without a threshold Tunbridge Wells, Full Time An excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced Recruitment Consultant to join a well established and expanding team based in Tunbridge Wells.

Regional Development Manager - Europe, Russia & CIS Salary negotiable, for the right candidate Full time, West End My client are looking for a Regional Development Manager, to cover Europe, Russia and CIS. The Regional Development Manager will lead a team to develop and build on new and existing business opportunities in Europe, Russia and CIS region.

For a full list of our vacancies please visit our website at www.lionessconsultants.co.uk/vacancies Tel: 01892 519440 Fax: 01892 548378 info@lionessconsultants.co.uk www.lionessconsultants.co.uk

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WORLD EMPLOYMENT CONFERENCE 2012 2 3 - 2 5

M A Y

LANDMARK LONDON

The final countdown

LAST CHANCE TO BOOK www.ciett2012.com

Do you know how to use social media to your advantage? Have you thought about how the world of work may change in the future? Have you managed to spend any time on personal development? If you’ve answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, then this conference is for you. The programme will cover: f *OEVTUSZ USFOET BOE PQQPSUVOJUJFT f .BTUFSJOH TPDJBM NFEJB f 4UFQT UP JNQSPWF TBMFT QFSGPSNBODF f 5IF GVUVSF PG XPSL

• Dr Lynda Gratton 1SPGFTTPS PG .BOBHFNFOU Practice at London Business School • Professor Richard Scase - Europe’s leading thinker on leadership, innovation and corporate change • Giles Guest %JSFDUPS &OIBODF .FEJB • Richard Cox - Co-founder, salt • Bryan Peùa - Vice President, Contingent Workforce Strategies and Research, Staffing Industry Analysts • .BSZ # -VDBT - Chief Resource Officer for Staffmark

The conference’s international dinner, which will be attended by over 200 recruitment leaders from around the globe, is hosted by Gyles Brandreth and includes an after–dinner speech by Alastair Campbell and entertainment from the fabulous Jersey Boys (for a post-West End Show performance!)

Sponsored by:

Register today at: www.ciett2012.com call 020 7880 6225 or scan QR code

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Media partner:

Recruitment

9/5/12 12:57:35


Bloggers with Bite

RECRUITING THE X-FACTOR

Recruiters could learn a lot from TV talent show mogul Simon Cowell. Find out why

W

ho is the best recruiter in the world today? Whose name springs to mind first? It won’t be any recruitment VPs/directors/ heads of/managers or recruiters/agents. It certainly won’t be any of the multiplying number of self-styled gurus or consultants rapidly occupying our space and milking the system. For me the answer is clear: Simon Cowell. Now your immediate reaction will be shock. Maybe derision. But think about it. Simon ‘gets’ and executes recruitment far better than many recruitment directors and selfproclaimed thought leaders in the world today. So what can we learn from him? First off, similarly to recruiters, he has an end goal: a hire, or hires, to sing and make records for his record label. To that end, he must source, pre-screen, interview and assess that talent. There is a thorough interview process and an offer waiting at the end of that process. Cowell is transparent. As a huge plus-point, he and the interview panel give immediate feedback. If you are

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Matthew Jeffery is EMEA head of talent acquisition and global talent brand, Autodesk

rubbish, you know it straight away, perhaps even ‘buzzed’ off stage. How often does immediate feedback happen in recruitment? Even better, as we talk about feedback, we can apply this to ‘crowdsourcing’, the buzzword of the moment. Cowell uses crowdsourcing to the extreme, be it playing to the audience reaction at the audition (boos to hysterical standing ovations), to ‘manipulating’ social media and the national media post the auditions to maintain interest and develop ‘relationships’ between audience and contestant. But here’s the slice of genius. People are naturally talkative, love a gossip, like to hear about people’s lives. People love a story. They love an underdog. Hence Cowell plays to all of this brilliantly. Before an act comes on we get the ‘story’. They may have struggled against cancer, their partner died, a parent on his or her deathbed urged the contestant to enter the competition, they were bullied at school, they face financial hardship and can’t feed the kids and this audition is their last hope for a new life. Clever stuff Simon… the power of ‘emotional storytelling’! The key thing to learn is to embrace a range of concepts to ‘engage’ our communities. ‘Humanising the brand’, unveiling the reality behind the corporate Iron Curtain, being transparent, engaging in a two-way revealing conversation that tells a story of what it is like to work for our company. Like ‘gamification’, storytelling is a big thing. It encourages ‘repeat visitors’ and hooks people in. People want to see how a story plays out. Cowell teaches us how to engage and storytell… all great lessons for recruiters and marketers to learn from and enact. And then there’s candidate experience. Letting candidates know how they have ‘performed’ at the interview. Not after. Candidates prefer honesty and respect walking away with an idea of how they have ‘performed’. Interviews are performances after all. Cowell also impresses on us the need for ‘quality of hire’ and buy-in from all constituents for that person to succeed. We also learn that maybe the best hire has different characteristics and is ‘unique’ — a square peg that does not fit into the round hole of the job spec. Susan Boyle is such an example. Derided and laughed at as she walked onstage (not ‘fitting the job description’), then applauded off stage and given a multi-million pound contract. Most recruiters would have rejected and given up on Susan as not fitting the spec. How wrong they would have been! In 2013, I for one will nominate Simon Cowell for Recruiter of the Year. How cool to see him collect the award on stage at Recruiter’s Awards for Excellence. Stranger things have happened…

Simon Cowell ‘gets’ and executes recruitment far better than many recruitment directors today What do you think? Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

In June: meet Bill Parsons, executive VP-HR of ARM Holdings WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

10/5/12 14:39:17


JOIN HAYS

EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS BE PART OF OUR GLOBAL TEAM A career with Hays is like no other. We are the world’s leading experts in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people, locally and globally. Nearly 8,000 Hays employees in 33 countries help individuals and businesses to flourish. Join us in powering the world of work.

Perth, Australia – Senior Consultant/ Manager

All major cities, UK – Managers

New York, USA – Senior Consultant

Reflecting a more positive long-term economic outlook and an increased demand for talent, Hays is offering promotion opportunities. For experienced consultants with a strong billing record, these roles would be a good first step into management, fully supported by our rigorous training programme.

Experience in IT recruiting is essential for this role, following the award to Hays of multiple, lucrative, IT contracting deals. This flagship office in New York offers a fast paced, hectic environment and is staffed with experienced consultants; you will be joining a highly passionate team of people.

Mexico, Colombia and Chile – Recruitment Consultants

Czech Republic – Country MD

Vancouver, Canada – Regional Manager

Take control of our established Czech business. Currently operating at Regional/ Operational Director level, strength of leadership and commercial vision will be key to your success. It is preferable that you have experience of working in Central or Eastern Europe to make an immediate and credible impact.

Join part of an established and already successful team in a city that is frequently deemed to have the highest standard of living in the world. Hays has a good footprint in Canada, your role here will be to drive the expansion of the business into the North West of the USA.

These are three of Hays’ newest country launches. All offer an opportunity to be part of a start-up operation, allowing you to truly shape your own business. Operating within immature contingency recruitment markets means the growth potential of each business is vast. Fluency in Spanish is essential.

Dubai, UAE – Senior Manager

Beijing, China – Manager

The Oil & Gas business in Hays is taking off globally. Where better to take advantage of this growth than the world’s largest oil and gas market, the Middle East? This region will expose you to unique technical, cultural and commercial challenges. You will be rewarded with a stimulating and engaging management experience.

China is home to the largest and fastestgrowing economy in the world. This is a market that rewards resilient and determined high-performers. We have ambitious expansion plans in China and the Beijing office will be pivotal to our success. Fluency in Mandarin is essential.

Western Australia is booming and buoyed by multi-billion dollar projects, our Oil & Gas team is seeking new talent to recruit for technical roles. You do not need oil and gas experience; we are seeking an ambitious, business development focused recruiter.

To find out what it would be like to be part of our global team, please contact: Susie Timlin Head of Talent Attraction and Global Mobility T: +44 (0)20 7391 6645 M: +44 (0)7739 304949 E: susannah.timlin@hays.com

www.hays.com/joinhays

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Lights. Camera. Action. “In terms of Colleague recruitment software’s support I can make this real easy. I call them, my team calls them, it gets done. Nothing is ever a hassle or a huge problem. We carried out a rigid selection process and what we found was that Colleague was the best value on the market for the functionality we were getting.” Andy Hillery, Partner, Rize Consulting

Sector: Telecoms and ICT Watch what Andy Hillery has to say about us, visit: www.colleague.eu/media/view/rizeconsultingtestimonial

View great recruitment articles and videos here: www.colleague.eu

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Twitter @ColleagueRS

www.linkedin.com/company/colleague-software

Email: sales@colleague.eu

Call us on: 01603 735935

9/5/12 12:33:48


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