Recmay14

May 2014

www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

Acre Resources Daring g to be different: winners of Recruitment Agency g y of the Year (fewer ( than 100 employees) reveal what sets them apart

Recruiter Awards INSIDE: special coverage in association with

THE CHALLENGE

SPECIAL REPORT The FIRM’s latest survey reveals the rise of the solo recruiter

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Morson helped multinational technologies firm Thales deliver an integrated resourcing strategy

RECRUITER JARGON Matt Churchward is getting sick and tired of jargon clouding people’s views of what recruitment does

Recruitment Matters 14/05/2014 16:20

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Contents

If anyone needs proof that recruiters make a major difference not only in the business world but also in life, here it is.

Let me call much-deserved attention to just a couple of the winners of our Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014.

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Thanks to 2014’s Recruitment Agency Leader of the Year, Raj Tulsiani of Green Park Interim & Executive Search, limited organisational and personal perceptions of what talent looks like and thinks like are on their way out of the UK workplace. Because Raj pushes boundaries, UK organisations benefit, and so do people who might otherwise be overlooked for the wrong reason. As Raj himself acknowledges, progress is slow – but without him, it would be slower still.

And then there’s Acre Resources, honoured as Recruitment Agency of the Year for companies with fewer than 100 employees. Remember the fire in a Bangladesh garment factory last November in which at least 1,100 people died? Acre recently played a major support role in driving forward improvements in working conditions for factory workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry. The company did this through both its recruiting work and by finessing a related agreement between trade unions and retailers’ representatives. That’s making a difference.

Those are just two examples of how meaningful, life-changing work can also create great businesses.

NEWS And the winners of the Awards are…

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See the complete list of all the winners from this year’s Recruiter Awards for Excellence, in association with Anderson Group 6-7 Recruiter Awards news Double-award winner Goodman Masson, highly commended Birmingham City Council, and thoughts from people on the night itself 10 Tech & tools 12 Special report

In-house recruiters are optimistic for the future, says a report by The FIRM

ANALYSIS 18 Sector Analysis Oil & gas 21 Global Spotlight on Finland 30 Insight Resilience is essential for recruiters

DeeDee Doke, Editor

FEATURES 34 COVER STORY Recruiter spoke to Andy Cartland and Martin Wright from Acre Resources, winner of the Recruitment Agency of the Year (fewer then 100 employees) 38 Awards Special We highlight the recruitment leaders of the year — Chris Marsh and Raj Tulsiani, and other winners including Kent County Council, Nestlé and Capp & Co and Air Energi

REGULARS 8 On tumblr this month 24 Interaction

Soapbox: Rob Mallaband Ricky Martin Soundbites 32 The Challenge 24 24 29

Thales and Morson International 49 Movers & Shakers Industry moves 50 Bloggers with Bite:

Matthew Churchward

WHO’S HIRING?

Scan here to get your own copy of Recruiter

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46 Select Appointments 47 Athona Recruitment, Strongfield Aviation, Swanstaff Recruitment 48 HCL Workforce Solutions

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: Matt Bodimeade T: +44 (0)20 7880 7606 matt.bodimeade@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 Business development manager: Tom Culley T: +44 (0)20 7880 7607 tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment advertising: Amalia Zafeiratou +44 (0)20 7880 7608 amalia@redactive.co.uk 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: Aaron Nicholls T: +44 (0)20 7880 8547 aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk RECRUITER AWARDS Events: Juliette Bond T: +44 (0)20 7324 2771 juliette.bond@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@abacusemedia.com • Recruiter is also available to people who do not meet our terms of control: Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £29.99 UK £35 Europe and Rest of the World • To purchase reprints or multiple copies of the magazine, contact Ryan Hadden T: +44 (0)20 7880 7618 ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2012 & 30 June 2013 – 19,289. Recruiter is also sent to all REC members

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

CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2014 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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professional representation network

New connections Awards are all about new connections, and that’s what the Professional Representation Network does best. As a sponsor of The Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014, we’d like to congratulate every winner.

Agencies gain more candidates, better contracts and new business opportunities when they partner with us. Our goal is to transform recruiters’ working lives with improvements to both productivity and net returns: • • • • •

Faster, easier placements from our network Tax advice – for you and your contractors Fully compliant global expertise and backup Help with agency image & contractor relationships Admin, problem solving, pre-placement support, contracts …and much, much more

www.professionalrep.net

+44 (0) 203 318 7100 info@professionalrep.net

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News

AND THE WINNERS ARE… The very best from the world of recruitment were recognised at the 2014 Recruiter Awards for Excellence, sponsored by Anderson Group and supported by the REC. The event was hosted by comedian Simon Evans at a packed Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.

During the evening, recruiters raised more than £4k on behalf of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust (DKHT), Recruiter’s 2014 charity of the year.

DKHT supports disadvantaged young people aged 16-25 to enhance their employability.

The full list of winners is as follows: • Best New Agency, sponsored by Anderson Group: Hunter Healthcare • Best Recruitment Agency Marketing Team: Robert Walters • Best Candidate Care, sponsored by Forest Group: October Recruitment • Best Candidate Experience: The Co-operative Bank • Best Client Service, sponsored by REC: HCL Workforce Solutions • Most Effective Employer Brand Development: Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • Most Effective Recruitment Marketing Campaign: Lyle & Scott in partnership with Beringer Tame • Best International Recruitment Agency, sponsored by Von Essen: First Point Group • Best Global/International Recruitment Strategy: Atkins • Best Graduate Recruitment Strategy: Kent County Council • Best Apprentice/School Leaver Recruitment Strategy: Nestlé UK in partnership with Capp & Co • Best Embedded Recruitment Team: Hays Talent Solutions at American Express - Europe • Best Recruitment Agency to Work For (fewer than 100 Employees), sponsored by FPS: Pod Talent • Best Recruitment Agency to Work For (more than 100 Employers), sponsored by Danbro: Goodman Masson • Best Creative/Digital/Media Recruitment Agency of the Year, sponsored by FPS: Major Players • Best Temporary Recruitment Agency, sponsored by Flo: Transline Group • Best Banking/Financial Rec’t Agency, sponsored by Professional Representation Network: Oliver James Associates • Best Engineering Recruitment Agency, sponsored by RBS: Air Energi • Best IT Recruitment Agency, sponsored by Mobile Contractor: LA International Computer Consultants • Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency, sponsored by Anderson Group: Goodman Masson • Best Job Board/Careers Board: Bubble Jobs • Innovation in Recruitment, sponsored by Hamilton Bradshaw: Boots UK in partnership with Cubiks • Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year: CEB • Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Organisation: Pinstripe & Ochre House

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS GO ONLINE

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• Agency Recruitment Leader of the Year, sponsored by ICS: Raj Tulsiani, Green Park Interim & Executive Search • In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year: Chris Marsh, Atkins • Recruitment Agency of the Year (fewer than 100 Employees), sponsored by CV-Library: Acre Resources • Recruitment Agency of the Year (more than 100 Employees), sponsored by Itris: Sanctuary Personnel • Best Recruitment Team: LV= Resourcing Team

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Thoughts from those at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014…

“This event is a great event for celebrating success and pride in our business and in what we do” NICOLA GRIMSHAW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, OAKLEAF PARTNERSHIP

Street Wisdom - London 23 May, Trafalgar Square, London streetwisdom.org/

High Performance Workforce Summit 2014 28-29 May, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, GA highperformancework forcesummit.com/2014/

RecFest14 12 June, Rich Mix, Bethnal Green Road eventbrite.co.uk/e/recfest14tickets-8317900063

WiBF [Women in Banking & Finance]: ‘Breaking through the Glass Ceiling in 2014’ 24 June, Kemp Little Office, London wibf.org.uk

Recruitstock 2014 25 June, 4pm – 27 June, 1pm, The New Forest National Park, Brockenhurst recruitstock.co.uk/

Women 1st Conference 2014 3 July, Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Sq, London events/25-women-1stconference-2014

GOODMAN MASSON TRIUMPHS AGAIN One of only two firms who can count themselves double winners on the night, Goodman Masson walked away with the Awards for Best Recruitment Agency to Work For (fewer than 100 employees) and Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency.

Founder and board director Paul Goodman told Recruiter on the night that he was thrilled to bits.

“It tells you everything you want to know about our company and the standards that we share; what we aspire to and the vision we have for what excellent recruitment looks like.”

The judges were impressed with the company’s excellent

working environment and staff benefits programme known as The Experience, which Goodman Masson has even managed to trademark.

Having won Best Large Recruitment Agency to Work For at last year’s Awards and Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency in 2012, Recruiter asked Goodman how the company managed maintain its high standards year after year.

“It’s because our people mean everything to us,” he explained.

“It’s just a constant focus on making sure that we have a well rewarded and positive group of people and it’s down to them.

They’re just an incredibly special group of people.”

“The entire team is delighted with the award win — it is a real landmark achievement for Transline. To be recognised by our peers in this way is just fantastic”

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFA BASTOS

Events

“Although we enter other industry awards, for me, as a recruiter, this is the best award to win.

It’s a great event, well-supported, and a chance to catch up and see old faces” DAVE TOWNLEY, RECRUITMENT MANAGER,ENGINEERING—EUROPE, AIR ENERGI

JON TAYLOR, JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRANSLINE GROUP

Institute of Recruitment Professional (IRP) Awards 5 December, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel, London, rec-awards.com/irp-awards/

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

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After the Awards, The Bright Sparks entertained guests; (top middle) comedian and writer Simon Evans hosted the event

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“We’re hoping to spread the love a bit this evening in terms of Birmingham”

“The Award is a vindication of all that we have been doing since we began 10 years ago”

“It’s as well organised as ever, it’s slick and it’s a great do and bigger than ever before”

GLENN KNOTT, SENIOR HR PRACTITIONER, BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

DAVID TAYLOR, MD OF FIRST POINT GROUP, WINNERS OF BEST INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY

ANN SWAIN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, APSCO

“This is a huge moment for the company and one we’re celebrating with our team, clients and everyone that’s played a part in getting us here” PAUL BEASLEY, JOINT MD, TRANSLINE GROUP

“It’s been a magnificent evening, it gets better each year. It’s very competitive and a very high standard. Those winners can be truly proud of that accolade” DAVID LEYSHON, MD, CBSBUTLER AND ONE OF THE RECRUITER AWARDS JUDGES

Awards in a quote Grant Weinberg, director of talent acquisition — Europe, Asia and Middle East, Gilead Sciences “Every industry needs to celebrate what is does. If we cannot celebrate what we do then how can we expect the people we serve to recognise what we do.”

Lindsey Tasker, head of group resourcing, Morrisons “This is the one recruitment event in the year that I do attend because it is widely accepted as being ‘the’ event for the industry.”

Lord Robin Stanton, group operations director, Tangent International “The Awards are great marketing to our customers, who are not just our clients but also our contractors and our staff. It reinforces the generally good message to all these parties.”

A few of the excited winners, showing off their trophies, line up on stage for a group photo on the night

NO WIN, BUT BCC IS A TEAM TO BE PROUD OF A FIRST-YEAR entrant to the Recruiter Awards, People Resourcing & In-Source at Birmingham City Council •(BCC) came away with a Highly Commended in the final Award of the night for Best Recruitment Team.

Glenn Knott, senior HR practitioner at Birmingham City Council, spoke to Recruiter before the start of the Awards presentation to say why they decided to enter this year. “We’ve entered this prestigious competition because we felt we’ve got a good story to tell in terms of the recruitment activity we’ve been doing in Birmingham,” Knott said.

“We’ve managed to recruit into a number of hard-to-fill posts. We’ve overcome lots of difficulties and broken down barriers to connect with communities. We’re really making a difference locally in Birmingham, in terms of having the right people in the right positions, so that we can fulfil our obligations, service-delivery wise.”

Knott said it was also important “for us as a local authority to connect into private sector competitions”. He added that the networking opportunities were good, with himself and his colleagues having made connections with the recruitment agencies on his table and he looked forward to networking after the Awards were given out.

“Hopefully it will be an exchange of energy in terms of ideas and information,” he said.

Speaking after the event, Darren Canning, HR advisor, People Resourcing & In-Source at BCC, told Recruiter: “We are so proud to have been highly commended in the Best Recruitment Team category. The commendation illustrates our continued commitment to innovation and excellent client and candidate care.”

Paul Maxin, head of talent and resourcing, Financial Conduct Authority “I was privileged to have been a judge in what were very competitive nominations. Hats off to everyone that won.”

Christos Tsaprounis, resourcing business partner at The CoOperative Bank “The whole team is delighted with the award for Best Candidate Experience.

Candidate experience is at the heart of what we do and we are delighted to have been recognised for this by our peers.”

VANESSA TOWNSEND vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

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On tumblr this month On recruitermagazine.tumblr.com, Recruiter magazine’s tumblr feed, we showcase what recruiters get up to when they’re not recruiting Stark Brooks raises a pint in the Rovers

Problems?

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The Leeds and Manchester-based executive recruiter marked its 30 years in business by hiring the former set of Coronation Street in Manchester for an evening during which over 100 guests enjoyed drinks in the famous Rovers Return pub. Chairman Sally Toumi (right) is pictured leading the way to the famous Corrie watering hole.

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from EPLOY Everything you ever wanted in a recruitment platform and more.

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www.eploy.co.uk | info@eploy.co.uk | 0800 073 42 43

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Tech & tools

TRENDY ROUTE TO CRACKING CODERS new website is helping to link recruiters with top technology talent by aggregating and ranking data from a wide range of online profile, ‘question & answer’ and other IT-related websites such as GitHub and Stack Overflow.

TrendyCoders.com was founded by Ben Ritchie who has been a programmer for 20 years and had experienced problems hiring people in the sector. He told Recruiter it could be difficult quantifying how suitable a person is for a role. “You can look at a person’s past work, such as a site they have built, but if you don’t fully understand what good code looks like, looking under the hood can be complex and takes a lot of time,” he said. “It’s easy for a recruiter to have the wool pulled over their eyes and, even though past projects look good, in the end the person might not be up to the job.”

Ritchie said this was the “pain point” TrendyCoders seeked to address. A recruiter can take the required skills from their job spec and rank it in order of importance. The site will then go off and search its 50,000-strong database of potential candidates whose publicly available data has been aggregated from 30 sites (more are being added).

TrendyCoders has drilled down into these sites to get a far more accurate and genuine picture of a person’s capabilities than a traditional Boolean search might find on the web. “For example, if I’m a developer, I can post my recent projects on GitHub, and if others are interested and like my code they can follow me,” explained Ritchie. “They can keep up with developments such as how I’m fixing bugs and testing projects. We can also look at ‘question & answer’ sites and find out how many times a person’s person s

A

Ben Ritchie

answers have been upvoted, so you can get a really good idea of how much a person is an expert in their field.”

Cost is based on a monthly fee per user.

Currently most users are agency recruiters but it can be used by direct recruiters too.

Ritchie accepts there isn’t necessarily any way of knowing if the person is looking for a job but TrendyCoders’ selling point is saving work and time for the recruiter, as to obtain this level of detail about a person they would have to spend hours searching on countless links. He adds that it also gives recruiters an indication of potential salary expectation. “If you are looking for a chief technology officer with a large salary, then they know the top 10 guys on the list could be in that group,” he said.

With the increasing emphasis being placed on sourcing and the vast amount of data publicly available on potential candidates, sites such as TrendyCoders and also those previously featured in Recruiter such as 3Sourcing and WorkFu are likely to gain momentum. Ritchie believes that while the introduction of such technology-focused sites is timely because of the demand for talent in this sector, they are also indicative of the stage tthe internet has reached.

“More than ever people are sharing personal details and also professional details across a range of Q&A and similar sites as a way to prove their abilities,” he said. “That openness is making the timing right.”

He adds that TrendyCoders will remain focused on IT talent but clearly the model could be ported across to other sectors in which a high level of data is shared and made publicly available.

Hashtag successful recruiting campaign Global IT services provider HCL Technologies has released data from its innovative #coolestinterviewever campaign in which it exclusively conducted a series of interviews over Twitter. It generated 88,000 applications, 109,597 page views on the dedicated website from 113 countries and 1,079 referral visits to the main HCL Technologies website.

The campaign led to the appointment of Anandan Pillai, a social media strategist who will join HCL as a ‘digital trotter’ and work on a strategic project to explore HCL Technologies’ digital presence.

As well as uncover new talent in the IT field, Prithvi Shergill, chief HR officer at HCL Technologies, explained the exercise also aimed to strengthen its position “as a progressive organisation” by using new-age media to refresh the recruitment process. Following the campaign, he told Recruiter that the company would continue to build on its investment in using social media to establish a direct dialogue with potential talent. “Social media’s utility is seen when organisations realise improved employer awareness and branding through social conversations and reduced dependency on search firms for hiring purposes,” he said. “Hiring from social media is not just Prithvi Shergill cost-effective, as compared to traditional hiring methods, but also saves time.”

The process entailed a marathon shortlisting process held over two weeks in which candidates were asked a question every two-and-a-half hours. It also involved a two-day TweetChat with HCL Technologies’ HR and recruitment office. One hundred people got through to the first round of applications and had to tweet answers from the domains of their choice. Then the top p five candidates participated in one-to-one interviews over the social media platform.

Shergill added: “Over the last few years, social media has [become] one of the most powerful recruiting tools available.

HCL Technologies believes in building a strong trust through transparency with its candidates and finds social media to be an effective means to d do so.” http://www.hcltech.com/ http://www.coolestinterviewever.com/

www.trendycoders.com SUE WEEKES

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SPECIAL REPORT

Web comments Doublecheck references with social media (2 May) I’ve had several people list friends as supervisors and one make up an entire company.

We stem much of that by letting candidates know we call HR departments along with the supervisors for references.

Ruthi Postow.

Miliband’s extra rights for zero-hours contract workers (25 April) Zero-hour contracts have been used for years, and all governments for years have been happy to allow the use of these contracts to keep costs down. One example is NHS bank staff.

If the worker is not happy working for an employer who can only offer a zerohour contract, they have the choice to find another employer.

Mike Anderson

Miliband pledges to ban ‘foreign hires only’ agencies (1 May) So, Miliband is now allowing his agenda to be set by UKIP! How refreshing it would be to see the once bold Labour Party endorsing the work done by the (bona fide) agencies that look to address our very real skill shortages by seeking them out abroad.

THE FIRM FINDS OPTIMISM FROM IN-HOUSE RECRUITERS DIRECT SOURCING, ALONG WITH TALENT POOLS AND PIPELINES WERE PRIORITIES FOR THOSE RESPONDENTS IN A NEW SURVEY FROM THE FIRM. DEEDEE DOKE REPORTS The top priority for in-house recruiters in 2014 is a close call between building talent pools and pipelines, and direct sourcing, according to the latest membership survey

by The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers’ [The FIRM] in partnership with Write Research.

Both challenges were identified by 48% of the 223 respondents as among their top three priorities for this year in the survey, taken last December. Next, for 44%, was employer value proposition (EVP) and employer brand.

The survey results revealed a “slight optimism” overall among in-house recruiters for the coming year, said Emma Mirrington, director, The FIRM, speaking to Recruiter: “People are trying to be more proactive

“People are trying to be more proactive and sophisticated and maximise the tools they already have” EMMA MIRRINGTON

and sophisticated and maximise the tools they already have, as well as trying to track and understand where candidates are coming from.”

Planning priority Underlining respondents’ emphasis on building talent pools and pipelines was the inclusion of strategic workforce planning strategy on the priority list, Mirrington pointed out, with 24% identifying that as an important aim this year.

The 36 survey questions covered job boards, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), LinkedIn usage, attraction & sourcing tools, and a variety of other subjects.

An emerging trend revealed in the survey results was the rise of the sole recruiter running recruitment operations in companies. In the latest survey, 15% said they were operating as ‘one-man bands’, an increase

from the previous year of 9%.

“I do really feel for these guys,” Mirrington said. “How can the industry better support them?”

Results showed that the most prevalent recruitment team size was two to five people, representing 29% of respondents.

Mirroring the trend of small team size were findings that the vast majority of respondents’ recruiting budgets are not stratospheric either. While 11% of respondents will enjoy recruitment budgets of over £3m in 2014, those of the largest percentage of respondents (48%) are capped at under £500k. The survey report notes that collectively, the annual recruitment budgets for 71% of respondents are under £1m.

Sector wise, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has the smallest budget, averaging under £500k. A dramatic split occurs within the utilities/energy sector in which a third of respondents say their budget is under £500k and another third declare a budget of over £3m. The report attributes the differences in budget size to the varying sizes of organisations operating in the sector.

Andy Michie

Demand rises for accountancy and finance staff, says Hays (22 April) Positive signs for both the economy and the accountancy profession.

Another recent survey [from Randstad Financial & Professional] indicated how 80,000 more accountants are needed by 2050 as well.

GETTY

Andy Nuttall

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EXPERT OPINION

Select Appointments unlocks the door to greater growth for consultants joining leading franchise network

By Graeme McKinnon, Managing Director, Select Appointments

S

elect Appointments is offering owners of small recruitment agencies along with top talent from within the recruitment industry or business to business arena, a unique chance to achieve the work life balance they deserve combined with the income, growth and profitability top performers aspire to.

There are now four flexible franchise options available from Select Appointments, each one designed with the needs of the clients, candidates and the Franchise partners at the forefront.

The glue which holds them all together is that they all have a range of bespoke support services underpinned with the quality and high standards that the Select Appointments brand is renowned for.

Each franchise package comes with access to a very well respected national recruitment brand, powerful local marketing programmes and superb head office training and business support that has been used to establish successful recruitment businesses across the UK for more than 30 years.

The entry level franchise package is the Office Home model, which offers Select franchisees the flexibility to work from a home-based office specialising in permanent vacancy recruitment only. This low-cost model makes it an easy step from employment to self-employment and can be tailored to provide income in the region of £80K to £150K in gross profit per annum, depending on experience and the level of commitment applied to business development.

Office Plus comprises the franchise owner plus one other recruitment consultant working from a low cost serviced office handling, both temporary and permanent assignments. This model offers the potential to grow the business by taking on additional consultants as the client base expands. Estimated earning potential is £150K to £250K gross profit per annum with two people focused on sales and business development.

manager with a team of recruiters providing temporary and permanent recruitment services in an area which has been mapped and researched to have a prospective client base to sustain the target income required. This model is aimed at individuals who have the drive and commitment to achieve a minimum of £400K in gross profit at the three-year stage.

Finally, for people running their own recruitment business under a different brand and who may have “hit a glass ceiling” in terms of growth, Select has designed the Office Advance package, which will enable business owners to convert to the Select Appointments brand and access their growth accelerator programmes in order to achieve further growth.

In all of the above cases Select is offering a flexible and staggered management fee structure which will enable franchise partners to get a head start in order to generate income and profit as quickly as possible.

Select has been involved in the recruitment sector since 1980 and has earned an outstanding reputation with employers and candidates alike. The company is part of the Staffline Group plc, a London Stock Exchange AIM listed company and one of the UK’s largest and most successful recruitment businesses.

Select first started franchising in 1992 and there are currently 28 franchised offices operating in the UK, with plans to expand this to 100 within the next five years.

The company is a strong believer in providing the latest technology in front end CRM systems supported with in house marketing, full back office support including Payroll, Finance, IT, HR and an REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) accredited training programme. As a brand partner to the REC, Select also fully endorses the organisation’s “Good Recruitment Campaign” which aims to raise training standards in recruitment services and promote best practice in the industry.

Option three is the Office 400 model which involves an owner/

For further information about Select’s exciting franchise options please contact franchiseteam@select.co.uk or call Suzie on 07793 054 233.

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SPECIAL REPORT

News

The following social media were ranked in order of their effectiveness for attracting, engaging and recruiting candidates. The numbers in the coloured circles reflect the percentages of the survey participants that ranked each platform first, second or third

7

31%

21

4

86

7

%

3rd

9

2nd

7

1st

4

22 %

6

4 4

4

11

1

5 4

4

22

Blog LinkedIn

Twitter

Blogs

Facebook

How many members of staff do you have working in your recruitment team?

Building recruitment capability In-house exec search Assessment and selection Building talent pools and pipelines

14%

11-20

Pinterest

Recruitment process and systems

22%

6-10

Google+

Vendor management and review

29%

2-5

YouTube

Tell us your Top 3 recruitment priorities for 2014

15%

1

Xing

Direct sourcing

21-50 51-100 101+

8%

Candidate experience

8%

Employer value proposition and employer brand

4%

Recruitment and succession Strategic workforce planning

CRAIG BOWYER

Which of the following do you currently have in place?

14

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME

AN MBA PROGRAMME

44%

27%

18%

12%

59%

13%

38%

36%

14%

16%

50%

16%

56%

18%

19%

YES

NO

NOT YET

YES

NO

NOT YET

YES

NO

NOT YET

YES

NO

NOT YET

YES

NO

NOT YET

RECRUITER

MAY 2014

12_17_Recruit_Digest_MAY14.indd 14

A WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME

A SCHOOL LEAVER PROGRAMME

A GRADUATE PROGRAMME

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15/05/2014 15:13

REC.05.14.015.indd 2

14/05/2014 12:38

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News

Future talent initiatives Mirrington said the survey clearly brought into focus in-house recruiters’ interest in future talent initiatives, ranging from work experience offerings to MBA programmes. More than half of respondents (56%) already offer graduate programmes with another 19% considering them.

Apprenticeship programmes are offered by 44% of respondents, with another 18% considering them. Less popular are programmes for school leavers, with just 16% of respondents’ organisations offering them; however the introduction of such programmes is being considered by another 16%.

Furthest down on the radar are MBA programmes, currently offered by 12% and being considered by another 13%.

These results suggested that the in-house recruiter community increasingly seeks to “diversify entry points” for candidates from a wide range of backgrounds, Mirrington commented. She predicted that the trend would continue to be a focus for this group.

Social media use A number of questions focused on the in-house recruiters’ use of professional social media site LinkedIn, by far the most widely used social media tool in the recruitment arena. The most popular uses were connecting with potential candidates (47%) and messaging potential candidates (42%).

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

12_17_Recruit_Digest_MAY14.indd 17

EMMA MIRRINGTON

Of the services offered by LinkedIn, sourcing was reported as the most widely used, by 40% of respondents, with job posting narrowly behind at 37% and branding by 23%.

Of LinkedIn’s sourcing services, over 70% of respondents said they used the paid-for LinkedIn Recruiter, while half that figure use the platform’s free service. Just 14% use its Talent Finder service and a small 5% use Talent Basic.

Other survey findings included: • Psychometric ability tests are used by 57% of respondents, and are the online tool most often used in screening candidates, followed by personality tests, which are used by 46% • 22% of recruiters use video interviewing in online screening.

At the same time, 27% of respondents reported using video interviewing as part of their selection process.

Mirrington believes video interviewing offers real promise for in-house recruiters as platform sophistication grows.

“The technology has improved dramatically,” she said.

• Competency-based assessment remains the most popularly deployed component of selection, favoured by 90% of respondents. In contrast, strength-based assessment was used by only 24%.

• The popularity of other

%

21

of companies employing operational staff have personnel who are not fully proficient, according to the latest Logistics Employer Skills Survey from Skills for Logistics

TOP

“Video interviewing offers real promise for in-house recruiters: the technology has improved dramatically”

components included 84% for telephone interviewing, 80% for presentations, 62% for assessment centres, 46% for group exercises, and 40% for case studies.

• Average time to hire (from role creation to verbal offer acceptance) for the highest percentage of respondents (46%) is four to eight weeks • However, hiring in the healthcare sector takes longer, with 58% of positions being filled over more than 12 weeks • Average annual cost per hire (in attraction and selection costs) was under £1k for most respondents in the retail sector, but 75% of engineering/ manufacturing per-hire spend is between £1k and £4k. Half of IT industry respondents spend over £2.5k per hire • 63% of respondents use their applicant tracking system (ATS) to track responses to recruitment advertisements across of the channels used. This latest survey found only 17% do not track at all, down from 55% in 2012.

The final question in the survey asked respondents where they saw the most scope for improvement within the industry.

‘Technology and direct sourcing’ was one answer. Other responses included: • “In-house teams need to get back to being strategic experts delivering long-term (as well as short-term) competitive advantage. Recession seems to have reduced some in-house teams to reactive operationsonly factories measured by quant[ity] not qual[ity]” • “Recruiting for value, performance and potential” • “Significant improvement made with internal mobility, and internal and external recruitment processes need to be seamless” • “A careers site is the single biggest opportunity to build an employer brand. Candidates treat their experiences like a shopping transaction and employers need to do more to create a great experience” • For more on The FIRM/Write Research’s Annual Membership Survey 2014-15, see www.recruiter. co.uk See infographic on p14, illustrating key points

5

MOST VIEWED JOBS ON OUR WEBSITE

1. Spotlight Recruitment, Managing consultant, marketing

2. Sift Talent, Senior recruitment consultants

3. Pacific Associates

(PAL), recruitment consultant

4. Harris Hill,

Recruitment consultant

5. Doctors.net.uk,

Senior recruitment consultant

TOP

In 2013, 46% of respondents’ organisations filled over 500 vacancies, with another 31% filling between 101 and 500.

Sectors that stood out as recruiting a high number of people were healthcare and retail.

IT and consulting organisations came in at the low end of recruiting numbers, the survey report said.

For 2014, the picture changes slightly. The survey results revealed that 41% of respondents expect to fill between 101-500 vacancies, with 43% expecting to fill over 500. The biggest boom in recruiting is anticipated in healthcare, with one-third of organisations in that sector expecting to recruit more than 5,000 staff this year.

TOM CAMPBELL

SPECIAL REPORT

5

MOST VIEWED ARTICLES ONLINE

1. Fake jobs conviction ‘a wake up call’, says recruitment fraud body

2. Reed could be liable to pay £158m after tribunal decision

3. RBS contractors

paycut a short win that will lead to exodus of talent say recruiters

4. Demand rises for

accountancy and finance staff says Hays

5. Reed – staffing

companies urged to get contracts right to avoid HMRC action

RECRUITER

MAY 2014

17

15/05/2014 15:13

Sector Analysis

Oil & Gas

Views from the market

THE TALK IS OF SKILLS SHORTAGE AND TALENT CRISIS IN THE INDUSTRY, BUT FOR MANY RECRUITERS THIS IS BOOM TIME

Mark Guest Managing director, OilCareers.com

The oil & gas sector is experiencing one of the greatest skills shortages in its history, and although this may seem like a significant threat to anyone with an outsider’s view, for anyone recruiting into the sector, it is an extremely encouraging time.

“Of course the skills gap remains a major issue facing the industry in 2014, with retention, education and local content initiatives likely to be major areas of focus for companies looking to recruit.”

(58%) expecting rates and salaries to rise.

This is encouraging news, as according to Wood, UK talent in permanent roles “continues to drain overseas”, where they are able to command very high rates, often tax-free.

In the UK, Paterson says oil & gas salaries continue to climb as renewed North Sea investment and global competition for workers leave companies “competing to attract and retain talent”.

Over the past 12 months, rates for contractors have risen by up to 20% in some cases, meaning “the competition for workers is so fierce that companies look set to continue offering more money and more benefits”.

However, he says, there is no such thing as a “quick fix’”, when it comes to the skills shortage currently facing the industry.

According to David Doig, group chief executive officer at the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO), the industry-owned skills organisation for oil & gas, the sector has already gone beyond the skills shortage, to a “skills crisis”.

And the solution to the problem? Education.

“Get things right in schools, colleges, universities, and we’ll create a big enough pool of people for the future,” he suggests.

Global mobility within companies is another important issue that needs to be tackled, according to Paterson, “as the lifecycle of an oil & gas project moves from the conceptual design stage through to operations, different skillsets are required”.

To meet shorter-term staffing requirements, he says energy companies need to take on “skilled contract staff, who in turn move from project to project around the world depending on where their specialist talent is required”.

In the UK, companies should boost the homegrown workforce by bringing in expertise from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) where absolutely necessary, Paterson contends.

However, he adds, the government has restricted the number of visas available to people from outside the EEA in a bid to “reduce net migration”.

“The industry is enjoying a recruitment boom,” Craig Paterson, associate director at NES Global Talent, the technical and engineering staffing solutions provider, tells Recruiter.

“As the oil & gas industry is transforming, so is the talent required to develop it, including increasing gender diversity and culture in the workforce.”

According to a recent gender diversity report carried out by oilandgasjobsearch.com, the industry saw 391,585 females applying for industry roles over the course of 2013; this equates to just 5.1% of industry applications, compared to 94.9% male.

The idea of improving gender diversity is one strongly argued for by Louise Wood, managing director at oilfield resource solutions consultancy, Prodrill Energy Resource Solutions, who believes the sector desperately needs to recruit more women. “The industry needs to be promoting the fact that it wants women more than it currently does. It is essential to focus on how to make a career in the industry attractive to females of all ages and abilities,” she says.

Wood says women are especially underrepresented in the offshore market, and although it’s hard to pinpoint one particular reason for this, she believes it “may fall back on the secondary education of individuals now in their 40s and 50s”, who were not encouraged to study industryrelated subjects. “Action now in this direction might start to make an all-important difference,” she adds.

According to the Global Oil and Gas Workforce Survey 2014 H1, produced jointly by OilCareers. com and Air Energi, over half of respondents expect both permanent and contract hiring activity levels to increase globally in 2014, with more than half

Louise Wood Managing director, Prodrill Energy Resource Solutions “Ideally, operators should be targeting females at grassroots level and changing the out-dated perception that this is a male-dominated industry.”

Craig Paterson Associate director, NES Global Talent “Cross training from other industries such as power and infrastructure could help the sector find the skills that it needs.”

Andrew Speers Managing director, Petroplan “Increased sideways recruitment would be a quid pro quo, bringing benefits to both the oil & gas industry and to those candidates making the crossover.”

MATT BODIMEADE matt.bodimeade@recruiter.co.uk

18

PERMANENT

OIL, GAS, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN ALL REGIONS – TOTALJOBS BAROMETER [The ‘Jobs posted’ figure in comparison with the ‘Jobs viewed’ figure is so low on the graph it is hard to differentiate on this scale]

400000

■ Jobs posted ■ Job views ■ Job applications

CONTRACT 300000

0

■ No change ■ Decrease ■ Increase

MAY 2014

18_Recruit_SectorAnalysis_MAY14_NEW.indd 18

Apr 13

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan 14

Feb

34167

273393

2427

35575

287962

2363

22351

184355

2457

26863

225367

1657

26866

258256

2839

36774

357621

3030

32503

306274

2795

29435

300472

2608

34513

318753

3201

29162

286858

2837

33577

331635

3042

38.9%

36.1%

RECRUITER

100000

38346

14.6%

11.1%

200000 365352

46.5%

52.8%

3355

Source: Global Oil and Gas Workforce Survey 2014 H1

EMPLOYERS’ PREDICTIONS ON HIRING TRENDS

Mar

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Market Indicators

Global Spotlight on Finland DESPITE HAVING HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, RECRUITERS FACE CHALLENGES RANGING FROM LACK OF TALENT, AND COMPETITION WITH A GENEROUS SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM With a population of 5.4m and just 16,600 open job vacancies at the end of last year, according to official government statistics, Finland is a relatively small economy. But that doesn’t mean that the economy and recruiters don’t face some big issues.

y Key indicators

“There have been thousands of lay-offs in the last couple of years,” says Riku Mustajoki, sales executive, ManpowerGroup Finland. And with unemployment hitting 9.5% in March, according to Mustajoki the boom times of 2008 “are permanently gone”.

Matti Vähäkuopus, vice chair of the Finnish Association for HR Management, previously vice president HR at Sodexo, agrees that companies are being “extremely careful at the moment” when it comes to hiring. “You have to know that you are going to get a return on investment before you hire,” he says.

The pressure on organisations to cut costs is also having an effect on who has responsibility for recruiting.

According to Vähäkuopus, “there is a movement to outsource everything that is not part of the main business”. Following widespread outsourcing of payroll, he believes that recruitment is next in line.

That said, he argues that in service industries, such as cleaning where a high turnover of staff means there is a need for a steady flow of new staff, retaining an internal recruitment capacity remains essential.

However, Susanne Skippari, head of talent management, KONE global HR, dismisses claims that external third parties have a significant role to play in the Finnish labour market. “Finland is not an agency market and it has never really been an agency market,” she says. And she continues to see a central role for HR throughout the recruitment life cycle of advertising jobs, screening and selection.

Skippari says one exception is in the growing area of assessment centres. “Companies are starting to realise how big an investment recruitment is, and that we should really know what to expect from new hires, and assessment centres help with that,” she says.

Despite the general sense that the Finnish economy

29,500 — the average government The Singapore growth number of 2014 open job vacancies estimates GDP be2013 between 2% and 4% during will 23% of open jobs in 2013 The Ministry were part timeof Trade and hasjobs saidinthat the Industry 43% of open 2013 economy grew Singapore were fixed term above the by 4.1% in 2013, 9.5% — the unemployment advanced estimate rate in March 2014 of 3.7% -5.4% — the fall in industrial output in Q2 of 2014 0.4% — the rise in GDP in Q2 of 2014

5.4m — population 69% of people aged 15-24 have a paid job 71% of men are in paid work compared with 68% of women 1,684 is the average number of hours people work, less than the OECD average of 1,776 hours 6th out of 65 countries for the reading literacy of its secondary school students Source: OECD 2013 (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development)

Sponsored by COLIN COTTELL colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk

NET EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK FIGURES

LABOUR FORCE BY OCCUPATION (2011)

The Net Employment Outlook is calculated by taking the percentage of employers expecting total employment to increase and subtracting the percentage expecting a decrease

Agriculture and forestry 4.4%

5%

Industry 15.5%

No. 1 Quality

Construction 7.1%

Financial & administrative support as affirmed by our award-winning clients

Commerce 21.3%

0%

Finance, insurance, and business services 13.3%

-5%

Transport and communications 9.9%

-10% 12Q4 13Q1 13Q2 13Q3 13Q4 14Q1 14Q2 WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

21_Recruit_MAY14_Global spotlight.indd 21

Public services 28.5%

Source: CIA World Factbook

10%

Source: ManpowerGroup

Source: Statistics Finland

is going nowhere fast, some areas of the market are flourishing, says John Nylund, head of Harvey Nash Recruitment in Finland. The country has a thriving technology sector, including the gaming industry, where a lack of local talent means bringing in people from abroad, he says. In contrast, he points out, in Finland’s older traditional industries of manufacturing, paper and pulp, “there is an over supply of workers”.

Alongside its Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden and Norway, Finland has a reputation for progressive workforce policies and strong employment protection for workers. But for Mustajoki, the idea that it is difficult for Finnish employers to fire workers, and that this explains their reluctance to hire, is off the mark. “If there is a reason to lay off staff for financial reasons or because they are not being productive, it is quite easy,” he says. That said, Mustajoki says that staff that are laid off do have the right to be rehired by the company, in some cases for up to 15 months should suitable jobs become available.

Finland’s generous social security system has also come under the spotlight from employers, says Skippari. “You can have quite a reasonable level of living if you aren’t working, and for some people [in low wage sectors] there is no incentive to take a part-time job because sometimes they can earn more money by not working,” she says.

Similarly, Finnish employers on the lookout for talent also face a reluctance of workers to relocate, says Mustajoki: “Employers really have to look for people locally because mobility is low.” And with a lack of local skills, this creates “a mismatch that is quite high”, he says. Such observations suggest that despite rising unemployment, employers in Finland don’t always have it their own way.

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RECRUITER

MAY 2014

21

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14/05/2014 12:41

Interaction

SOAP

BOX

IT hiring: tougher this time round

There are fewer skilled IT candidates around than after the last recession, so recruiters need to step in to help employers change their approach The recruitment industry is worth an estimated £23.8bn to the economy, and is expected to rise to £30bn over the next couple of years. Yet, while many are running towards the bright light of a £30bn industry, many are running towards it blind.

It’s great that we have come out of recession. Now is when the real work starts for good recruiters. I remember the last recession in the early 1990s when the IT sector was hit hard — IT was the first area employers cut to save costs. So as we came out of recession back then, there were plenty of high-quality candidates looking for work.

Today there aren’t.

As recruiters, we need to wake up and realise this. Experienced IT staff are retiring, the maturity of offshoring is taking the leaders of tomorrow out of the UK and those with entrepreneurial flair are setting up their own businesses in a growing tech market.

However, hiring managers still want to know where their candidates are, why candidates are dropping out and why, while they are hiring, some of their own staff are being poached by competitors.

We need to take these hiring managers by the hand and show them how the market is changing. We need to take them on a journey, which will be painful but with no surprises. We need to make them sit up and listen because they are in denial. They want large quantities of skilled candidates, who just aren’t there.

They need to hire more smartly and us recruiters need to help them do that. What are their unique selling propositions, salary structure and added value? What is going to help them not only attract but also retain the best talent?

RICKY MARTIN

My expectation was that if I set the direction of the business on a clear vision and I hired great recruiters, the culture would all fall in to place. At the end of the day I assumed that being ‘my’ company, it was ‘my’ vision and those who aligned with it would succeed, and those that did not, would not. This was not only naïve, but could have been fatal to my business.

Very quickly I realised there was no such thing as ‘my’ company when it came to creating the right culture. The whole ‘my way or the high way’ approach just does not work if you are looking for a company to live and breathe your vision and values in every way.

I was not creating a service that was completely revolutionary in terms of recruitment, but a business that had my own unique stamp and which people would come to when they wanted to be treated like a person, and to truly know they were in the right specialist hands. A reputation for excellence, delivery and being cared for was my aim.

To do this the culture of the business has to be absolutely right. Everybody who works for the company not only has to be in alignment but also has to enjoy the environment, have fun and would work smartly together. If HRS [Hyper Recruitment Solutions] were all about ‘me’ this would never work.

Quickly after interviewing a number of recruiters

RECRUITER

ROB MALLABAND is managing director of IT recruiter Crimson

The one thing I wish I’d known when I launched my consultancy

What would I wish I had known before starting my own recruitment consultancy? The answer is how to create the right culture — an understanding of which has taken a lot more time than I ever imagined. This is the one thing that I would plan for more effectively at the outset.

20 24

As recruiters, we need to foresee demand, not just with numbers but also with technology. We need to work with IT departments to understand their vision and adapt to changes in this vision. Firms planning to implement new systems or who are expanding will suddenly have hiring needs that are different from previously. As recruiters, we need to be aware of this to source the right people, at the right time and at the right rate. Hiring managers need candidates quickly, and it is our responsibility to build networks so we have candidates in readiness for new positions.

We need to go back to forming strong relationships like we did in the early 1990s. Without mobile phones and emails, we were forced to build relationships with candidates; we listened to them, empathised with them and understood their needs.

With the advent of technology, the world is moving more quickly and it can be hard for a recruiter to build a relationship in a 30-second phone call, but that’s the challenge we have to overcome.

The IT market used to be very contained, with people with similar skillsets, but it has grown and today skillsets are wider. Yet legacy skillsets are still in demand and often being able to source candidates with this legacy skillset is as important as the ability to find those with more modern technology skills. It takes a good recruiter to find these and, ultimately, success will be determined by the relationship you have with both candidates and hiring managers. Is it as strong as it was in the 1990s?

Remember, the candidates of today are the clients of tomorrow, so recruiters need to remember that they [candidates] are more than just a number.

MAY 2014

24_Interaction_April SUBBED.indd 24

and focusing my enquiries on competencies and behaviours, I could understand who would work in unity and who would not. I realised more about what people are looking for in a new recruitment career and employer. Those I interviewed wanted something fresh and different to what they had before.

This was a real wake-up call; initially I was hiring for potential success via a proven track record, and now I weighed this need on the person behind the CV and what they actually want to do — not what I would like them to do.

The leap of faith to join a start-up business is never easy, but what helped my recruits to make that leap was the real promise that the business would be ‘ours’ to define. I am not saying I was offering my shareholding to everybody, but I learnt quickly to offer the flexibility for people to follow their interests, the independence to allow decisions to be made and the potential for real career development.

If I just hired people for results I feel we would still succeed, however I don’t feel we would be offering anything different to our competitors. I would also question the long-term credibility and reputation of our service — which is what our culture is all about!

So whatever time you plan to allow for supporting your talent, double or triple this at least. It may affect your personal potential to sell, but it will create the right culture for your business.

And in turn you will be rewarded with the right reputation and longevity.

RICKY MARTIN is managing director and founder of Hyper Recruitment

Solutions. Find out more at www.hyperec.com or @Hyperec_HRS on Twitter

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REC.04.14.035.indd 2

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Recruitment Matters Issue 25 May 2014

Trade Association of the Year

Who are your new MEPs – and what should they do?

As the 2014 European Parliament Elections take place, it feels like a good time to revisit some of the policy points that are most pertinent to the recruitment industry.

Last month the REC sent out a policy briefing to the UK’s 59 MEPs seeking re-election, explaining the important role recruiters play in supporting UK businesses.

“The EU must do more to create jobs and ensure the right conditions exist for businesses to expand and grow their workforce,” said David Geary, policy advisor at the REC. To that end, the REC identified four key areas it felt must be prioritised by the incoming European Parliament – areas that MEPS must strive to address once elected. These priorities are as follows: 1.The EU must remove barriers to service sector growth by extending the scope of the EU Services Directive.

There are still far too many regional and national differences that prevent business growth in Europe.

David Geary, REC policy advisor

What’s inside 2

The Intelligence

How economic confidence can boost employers’ hiring

3 REC Talk

The responsible business agenda and Ciett

Indeed, a recent Eurobarometer survey found that only 8% of SMEs engage in cross-border activities. The REC would like to see reform of the EU Services Directive and its expansion to include recruitment agencies as an important first step.

2. Review restrictions on agency work in line with the aims of the EU Agency Workers Directive.

When proposing the Agency Workers Directive (AWD), the European Commission suggested that it would not only provide equal treatment for temporary staff but that it would also encourage governments to review the restrictions imposed on temporary workers.

However, these restrictions continue to blight the continent and prevent employers from quickly responding to fluctuating demand by creating

jobs. The REC wants the next European Parliament to fully implement Clause 4 and to ensure each nation implements the AWD, as the UK has.

3. Promote an open and dynamic European labour market by expanding the EURES scheme and through effective enforcement of the EU Posting of Workers Directive.

Capitalising on opportunities to work with the EURES portal, which is soon to be opened to recruitment agencies, and seeking effective enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive will support a thriving labour market.

4. Address youth unemployment and labour market inclusion.

Tackling high levels of youth unemployment across the EU must remain a key priority – careers guidance and vocational training can help.

The Good Recruitment 4-5 Campaign What you should know about one of the REC’s most important campaigns ever

6

Business Matters

The legal lowdown and Business Development

7

Institute of Recruitment Professionals We speak to Penna’s Jonathan Swain and Kirkham Young’s Tina Young about their career success

Best Events and Training 8 The The REC council elections and the TREC conference

www.rec.uk.com RM p1-MAY-A.indd 27

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Leading the Industry

the intelligence Fig 1: Median average invoice value – permanent

Confident to hire?

The intention’s there

4.5

How much can confidence affect employment, asks Nina Mguni, senior researcher at the REC

■ Increase use of agency staff: next three months

90 80 70

■ Increase use of agency staff: next 4-12 months

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■ Increase permanent staff: next three months

£ thousands

2014 survey. The proportion of employers intending to hire agency workers has shown more muted growth, but growth nonetheless.

If we were to view this data in isolation, it would suggest a tightening of the labour market.

But in April this year, the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that there remains “considerable slack” in the UK’s labour market.

In view of this, the Monetary Policy Committee will be looking at earnings growth as an indication of labour market tightening. The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee has looked at a range of sources, including the REC/KPMG Report on Jobs, to monitor wage growth and starting salaries.

The rate at which salaries increase will also be determined by the availability of candidates to meet the demand for staff. In April, the reported availability of permanent staff fell by the sharpest rate since October 2004 and availability of temporary/contract staff fell by the fastest rate in 10 years, as shown in Report on Jobs.

As 2014 progresses, it will be interesting to see if employer intention to hire leads to action, and just how much they are willing to pay.

3.5

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Fig 2: RIB recruiter median permanent placement salary 35

32.5 £ thousands

Employers have much to be confident about. The economy grew by 0.8% in of the first quarter of 2014 and 3.1% compared with Q1 2013, although the economy is still 0.6% below the Q1 2008 peak.

In the April edition of JobsOutlook, the confidence barometer hit a high of 42. It is interesting to look at how confidence will impact on hiring intentions in the coming months.

The workforce has grown considerably in the last few years. In April’s official figures the number of people employed stood at 30.39m, an employment rate of 72.1%.

Yet demand for more workers is clearly evident. Every month, the REC asks employers “Do you think that your organisation’s permanent/ agency workforce will increase or decrease?” in the next three months and in the next four to 12 months.

As shown in the graph below, the proportion of employers reporting that they intend to increase permanent staff in the next three months increased from 66% in October 2013 to 76% in March 2014.

Thinking about the medium term (four to 12 months), 52% of employers said they intended to increase permanent workforce when asked in October 2013. This increased to 81% in our March

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Revenues are booming In the last edition of Recruitment Matters, I highlighted the good news that recruiters’ revenues are growing at the highest rate seen in nearly three years, at the same time as the number of job vacancies in the economy is growing in the high teens. This month I am focusing on one of the drivers of the increase in recruitment revenues.

Permanent revenues are pleasingly up 20% year-on-year; an excellent achievement. But what is driving up permanent revenues?

Figure 1 shows that the median average permanent invoice value has been showing a mid-teens percentage increase on a year ago to just under £4,000, driving up permanent revenues.

Figure 2 shows that the increase in average invoice value has been driven by a substantial increase in the median permanent placement salary, which is up 11% in the last year to £33,000.

• Chris Ansell is chief financial officer at Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry trends. See www.ribindex.com; info@ribindex. com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2014 12:12

Leading the Industry

The View

Recent meetings with leading employers and business organisations confirmed that the ‘responsible business’ agenda is gaining momentum. The trend is away from corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a bolted-on ‘afterthought’ towards ensuring that values and good practice are embedded throughout. What does the increasing focus on responsible business, brand values and corporate reputation by clients mean for recruiters?

• Hiring criteria. If ‘responsible business’ is the mantra, this will have to be reflected in the criteria used by businesses to hire new staff. Values and ethics will become as important as skills, competencies and past experience. We are also seeing this move towards value-based interviewing in the public sector, in particular within the NHS and the care sector.

• Workforce make-up. Employers are increasingly embracing apprenticeships and shaking up recruitment procedures to promote diversity and inclusion. Recruiters who can help clients meet these strategic objectives will increasingly be sought after.

• Managing suppliers. The responsible business agenda should, over time, mean changes to the way large businesses work with suppliers.

Managing suppliers fairly and with respect has to be one of the benefits of the responsible business agenda. This is something we will continue to promote through specific initiatives such as our Code of Practice for vendor managed services and through ongoing discussions with procurement and HR departments.

• Good recruitment. The responsible business agenda is fertile ground for us our Good Recruitment Campaign to take hold. Leading employers already involved in the campaign have flagged up specific areas such as providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates and embedding flexible working practices.

As ever, the ongoing feedback from REC members will provide a crucial reality check as to whether the positive intentions and rhetoric are being reflected in practice.

As you read this edition of Recruitment Matters I will have just been elected on to the board of Ciett, the recruitment industry’s worldwide federation. This voluntary role, on top of my day job here at the REC, is focused at promoting the recruitment industry globally. In membership are our 47 sister federations in all of the major international market places, and eight corporate members with a global presence.

I’ve been asked by Ciett to lead on the development of the federations across the world. The REC, which is one of the more established and mature federations, is keen to share best practice and help build infrastructure within younger federations, often in developing markets.

The recruitment market is becoming ever more connected and interrelated since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. It’s clear that we now live in a very different world where people, businesses and economies are more connected and dependent on one another. Labour markets have become more dynamic, integrated and inter-dependent. Many REC members are already operating overseas and this trend will only grow as recruitment and staffing firms seek to support international clients.

Ciett is already a hugely important body but the next decade will throw up challenges as well as opportunities. Ciett will champion the role our industry can play, and promote the economic and social benefits of our industry via the world’s media. We need to do this but at the same time maintain a relentless and robust focus on our own industry’s standards and professionalism at home.

For REC members, Ciett will not only help the industry develop its global reputation, but will also provide practical advice to those that want expand abroad or are already operating overseas.

For more information about Ciett visit www.ciett.org

• You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

• You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevingreenrec

Good practice becomes the norm Employers are embracing responsible business agendas, says Tom Hadley, the REC’s director of policy and professional services

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The Big Talking Point

What is good recruitment?

As the REC launches the Good Recruitment Campaign with support from 17 well-known employers and 11 business bodies, Francesca Steele asks what good recruitment practice means to them

T

here are several things that are key to fair recruitment processes – and everyone has to do their bit, not just recruiters, but clients, HR and umbrella companies too. The Good Recruitment Campaign – which was launched by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) last month, provides an ‘aspirational’ charter for employers, asking them to sign up to nine principles of recruitment practice and offering guidance to help improve recruitment standards and candidate experiences.

“It’s a simple campaign,” said the REC chief executive Kevin Green, who described the campaign as the “most important the REC had ever devised” at a time when there are 2.5m unemployed young people, according to figures published recently by the Local Government Association and yet employers are still struggling to find the right talent.

“What is good recruitment practice?” asks Green. “Let’s promote it to businesses.

Let’s give them a tool and a charter to judge themselves against, and let’s share best practice by creating a community of people that are talking about what best practice looks like.”

The campaign has been developed with input from organisations including Dixons, Santander, Royal Mail, Penguin Random House, NHS Employers and the HR Society.

It was also devised in conjunction with professional and business bodies such

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What makes a company great is its people. What this charter is doing is treating the suppliers of talent with the respect that they are owed. It is putting a line in the sand and saying “this is what we aspire to be”. On the day of signing up to the charter we removed a supplier who we didn’t feel was keeping up – they had been forwarding candidates who hadn’t been spoken to and not following procedures we implemented to protect candidates and treat them fairly. The backbone of a good supplier relationship is partnership, and this charter is the building blocks of a good partnership Stephen Reilly, director of talent acquisition, EMEA at AECOM

Arsenal Football Club has always understood that our future success will be defined by our people. This has been at the heart of our approach since our formation in 1886. It is important to our future success that we have skilled and capable individuals, working in ‘The Arsenal Way’ and the Good Recruitment Campaign makes absolute sense. The charter mirrors the Club’s standards and existing approach to recruitment. We fully recognise that how we go about achieving our ambitions is as important as what we achieve Karen Ann Allchurch, HR director, Arsenal Football Club

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G4S is a people business and people are our most important asset. Therefore recruiting and retaining the very best employees are two of our most important core activities. We are delighted to be advisory panel members of the REC Good Recruitment Campaign, which champions best recruitment practice and provides the theory, tools and self-governance to organisations wanting to recruit well in the modern work environment

The REC launched the campaign at Fortnum & Mason last month

Colin Minto, group head resourcing and HR systems, G4S

Dixons Retail are very proud to be on the advisory panel with the REC and to have been a part of the Good Recruitment Campaign.

Dixons fully supports the principles outlined in the charter both from our company resourcing strategy and through the partners we work with Bridget Hutchinson, head of resourcing & employer brand, Dixons Retail

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as CIPD, the CBI and the Institute of Leadership and Management.

“The Good Recruitment Campaign is the perfect vehicle to bring these organisations together to enable employers to benchmark their processes and share good practice and information,” says Steve Othen, head of project management at the REC. “Employers have been excited about the guidance they can receive, free of charge, and have been commenting around the great timing of the campaign as the economy starts to grow and they take on more staff and review their internal procedures. Having this conversation with the business world allows us, and our members, to directly educate employers about recognised recruitment industry standards and this can only be good for our profession.”

It has been great to hear from employers of all sizes and different industries, sharing similar issues around their recruitment procedures Steve Othen, head of project management at the REC

Recruitment Matters May 2014 5

14/05/2014 12:14

Legal Update

How to find a work/life balance What are your statutory obligations when an employee asks for flexible working? REC legal adviser Chris Cuckney explains Striving for work/life balance is a goal for many employees and has been a point of political debate for years. As a result, employees who meet certain criteria have the right to request flexible working.

Examples of flexible working requests could include part-time working, flexible hours, working from home and term-time working. The right to request flexible working only applies to employees and therefore will not apply to agency workers engaged under contracts for services.

In order to be eligible an individual must be an employee and: • have a child under the age of 17 (or under 18 if child is disabled); • be the child’s mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent (or be that person’s spouse, partner or civil partner); • have worked with their employer continuously for 26 weeks at the time that their application is made; • have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing; and • be making the request in order to care for the child. or • be or expect to be caring for an adult aged 18+ who is either married to or the partner or civil partner of the employee, or who is a relative of the employee, or who is living at the same address as the employee;

• have worked for their employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks at the date the application is made; • be making the application in order to enable them to care for the adult; • not have made another application to work flexibly under the right during the past 12 months.

A ‘relative’ for these purposes includes parents, parents-in-law, adult children, adopted adult children, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts, grandparents and step relatives.

Where an employer receives a request for flexible working they have a statutory duty to consider the request and as such employers must follow a specific procedure (see website link below right).

An employer must request a meeting with the employee within 28 days of receiving the application and make a decision within 14 days of the meeting.

The statutory entitlement is to request

flexible working and an employer can refuse the application for any of the following grounds: • Burden of additional costs • Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand • Inability to reorganise work among existing staff • Inability to recruit new staff • Detrimental impact on performance • Insufficiency of work during proposed hours • Planned structural changes.

If a tribunal believes that an employer cannot justify a refusal to allow flexible working, it can award compensation for discrimination and/or recommend that the employer grants the employee’s request.

If the request is granted it will be a permanent variation of the employee’s contract. Should an employer refuse the application, the employee can appeal the decision within 14 days of the refusal.

The government has announced that from 30 June 2014 the right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees, as opposed to only those who meet the eligibility criteria outlined above.

Acas have released draft guidance setting out the changes.

REC members can view the online Legal Guide here: www.rec.uk.com/legal_ guide/legal-guide

Business development: Titans of industry When you’re using an umbrella employer or providing effective back-office solutions, you want to go to someone you know properly understands a recruiter’s needs. Since 1992, giant has offered a range of workforce management solutions for the recruitment industry. From giant strongbox, its umbrella arm which offers great deals, including pension and healthcare plans, and Gap Pay for temporary workers, freelancers and contractors, to giant precision, a range of groudbreaking back-office solutions including a new online timesheet system, these are recruitment solutions created by recruiters themselves. Matthew Brown, managing director of giant,

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says: “All of this software, the self-billing, the credit and reinvoice functions, are things we use ourselves, so you can rest assured it’s as practical and efficient as you could possibly want it to be. At giant, we have worked really hard to strengthen our employment offering by including wide-ranging mutual obligations between ourselves and our employees, in particularly between assignments.” It’s no surprise then that giant has been independently voted Best Umbrella Company by readers of Contractor UK – four times – and REC members can get even better deals than most. For more information go to www.giantgroup.com or call 0844 324 7700

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2014 12:14

Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals

Public spaces This month we speak to Jonathan Swain, director of public sector executive search at Penna, who won Executive Search Consultant of the Year at the IRP awards Congratulations! How does it feel to have won?

It was a very nice surprise, especially since it was the first time I’ve been entered. I was really pleased for my team too – it’s all down to the collective hard work of the team. In the three years I’ve been at Penna we’ve worked very hard in a pretty distressed market.

Which sectors do you cover?

I cover public sector, central government, local government, health, education, housing and police. It’s very varied and even within the same organisations no two campaigns are ever the same. It’s a bit like having a new job every day!

Have you always worked in recruitment?

No, before I moved into executive search I worked in the Cabinet Office and Audit Commission. Penna as an organisation is really unique because we cross the HR/talent spectrum. I knew I’d really enjoy it because of the variety and pace.

You mentioned the importance of the team. How do you effectively manage that team?

I manage 17 people and we have very strong targets that we’re always working towards. You have to have an instinct for taking people forward in a changing world. In the public sector there are elections and things are always changing. You have to be able to move with the times.

Is placing people in the public sector particularly hard?

I would say it’s actually pretty similar to the private sector in ways that people don’t necessarily realise. If you are a chief executive of a local authority you are essentially running a large company. It’s a demanding role.

Tell us something about you that your colleagues might not know.

I used to be a magistrate in my spare time in East London. Most magistrates are lay magistrates actually, who do it part time – you learn pretty quickly when you’re on the bench though. It’s not the judiciary in the way you might imagine. You don’t have to wear a wig!

Things I Know Tina Young, co-founder and director of Kirkham Young, gives us her career tips People often find things through chance I did a degree in biochemistry, then spent two years in the NHS working as a biochemist and then working selling medical equipment for five and a half years, before moving into recruitment via some of the people I’d sold the equipment to. Recruitment tends to be a job that lots of people seem to fall into by accident, which can be a good and a bad thing. It means there is plenty of different experience around which is great, but it would probably be helpful if career advisors could actually tell people a bit about the industry earlier on – at school for instance.

Specialist knowledge can be invaluable I think it gives you credibility with clients. One of the reasons we wanted to set up our own business was to go to specialist trade shows more. If I say I’m a radiologist expert then really I need to go to national radiology exhibitions. Healthcare and IT are growing rapidly too and so we are exhibiting more at shows with new software and technologies.

It’s important to make sure you know what a candidate wants as much as the client You have to think, this person isn’t just a CV, they’re a person with a life and lots of commitments. Do they want to be on the road, or do they want to be at home? Is this going to be the right place for them?

Make your value known One of the biggest challenges to specialist recruiters at the moment is in-house recruitment. I’m not sure employers recognise that many HR specialists might not have the recruitment expertise needed to fill certain roles properly. If you imagine how many contacts my business partner and I have made after this many years in the business... I know radiologists who I helped get into their first job and now they’re very senior. It’s hard for non-specialists to compete with that, so I try to make sure clients understand that.

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

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Events and training

Sign up for the Talent, Recruitment and Employment Conference Listen to inspiring speakers and do some invaluable networking at the Talent, Recruitment and Employment Conference (TREC) in an intensive, one-day format.

With a programme designed and driven by market participants, ensuring topical and genuine debates, and led by senior speakers, participants will meet and discuss recent developments as well as learn about opportunities to plan and forecast developments in the coming year. Speakers and attendees will include senior European professionals from HR, talent, operations, procurement and

Corporate in-house/HR/Talent/Operation/Procurement Professional Complimentary: subject to REC approval Recruitment Professionals

Recruitment Professionals

(REC/IRP member)

(nonmembers)

23 May - 10 June 2014

£299+ VAT

£349+ VAT

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11 June onwards

£349+ VAT

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recruitment. The TREC Conference will take place on 24 June at a London venue.

For more information call 020 7009 2100 or email trec@rec.uk.com

Don’t forget to vote!

The REC council elections are coming up and there are four corporate director and two individual director positions on the REC council to be filled. Online voting will take place between 26 May and 16 June and the results will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on 18 June.

“Being part of the REC council means representing the industry in standards, professionalism and world-class services,” says Neil Smith, the REC chairman. “The range of recruiters we have on our council ensures that we are able to look at our industry from a variety of perspectives and I would encourage all members to seriously think about putting themselves or their colleagues forward.”

Meanwhile, Michael Bennett, managing director at Rethink Group, who joined the council last year, added: “I originally stood for the REC council in 2013 after being recommended to by the Head of the IRP, Richard Charnock. He suggested I get my voice on the council and help to drive certain initiatives or ideas through. The council is very open and gives you that opportunity, as well as being a great place to network with other senior Neil Smith, recruitment folk in the UK.” REC Chairman

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

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Service Providers

There are a range of prices available for TREC 2014, dependent on when you book and on your profession. The full set of prices are shown in the table above.

Vote for your representatives on the REC Council of Directors Elect or re-elect up to four corporate directors and up to two individual directors. Following the success of last year’s voting, all REC and IRP members will once again be able to vote online to elect new council members in the lead up to the Annual General Meeting, which will take place on 18 June at 10am at the REC’s London offices. For those people who have not voted online or by post by this time, you will still have an opportunity to vote in person immediately preceding the AGM on 18 June. Full details regarding the voting process and the candidates for election will be posted on the REC website.

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 8547 Consulting Editor: Ed Sexton ed.sexton@rec.uk.com Editorial: Editor: Francesca Steele francesca.steele@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 Woodford Litho © 2014 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com 14/05/2014 12:15

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Interaction

SOUND

BITES

“To select the right candidate, should a recruiter rely on gut instinct or tests?”

Mark Bass

Simon George

Resourcing manager, RWE npower

Director, Maple Resourcing

As Luke Skywalker brought balance to the Force [Star Wars], so we should look to bring balance to the recruitment process. A hiring decision needs to not only be objective and balanced, it needs to be focused on predicting future success, and it is unlikely that gut instinct or tests alone will deliver this. ‘One-size-fitsall’ recruitment solutions do not exist. Tailoring a balanced solution for each role, focusing on different dimensions such as behaviour, aptitude, ability and competence is more likely to deliver a better candidate versus job match, and increase the chances of future success.

I don’t think it’s possible to rely solely on one or the other and any recruiter should do whatever vetting necessary to ensure the right selection is made. Tests can be completed in a way whereby the candidate gives a false impression of themselves. I also use behavioural questioning techniques, which allows you to investigate their answers in more detail. With almost 18 years’ recruitment experience I still tend to make the final decision based on gut instinct. You need to trust your instinct; it’s certainly not fail-safe but the reality of any process is that you can never be 100% certain until the candidate is in place.

Mark Braund Chief executive officer, InterQuest

There are four key assessments to make: 1. Desire – what does the candidate most want and how well does the opportunity fit with their aspirations (on the basis that motivated people perform better)? 2. Experience – does it match requirements?

(Speak with past colleagues, managers, clients or suppliers.) 3. Skills – critical skills should be validated through testing, referencing or both. 4. Interpersonal skills and cultural fit – this is where psychometric testing can provide additional insight to the recruiter’s judgement call. While there is increasing evidence that cognitive ability testing is increasingly helpful, my personal view is that at present this remains only part of a successful hiring process.

‘RPO firms fail to provide transforming solutions’ (April 2014, Recruiter) “As someone who was involved in the pioneering development of onsite services — both with Adecco Management Services and as the founder of Resource Solutions — I think this is a thought-provoking article. The reality is that ‘managed services’ saw direct hire and recruitment agencies as equal channels from which to source quality.

The onsite team had time to understand the integral technical and cultural aspects of the client. What RPO has now done — in essence — is shift the recruitment desk from the sell side into the buy side.

Advisory, wise counsel and the like have gone out the window — exchanged, rather predictably, for better, faster, cheaper-time, cost-quality ratios that drive the onsite behaviours. As the market turns, these clients will need to think through their business model. RPO these days is great in year one — lots of value etc. Year 2? Ouch!

Engineers would call it build, operate and

WEB

CHAT

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Naleena Gururani Head – International HR and recruitment, Lebara

The judgement to choose a right candidate will occur through a combination of data and non-data aspects. Instinct is only relevant when it is so finely tuned so that it becomes a summation of experience, understanding of the requirements/environment you are hiring for and a subconscious analysis of hard data and soft data/skills which define the culture fit; rather than a matter of view or perception. Tests cannot stand alone to get the ‘right’ candidate; they can highlight a skill, an area of improvement or reinforce your hiring decision. Which is better — a marriage of both, with a well-honed hiring process of course!

transfer. I predict many RPO deals going sour or in-house.”

Andrew McNeilis ‘Recruitment agencies should ensure carers can speak English, says government adviser’ (7 May) “Sounds like a lesson in the bleedin’ obvious.

Everybody recruiting in the social care sector knows this is already a minimum expectation for the industry. How could someone possibly care for another person unless they can speak the same language?

The problem only exists when a minority of sub-standard agencies provide a poor quality service. The main reason is the pressure to provide a service for a lower price. This inevitably compromises standards and in turn, the quality of the candidates. Perhaps the government adviser in question should advise his government to stop reducing budgets for care organisations year after year, so that they aren’t forced to find ways to reduce costs and lower pay. Or failing that, perhaps she could stop trying to teach us all to suck eggs...”

Dan Midwinter

“Completely agree; there is nothing more important than putting the vulnerable and elderly at ease when they are in the care of others. One thought: video interviewing would be a great way to assess candidates’ language and soft skills before they are furthered in the recruitment process, and take far less time than current methods.”

Lizzie Woodcock ‘Potential for over 64,000 new jobs in the UK from shale gas development’ (24 April) “A pity that this ‘new’ report is only processing data extracted from the 2013 Institute of Directors 2013 one, paid for by the fracking company Cuadrilla, which has since been discredited by the government’s own study on shale gas jobs impact. If you think the figures are real, it’s a con. If you think what jobs are created will be permanent — no, no. If they are jobs for local people as opposed to flown-in international oil & gas industry employees — again, no, no.”

Alan Tootill

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Insight

Gain resilience by taking five steps RECRUITERS MUST LEARN TO BE TOUGH TO DEAL WITH THE PACE AND PRESSURES OF THEIR ROLE, SAYS ALI SHALFROOSHAN Resilience is essential in the recruitment industry. The work is fast paced, pressurised and constantly changing. The relentless requirement to deliver the right people with the right skills at the right time can feel overwhelming. Recruiters need to be thick skinned and be able to survive and thrive in any situation; they need to be resilient.

First, it’s important to recognise that resilience is not an immutable trait that you have or don’t have — it is a way of thinking that you can improve. Everyone has shown resilience at some point in their career. It is not just about dealing with insurmountable challenges — it is also about dealing with the daily pressures and setbacks littered through our working lives. Whatever natural level of resilience you may have, you can make yourself more effective at dealing with challenge and change by optimising the way you think and reflect on your experiences.

Over the years, we have helped many people in a wide range of industry sectors to become more resilient, from graduates to board directors.

Although there are some major differences between these people, some very consistent skills underpin resilience.

Based on our experience, here are some of the most simple and useful ways you can adopt to become more resilient: 1. Understand your resilience The first step is understanding how you are resilient. This can be done through self-reflection — thinking about the challenges you have faced before and how you dealt with them. You could ask for feedback from colleagues or friends, but make sure you find someone who knows you well and is willing to be candid. You may wish to use more structured methods, such as psychometric resilience questionnaires, 360-degree feedback or personal development programmes.

2. Step outside your comfort zone Taking on challenges that you feel less comfortable with is often the best way to develop your level of resilience and, ultimately, your confidence in dealing with demanding situations.

If you fail to push boundaries, take risks and accept the possibility of making mistakes, you’re unlikely to react well to challenges when they arise. It’s possible to learn just as much, if not more, from mistakes than successes, so force yourself out of your comfort zone and give

yourself new experiences. Each time you push yourself, you will feel more confident and you will be more likely to take new challenges head on.

3. Learn to be optimistic Despite popular belief, optimism is not a fixed trait: you can develop it. One way to do this is to reframe how you perceive success and failure. When things go wrong, optimists will view this as just a temporary problem that can be fixed, rather than a bigger issue that is their own fault. If you allow yourself to become fixated on a mistake rather than learning and moving on from it, this will have a knock-on effect in other aspects of your work. By taking more of the optimistic approach, you will be able to see the positives in any situation and react in a way that is more conducive to solving the problem at hand.

4. Regulate your emotions Maintaining focus and a calm presence in challenging situations or high-pressure roles is important in terms of thinking with clarity, building team dynamics and presenting in a professional manner. Therefore, the ability to manage your emotions is critical. Simple breathing and imagery techniques can be useful in helping to reduce physical responses to stressful environments. Take a deep breath before responding to any potentially intense situations and, if possible, take a moment away from the chaos to compose yourself.

5. Understand your purpose If the goals that you would like to achieve and dreams that you want to realise are meaningful, the more likely it is you will be able to put things into perspective. Therefore, a key way to enhance your resilience is by having a purposeful direction.

If you have purpose, challenges and setbacks will be seen as bumps on a road rather than allencompassing disasters. Take time to think about what goals you might have, in both the short and the long term, and make them concrete and targeted. By having these goals, not only are you more likely to make them a reality but also you will do it with more resilience.

By adopting these techniques, it is certainly possible to become more aware of how you are able to deal with difficult situations and adjust your thinking accordingly. What is also clear is that resilience is an attribute that recruiters must develop if they are to thrive in their ever-stressful profession.

Power Points To become resilient, you need to: Reflect, don’t ruminate: Improving the way you think about your experiences can make you more resilient.

Consider how you dealt with challenges in the past, but don’t get fixated on the failures — this will stop you from moving on.

Learn: Learn from both failure and success, and get some candid feedback from colleagues or friends, or through formal methods, to gain awareness of your own levels of resilience.

Seek the unfamiliar: Taking on projects outside your comfort zone can increase both confidence and resilience, so take risks and accept you may make mistakes. This will make you more able to deal with unexpected and new challenges.

Focus: Keep the main issues in mind whether you are working with other people in high-pressure situations or considering what you want to achieve in the long term.

ALI SHALFROOSHAN is senior consultant — product development at a&dc.

Share your insight and blue-sky thinking. Contact the editor: deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk

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EXPERT OPINION

What is the Onshore Intermediaries legislation and how does it affect you?

By Craig McCall, Compliance Manager, Nixon Williams Limited.

T

he recruitment sector is a minefield of compliance issues, the scale of which has grown in the wake of the latest budget, announced in March 2014.

The reason for this is the introduction of the Onshore Intermediaries Legislation, which aims to prevent situations of false self-employment from occurring; thereby giving protection to vulnerable lower-paid workers. However the scope of the legislation is more far-reaching than this and has consequences across the entire recruitment sector.

they perform their contractual duties. This additional reporting requirement stands to further increase the cost to recruiters in complying with all legislation, and also exposes them to further risk should their processes not stand up to HMRC’s requirements which, so far have been quite vague.

It has been suggested that the legislation will be difficult to enforce as the test of supervision, direction and control is open to interpretation. Similarly to IR35, the new rules rely on complex definitions from employment laws which may not be easily understood by every business that needs to make a decision over a workers employment status. The tests do not have a foundation in case law, giving rise to further uncertainty over when the rules will apply and how they will be interpreted.

The legislation appears to be a reaction to the decision reached in the tribunal of HMRC vs. Talentcore Limited. In this case it was found that the absence of a requirement for personal service in a contract was sufficient for the existing agency legislation not to apply, therefore if a contract could be arranged so that it gave the right for a worker to send a substitute then the agency would not need to deduct PAYE. The legislation changes the test of whether an individual is considered self-employed from being reliant on personal service so that the sole test is now one of supervision, direction and control.

Our view on the legislation is that whilst it should be successful in its objective of providing additional rights to workers; it has additional unintended consequences across the flexible staffing sector, which stands to increase costs of compliance to all recruitment businesses that will be forced to change their processes.

One problem with using this test in determining employment status is that it could easily be argued that all workers, irrespective of their employment status, are subject to a degree of supervision, direction or control. For example a self-employed tradesman would have his work checked by his client to ensure that it has been completed and is to a satisfactory standard, despite the fact that the method used to complete the work will have been his own.

Nixon Williams have supplied accountancy services to the contractor market since 1995; throughout this time we have seen significant changes to the legislative environment in which contractors operate – notably Managed Service Company legislation, Agency Worker Regulations and Intermediaries Legislation. Over this period our company has grown organically, mainly through word of mouth, and we currently serve the accountancy and taxation needs of almost 4,000 contractors.

Under the new legislation, the responsibility to deduct PAYE falls on the intermediary rather than the tax liability being passed on to the individual. In addition to this, the burden of proof lies with the intermediary as HMRC will assume that a worker has been subject to supervision, direction or control unless the intermediary business can demonstrate otherwise. The only exception to this is if the intermediary has been supplied with fraudulent documents to prove this.

We have never offered Managed Service Companies, Umbrella or Offshore schemes; opting to focus on the segment of the contractor market that trade as Limited Companies. Despite the changing legislation, the use of a Personal Service Company remains the most tax efficient, legal vehicle through which to operate as a contractor.

Intermediaries paying individuals in an off-payroll arrangement will be required to disclose details of this to HMRC from 2015/16 unless it can be proven that the worker was not subject to supervision, direction or control regarding the manner in which

We are affiliate members of both the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) and the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo); recognising the specialist knowledge of our staff and the quality of our service. By referring to Nixon Williams, you can be assured that our business practices are compliant with all current legislation governing the industry, further enhancing the image of your business.

For more information about Nixon Williams, or to find out about how we can assist you and your client please feel free to call our new business team on 01253 362062 or visit www.nixonwilliams.com/recruiters.

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The Challenge

Stepping back to help a client move forward Martin Wiles Head of contingent resourcing [at the time]

INNOVATIVE MULTINATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES FIRM THALES CHALLENGED MORSON TO HELP REDUCE ITS RELIANCE ON CONTRACTORS THROUGH A NEW RESOURCING STRATEGY

THE CHALLENGE Five years ago, technical and engineering recruiter Morson International was awarded a three-year contract to supply Thales with its UK non-permanent resourcing needs. A global player in the aerospace, defence, security and transportation sectors in the UK, Thales carries out research & development as well as providing manufacturing and supply technology and services in each of these areas. Traditionally, this meant relying heavily on contractors.

Eighteen months ago, the Thales team decided to further address some challenges with its use of temporary and contract staff, mainly to ensure that the most suitable resourcing decision was made by the business and to control the number of temporary and contractor workers engaged.

In the UK alone Thales had 900 contractors working at any one time, all managed via Morson.

Martin Wiles, the then head of contingent resourcing at Thales,

“Thales is prepared to do something different and in doing so, engages its staff in the process” ADRIAN ADAIR

was responsible for addressing these challenges. He told Recruiter: “Thales wanted to implement a fully integrated resourcing model where the Thales in-house Resourcing Centre of Excellence would be the single point of contact for all the business’s resourcing needs, including permanent, graduate, temporary and contractor hiring.”

The main aim was to ensure that the use of temporary and contractor resources was to support short-term capacity or capability gaps, as the tenure of some temporary and contractor resources was becoming a problem.

“Some [temporary and contract workers] had been working on the same project for over two years,” Wiles explained. “We also wanted to retain our intellectual property, build our own internal capability and ensure that all resourcing decisions were being discussed before the most effective were deployed, whether that was a permanent role as opposed to a contractor or a graduate position rather than a work package.”

With such a high number of temporary and contract workers alongside permanent Thales employees, who were often doing the same job but not on a contractor’s day rate, there was an inevitable disconnect between team members. An additional operational challenge was that, at 48 days, the time-to-hire was too long.

THE SOLUTION Thales retendered the temporary and contractor staffing contract

in 2013, which was once again awarded to Morson. Wiles then began the redesign of the delivery model and processes to put Thales’s resourcing team at the heart of both the temporary and contractor resourcing processes. Working in partnership, Wiles and Adrian Adair, global operations director at Morson, identified ways in which they could make efficiencies in the process and manage the transition of activities from Morson to Thales resourcing managers without impacting service delivery to hiring managers.

Adair told Recruiter Thales wanted to concentrate on addressing challenges with its temporary and contractor workforce and at the same time were looking to move the Morson team offsite. “To ensure we delivered what they were looking for, we upskilled the Thales team to take over what we were doing,” Adair said. “Once the new team was up to speed, we could then exit the onsite model.”

For some recruiters this would be a body blow. Not only was Morson being asked to move its team offsite, it was also in danger of its temporary and contractor population reducing due to the Thales’ new resourcing strategy.

However, Adair explained that most important thing for Morson is to understand their clients’ processes and needs. “A number of organisations think that recruiters are all about increasing the amount of people who are recruited,” Adair said. “This isn’t the case with Morson. Understanding the

Adrian Adair Global operations director

customer’s problems and coming up with solutions — even if that means supplying fewer people — is part of Morson’s philosophy.”

Wiles agreed: “If you look at what we’ve done, removing the Morson team offsite and the other implications, Morson absolutely supported us through every business decision, even though it had an impact on their bottom line.”

Eighteen months down the line, a clear outcome in implementing the new resourcing strategy is the reduction of temporary and contractor headcount. From 850 at the start of 2013 to around 450 at the start of this year, Thales has achieved a 7% contractor to permanent staff ratio. In the same period, time to hire reduced to 12.5days. Wiles told Recruiter: “The reduction in headcount equated to a cost avoidance of £100k a day.” An amazing saving in anyone’s book.

“Now that the model is fully integrated, Thales’s resourcing managers are challenging the demand before we even release a temporary or contractor assignment to Morson,” Wiles said, adding that there is an ongoing relationship “as we always need that flexibility in our workforce”.

Adair told Recruiter that Morson can maintain its flexibility so that if Thales needed to “ramp up” its resources on a project, his team could move back onsite for a short period. “It’s great to work with a customer like that — to be challenged by them. Thales is prepared to do something different and in doing so, it engages its staff in the process.”

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

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Profile

Acre Resources colin cottell spoke with ceo and founder richard wright and co-founder andy cartland about acre’s winning ways “My ex-colleagues think I am crazy,” says Richard Wright, chief executive officer (CEO) of sustainability, corporate responsibility and environment recruiter Acre Resources.

But what appears crazy to Wright’s former colleagues was evidently just what the judges were looking for when they chose Acre as Recruitment Agency of the Year for companies with fewer than 100 employees at the recent Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The category was sponsored by CV-Library.

The judges also clearly saw Acre in a different light to its competitors, describing it as “a clear winner”.

The ‘craziness’ to which Wright refers is Acre’s decision to display the details of around 60 of its best interim candidates on a public website for all to see.

“Why would you want to put your candidates on a public database?” continues Wright, with a smile, as he and Andy Cartland, Acre’s co-founder, reflect on Acre’s success at its offices in London’s High Holborn.

“What they don’t see is the benefits of it,” says Wright, who began his career in recruitment with Michael Page back in 1987, before later investing in professional recruiter Martin Ward Anderson, and then leading its sale to recruitment giant Randstad.

Wright acknowledges the risk of employers contacting Acre’s candidates direct. However, he accepts this for the bigger benefits that such transparency brings. “It is business development. It gives us something completely different to talk to our clients about, and it sets us apart. People see us in a different light, call us up and we get business,” he adds.

Acre’s Bench, as its public database of interims is called, is just one element of an approach that stood out for the judges by being different. As the judging panel said, “not only have Acre said they have a different approach — they do”.

In another example of standing out from the crowd, Cartland adopted the idea used on online comparison websites that he used to run, for use in the staffing industry, of allowing candidates’ and clients to post uncensored comments about

Company profile Founded 2003 Staff 25 Based in High Holborn, London Acre financials: • April 2013-to March 2014 • Net fee income (NFI) £2.2m • Turnover £3.25m • In the last six months, NFI has grown by 90%, and turnover by 114%

Acre on Feefo, a customer feedback site, where the company’s current satisfaction rating is 97%.

Negative comments would be enough to give many staffing companies nightmares, but Cartland positively welcomes them. “For a year there were no negatives, and we were saying ‘this doesn’t look like it has any integrity because it is all positives’,” says Cartland.

Far from being afraid to air the company’s dirty linen in public, Wright believes that this ‘warts and all approach’ helps build trust within the sector, “not something that the recruitment industry has done in the last 20 years”, he adds, but something that “is a cornerstone of sustainability and what clients expect”.

Wright draws a parallel with TripAdvisor, the travel and tourism review site, which he describes as “a phenomenal tool” that drives up standards in the hotel and tourism industry. And he is in no doubt that this approach has done the same for Acre. “Of course it has driven up standards,” he says.

Cartland founded Acre just over 10 years ago, after “falling into recruitment”, by combining his interests and talents in the environment and sales.

Wright took on the CEO role in April 2012, with a brief to accelerate growth. “I was attracted to this really interesting niche… and though I didn’t know very much about it I was clued up enough to know that it could be really high growth,” he says.

Cartland believes that the clever use of technology has given Acre a competitive advantage.

Andy Cartland’s Philosophy of recruitment “If you want to be successful and build exceptional relationships, don’t think about how much money you can extract, but how much value you can add to them and their businesses”

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www.recruiter.co.uk

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD GLEED

Profile

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Profile

It was one of the first recruiters to optimise its site for mobile, and an early adopter of search engine optimisation during the company’s early years “when most people didn’t understand it”, he claims.

Wright says “all that stuff” as he describes it has created barriers to entry for competitors. However, he dismisses the notion that technology is the only string to the company’s bow, making it potentially vulnerable to more technologically advanced competitors.

“We are not so technologically-driven that it could all come tumbling down. We are web-driven but we also have a group of loyal people who do the normal role of recruitment consultant and play a fundamental role in the company.”

Wright admits he has experienced some “scary stuff” since coming on board. However, such a leap of faith, including both men investing their own money, looks like it is beginning to pay off with turnover rising by 114% to £3.25m in the past six months. The company now employs 25 staff, all based in High Holborn in London, with two new staff due to start by the end of May. Around 30% of its business is international, with the Netherlands being a particularly strong market.

Wright says the company’s approach of being different is particularly well suited to the sustainability market. As he explains: “You could be doing financial recruitment and trying to be disruptive but it might not be received as well.

“The sustainability professional is very different to your mainstream professional — they think differently — that is why they do what they do. Indeed,” he adds, “they will demand something different.

“Acre is being disruptive deliberately because it believes the recruitment model is old and needs to be shaken up, and a lot of it continues behind closed doors.

We have chosen to be disruptive to the tune of being transparent,” Wright continues.

While breaking the traditional recruitment agency mould is something that gives both Wright and Cartland a certain amount of pleasure, not every aspect of the company’s business is quite so cutting edge, though it is challenging.

The company focuses a lot of its efforts on thought leadership, taking advantage of the sector’s propensity to collaborate and share, and running events on clients’ premises. “There is a much more collaborative feel in this sector,” says Wright, adding that while Acre doesn’t make any money from these events, it is “both an obvious brand-building exercise, and a very efficient business development strategy for us”.

Among the company’s proudest achievements was placing three executive directors with Accord, a brand new organisation set up as part of an agreement between 170 top retail brands and trade unions to improve the working conditions of around 3m factory workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry. This followed a fire that killed 1,200 people in 2013. As Cartland, who travelled to Bangladesh while working on the project, explains, this was a complicated assignment that included brokering an agreement between trade unions and retailers’ representatives about who should get the job.

Such assignments also have a positive spin-off in helping Acre to attract high-quality staff, says Wright, adding “these three individuals will have an impact on the lives of some of the most exploited people in the world”. This goes for the sustainability sector as

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RICHARD WRIGHT’S SECRET OF SUCCESS “Keep my feet on the ground, being fair and building trust, and remembering no one including myself is indispensible” a whole, “which is a big driver for people joining our business”, adds Wright.

Not that finding such consultants is easy, says Wright, as they need to be both passionate about the sustainability agenda and the commercial side. “This is a highly commercial market,” he continues, pointing out that a finance director that doesn’t understand rising energy costs could be putting the future of their company at risk.

“This is all mainstream stuff now,” he says. As the company’s Recruiter Award sits proudly on a desk opposite symbolising its success, it is a happy irony that the same could hardly be said about Acre itself.

CV: RICHARD WRIGHT

CV: ANDY CARTLAND

April 2012-present

2003-present

Acre Chief executive officer

Acre Co-founder

2010

2004-11

Cornhill Partnership

As part of the Acre company structure and then under the Formula Digital brand, built several comparison websites including office comparison website officialspace.com and Top.10.com, a broadband comparison site

1994-2009 Martin Ward Anderson

1987-94 Michael Page International, manager

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15/05/2014 11:19

Von Essen takes international opportunities seriously, and we were particularly pleased to sponsor the Best International Recruitment Agency award this year.

Covering six continents and 120 countries, we are here to help contractors and corporate clients no matter where they happen to be in the world. That means support for everything from visa requirements to tax solutions.

Make sure that 2014 is the year when your own agency starts recruiting across more countries, more profitably and easily then ever before.

• Global Mobility • Tax Advisory • Human Capital Management (HCM)

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• Compliance • Risk Management

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Awards special

Leading men THE AGENCY AND IN-HOUSE RECRUITMENT LEADERS OF THE YEAR ARE ALWAYS TOUGH CATEGORIES BUT THE CREAM ALWAYS COMES TO THE TOP, AS THEY SAY

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD GLEED

There’s no ‘one size fits all’ formula for either a leader or for the demands of leadership.

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But in their very differences, Chris Marsh and Raj Tulsiani each represent the spectrum of challenges faced by recruitment and resourcing leaders today.

Winner of the 2014 Recruiter Award for In-house Recruitment Leader of the Year, Marsh is director of resourcing at international design, engineering and project management organisation Atkins. Tulsiani, voted the 2014 Recruitment Agency Leader of the Year, is chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Green Park Interim & Executive Search.

At Atkins, growth — in the form of a number of new contracts around the world — means that that the company needs to “ramp up recruitment”, Marsh tells Recruiter. At the same time, as the economy appears poised for recovery, candidates’ confidence is still fragile — and so is that of line managers.

Line managers have to find their feet again in recruitment after a few dry years, and persuading “anxious” candidates to move for new roles is difficult, Marsh says. Crucial to the Atkins approach now is to offer candidates careers instead of jobs. “Part of the advantage we have is we can offer different geographies; we have skill divisions with more than 20 engineering disciplines,” Marsh says.

As a result, employees can already move to different jobs throughout the company but as Marsh considers his future priorities, improved internal mobility is high on the list. An internal careers portal “to bring to life” the proposition of offering a career rather than a job is among the improvements he’d like to make, Marsh said.

He credits his team with helping him to accomplish the achievements that led to his Award. To be a leader in his role, Marsh says he has to “have a foot” in different camps, those of the team and in the business, to analyse and interpret different needs, take on board feedback from the business, and “to really make business success our focus”.

As Green Park’s CEO, Tulsiani leads the business he co-founded in 2006. He also leads an informal external drive to get his clients and the wider business world to recognise and understand “the business case for looking at talent differently” in terms of ensuring that diverse talent is represented in UK executive suites, senior management and throughout the workforce of today and tomorrow.

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He adds: “But not everyone wants to understand.”

Diversity and inclusion are a focus for Tulsiani, who is proud to be the leader of a minorityowned business, across and beyond the mandated equality strands of age, disability, gender, transgender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion/belief. He contends that too much of diversity and inclusion consideration is “still on a visual level” instead of taking into account often unseen and intangible facets of humankind.

Further, he adds, often it is not enough for organisations to simply invest in diversity and inclusion programmes.

“I have seen significant investment in diversity, inclusion and equality but many are investing in channels through people without enough experience or gravitas to make a difference,” he explains.

Tulsiani sees his role as “offering people potential “DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IS solutions. People already know what the problems are, STILL ON A VISUAL LEVEL” RAJ TULSIANI (TOP) they need to know what the solution is”.

“TO BE A LEADER, YOU NEED TO In leading his own company, Tulsiani sees the HAVE A FOOT IN DIFFERENT CAMPS” challenge of leadership as CHRIS MARSH (BELOW) “about how you build a business with a particular culture and set of values, and still manage the focus that try to tear you apart from that”.

Marsh and Tulsiani: two different leaders and different organisations, representing the best of recruitment business success.

DEEDEE DOKE

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Awards special

CAPP & CO JOIN UP WITH NESTLÉ

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFA BASTOS

Strengths-based recruitment is gaining momentum as the best way to identify applicants who can add the most value to an organisation, despite not necessarily being the most attractive on paper.

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And it is exactly down to this reason that the nutrition, health and wellness company Nestlé, and assessment provider Capp & Co, were awarded the Best Apprentice/School Leaver Recruitment Strategy award at this year’s Recruiter Awards for Excellence.

Nestlé initially took the decision to partner with Capp & Co to implement a strengths-based assessment strategy, which would fit in with their Fast Start programme.

And when asked why they made this decision, Tom Banham, Academy recruitment manager at Nestlé, tells Recruiter, “for us, it was a no-brainer”, as Capp & Co were able to provide a service “that no other provider could offer”.

Having launched the Nestlé Academy in 2011, the company decided to launch its Fast Start programme in 2013, in response to the rise in tuition fees and increase in youth unemployment. The three-year scheme provides school leavers with the opportunity to work in a salaried training role while studying for their degree in professional business practice at Sheffield Hallam University.

Nicky Garcea, chief customer officer (CCO) at Capp & Co, says with so many other companies taking a similar approach, it was essential that they “made the Nestlé story unique”.

“We knew that the school leaver and apprentice space is an area where more and more people are beginning to do work, so we had to make our approach stand out. A lot of people working in the sector are still finding their way — but the work we’ve done has enabled individuals from a more mobile society to enter the workplace.”

Recognising that traditional competency-based assessments would not identify a young person’s potential — as their work experience would be limited at that early age — Nestlé decided to implement a strengths-based assessment strategy, which fitted the Fast Start requirement as it looks at the combination of aptitude and energy.

Eight core strengths were recognised as critical to business success and these were measured across a series of innovative ‘day in the life’ assessments including: commercial and motivational questions; an online situational strengths test; and an assessment centre in which candidates came prepared to share an identified commercial opportunity and risk for Nestlé.

“We looked at both a strengths-based approach and a competencybased, but decided to go with the former as it was the much more positive of the two.

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“THE WORK WE’VE DONE HAS ENABLED INDIVIDUALS FROM A MORE MOBILE SOCIETY TO ENTER THE WORKPLACE” NICKY GARCEA “A student is able to demonstrate how good they are at performing a certain task, or demonstrating a particular behaviour without having had any past experience — which for them is obviously a massive boost,” explains Garcea.

According to Nestlé, 100% of candidates agreed that the programme stands out compared to other recruiters by using a strengths-based approach.

Banham says the programme “involves a lot of out-of-hours working”, so it takes a “certain type of individual” to apply for this kind of role.

The programme brought through the exact type of candidates they were looking for, by finding applicants who were genuinely engaged and motivated to work in the food and drinks industry. Furthermore, Nestlé was able to successfully appoint 12 talented individuals with potential to progress in the business.

The quality of candidates at assessment centres greatly exceeded expectations, with 94% of senior business leaders in the company who were involved at the assessment days reporting that the calibre was similar or higher than that of graduates, particularly in terms of how they performed, and in their “want and drive”.

MATT BODIMEADE

Above, top: Nestlé and Capp & Co accepting their award from former Apprentice winner and Recruiter Awards judge Tim Campbell MBE. Above, below: Host Simon Evans entertained the audience with his acerbic observations on life

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EXPERT OPINION

New ‘Hire Guarantee’ from specialist finance job board Leading niche job board CareersinAudit.com has today announced a new ‘hire guarantee’ for employers across the audit, risk and compliance sectors.

of guarantee and we are confident that the new strategy will prove very effective for employers, allowing them to recruit top talent internally and save on unnecessary advertising and recruitment fees.”

Last year’s holders of the Recruiter Awards ‘Best Job Board’, CareersinAudit.com aims to demonstrate its effectiveness as full service recruitment site and candidate attraction tool, by providing a guarantee that employers and corporate recruiters will successfully hire within their first month on the site.

The new hire guarantee is set to shake up the current offerings from job boards and career sites by introducing a new level of advertising accountability, which has not previously been provided by job boards.

Simon Wright, Operations Director at CareersinAudit.com adds “We wanted to show employers and corporate recruiters just how effective a single job posting can be on the right site. With an average of 80 applications per job from the top professionals across the industry, there’s no need to look anywhere else for candidates.

CareersinAudit.com was launched in 2005 as one of the first hyperniche job boards. With a narrow industry focus and strict dedication to the candidate, CareersinAudit.com fast became the job board of choice for the Audit, Risk and Compliance industries not only in the UK but across Europe, US, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Last year’s holders of the Recruiter’s Best Job Board award, CareersinAudit.com stands up against the larger generic sites with a specialist, tailored offering that cannot be matched elsewhere.

For further details contact Simon Wright, Director, CareersinAudit.com 020 7553 6350 or email info@careersinaudit.com

“Employers will no longer need to worry about ‘posting and hoping’ with their job advertising. We guarantee that you will successfully hire with a featured job or we will continue to advertise your vacancy until you do.

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RECRUITER

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15/05/2014 08:07

Awards special

KENT COUNTY COUNCIL SHINE

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFA BASTOS

A retention rate of 100% among your recruits since 2011 is an impressive achievement. But that is just achievement outlined in the submission made by Kent County Council, winners of the Best Graduate Recruitment Strategy at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence. According to the judges, the council “really impressed the panel with their intelligent use of resources to run a comprehensive programme”.

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The fact that many of the graduates on the programme now in its 16th year have progressed to senior positions, including director of property and infrastructure support, is testament to a strategy that clearly delivers.

The strategy has been designed to attract and recruit graduates with the skills to meet a number of challenges, not least budgetary pressures, as well the ability to operate and manage in an environment of local government that is undergoing continuous change. According to Sue Goymer, recruitment manager in Kent County Council’s HR business centre, within whose remit graduate recruitment sits, graduates must possess “a strong customer service ethic, as well as the ability to manage and embrace change, and not be phased by it”.

Competition for the council’s graduate intake is intense, with 355 applications for just six graduate trainee positions last year, and 142 applications in its ongoing recruitment drive for just two graduate trainee positions in its finance department.

Goymer ascribes some of the success of the strategy to the quality of the placements offered to graduates.

“They don’t go from department to department just to see what is happening there, they get involved in projects that make a difference”, adding by way of example “they could be identifying savings targets”.

For Alison Daragon, project officer in the council’s HR business centre and a member of the Kent Graduate Programme (KGP) team, much of the success of the programme lies in the ongoing support and development given to trainees.

When they are not working on four six-month placements, over a period of two years all the trainees come together once a week to work on a project, she explains. As part of the day, the trainees also have the opportunity to speak to her about any problems they may have. “We have ongoing feedback from the graduates, so we don’t get to the end of a placement and find out that someone has been unhappy,” says Daragon.

The HR team also constantly monitors the effectiveness of its recruitment by comparing how the successful candidates

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“WE HAVE ONGOING FEEDBACK FROM THE GRADUATES, SO WE DON’T GET TO THE END AND FIND OUT SOMEONE HAS BEEN UNHAPPY” ALISON DARAGON performed in the assessment centre with their performance during their placements. “This validates our recruitment process in the assessment centre,” says Daragon. It also allows the HR team to make any adjustment in the assessment centre should that be necessary.

The views of candidates themselves are also part and parcel of the programme’s design, as are the KGP team’s ongoing efforts for continuous improvement. For example, it holds focus groups of successful candidates to help it accurately pitch the message for the next campaign. In addition to a dedicated microsite site to attract applicants, the KPG team holds open days for internal candidates with degrees.

“This has been very successful and attracted a lot of interest,” says Goymer.

COLIN COTTELL

Top: Kent County Council’s Graduate Programme team collect their award from judge Paul Maxin and host Simon Evans

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

15/05/2014 15:33

In association with:

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS

THANK YOU

TO ALL OUR SPONSORS VISIT WW WW.RE ECR RUIT TERAWARDS.CO.UK TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST FOR 2015.

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14/05/2014 12:53

Awards special

ENGINEERING SUCCESS

PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFA BASTOS

Air Energi, the winner of Best Engineering Recruitment Agency, is no stranger to impressing in recruitment industry league tables. The oil & gas specialist climbed 13 places in Recruiter’s latest FAST 50 list of fast-growing companies, and maintained steady growth for the past three years in the top quarter of Recruiter’s HOT 100, which lists the firms with the highest gross profit per employee.

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On the night of the Awards, Dave Townley, Air Energi’s recruitment manager, engineering — Europe, felt “we were in with a chance”, although “we were up against really strong competition”, which included the winner of the trophy for the past three years, CBSbutler. “It was a great surprise, but we are confident in our niche business,” he told Recruiter.

The engineering recruiter operates in 50 markets worldwide, employs more than 430 staff and has 3,000 consultants on assignment at any one time. Air Energi impressed the judges with its deep understanding of the engineering market, which is best seen in its work in challenging places around the world.

An example of this is when one of its clients prepared to enter the key facilities start-up phase in its oilfield in Kazakhstan. Air Energi was required to make a substantial contribution to the recruitment, mobilisation and ongoing assignment management of most of the new team.

This meant mobilising 65 multi-discipline engineering personnel in a three-month period. This was a particularly challenging project due to the short time scales involved and the notoriously difficult Kazakhstan visa and work permit process, but one which Air Energi successfully carried out for its client.

Donna Chapman, vice-president Europe, Africa and group permanent workforce solutions, says part of Air Energi’s success is down to its growth of permanent recruitment, from virtually nothing before 2008 to a forecast £9m for this year. With Chapman’s background in permanent solutions, she has made it a “personal mission” to focus on this part of the business, employing dedicated permanent recruitment specialists to concentrate solely in this area. “We didn’t want to become just a supplier of expats [contractors],” she told Recruiter. She seems excited about where the company is heading in permanent recruitment. “We’re still scratching the surface,” she says.

Another area where she believes Air Energi shines is in attracting the best recruiters, although they don’t necessarily have to have a background in oil & gas. This is especially true when is comes to attracting more women recruiters into the industry. Demonstrable examples from within Air Energi, such as her own, helps with this engagement. “It’s also important for our clients,” she says, adding that companies such as Shell are really committed to diversity, and in

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getting more women contractors into the industry.

Appealing to female graduates is often too late, she believes, as companies are all fighting for a finite number of women who have chosen to major in the STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects. Much better, she says, would be to “go down a generation” and encourage interest in these subjects at school, before pupils have chosen which subjects they want to focus on.

Having attended several Recruiter Awards in previous years, she was disappointed not to have been there the year Air Energi won, “but the mood in the office has been great and the Award is proudly on display”, Chapman tells Recruiter.

Townley adds that it was fantastic to be there and a great experience to walk through the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel to collect the trophy on the night. “I was really impressed with the support at the event,” he says, “and winning the Award has created a real buzz around the office.”

VANESSA TOWNSEND

Top: The Air Energi team proudly collect their award on the night from Sean Dixon of category sponsor RBS and host Simon Evans. Above: A word from our sponsor, Barry Roback, director of Anderson Group

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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Work for an award winning company

Join an award-winning Recruiter with a difference.

Search Consultancy is growing and we’re looking for sales-driven people to join us across the UK as we head for our best ever year.

It’s an exciting time for Search and if you have a sales focus and a passion for recruitment, we can guarantee you expert training, fun teams, high levels of support and a leadership team that will guide and inspire you.

We’re the Best Recruitment Company to Work for 2013 (IRP) and we placed 37th in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2014.

Come and find out why.

To find out more about Search or any of our internal roles, call our Internal Recruitment Manager Peter Barry on 0113 308 8066, email peter.barry@search.co.uk or view the latest vacancies on our recruitment site careersatsearch.co.uk

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WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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^ĞŜĹ?Ĺ˝ĆŒ Θ Ç†Ć‰ÄžĆŒĹ?ĞŜÄ?ĞĚ ZÄžÄ?ĆŒĆľĹ?ĆšÄžĆŒĆ? tÄž Ä‚ĆŒÄž Ć?ĞĞŏĹ?ĹśĹ? Ä‚Ĺś Ä‚ĹľÄ?Ĺ?ĆšĹ?ŽƾĆ?Í• ÄšĆŒĹ?ǀĞŜ ĆŒÄžÄ?ĆŒĆľĹ?ĆšÄžĆŒĆ? ƚŽ ĹŠĹ˝Ĺ?Ĺś Ĺ˝ĆľĆŒ Ĺ?ĆŒĹ˝Ç Ĺ?ĹśĹ? Ä?Ĺ˝ĹśĆšĆŒÄ‚Ä?Ćš ĞžƉůŽLJžĞŜƚ Ä?ĆľĆ?Ĺ?ŜĞĆ?Ć?͘

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FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN HIGH GROWTH RECRUITMENT AGENCY. Swanstaff Recruitment is an award winning, independent recruitment agency. Established in 1997, we have gone from strength to strength and now have 14 branches throughout the South East, with plans to open a further three this year.

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RECMAY14.indd 47

EMPOWERING PEOPLE WITH OPPORTUNITY

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Providing workforce solutions to help make this happen...

HCL Workforce Solutions proud winners of ‘Best Client Service’ at Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014 T: 020 7451 1451 E: info@hclworkforce.com W: www.hclworkforce.com 48

RECRUITER

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APRIL 2014

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

15/05/2014 09:29

Movers & Shakers

Your next move?

SPONSORED BY ALIUM PARTNERS: The interim •specialist has hired Scott

LSE APPOINTS BARKER AS HEAD OF RESOURCING

Hutchinson as head of its fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing practice.

The broadcaster has •hiredBBC:Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth to lead the people division from August this year.

CONSULTING: •TheCLAREMONT business and technology-

staffing organisation, has appointed John O’Sullivan as a non-executive director.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group, the British-based stock exchange and financial information company, has appointed Nigel Barker as head of resourcing.

Barker joins from the financial security company Genworth, where he held the position of talent and resourcing director. He was responsible for talent development, talent acquisition, contingent workforce, vendor management and employer brand.

Before this, he was global head of resourcing functions at multinational oil & gas company BP.

•

CLEARSTAR: The technology and service provider to the background check industry has appointed Luke Battah as senior vice president and general manager in London.

• EDEN SCOTT: The recruiter has appointed James Milne, Lindsey

do you want to

Boxall and Andrew Ferguson as directors.

START

•interim management and

EXECUTIVES ONLINE: The

YOUR OWN

executive recruitment company has appointed Mattijs Manders to partner in The Netherlands.

RECRUITMENT

business

FUTURESTEP: The talent and •recruitment solutions firm has

totally risk free?

appointed Rory Jeffcock as business development director in the UK.

•brand has hired Caroline Shine as

Your business - YOUR BRAND Contact David Simons on

07900 263043

• HCL WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS: The recruiter has promoted Fiona Murray to brand strategy manager and Nathan Colle to marketing operations manager.

IBM: The technology giant has •appointed Gary Kildare as chief

HR officer for Europe.

•

IQNAVIGATOR: The provider

of non-employee workforce management solutions has hired Simon Fahie as MD Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

•

KORN FERRY: The global

manager, and Michael Quinn as bid manager.

•

PENNA: The global HR services group has promoted Toni Hall to executive interim sector lead for local government.

•management and recruitment RETHINK GROUP: The talent

services company has appointed John O’Sullivan as permanent chairman of the group, and Ben Felton as chief financial officer and member of the board.

•

GANT UK: The luxury-clothing

head of HR and training.

dsimons@recruitventures.com

www.recruitventures.com executive search firm has hired John Kuper as senior client partner in its global technology practice.

HARVEY GROUP: •TheLAWRENCE global recruitment business

has hired Barry Cullen as general counsel.

•

Sponsored by Recruit Ventures

OMNI RMS: The independent recruitment process outsourcing firm has appointed Diane Bullock as business development

RTC GROUP: Appointed

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

Recruiter Republic Recruitment consultant Engineering £21k-28k per year + comms + bens + bonus Cambridgeshire

Sharna Associates Recruitment consultant Construction/built environment £25k-35k + car allowance + bonus Bristol

PageGroup Experienced recruitment consultant Healthcare £20k + comms Brentwood, Essex

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

promoted Gary Gray to associate director.

Timothy Jackson as a nonexecutive director to the board of the company.

PEOPLE SOLUTIONS: •TheSYNERGY recruiter has appointed David

SHEFFIELD HAWORTH: The •executive search specialist has

Armitage as senior finance & professional services consultant for West Yorkshire.

relocated founder and executive chairman Deepak Verma to India and moved Tim Sheffield, current chief executive officer and founder, to the role of executive chairman. Mike Hammond becomes CEO, while Patrick Morrissey, co-founder and group managing director, will become deputy chairman and chairman of asset management.

STRATEGIC RESOURCES: The •Aberdeen-based recruiter has

THE EMPLOYMENT AGENTS •MOVEMENT (TEAM): Wendy

McDougall has been appointed Scotland regional director.

TOWERS WATSON: The HR •consulting firm has promoted

Richard Belfield to head of the UK executive compensation business.

Katharine Turner assumes responsibility for the business in EMEA. John Edwards is director on the global financial services team.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short biography, to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

57_Recruiter_movers_MAY14.indd Sec3:57

RECRUITER

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15/05/2014 07:59

Bloggers with Bite

RECRUITMENT JARGON… AAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHH! Does Matt Churchward’s recruitment bugbear really wind you up too?

E

ven the word sends shivers down my spine.

Because of jargon, I’m becoming increasingly confused about what the recruitment industry actually does. I’m pretty sure we help businesses find employees and vice versa, but can no longer say so with 100% certainty…

We all know the phrases and buzzwords to which I allude — human capital, talent acquisition, boutique agency etc. Everyone I speak to loathes them, but they show no sign of abating. Why is it so hard to let clients and candidates know, in simple terms, that we are recruitment experts?

When I entered the industry 12 years ago, I researched agency websites. Websites weren’t as informative back in 2002 but at least they were to the point. Recently, I was on an oil & gas website and it was 10 minutes before I realised they were a recruitment company and not a potential client.

Kevin Spacey says in The Usual Suspects that the greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Is our industry the Keyser Soze [Spacey’s character in the film] of UKTI? At this rate, management consultancy will be casting an envious eye over our ability to confuse customers. custo e s. Can Ca you imagine i agi e other ot e industries i dust ies doing this? Cravendale advertising ‘calcium-enriched mammary gland secretion’ or Silent Night exciting customers with its new line of ‘horizontal resting apparatus (HRA)’.

Why do we do this?

Are we embarrassed by what we do? Do we believe there is not enough value in it? Or do we believe we have to throw acronyms and fancy words at clients to get them to see new value in what is essentially the same service?

We should be proud of what we do.

Matt Churchward, director, The Green Recruitment Company

Helping create jobs and shape businesses are essential to a successful economy. Our service is valued by corporates, SMEs and public bodies. Why does the FA use recruiters to appoint the England manager? Because our industry adds value. If we can make good money while we do, it is not a reason to be sheepish — we work bloody hard.

In short, let’s cut out the jargon. Make it clear to customers what we do and deliver excellence. We are recruiters — we recruit people.

I have put together a brief Recruitment Dictionary.

Feel free to distribute to clients, candidates and graduate recruitment consultants.

Talent acquisition = recruitment with a slightly longer-term view Executive search = recruit senior people Head hunting = recruit senior people you do not yet know Human capital engagement = name gather Resourcing partner = recruiter Strategic on-boarding = give them a call to check they have turned up Outplacement services = help candidates get a job Workforce strategy = recruit senior HR interims for your business Human capital consulting = tell you a bit about salaries RPO = we can do all your recruitment at your office MSP = we can do all your recruitment at our office VMS = here is a website, some agencies and an 0845 number with which you can do your own recruitment People manager = recruiter Contingent workforce delivery consultant = temp recruiter Executive referencing = doing our job Talent identification manager = recruiter Candidate attraction specialist = resourcer Boutique agency = small recruitment business Talent community = candidates See you all next year at the Talent Acquisition and Human Capital Investment Awards for Excellence. www.notsosecretrecruiter.wordpress.com/

Let’s cut out the jargon. Make it clear to people what we do and deliver excellence What do you think? Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

TO POST YOUR COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

RECRUITER.CO.UK 50

RECRUITER

MAY 2014

58_Recruit_bloggers_MAY14.indd Sec2:58

In June: Meet Victoria Bourne from oil & gas multinational BP WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

15/05/2014 08:00

Friday 5th December 2014 Park Plaza Westminster Bridge

THE IRP AWARDS 2014

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN RECRUITMENT

For further information Email: emilia.tosner@redactive.co.uk Telephone: 0207 880 6226

Supporting:

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