Recruiter magazine March 2014

March 2014

www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

Jill Duthie

Who’s on the shortlist for the Recruiter Awards 2014?

RBS head of sourcing UK & Europe on diviing g deep p into future talent pools

in association with

CRISIS NEGOTIATIONS

THE CHALLENGE

TAXING ISSUES AHOY

How to negotiate talent deals as though they were life-and-death situations

UK Trade & Investment helped The Medical Room look beyond the UK for new opportunities

Onshore or offshore, companies get to grips with the latest tax legislation for contractors

INCORPORATING 01_Recruit_Mar14_Cover-NEW.indd 1

Recruitment Matters 06/03/2014 16:18

REC.03.14.002.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:15

Contents

The UK has just observed National Apprenticeships Week, at which time every news outlet in the nation is bombarded with information about the worthy efforts of major employers to provide earn-as-you-learn opportunities, generally to young people. This is genuinely great stuff. Well-deserved applause to all who offer apprenticeships. Congratulations to those who receive these highly-coveted opportunities.

Labour MP Liam Byrne was among the government speakers making the rounds and underlining the need for apprenticeships. One of his themes was, “There is no first class, there is no second class” when it comes to a university education vs apprenticeships. We have no doubt of his sincerity — but the dirty little not-so secret is that there are still too many class and status issues in the politics of work.

For instance, the shadow secretary of state for education, Tristram Hunt, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent, is a University of Cambridge graduate.

He too has been sounding a call for more apprenticeships. But if academic and vocational education are equal, why isn’t there a professional who trained for work through vocational training such as an apprenticeship serving in such a role?

Along with politics, media — one of the most hotly desired career fields — is rife with selection of people of privilege. For instance, a recent series of columns in The Sunday Times culture section about how their critics came into their professions revealed that one of the current crop is the son of a previous Sunday Times critic. Another is an Oxford University graduate.

Apprenticeships are a fine, honourable and practical method of getting into the workplace and must be encouraged to proliferate. However, there is much to be done before Byrne’s statement that “there is no first class, there is no second class” is fo founded in reality.

DeeDee Doke, Editor

Scan here to get your own copy of Recruiter

32

28

NEWS 5

Join forces to cut back on using PSC workers London boroughs should work together to reduce agency hires

5

6

Time for a digital detox?

Healthcare and compliance de Poel Clarity proposes workers themselves should pay for their compliance

7

Flexibility key for pharma and biotech firms A new report from Real Staffing highlights the sector’s shrinking talent pool

8 Tech & tools 10 Awards shortlist: The finalists for the 2014 Recruiter Awards, in association with the Anderson Group, are now in

ANALYSIS 14 Sector Analysis Creative, digital, marketing 17 Global Spotlight on United Arab Emirates (UAE) 24 Insight Negotiate better deals

FEATURES 28 COVER STORY Jill Duthie, head of sourcing UK & Europe, RBS 32 Taxing issues ahoy With proposed offshore and onshore tax legislation for contractors, we ask what are the best ways to stay on top of the changes

REGULARS 13 On tumblr this month 19 Interaction

Soapbox: Alastair Cartwright 19 Ricky Martin 21 Soundbites 26 The Challenge 19

The Medical Room and UK Trade & Investment 46 Movers & Shakers Industry moves 50 Bloggers with Bite:

Sue Cooper

WHO’S HIRING? 47 Recruiter Republic 48 Athona, Integra,

ProMedical 49 Girling Jones 10

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 writers: Scott Beagrie, Christopher Goodfellow, 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 Display sales executive: Jasmine Pengelly T: +44 (0)20 7880 6205 jasmine.pengelly@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: Anne Sadler T: +44 (0)20 7880 6213 anne.sadler@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

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

03_Recruit_Content_MAR14-NEW.indd Sec3:3

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

3

06/03/2014 16:27

Start your own business today Horizon Recruitment Consultancy Support take the stress out of start-ups.

We are able to support your start-up with a full range of services including financial investment, back-office solutions as well as expert accountancy support.

Just think… work when you want, how you want, and take home more pay.

Isn’t it time you called us?

In partnership with the Futurelink Group, we are the only recruitment incubator that has all of the experts needed in-house for unrivalled agency support.

@HorizonRCS /company/horizon-recruitment-consultancy-support

www.HorizonRCS.co.uk | 01923 299660

REC.03.14.004.indd HorizonNew.indd 1 2

05/03/2014 26/02/2014 14:46 09:50

News

LONDON BOROUGHS SHOULD JOIN TO CUT USE OF PSC WORKERS Collective action between London boroughs is essential to reduce the number of agency workers who work through their own limited companies, according to the head of HR at the London Borough of Islington.

Shane Lynch told a meeting of councillors at Islington Town Hall earlier this month that unilateral action by the council to stop engaging workers who operate through their own limited companies wouldn’t work.

Lynch said that currently 227 agency workers who work for Islington do so through their own limited or personal service company (PSC) rather than on a PAYE basis.

But he explained, with workers who operate through PSCs able to enjoy higher take-home pay than PAYE workers, “we need to do it collectively because if one breaks ranks then the workers can follow the money”.

Questioned by one councillor as to why Islington didn’t simply refuse to engage agency staff who work on a limited company basis, Lynch told the meeting that while this was an option,

Islington Town Hall: call for collective borough action

taking unilateral action would have serious implications, particularly where workers are in high demand and could go elsewhere.

“Probably in digital services, we would completely fall over,” Lynch admitted.

“If we do something on our own, we are very exposed.”

Councillor Andy Hull, an executive member of Islington Council responsible for finance and personnel, including HR told the meeting: “There is a very strong moral case but a lot of risk that acting alone will cause untold grief.”

Around 12% of the borough’s 5,000 workforce are agency workers.

Under PSC arrangements, workers can claim many expenses that are tax deductible, as well as pay themselves in dividends, which attracts a lower tax rate than that of PAYE workers. This also results in a tax loss to the exchequer, with the result that the government plans to bring in legislation in April to bear down on the use of such onshore intermediaries and to reduce the level of ‘disguised employment’.

The practice of workers setting up their own PSCs has come under increased scrutiny from the government who believes that many of those who operate as limited companies should pay tax and NI in the same way as normal employees.

• See also ‘Taxing issues ahoy’, pp32-36.

COLIN COTTELL colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk

DIGITAL DISENGAGEMENT: IS IT TIME FOR A DETOX? Senior executives are disengaging from online professional and social networks as a mix of too-high visibility and information overload take their toll, according to recruiters.

Chris Molloy, chief executive officer at global life sciences executive search and interim specialist RSA, told Recruiter that “the flow of information” generated by LinkedIn, XING, Facebook, Twitter and other online networks “was becoming unmanageable”.

“Senior executives simply don’t have the time to consider all this ‘stuff’,” he said.

Jamie Newman, senior managing director at executive search firm Page Executive, told Recruiter: “We have noticed in the last 18 months or so that a significant number

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS GO ONLINE

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

05_Recruit_News_MAR14.indd Sec3:5

of senior executives are switching off either because it looks like they are looking for a new job [which does not go down well with their current employer] or because they are inundated.” Newman said that he was personally aware of “15 to 20 executives” that have “switched off”.

Roopesh Panchasra, director, talent acquisition EMEA/APAC at cloud-based human capital management and financial management software vendor Workday, said that more and executives were taking was has become known as a ‘digital detox’.

“We are seeing more and more people who are simply fed up being contacted by recruiters they don’t know. It has gone from being a place you have to be to one where you have too much visibility,” he said.

Panchasra said that he himself “probably” would have withdrawn from social and professional media, except for the fact that as a recruiter he needed to be visible to candidates.

However, he knew of executives at both Expedia, his former employer, and Workday

who have withdrawn from professional networks.

Graeme Reed, chief executive of recruitment start-up investor company 3R Partnership, told Recruiter that while Time for a digital detox? he hadn’t completely cut himself from social media, he had “limited his connections on Twitter because you simply haven’t got the time to read everything.” He said he had also cut down the time spent online by only responding to about 10% of requests.

Social media consultant Matt Alder of Metashift told Recruiter: “My own experience points to completely the opposite taking place. I think this is just wishful thinking on the part of the search firms.”

LinkedIn declined to comment.

• Are you taking a ‘digital detox’? Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk COLIN COTTELL colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

5

06/03/2014 16:43

News Events How to Attract and Keep the Best Talent…

In partnership with LoveWorkLife 19 March, Mischon de Reya, London mercuryxrm.co.uk/events. aspx

London School of Economics and London HR Connection Panel Debate The Future of Recruitment; Room for Everyone?

26 March, London School of Economics londonhr.org/event. php?event=143

ERE Recruiting Conference & Expo 2014 22-24 April, San Diego Convention Centre, San Diego, CA ererecruitingconference. com/2014spring/

High Performance Workforce Summit 2014 28-29 May, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, GA highperformanceworkforce summit.com/2014/ Social Recruiting Strategies Conference 24-26 June, Doubletree By Hilton Hotel, London www.socialrecruiting strategies.com/

Thoughts from recruiter.co.uk, Twitter and beyond…

“Agency staff don’t have the loyalty of council staff; it reflects in their work” SO BELIEVES LIBERAL DEMOCRAT ISLINGTON COUNCILLOR, TRACY ISMAIL

AGENCY HEALTHCARE WORKERS SHOULD PAY FOR COMPLIANCE Individual NHS healthcare agency workers could become responsible for paying for their own compliance management under a potentially gamechanging proposal from healthcare managed service provider de Poel Clarity.

The proposal is intended to cut compliance costs for the financially beleaguered health service’s Trusts, which reportedly pay more than £500 per year for each agency worker employed on a temporary basis.

In the UK, the cost of compliance for non-permanent staff is currently the responsibility of either the employer or the supplying recruitment agency.

Research commissioned by de Poel Clarity contends that this costs the NHS more than £250m a year and represents over 10% of the overall cost of the annual agency spend across the health service.

Speaking to Recruiter, Andrew Preston, managing director of de Poel Clarity, pointed out that healthcare workers currently must have their compliance verified by each organisation for which they work.

“It takes cost and time to do it, there are multiple opportunities for error, there is not one single record or single source to go to, to obtain the necessary information,” he said.

As a result, Preston said de Poel Clarity is “looking to introduce, and trying to develop at the moment, a pilot project with an NHS Trust to look at… making the single use of compliance data” endorsed and accepted by individual NHS trusts and also acceptable to and endorsed by various agencies.

A pilot project with the unnamed Trust could be underway at the end of July, he said. “What would happen is, the individual doctors or nurses would then be accountable and responsible for their own compliance, and therefore the costs associated with that

would not be borne by the NHS themselves but could be by the individual healthcare provider or the individual themselves — which is consistent with other professions, for example, accountants and lawyers,” Preston said.

Asked what the cost to the individual would be, Preston said: “We’re in the initial phase of trying to work out what it would cost. We expect it to be a nominal registration fee, and that’s purely for the verification and administrative process.”

The current cost of compliance per candidate, according to what he said was “lots of published data”, ranges from £800 to £2.5k to make a candidate compliant.

“We wouldn’t be looking at anything near that; we’re talking a very small fractional cost in the tens of pounds, not hundreds of pounds,” he said.

Preston cited a recent report from the King’s Fund think-tank, which contends that one in five NHS hospitals are set to go into deficit by the end of the financial year.

DEEDEE DOKE deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk

HARINGEY TRANSFORMS UNDER PENNA

Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014

HOW DOES an organisation redefine itself in the wake of a scandal that horrified a nation, dominated front-page •headlines and made pariahs out of staff members serving in sensitive positions?

7 May 2014, Grosvenor House Hotel, London recruiterawards.co.uk **Table bookings open now**

Haringey Council found itself in such a situation following the 2007 death of ‘Baby P’, a toddler resident in the borough who died of multiple injuries caused by his mother’s partner over a period of time. Signs that the child was being abused were overlooked by council-employed social work staff, as well as medical professionals.

Today, in conjunction with HR consultancy Penna, Haringey Council is undergoing an all-encompassing, ‘hard-wired’ cultural transformation to change its approach to serving its customers and, ultimately, its employer brand. Placing new expectations on managers and other staff to “get on or off the bus” in terms of attitude and working practices is a key aspect of the transformation, according to Julie Towers, managing director, Recruitment Solutions at Penna. As a result, Towers said, Penna’s work with Haringey involves significant “career transition” work for existing staff.

Towers spoke last week about its Haringey project at a seminar on Measuring Success hosted by Hays Talent Solutions in conjunction with Penna. The work has included development centres involving existing Haringey managers that revealed deeply-entrenched negativity and resistance to change and improvement among many.

Towers said attracting new talent is “a new story” for Haringey under the leadership of council chief executive Nick Walkey, who was himself recruited in 2012. Having great leadership is also a tenet of the new Haringey Council, she said. “We can’t have people in the organisation who aren’t ambitious for Haringey,” she said.

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

RECRUITER.CO.UK

DEEDEE DOKE deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk

6

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

06_Recruiter_News_MAR14.indd Sec3:6

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 15:44

News

“Eat a banana” CRAIG TINDALL, DIRECTOR OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR, AIMIA, ADVISES RECRUITERS BEFORE THEY CARRY OUT AN INTERVIEW

“One woman on a board tends to remain quiet, two may start to share their views, but if you have three, then we tend to take over” RACHEL TRANTE, MD WOMEN ON BOARDS, REC PROMOTING WOMEN LEADERS EVENT

“It’s not about filling quotas, it’s about hiring the correct person for the job” JOHN TIMPSON, CHAIRMAN, TIMPSON’S, SPEAKING AT THE WORK & FAMILY SHOW

PHARMA AND BIOTECH FIRMS: FLEXIBILITY KEY TO FIND TALENT

However, the report ‘Recruiting & Retaining a Competitive Workforce’ found that employers face a number of major challenges.

While the motivation among employees to move is very high, a third of employers say the size of the available talent pool has shrunk in the last 12 months.

However, despite this and rising salary expectations among employees, the report notes that only just over a third (34.6%) of medical devices companies and a quarter (25%) of pharma and biotech companies feel their ability to compete on salary is a concern.

The report found that factors other than the purely financial are important to this workforce when considering their next role, with a better work-life balance an important consideration for 62% of employees. With the lack of local and skilled talent a prevailing factor among employers, the report shows that 56.7% of pharma & biotech companies and 46.2% of medical devices firms are looking to develop their own talent internally.

Other responses to the lack of talent include adopting a more flexible recruitment policy, including looking for talent outside the sector, mentioned by more than four out of 10 employers surveyed.

Further evidence of this flexible approach comes from employers’ willingness to recruit across borders, with more than a quarter of employers across both sectors prepared to consider recruiting from as far afield as Asia-Pacific.

The report notes that given the willingness of employees in these sectors to relocate, the interests of employers and workforce are becoming

GETTY

More than eight out of 10 employers in the pharmaceutical & biotechnology and medical devices sectors across Europe are planning to recruit this year, according to research by sector specialist Real Staffing, a division of international staffing group SThree.

Employers report a shrinking talent pool in the industry

increasingly aligned. Despite this, it found that 85.7% of medical devices firms and 59.1% pharma & biotech companies prefer to employ local talent, with lack of language skills and knowledge of local regulations being particular barriers to hiring across international borders.

The report notes differences between the recruitment approach taken by the two sectors.

While medical devices employers adopt a blended approach, with 53.3% saying they are looking to recruit on both a contract and permanent basis, 54.4% of pharma and biotech employers express a preference for permanent recruitment.

More than half of medical device companies consider their brand to be a key attribute when recruiting. These sentiments were echoed by participants at a UK roundtable, run by Real Staffing, which highlights how the culture of smaller organisations can be used to attract talent.

• To pre-register to receive a copy of the full report, launched on 24 March, visit Real’s website at www. realstaffing.com/recruitment.

And for more on this topic, see The Challenge (p26) and also online ‘Patients first approach, not high pay pays off for Otsuka’, 6 March, recruiter.co.uk COLIN COTTELL colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk

MORE SPONSORS SIGN UP FOR 2014 AWARDS ANDERSON GROUP, Mobile Contractor, Forest Group and Itris are the latest companies to sign up as sponsors •of the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014. They join sponsors Danbro, FPS, ICS, CV-Library and Flo, who are

sponsoring the Awards, which take place on Wednesday 7 May, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in London’s Mayfair.

Anderson Group, provider of professional services to the recruitment and contractor sector, is the headline sponsor. Group marketing director Chris Ford said: “We believe it is important to identify and award best practice and outstanding leadership across the industry if we are all to set and drive forward the very highest standards.”

Maddie Dean, marketing executive at app for contractors firm Mobile Contractor, said: “As a new company we thought it would be exciting being part of such a big event.” Jovan Pavlicevic, commercial director at contractor service provider Forest Group, added: “The level of exposure we are expecting from our sponsorship puts us on a better platform than where we currently are.” And Chris Brind, managing director of recruitment software firm Itris, said: “We are thrilled to be sponsoring the award for Recruitment Agency of the Year (More Than 100 Employees).”

• For more details on how to become a sponsor, visit recruiterawards.co.uk or contact Tom Culley on 020 7880 7607.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

07_Recruiter_News_MAR14.indd 7

“Cut contractor rates by 10%” ADAM TEMPLEMAN, RWE NPOWER’S HEAD OF RESOURCING’S PRESCRIPTION FOR CUTTING COSTS

Contract News BlueSky PR: Awarded a contract to handle the global PR for Morgan McKinley…

Bullhorn: The recruitment software provider has partnered with Textkernel…

Capita: Signed a framework contract to deliver the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)…

Church International: The IT recruitment specialist has announced plans to roll out the Etz timesheet solution…

Ebsta: The Chrome plug-in for Salesforce has launched the plug-in for Jobscience, a customer relationship management (CRM)-based recruiter… Engage Partners: Chosen Talent Rover to power its international operations…

JFL: The comms recruitment specialist has signed a third support contract with Oncore IT… Lumesse: Partnered with HireVue to expand the talent acquisition reach and functionality of Lumesse TalentLink… Morson: Partnered with Concorde IT to serve customers of the G-cloud IV framework… Oscar Associates: The technical recruitment specialist has been awarded a long-term contract with Statoil… Pertemps

People Development Group: Teamed up with Coventry City Council to help 35 unemployed ex-offenders back into work. Prospects in the City: Delivering a contract in partnership with the London Corporation and London Councils to support people from the surrounding boroughs of the square mile in to employment... TJ Morris: The retailer behind the Home Bargains discount chain has chosen TribePad’s Social applicant tracking system (ATS) as its partner to manage staffing plans…

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

7

06/03/2014 15:45

News

Tech & tools

BEHAVIOURAL SCREENING MOVES TO THE FRONT END he availability of a new application programming interface (API) is allowing employers to build pre-employment behavioural assessments into their applicant tracking systems (ATSs) at the start of the recruitment process for use on every job applicant.

Vic Gaffin, chief executive officer of MatchingPeople2Jobs (MP2J), which has released the API, told Recruiter that for positions which attract a high volume of candidates, the assessments are being welcomed by clients as an early screening tool.

“There is a debate at the moment as to whether this would put people off applying for jobs but a lot of our clients are pleased if it does,” he said. “It’s so easy to apply for a job these days and undertaking the assessment shows people are serious about the application.” The drop-out figure for those deciding not to take the test is around 20%, Gaffin claimed.

MP2J has been involved in developing assessment Vic Gaffin products for more than 10 years. The functionality provided by the API includes a performance matrix to establish the behavioural performance standards for any given role, the behavioural assessments that predict every applicant’s performance against the new job role, job match technology which provides a list of the top job applicants to interview and a talent search facility that analyses thousands of existing profiles to identify suitable candidates before advertising a vacancy. The software can also generate a candidate profile, personal development plan and personal profile reports.

Traditionally, testing every applicant would be cost-prohibitive or seen as a waste of time and money, but MP2J’s licence fee is based on number of candidates processed rather than each person who takes the test (processed means those who apply, take the test, get a percentage ranking and progress to the job offer stage or the talent pool). The fee varies based on the volumes used.

Whether a candidate progresses in the role or not, they receive a personal profile with advice on how they could improve their performance in the world of work. “This creates a good recruitment brand for the employer,” said Gaffin. “It also helps a line manager at the interview stage to maybe probe further in some areas and could help induct or integrate the person in the company if they are successful.”

The release of the API is in line with Gaffin’s vision for the ATSs of the future, which he believes won’t be provided by one supplier but rather created from a collection of best-of-breed software solutions. “We’ll see lots of different APIs talking to each other,” he explained.

“A client will, for example, want job posting software from one provider, matching from another and onboarding from someone else. The end user is much more educated in terms of what they want.”

T

Why big data equals bigger skillsets It is hardly surprising that big data was one of the subjects covered at the 12th annual Online Recruitment Conference organised by Enhance Media.

The message from Enhance director and owner Giles Guest was that big data has the potential to provide a 50% increase in candidate conversion rates for no extra spend.

All the big data in the world though remains ineffective without the right skillset to deal with it. Enhance’s Recruiter Survey 2013 research reveals more than half of recruiters have ineffective data in the first place and a quarter are interpreting it incorrectly.

To maximise the benefit of big data and succeed in the new era of recruitment, Guest believes recruiters require new skillsets and need to take on the role of marketer, analyst, social and web experts and optimisers as well the more traditional ones. He told Recruiter after the event that recruitment teams are already starting to change, with an increasing focus on specialist skills. “One only needs look at recruitment agencies to see that the very best ones, those leading the market, have already embraced the specialist skills approach,” he said. “In the same way that HR is a specialist field and a capable HR practitioner is not necessarily a talented recruiter, then someone who is a sourcer Giles Guest is not necessarily best suited within recruitment for running marketing strategies, responding to social media queries or CV filtering.”

Where this is most evident is in areas requiring specialist skills such as analytics insight, professional research, technical SEO and user journey optimisation, which Guest comments are often skills based around mathematics and percentage optimisation. “For evidence of the importance of those skills consider the impact if each of, say, seven specialist areas could reduce your recruitment bill and time by just 5%,” he said. “Over time these skills will increase within recruitment teams but the current challenge and opportunity for companies is to incorporate these specialist areas into a strategy, especially those skills relying on data and research. Insourcing those skills is still some way off.”

More than 400 delegates attended the Online Recruitment Conference with direct recruiters, agencies and recruitment process outsourcing firms (RPOs) all represented. Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke gave the opening presentation, and while championing the latest technological developments urged recruiters to remember that technology without the right human intervention and a well-considered strategy won’t deliver the best candidate or client experience.

Overall, the event highlighted the changing face of recruitment: speakers’ topics included social media, gamification, direct sourcing and video, while masterclasses focused on areas such as search engine marketing, mobile, and tracking and measurement. Real-life experience of social media and gamification was finally publicly showcased by major employers, BT and KPMG, and the audience’s response and questioning to these sessions proved the desire for more knowledge-sharing in these areas. www.enhancemedia.co.uk

www.matchingpeople2jobs.com SUE WEEKES

Sign up for our daily breaking news alerts at www.recruiter.co.uk

8

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

08_Recruit_Online_mar14.indd 8

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:42

REC.03.14.009.indd 2

05/03/2014 14:47

News

Web comments Headhunters employed to recruit more women for top jobs (21 February) I’m a headhunter and a woman, and find these initiatives slightly pointless, albeit very well-intentioned, and slightly patronising.

There are a great many reasons why more women don’t make the shortlist for senior positions, not least of which is a lack of desire. I really don’t think headhunters practise active discrimination. Without wanting to sound snippy, I think it is more likely to be laziness on the part of the headhunter (to your point about moving in the same circles) and a lack of time on the part of senior women to get involved in evening, Citybased networking events while trying to balance family responsibilities.

My firm appoints a fair proportion of senior women across disciplines, both technical and non-technical, and it comes down to a meritocratic approach to finding good candidates. This is far too complex a subject to cover in a short article and response, although endlessly fascinating!

Lucy James, Quarsh Ltd Age discrimination rife in accountancy profession (17 September 2013) This is rife in all industries.

I wonder what these ageist companies and line managers will do when they reach this age. Will they realise how harsh their opinion was? Companies need to be made aware of the talent they are turning away and put a halt to this attitude by being educated into employing the older worker. How is it that only 20 years ago we did not have this problem in the UK?

Susan Hayward

10

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

10_12_Recruit_Digest_MAR14.indd 10

RECRUITER AWARDS 2014: WHO’S MADE THE SHORTLIST? The countdown to the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2014, in association with Anderson Group, is building momentum with the revelation of the shortlist containing 118 separate companies in 180 shortlisted entries.

Many congratulations to all the finalists!

1. Agency Recruitment Leader of the Year Sponsored by Independent Contractor Services Limited (ICS) • Guy Hayward — Goodman Masson • Matthew Churchward — The Asoria Group • Raj Tulsiani — Green Park Interim & Executive Search • Toby Briant — Rutherford Briant Recruitment 2. In-House Recruitment Leader of the Year • Chris Marsh — Atkins • David McArthur — DWP • Julie Johnson — Johnson & Johnson 3. Best Apprentice/School Leaver Recruitment Strategy • International Financial Data Services (IFDS) • Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • Nestlé UK in partnership with Capp & Co 4. Best Banking/Financial Recruitment Agency • Eames Consulting Group • LMA Recruitment • Marks Sattin (UK) • Oliver James Associates 5. Best Candidate Care Sponsored by Forest Group • 4Social Work • ForceSelect • Henderson Scott • October Recruitment • Penta Consulting • Protocol Education • Retail Human Resources • Sanctuary Personnel • Tangent International

6. Best Candidate Experience • The Co-operative Bank • Diageo, Western Europe 7. Best Client Service • Acre • Argyll Scott • CBSbutler • GTI Recruiting Solutions • HCL Workforce Solutions • Henderson Scott • LA International Computer Consultants • Morgan Hunt • October Recruitment • Sanctuary Personnel 8. Best Creative/Digital/Media Recruitment Agency of the Year • Major Players • Profiles Creative • Purple Consultancy 9. Best Embedded Recruitment Team • Capita Onsite Recruitment Team — Severn Trent Water in partnership with Capita Resourcing • American Express — Europe in partnership with Hays Talent Solutions • Argos, Basildon in partnership with Transline Group • Aviva in partnership with hyphen Recruitment Outsourcing • Vodafone in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions 10. Best Engineering Recruitment Agency • Air Energi • CBSbutler • NRL

11. Best Global/International Recruitment Strategy • Atkins • Baker Hughes in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions and NES Global Talent • Rolls-Royce in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions 12. Best Graduate Recruitment Strategy • Atkins • BSkyB • Deloitte in partnership with Havas People • Johnson & Johnson Consumer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals • Kent County Council • Thomas Cook 13. Best I.T Recruitment Agency Sponsored by Mobile Contractor • Annapurna IT — part of the Annapurna Recruitment Group • Argyll Scott • ConSol Partners • Eurostaff — part of Staffgroup • InterQuest Group (UK) • ITHR Group • LA International Computer Consultants • Montash • Nicoll Curtin Technology • Opus Recruitment Solutions • Roc Search 14. Best International Recruitment Agency • First Point Group • Oil Consultants • Robert Walters • Tangent International • Transline Group 15. Best Job Board/Careers Board • Bubble Jobs • CareersinAudit.com • CV-Library

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:43

The support provided by the whole team is second to none: no problem or user issue has been too much, and the product knowledge is outstanding. They are very understanding of our users and no question is felt too silly for us to ask.

One of the key drivers behind a recruitment consultancy’s decision to change their software provider is support. We know this, so we’ve built our business model around providing an unrivalled level of support.

It starts with the design of Itris: to be as trouble-free as possible. But if things do go wrong, you have access to our support team by phone, email and online.

The Itris support package entitles you to all updates and new versions automatically.

Itris helps you maintain a competitive advantage by ensuring that as we release new features and functionality, you get them effortlessly and painlessly. And most importantly, without incurring additional cost.

0845 680 0660 www.itris.co.uk

REC.03.14.011.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:19

News

17. Best Professional Services Recruitment Agency Sponsored by Anderson Group • Annapurna Recruitment Group • Argyll Scott • Chadwick Nott • Datatech Analytics • Goodman Masson • ITN Mark Education • LMA Recruitment • RIG Locums • Shilton Sharpe Quarry • TTM Healthcare 18. Best Recruitment Agency Marketing Team • Fircroft • FiveTen Group • RedLaw Recruitment • Robert Walters • Search Consultancy 19. Best Recruitment Agency to Work For (Fewer than 100 Employees) Sponsored by FPS Group • CBSbutler • Evolution Recruitment Solutions • Fuel Recruitment • Nicoll Curtin Technology • Penta Consulting • Pod Talent • Purple Consultancy • RedLaw Recruitment • Rutherford Briant Recruitment • Synergy Group 20. Best Recruitment Agency to Work For (More than 100 Employees) Sponsored by Danbro • Eden Brown • Goodman Masson • Morgan Hunt • Oliver James Associates • Sanctuary Personnel • Your World Recruitment Group

12

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

10_12_Recruit_Digest_MAR14.indd 12

21. Best Recruitment Team • Capita Internal Resourcing — Capita • Group Resourcing — Tesco • People Resourcing and In-Source — Birmingham City Council • Resourcing — LV= • Resourcing Centre of Expertise — Atkins • Talent Acquisition Team — Diageo, Western Europe • Resourcing Team — McDonald’s Restaurants 22. Best Temporary Recruitment Agency Sponsored by Flo Software Solutions Limited • Caritas Recruitment • Driver Hire Nationwide • Eden Brown • Extrastaff • Meridian Business Support • Right Track Recruitment • Teaching Personnel • Transline Group • Vivid Resourcing 23. Innovation in Recruitment • Atkins • Boots (#Boots Style) in partnership with andsome • Boots UK in partnership with Cubiks • Capita in partnership with G2G3 • Deloitte (Autumn Campaign) in partnership with Havas People • HCA Hospitals in partnership with Pink Squid • Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • Originem in partnership with INNOVO • SONOS EMEA in partnership with Cammio video recruitment 24. Most Effective Employer Brand Development • Atkins in partnership with Appetite • Debenhams in partnership with Pink Squid • Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • LV= in partnership with ThirtyThree • Premier Inn in partnership with Pink Squid • SCJohnson in partnership with andsome

25. Most Effective Recruitment Marketing Campaign • Barclays UKRBB in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions • Boots in partnership with andsome • Deloitte in partnership with Havas People • Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • Lyle & Scott in partnership with Beringer Tame • Ministry of Defence in partnership with Havas People • Santander in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions 26. Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Organisation • GradWeb • GTI Recruiting Solutions • Omni RMS • Pertemps • Pinstripe & Ochre House • Rolls-Royce in partnership with Alexander Mann Solutions 27. Recruitment Agency of the Year (Fewer than 100 Employees) Sponsored by CV-Library • Academic Appointments • Acre • Amoria Bond • Eames Consulting Group • Energize Recruitment Solutions • Lawrence Harvey Group • Montash • Resourcing Group 28. Recruitment Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees) Sponsored by Itris • LA International Computer Consultants • Oliver James Associates • Pareto Law • Robert Walters • Sanctuary Personnel • SThree • Your World Recruitment Group 29. Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year • Cammio • CEB • cube19 • Jaguar Land Rover in partnership with Pink Squid • Search Consultancy • Seed Jobs • Tazio

%

44

of graduates say they regret not studying something more vocational, according to research by job board totaljobs.com

TOP

16. Best New Agency Sponsored by Anderson Group • Carrington West • Gemini Search • Hunter Healthcare • LinuxRecruit • MediLink Consulting • Right Track Recruitment • Tempest Resourcing • The Asoria Group • Venquis

5

MOST VIEWED JOBS ON OUR WEBSITE

1. Charity People, Recruitment consultant

2. ageas, Recruitment manager, Bournemouth

3. O’Connell

Resourcing, Hedge fund recruitment consultant

4. Sharna Associates, Resourcer

5. GNB Partnership, Digital media recruitment consultant

TOP

RECRUITER AWARDS 2014 SHORTLIST

5

MOST VIEWED ARTICLES ONLINE

1. UK vacancy growth

the fastest for 15 years

2. DWP investigates

allegations of 11,000 fake jobs on government website

3. More than £30k to

replace member of staff, report finds

4. Jaguar Land Rover

begins recruitment to fill 1,700 jobs

5. James Caan: Forget

improving markets, there are no shortcuts to success

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:43

News

On tumblr this month On recruitermagazine.tumblr.com, Recruiter magazine’s tumblr feed, we showcase some of the other work that recruiters get up to

Morgan Hunt Recruiter Morgan Hunt and the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust (DKLT) are helping disadvantaged young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) to ‘Get on Track’ through a number of initiatives. The Dragons’ Den style event (above) is just one of the charity partnership initiatives that Morgan Hunt helps stage with DKLT at the firm’s London offices. Their initiatives are designed to help improve employability, using everything at their disposal including mentoring, ‘back-to-work’ CV-writing and interview courses.

Venquis In January, the leadership team at business transformation firm Venquis set off on a week-long journey to the outskirts of Kolkata (India), with a leadership development coach and its charity partner Shivia, visiting schools in disadvantaged communities.

For the last 12 months they had undergone an extensive leadership development training programme and on the trip got the chance to put it all into practice. They hope future groups can build on this. Well done, Venquis leaders!

Don’t forget to send us your lighter news with pictures to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

EXPERT OPINION

Game changing new legislation for the recruitment industry It’s the new legislation that will affect all involved in recruitment. It’s been under consideration for quite some time, but from April 6, HMRC will roll out new regulations tackling the issue of self-employment. It’s name; ‘Onshore Employment Intermediaries: False Self-Employment,’ and its mission is to protect workers, as well as recover tax revenue.

While the Onshore Intermediaries Legislation is designed to ‘improve fairness within the tax system’, it is abundantly clear that legislation needs tightening with regards to proving whether a worker is or is not under supervision at the time of employment. It is this issue that will aggravate subcontractors and has the potential to be played out in the courts in the years to come over disputes.

The theory behind the scheme is to combat many companies using employment intermediaries in order to facilitate false self-employment. This means a cracking down of employment businesses disguising workers as self employed in order to pocket extra profit. This fabrication avoids paying National Insurance Contributions and income tax.

The government found existing legislature ineffective when confronting this problem so have decided to take action now before this practice spreads any further.

“It would be far simpler for HMRC to publish that all workers should be considered to be placed on a PAYE basis, apart from those who claim to be genuinely self employed.

Where such a claim of self employment is made, HMRC should issue guidelines on what determines self-employment within the recruitment industry using the 5 or 6 contributing factors of self-employment and stipulating that an agency must demonstrate that they can comply 100% of all contributing factors. This would allow agencies who wish to operate above board and in line with legislation a fighting chance to compete fairly and would certainly take the ‘grey’ out of this legislation,” concluded Amanda.

HMRC propose to enforce this by now making agencies clearly state a workers employment status, safeguarding against being employed under false pretenses.

Nevertheless, it is the lack of clarity and assistance from HMRC that is causing frustration for recruitment agencies determined to maintain integrity. Some say this ambiguity and perhaps ‘grey area’ of legislature could theoretically be exploited by less reputable agencies taking advantage of loopholes. While confronting this issue across the board will be expected to level the playing field for businesses across all sectors, its implementation has been met with scepticism among industry bodies such as the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and The Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC).

Amanda Hobson, CEO of Easypay Services with 22 years experience in recruitment, voiced concerns in regards to the new regulations being introduced and put in to place so quickly. In relation to previous systems in place, Amanda explains it became, ‘a plethora of managed service and umbrella companies operating unlawful schemes, allowing agencies to use self-employed workers via a third party.’

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

13_Recruiter_Tumbler_news_MAR14.indd 13

Needless to say, the introduction of this scheme will have a major impact upon the recruitment industry and how it operates moving forward. This isn’t the first time a game-changing piece of legislation has been introduced upon the recruitment industry in recent years, and it sure won’t be the last. Only time will tell of the wider implications this will have. One thing is for sure, with the governments backing; the Onshore Employment Intermediaries now has to be taken seriously.

For further information, please visit www.easypayservices.co.uk or email info@easypayservices.co.uk or call 01943 883277

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

13

06/03/2014 08:44

Sector Analysis

Creative industries CREATIVE, DIGITAL AND MARKETING MAY NOT OFFER SUPER-HIGH SALARIES BUT INTEREST FROM CANDIDATES IS STRONG “There’s a huge amount of competition in this sector because it’s sexy; everyone wants to do it. Candidates need to look for ways to stand out from the crowd,” says Steve Girdler, managing director EMEA at HireRight, a provider of candidate due diligence services.

Just how ‘sexy’ the industry is has been proven by recent figures from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) showing employment in the sector increasing at a higher rate than any other industry in the UK. The creative industries, which include advertising, marketing, design and publishing, accounted for 1.68m jobs in 2012 — 5.6% of all jobs in the UK — while employment between 2011 and 2012 increased by 8.6%. As a whole, the report estimated that the creative industries generated £8m per hour for the UK economy.

Maria Miller, secretary of state for the DCMS, says: “These incredible statistics are confirmation that the creative industries consistently punch above their weight, outperforming all other main industry sectors.

“We are committed to ensuring that the energy, innovation, skills and talent existing in this dynamic sector continues to translate into economic success,” she added.

This exceptional growth rate looks likely to continue throughout the year, according to Matt Nudds, director of marketing recruitment agency, Purple Consultancy, who says, “2014, like 2010, is set to be another boom year for the creative industry. Having recovered throughout the whole of 2013, I’ve never seen a January period so busy for the creative industry”.

He continues: “The occurrence of diversity within the sector is making it brilliant for the market, for the better and for the worse.

Predominantly for the better as it means we have a more diverse quality of candidates available.”

The economic landscape may be improving, but according to employment agency Reed, nearly a

third (28%) of marketing and creative workers are setting their sights on a new job in 2014, meaning businesses need to invest in their workforce to win the race for talent.

“As the economy continues to strengthen and job opportunities rise, the competition for quality creatives will increase, and businesses can’t afford to lose out,” says Tom Lovell, group managing director, Reed.

However, as Nudds points out, many firms are struggling to find permanent staff, with most candidates turning to freelance: “Freelance is massive and has grown hugely over the past two or three years. A number of our clients are turning to freelance across a variety of positions.”

Andy Chester, recruitment manager at digital, creative and marketing recruiter Orchard, believes “the ongoing change within the industry has led to a constant under-supply of specialists”. However, he says, “we are now at a point where the number of available specialists is catching up with demands.

“Such demand, of course, makes it much more lucrative for specialists to operate in a freelance capacity. As such we have seen an increased demand for freelance app designers and developers, and user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers or developers.”

Ash Bhamra, marketing manager at creative recruitment agency Source, agrees that “more candidates are going freelance as demand increases, as they are able force up their day rates to clients”.

A recent survey by Major Players, the marketing and creative recruitment agency, reported 2013 as a busy year for digital freelancers. Over 60% of their candidates have freelanced at some point, and over 40% intended to move freelance in 2014.

Katy Ross, creative consultant for integrated and design at Major Players, says: “Flexibility and variety are the most popular reasons candidates choose to remain freelance. With greater numbers of freelancers entering the market, candidates are finding that they need to be more flexible where their rates are concerned.”

Views from the market Matt Nudds Director, Purple Consultancy “A lot of eyes are on the industry at the moment, and more and more companies want a piece of the everchanging marketplace.”

Katy Ross Creative consultant, MajorPlayers “The social scene has encroached on traditional advertising massively over the last year and has played a big part in most traditional job roles.”

Tom Lovell Group MD, Reed “Despite lacking rewards, most marketing or creative employees are satisfied in their current role.”

Ash Bhamra, Marketing manager, Source “We expect a 20% increase in demand for digital creative, UX, tech, project management and performance disciplines through 2014.”

Andy Chester Recruitment manager, Orchard “In a marketplace that is so well connected on a digital level, you have to do it right.

If you do, you stand a good chance of turning candidates into brand ambassadors.”

MATT BODIMEADE matt.bodimeade@recruiter.co.uk

Sources (left to right): Major Players, DCMS, Reed

MAJOR PLAYERS: SURVEY OF DAY RATES FOR FREELANCE CREATIVES

14

Job title

Day rate average Day rate min-max

Junior art director

£175

Senior art director

£300

Junior digital designer £150

Sector employment (jobs) Advertising and marketing

143,000

Architecture

89,000

Design

116,000

£150-£200

HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

84.4% Satisfied/ very satisfied

£250-300 £150-£220

Senior digital designer £275

£250-£350

Junior designer

£150

£150-£200

Senior designer

£280

£270-£300

Creative director

£400

£350-550

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

14_Recruit_SectorAnalysis_MAR14.indd 14

UK EMPLOYMENT IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES (2012)

Film, TV, video, radio and photography 238,000 IT, software and computer services

558,000

Publishing

223,000

4.7%

Unsatisfied/ very unsatisfied

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 16:49

Recruitment Software

first choice software

Helping you keep your promises since 1996

ProNet people I process I placements

Est. 1996

Developed by people with recruitment in their DNA

18 years on and still the pioneering force behind recruitment software solutions

online timesheets

client portal

candidate portal

Jb cap clp ot job board

mobile suite

web suite

vendor management systems

business intelligence

virtual office

Industry Leading Recruitment Software

We take compliance and data protection seriously Secure your data with a British provider

Book a demonstration now Call our customer team on +44 (0)1256 314600 or visit www.firstchoice.org.uk

Giving back First Choice Software were proud headline sponsors of the following events in 2013:

REC.03.14.015.indd 2

Annuaal Charityy Ball

Global Recruiter Industry Awards

Global Recruiter AsiaPac Awards* * Category sponsor

Ri

Recruitment International Awards

Marketing g& Advertisin ng Recruitme ent Awards

2013

05/03/2014 08:20

Payroll • Credit Control • Invoicing • 100% Funding • Debt Protection

We are different.

Reason #7

WE WORK TO THE SPIRIT OF THE CONTRACT, NOT THE LETTER.

Call us on 01 260 280 290 For more information on our unique service, go to

www.backofficesupportservices.co.uk/different

REC.03.14.016.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:22

Market Indicators

Global Spotlight on UAE

DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION, MANY WHO FIND WORK IN THE STATE AND RECRUITERS WHO FIND THEM, FIND IT HARD TO RETURN HOME Steve Currie, Reed’s country manager in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), tells Recruiter: “It is quite normal and legal for employers to specify the sex, the age and how many years’ experience [they want in their preferred candidates].”

Key indicators

Currie says the absence of discrimination legislation across the vast majority of the oil-rich state is a big difference between recruiting in the UAE and the UK. “All those things you cannot say in the UK” such as “I want a man aged 30-40” and openly specifying “a female receptionist of a certain age and nationality” are quite commonplace in the UAE, he says.

“You could say it makes it easier [for the recruiter],” continues Currie, but he admits it can also be frustrating. “They might specify a Western person, but you cannot find such a person to work at that salary and even though you have someone [suitable] from India, they [the employer] won’t accept it.”

Sara Khoja, partner in employment law at law firm Clyde & Co in Dubai, explains that the only part of the UAE that has discrimination legislation is the Dubai International Financial Centre, a free zone in which legislation based on English Common Law applies.

For Khoja, the virtual absence of discrimination laws is symptomatic of a country that has fallen behind other Gulf states, such as Bahrain, which has modernised its labour laws. And despite efforts by UAE’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to push for women on the board of every government organisation, progress has been slow. “What doesn’t happen is women progressing into senior roles — there is much less of a focus on this in the UK,” says Khoja.

That’s not quite how Currie sees it. “I have met lots of women in powerful positions in the UAE. There isn’t a problem; it’s a perception that people outside have about the Arab world,” he says. However, Currie agrees with Khoja that gender diversity is not high on UAE corporate agendas. “I have yet to have a conversation” with a client about improving gender diversity, he says.

The International Monetary Fund predicts economic growth for the UAE of 3.9% in 2014, slightly down on 4.4% in 2012

UAE ranks 23rd out of 189 economies, up from 26th in 2013 UAE is ranked 37th for ease of starting a business, No 1 for attractiveness of the tax regime and 4th for ease of trading outside borders

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

Ranking out of 136 countries for female equality in employment, compared with the UK

3 Overall economic participation and opportunity

2.5

Professional and technical workers*

millions

Source: United Nations 2013

2 1.5

Wage equality for similar work

1 .5

Legislators, senior officials and managers*

0 India

Bangladesh Pakistan

Egypt

Philippines

■ UK ■ UAE

Source: World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2013

TOP FIVE ORIGIN COUNTRIES OF THE FOREIGNBORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Source: World Bank Population: 9.205m Labour force: 4.34m of which 85% are expatriates

Equality and discrimination aside, the government’s policy of Emiratisation, in which targets are set for the proportion of jobs to be filled

by UAE nationals, also complicates the picture.

“There can be restrictions on employing foreigners in sectors such as banks and insurance,” says Khoja, where 4% and 5% of posts respectively must be filled by UAE nationals. And these quotas go up year-on-year. “You do find banks and insurance firms struggling to find the right people,” she adds.

One exception is private schools, says David Allison, chief executive officer of SSAT, an educational consultancy that recruits 400-500 teachers and teacher trainers a year into UAE schools, both public and private. He explains his firm is allowed to provide the British expatriate schools in the UAE with British expat teachers.

Allison says the UAE’s high level of bureaucracy can be a problem. It can take some time to get your visa, he says, and there are also medical and police checks. Another frustration is that teachers’ certificates must be obtained through the UAE Embassy in the teacher’s home country. “The assumption is that the teacher is in their home country, which isn’t always the case,” he says.

Despite such day-to-day frustrations, according to a United Nations estimate, in 2013 almost 85% of the UAE’s population were foreign nationals, including 1.8m workers from India alone.

“Everybody knows about Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” says Allison. “It is seen as a good place for families, and somewhere people can stay for many years.”

Alex Young, managing director of construction and oil & gas recruiter Hamilton Cranshaw, concurs: “Most people want to stay as long as they possibly can, and very few move back to the UK.”

No. 1 Quality Financial & administrative support as affirmed by our award-winning clients

01 260 280 290 www.backofficesupportservices.co.uk

*Based on ratio of women to men in those jobs

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

17_Recruit_MAR14_Global spotlight.indd 17

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

17

06/03/2014 10:44

greener The grass really can be

Ǎ

ǁ DŽ Contact us to find out more.

The licensed administrator of umbrella companies tel email web

// 0800 634 4848 // sales@fpsgroup.com // www.fpsgroup.com

FPS Group is the trading name of Freelance Professional Services Ltd, licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission

REC.03.14.018.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:23

Interaction

SOAP

BOX

Use agencies less, pay them more

New recruitment technology and a need to tighten belts have seen the number of companies favouring in-house resourcing strategies over agency recruitment significantly increase in recent years, says Alastair Cartwright Evidence is provided by recent research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD’s) 2013 ‘Resourcing and talent planning’ survey: 66% of employers are looking to develop their own in-house recruitment function, 50% of employers are focused on reducing spend with recruitment agencies and 49% of employers are committed to using new media/technology to recruit.

Although reducing costs has been a main driver, other factors have been a desire to adopt a more strategic approach that is aligned more closely to overall business objectives, as well as a wish to support and develop the increasingly important employer brand.

Some agencies have done little to defend their position. As a result, some agencies have struggled to deliver on increasingly sophisticated client requirements. In response, HR directors have been unwilling to pay premium rates and have negotiated hard, leaving those agencies with a dwindling bottom line.

Agencies that have stayed ahead of the game have done so by identifying where they can add value to the recruitment process.

For instance, agencies, particularly those with proven specialisms, can be a great source of market intelligence: they understand the industry, constantly talk to candidates and can offer a useful overview of recruitment trends. Agencies are often also better placed when it comes to fulfilling niche or senior appointments.

The most successful agencies today invest time and commit to building relationships with both clients and candidates to work out what makes each tick. They understand that it’s not just about

RICKY MARTIN

ALASTAIR CARTWRIGHT is managing director of Ingenium People, a training company dedicated to in-house resourcing professionals

Think positive. Be positive

It’s hard to believe we are almost three months into 2014! With spring right around the corner we all can look forward to longer and brighter days — what a perfect time to start being optimistic.

Optimism originally comes from the Latin word optimum, meaning ‘best’, which describes how an optimistic person expects the best possible outcome from any given situation. So what is it to be optimistic? Many believe that having positive thoughts and an optimistic outlook can improve your job prospects, relationships and other aspects of your life (ie. recruitment).

Ever heard the words “think positive” and “be positive” — those who follow me on Twitter will often hear me using these phrases. Why is this? Well, coming from a modest family background, I have always respected the importance of hard work. And to consistently work hard, it is necessary to have the right mindset. For me this is a positive and optimist one. So what happen when things go wrong? Firstly, it is important not to blame yourself for the failure. Could outside influences beyond your control have affected the situation?

A couple of years ago my mother was made redundant from a job she really enjoyed. This was a daunting and distressing time, but with my support she decided to use this as an opportunity to find a more exciting job. She is now in a role that she loves even more than the previous one. The moral of the story is that sometimes tough times lead us to make positive changes. Even if you fail at something, it doesn’t have to mean ‘the end’.

Simply reframe the way you define events.

Some of the greatest achievers will tell you their success came as a result of failing hundreds of times.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

19_Interaction_MAR14.indd 19

finding the candidate with the right skillset but also the candidate best suited to the culture and ethos of an organisation.

By adopting this approach the recruitment industry will be better placed to encourage even more organisations to adapt their recruitment strategies and embrace the benefits offered by a dual force of a strong in-house team and the right agency.

Of course this more targeted approach comes at a cost, and businesses must be willing to commit to paying higher fees for the right level of advice. For example, this new way of working may see an HR director identify the two or three agencies that have a proven reputation in their particular sector, and then agree to pay 1-2% over the current market rate for key appointments.

This motivates the agency to ensure that they deliver on the chosen assignments. For the HR director it offers the peace of mind that a mutually beneficial partnership with an agency is less likely to result in their own talent being approached with the offer of positions elsewhere.

In essence, this creates a partnership between client and agency. Agencies should be confident in their offering, positioning themselves on par with other professional services bought by large organisations such as accountancy or legal support. This will involve creating a niche role for themselves that focuses on the qualities and strengths that in-house teams are unable to provide.

By using agencies less but paying them more, organisations encourage agencies to take a more targeted approach to candidate selection. The lesson for agencies not yet doing so? Work towards becoming a trusted partner rather than simply another name on a list of suppliers.

Practically any failure can be turned into a learning experience and can increase your potential success in the future. Every challenge brings new opportunities. Not everyone knows how to change their mindset or where to begin. Changing your way of thinking often takes time and practice. So here are my top tips on how to think positively: • One positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.

• Don’t wait for perfect conditions to make changes, make them happen now.

• Don’t allow failures/mistakes to hold you back from achieving success and reaching your goals Arguably anything that alters our moods can affect our attitude and behaviour. Positive and negative thinking are infectious. We are all affected by the people we meet, in one way or another. This happens subconsciously. Adopting a positive attitude will mean you are able to think constructively and visualise the results you want to achieve. Hold that thought - imagine feeling like that when you start work, prepare your candidates for an interview, or offer your recruitment services.

A positive mind and attitude can have a significant impact on everything around you. Life is too short, so don’t allow any negative thoughts to creep in to your mind. Start turning your thinking around today. I guarantee that this will improve your standards in recruitment.

Look out for my #thinkpositivebepostive tweets to help kick start your day with a positive attitude!

RICKY MARTIN is managing director and founder of Hyper Recruitment

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

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

19

06/03/2014 14:42

RECRUITERS

ARITHON 3x FASTER than any other cloud software provider

0800 078 9018 FREE PHONE US TODAY

Innovative Recruitment Solutions

See how you can build a better business with Arithon www.arithon.com/love

REC.03.14.020.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:24

Interaction

SOUND

BITES

“With news of people having a New Year’s ‘detox’ from social media, how do you think this will affect recruitment or the recruitment process?”

Richard Marchington Director, Apex Recruitment

A social media detox can have a positive effect on the recruitment process.

We’re noticing that candidates and clients are beginning to regard social media more seriously than ever before. Stepping back and taking a personal break from the social media limelight allows people to mentally de-clutter. It also helps individuals figure out how to approach social media and enhance their professional presence with the right connections.

Someone with a clear, purposeful approach can really assist recruiters in targeting the right candidates and businesses to streamline the process of filling jobs and servicing clients.

Lucy Tufts Director, polkadotfrog

Although we don’t experience many people taking a break from social media, those who do run the risk of cutting themselves out of the running for potential openings and opportunities.

To find top talent well suited to particular roles, recruiters and businesses need to stay connected online and network. Now is actually one of our busiest times

as people consider changing jobs and searching online for jobs. Social media is a great tool for recommendations and referrals; recruitment agencies and candidates should connect at all times otherwise they could miss vital opportunities. Social media is integral to the recruitment process.

David Simons Managing director, Recruit Ventures

Today, a recruitment process is increasingly affected by the use of social media, from jobseekers researching a role to hiring managers seeking information to inform their screening processes. Despite its popularity, not all forms of are likely to serve equally as an effective recruitment channel, although the social media phenomenon proves it’s becoming one of the more popular choices for jobseekers looking for their next role. I believe it to be highly unlikely that any social media detox will take place in the masses — perhaps a handful of excessive users may feel the need for a break. The impact on recruitment or a recruitment process as a result will be minimal, as the scope of social media makes a detox fairly impossible; the temptation to log on to your LinkedIn account or check your twitter feed is all too convenient.

Carry on recruiting WEB

CHAT

Despite the floods, a few of the recruiters who contacted us as a result of our story ‘Floods and winds batter the recruitment industry’ (12 February) are weathering the storms and carrying on regardless

We are also based in Staines and I can confirm that the whole area is a nightmare. It is taking staff of ours who live locally (Egham, Virginia Water, Chertsey and Walton) up to an hour and a half to get to and from our offices. Once in Staines, parking is nigh on impossible. As a consequence we have had interviews with us postponed, and more importantly, interviews with clients cancelled. Both will almost certainly lead to loss in revenue.

Property Personnel All systems go here at People Experts Worcester. We’ve got the flood defences up for the first time ever and the river still hasn’t peaked. We luckily all live the same side of the river to the office so we can still get in, however the water is approaching faster by the minute!

Sonja Leason We have IT and engineering professionals placed all over the UK, and every single one of them have managed to get to their various destinations! Here, at Concept Resourcing, Dudley all of our consultants have made it in too, so we’ve been very lucky all

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

21_Interaction_MAR14.indd 21

round. Our thoughts are with those who are being affected by these awful storms.

Sally Skidmore At Legge Geuter, we have not been affected at all by the floods.

We’re based in Worcester, which has been very badly hit. The trick is hill-side office locations! Our thoughts go out to all the businesses that are suffering at the moment.

Christian Geuter

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

21

06/03/2014 08:45

REC.02.14.045.indd 2

06/02/2014 12:03

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

Share, Collaborate, Communicate, Automate. Only Eploy®.

The complete recruitment solution – for Perm, Temp, Contractors & Executive Search

Unlock more opportunities – research and monitor clients and prospects

Provide an unrivalled candidate and client experience – on any device

Offer new services to your clients – like RPO and Executive Search

Streamline your working day – focus on building relationships

Connect with your candidates – through mobile and social channels

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

REC.03.14.031.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:26

Insight

Negotiate contracts like crisis negotiators SHAILENDRA JAISINGHA DIVULGES SOME TIPS FROM THE FBI’S CRISIS NEGOTIATION TEAM ON TACKLING TRICKY NEGOTIATIONS As talent acquisition professionals, we negotiate complex contracts and compensation packages every day. But nothing we do comes even close to what the real ‘pros’ of the negotiations world do.

I refer to hostage negotiators, who have to be the best negotiators in the world because they must save lives. Training and skill enable them to work in stressful situations involving life and death.

So to learn more about negotiations, instead of turning to the business books, I went to the Federal Bureau of Investigation offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Enter special agent Gordon Hurley, a crisis negotiator for over 29 years and now a team leader at the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Team in Atlanta. To him, a negotiator is not a salesman but a person who relieves stress and understands individual needs with only one goal in mind: to save lives. Hurley emphasises: “The best negotiator is a good listener.”

FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) created the Behavioural Change Stairway Model (BCSM) that provides a simple, multi-step process directed towards a peaceful, non-lethal resolution of critical incidents. It has five stages that can be easily related and implemented in the business world: 1. Active listening: Everyone has a desire to be heard, hence active listening becomes the most important technique in any negotiations, whether in business or crisis negotiations. Hurley says using active listening skills to understand emotions being expressed establishes trust and finds an alternate method to handle the problem.

These skills help in finding the ‘hook’, or what is important to the person, which in turn is critical to resolve the situation. Active listening includes: a. Mirroring or repeating the last few words or the gist, indicating that the listener is attentive and is focused on the discussion. b. Paraphrasing or restating the content of what the subject said to take the other side’s perspective. c. Emotional labelling, which identifies the other person’s emotions, indicating that the listener is attentive and understands what the other side is going through. An example: “I understand that you are frustrated that the discussions are not moving forward” or in compensation negotiations, “I can hear that you are not very happy”. d. Summarizing or restating the content

and emotions reflecting that the listener understands the perspective. e. Pauses — intentional silences by the listener to bring the focus on what the listener said. f. Minimal encouragers or cues that the listener uses to show that s/he is paying attention to what the subject is saying, such as “ok”, “go on”. g. Open-ended questions, which help the subject to elaborate, reduce the emotions and increase the rationality in the conversation. h. Finally, “I” statements, which help the negotiator to develop rapport with the subject or to fend off any verbal attacks.

2. Empathy: It allows the negotiator to understand the subject’s perspective better in crisis or non-crisis situation. It helps bridge the gap between emotionality and rationality leading to a more collaborative approach to solving the problem. Voice tone influences how the subject views the negotiator’s sincerity and demeanour, which are of paramount importance.

3. Rapport: A direct result of well-applied active listening skills and empathy, it’s a state when both parties start to listen to each other to find a workable solution. In a crisis situation, it’s a stage where the subject is more likely to listen and eventually accept what the negotiator has to offer.

4. Influence: After the relationship has been established the subject is willing to accept the suggestions that are realistic. In crisis situations, the negotiator has “earned the right” to influence the subject with suggestions that will lead to a change in behaviour. Hurley says: “Don’t slam the door shut. Instead find creative ways to say no.”

5. Behavioural change: According to BCSM, a peaceful resolution occurs only when the previous four stages have been successfully implemented.

Hurley and I agree that regardless of whether the negotiations occur in business or in life-anddeath situations, negotiation training is essential.

At the FBI, the Critical Incident Response Group provides multi-week training to agents to become crisis negotiators to successfully resolve critical incidents worldwide.

A huge emphasis is placed on human psychology through lectures and role-playing. The FBI routinely uses a facility called Hogan’s Alley, a mock village providing a backdrop to scenarios based on real life.

In my view, formal ongoing training to include role-playing will help recruiters and resourcing professionals to become better negotiators.

Power Points Critical elements to any successful negotiations are: Good faith: Negotiations are all about establishing trust, relationship or rapport to find a solution that works for everyone either in the business world or that is peaceful in a crisis situation.

Never rush: In a rush to get the results, negotiators are vulnerable to making mistakes, losing trust and driving the negotiations to a deadlock. Hurley advises negotiators to be very open and take as long as necessary.

Work in teams: FBI negotiators work in teams.

The primary negotiator talks to the subject while the secondary negotiator or the ‘coach’ feeds the information to the primary and coordinates with the tactical units.

SHAILENDRA JAISINGHA works in the strategic talent acquisition team at NIIT Technologies in the US

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

24

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

32_Recruit_Insight_MAR14.indd 32

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:46

The Software

for Global Recruitment Businesses

Profile RPM is much more than a simple

‘off-the-shelf’ recruitment software solution.

It can be configured for individual needs and incorporates bespoke automated routines. Thousands of users around the world that benefit from Profile RPM have an advantage over their rivals - their recruitment consultants are able to make more placements in less time, resulting in increased profits.

People Developing Recruitment Software T: +0044 (0)1277 227778 T E: sales@microdec-profile.com E W: www.microdec-profile.com W

REC.03.14.033.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:25

The Challenge

Passport to rooms beyond the UK’s borders WHEN NEWLY-ESTABLISHED MEDICAL ENGINEERING FIRM THE MEDICAL ROOM WANTED TO EXPLORE MARKETS ABROAD, UK TRADE & INVESTMENT STEPPED IN TO HELP

Mike Green Founder

THE CHALLENGE

THE SOLUTION

After setting up a new company, among the decisions a new business owner has to make is whether to tap into the overseas market — and when would be the right time to do so. When Mike Green decided to go it alone and set up his own medical engineering recruitment business in 2007, one of his goals for The Medical Room (TMR) was to explore the international option.

Green had had dealings with the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), a government department that works with UK businesses for success in international markets, when he was with his former employer. However, his employer at the time preferred to concentrate on opportunities in the UK. Having established TMR, Green told Recruiter: “Now that I was in control of my destiny I had the chance to investigate in much greater detail the international opportunities described to us by overseas contractors who were working for us in the UK.” Green was introduced to Dave Revitt, an international trade adviser for UKTI and the former chief executive officer of Medilink East, a networking organisation that helps medical firms grow their businesses. Revitt told Recruiter: “I first met Mike in June 2008 and we discussed his present business and desire to grow the business through expansion abroad. The main issue facing the business was fairly typical of a small business, ie. limited time and resource.”

It was agreed that joining the UKTI’s ‘Passport to Export’ programme would be a good starting point for the business.

This is a one-year programme that provides an initial workshop, highlighting the processes involved in starting to export, market research, routes to market and marketing your business, all with the support of an adviser; Revitt’s expertise in the healthcare market was obviously crucial.

Revitt said that UKTI employs personnel around the world with expertise in a variety of sectors, as well as understanding the culture and language of their markets.

“The Passport client company is encouraged to make contact with these commercial officers abroad to gather market intelligence and to gain business contacts,” he explained.

Green agreed that UKTI’s Export workshop “is first class in getting you to think about your whole business and the potential effects on the core business from taking on an international perspective”.

However, the time just wasn’t right for TMR. “We decided that we weren’t equipped to begin the international side and focused instead on further developing our UK core,” he told Recruiter.

Nevertheless, in November 2012 Green decided the time was now right to re-launch his international plans and commissioned market research in Australia (using grant support from the Export Market Research Scheme). “The research confirmed Mike’s thoughts that

Lessons learned “It was clear that they [UKTI] are the experts for helping to promote GB plc abroad and they have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to guide you through the challenges that are encountered in international business” Mike Green

there was a great opportunity in this market and the optimum route to market was to set up a local office and employ staff in Australia,” Revitt said.

Despite being an Englishspeaking and Commonwealth country, employment law in Australia is by no means comparable to the UK situation.

Green gave a few examples of the problems encountered: “Until recently Australian healthcare hasn’t had the need to use agencies to recruit medical engineering staff — they tended to find their staff within their own network.

And Australian employment laws don’t easily lend themselves to the flexible working opportunities that the UK contract market provides.” As well as advice from Revitt, help was also given by the British High Commission in Melbourne, where TMR’s new base in Australia was to be located.

UKTI also put Green in touch with a

Dave Revitt Internat’l trade adviser

market research specialist. Green was impressed with her support: “Particular mention should also go to Alice Mamier who helped us project manage the research phase of developing Australia.

Her knowledge and guidance was invaluable.”

The challenges are still there, Green told Recruiter, and he has learnt to adapt to changing situations and what is happening on the ground. “Our original thoughts were to develop first our recruitment services and at a later date our training services,” he explained. “Our research indicated the reverse. Australia wanted our training now and recruitment will develop but maybe at a slower pace than was first expected.”

TMR’s Australian director Dani Forster is in discussions with major public and private hospitals across the country, as well as with head offices of global manufacturers of medical devices, who are keen to speak now there is a recruitment specialist in medical technologies in Australia.

Revitt summed up the relationship: “TMR has achieved a great deal for a small UK company.

Could it have achieved this without the help of UKTI and the Passport programme? Yes, but these services gave the company the confidence and drive to progress; without this support they may still have achieved their ambition but the process would have been more difficult and no doubt taken much longer.” Green went further: “No, we couldn’t have progressed at the rate that we have without them.”

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

26

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

26_Recruit_Challenge_MAR14.indd 34

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 10:45

Switch to NWM for a no nonsense approach.

• A major player in the contractor supply chain for over 15 years. Our service is second to none.

• Consistent delivery with a focus on paying contractors, on time, every time.

nwmsolutions.co.uk

• Easy, quick set-up process.

• 100% compliant, customer focused, and no nonsense. Guaranteed.

Switch today. Find out why we’re the choice of recruiters and contractors, alike.

0330 333 4240 CIS

UMBRELLA

Our Accreditations and Compliance

GLA licensed licence number NWMS0005

REC.03.14.035.indd 2

Scan here for recruiter brochure

05/03/2014 08:27

Profile

Jill Duthie CHRISTOPHER GOODFELLOW SPOKE WITH THE HEAD OF SOURCING UK & EUROPE AT RBS

At the head of this industry-leading initiative is Jill Duthie, head of sourcing UK & Europe at RBS, who developed the idea while working as a senior resourcing manager and launched the function 17 months ago.

The return on investment (ROI) provided by the small number of existing consultants meant selling the plan to senior management wasn’t difficult, Duthie says, and scaling up ensured service levels could be met.

“As much as we have quite clear commercial reasons to be doing this, we want to be able to also make sure that we are providing an enhanced candidate experience.

That was the thought process behind setting up a separate function; regardless of volumes, that [the candidate experience] will be constant,” explains Duthie.

She adds: “I think industry-wide we are guilty of not putting the candidate at the heart of what we do.”

This conception of direct sourcing means being proactive — finding and contacting people. Simply put, Duthie says, the aim is: “Sourcing top talent for current and forthcoming roles and driving down resourcing costs, while providing a first class candidate experience.” The team utilises advertising and employee referrals, but these tools are considered distinct from the channel when analysing performance.

In the first nine months the focus was on the business areas with the highest level of agency use: finance, risk, human resources and operations. When the processes were established, it was then extended to cover the other parts of RBS’s business.

The creation of a direct sourcing function has meant agency use for specialist roles has dropped by more than half and the team has been given a “very stretching, single-figure target for overall agency use in 2014”.

“It’s not that I’m raising some kind of war against recruitment agencies — I’m absolutely not,” she stresses. “What I’m trying to eradicate is that lazy recruitment, where your default position is that you’ll just go and speak to someone [at an agency]. I think if you can just take a moment to step back and ask ‘how easy would it be for me to do it myself?’ that’s a good first step.”

Winning over internal stakeholders to this way of thinking has been a major challenge. Banking is a sector that relies heavily on recruitment agencies — a tough habit to break.

“There’s a perception around the immediacy of an agency, that we’re going to have CVs within half a day,” she says. “That’s something we have to work to educate them on. The bottom line is, we are working in the passive candidates market, so can we turn things around in half a day? No. You need a bit of time and you have to have the licence to work in that space, to do a good job.”

Duthie was one of the first professionals — if not the absolute first — in the UK to have the title ‘head of sourcing’, and news of her appointment led to a huge number of inquiries from others in the industry interested in making a similar investment.

“I’m really happy to have conversations like that,” says Duthie, adding: “I think if we can share best practice in the industry and people can benefit from the lessons we’ve learned, and also if people have been doing great, innovative things that we can pick up on, then fantastic.”

RBS employs 120,000 people in UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, according to its interim 2013 results, but Duthie says the process is scalable and it’s possible

28

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

36-38_Recruit_MAR14_Profile.indd 36

PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS WATT/UNP

Developing direct sourcing techniques has been at the top of resourcing professionals’ agendas for some time. However, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) took the process to the next level by developing a separate business function capable of servicing a large share of its recruitment needs.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:47

Profile

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

36-38_Recruit_MAR14_Profile.indd 37

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

29

06/03/2014 08:47

Profile

for a team of as little as five or six recruiters to be supported by one direct sourcing consultant.

Capacity is the key issue and the ability of in-house recruiters to carry out their own direct sourcing is largely down to the number of roles they handle. “If you’re in a stand-alone role and you’re working on 15 vacancies, I don’t see why you wouldn’t direct source on every single one of them, within reason. Whereas I think the expectation in some of the larger organisations is that you’ll manage 40-60 vacancies at the one time and it’s very difficult to work on that basis,” says Duthie.

However, establishing a credible presence in areas like technology recruitment can require bringing in specialists. “For some of the areas a good researcher or direct sourcing consultant can probably turn their hand to anything, but for that space, the business wouldn’t give us the time of day unless we absolutely knew what we were talking about,” says Duthie.

Having spent the first part of her new tenure creating the resourcing function and rolling it out to the different areas of the business, Duthie plans to spent 2014 bedding in best practice, and building broader talent pipelines and communities.

“The areas we support are so diverse that it’s not one-size-fits-all; your strategy for one area can be very different from your strategy for other areas. What do people who are interested in risk want to hear about?

How are we going to engage with them? Which is not easy.

“By the very nature of what you’re doing you’re building up pipelines of individuals. Everybody is starting to focus on this and to think about it. We’re not going to do that overnight, but we want to do it well,” says Duthie.

Risk is a difficult area. The pace of change in regulation has increased demand in an already small talent pool leaving the sector “scrambling” for particular skill sets, adds Duthie. Senior risk roles are among the hardest to direct source for, she says, alongside positions with certain combinations of language or location requirements.

The growing need to stay in contact with candidates demanded by this process has led RBS to invest in back office systems and this software has provided a big enough step-change to impact the way the team will operate over the next few years.

It’s about getting right something really basic — ensuring people don’t get lost in the system — and the team is “really quite rigorous about that”, says Duthie, who adds the worse situation would be to find out that a candidate who has fallen through the cracks has been placed by an agency.

The team’s tools and expertise mean it’s able to provide deep market information to help brief hiring managers before taking on assignments, including the number of candidates likely to be available, and whether there is an issue with the combination of skills, location, and pay grade or scale required. Informing hiring decisions in this manner helps ensure success.

“We do market mapping for senior roles in the same way you would do if you engaged a search firm. It’s just about building that credibility and bringing that market knowledge to the table,” explains Duthie. This complements the top-end work already undertaken by the bank’s well-established executive search function.

Building this function has meant recruiting personnel from a variety of backgrounds including recruitment

30

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

36-38_Recruit_MAR14_Profile.indd 38

DUTHIE’S SECRET OF SUCCESS “Our customers are at the core of our business at RBS and our candidates are actual or potential customers. If you place the candidate experience at the heart of your process and proposition, you won’t go far wrong. My team are all champions of the candidate experience”

CV December 2012present: Head of sourcing UK & Europe, Royal Bank of Scotland

2011-12: Senior resourcing manager – Direct Sourcing, Royal Bank of Scotland 1996-2008: Managing consultant, Accountancy, Change CRS

agencies and internal hires, with only one employee having a purely direct sourcing background.

“You generally find if people want to come in-house from an agency it’s because they want involvement in other things as well as the day-to-day recruitment.

There is probably more variety and an opportunity to broaden your environment that you wouldn’t have at an agency that’s figures-driven,” says Duthie.

The team does not receive commission or bonuses.

Instead, targets are based on a sourcing mix that covers agency usage, direct sourcing and referrals, and varies depending on the business area in question. Cost avoidance is a big factor and that primarily involves reducing agency spend.

The key characteristics Duthie’s looking for are: tenaciousness, with good investigatory skills; the commitment to following difficult assignments through to the end; and the people element that will allow consultants to bring to life what it’s like to work at RBS. “The one thing you have to make clear to people is that they won’t have real end-to-end [involvement], with a lot of stakeholder engagement. This is much more candidate facing and not as much liaising with the business.

“It’s not an easy job. It can be a frustrating, difficult job, so not everybody wants to do it, which is fair enough.

[However,] the satisfaction of finding the right person for a particular role can be great. We see ourselves as the candidate champions and getting involved in that kind of work is important and we’re all quite passionate about that,” Duthie concludes.

Putting the candidate experience at the forefront of developing the direct sourcing function has been crucial to the process. But the development marks a structural shift in how RBS recruits, which is particularly unusual in its sector. It remains to be seen how many organisations take a similar path.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:47

REC.03.14.039.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:28

Contractor services

GETTY

Taxing issues ahoy

PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO EITHER COMBAT OFFSHORE TAX AVOIDANCE OR RECOVER LOST ONSHORE TAX REVENUE WON’T PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE, ALL OF THE TIME. SCOTT BEAGRIE INVESTIGATES HOW TO STAY ON TOP OF THE CHANGES High levels of transparency and accountability are widely considered as a cornerstone of delivering best business practice. But it’s reasonable to say that transparency hasn’t always been a defining quality of recruitment supply chains.

The introduction of the Offshore Employment Intermediaries legislation on 6 April, however, and whatever form the Onshore Employment Intermediaries legislation ultimately takes, will change all that. The former seeks to stamp out tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) avoidance where UK workers are employed by offshore companies or engaged through offshore employment

32

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

40-44 Recruiter_feature_MAR14.indd 40

intermediaries. Meanwhile, the proposed onshore legislation aims to recover tax revenue lost due to false employment, when the employed are disguised as selfemployed through use of intermediaries.

When plans to strengthen existing offshore legislation were announced last year there were serious concerns about the limited time recruiters would have to put the necessary procedures in place. So little wonder that with the consultation period for the onshore draft legislation only having ended last month, and with an identical proposed implementation date of 6 April, there has been industry uproar; particularly given that the legislation has far wider ramifications than its offshore counterpart.

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:51

ount c o t ons

: #10 m a e r aySt on P

Rea s

Problems?

PayStream will come to the rescue.

A non-compliant provider can leave you and your contractors financially exposed and badly damage your reputation. Our experts have already rushed to the rescue of several agencies experiencing problems after using non-compliant providers. With PayStream by your side, you’re safe in the knowledge that you’re working with a fully compliant provider you can trust every time, and here’s why:

1. A full suite of services 2. In-house expert legal and compliance team 3. Independently audited compliant services 4. Award winning customer service 5. Expertise to help you set up and manage a PSL For maximum pay, in the most compliant way you can count on PayStream.

Call 0800 197 6516 e: info@paystream.co.uk or visit www.paystream.co.uk

REC.03.14.041.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:30

REC.03.14.042.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:31

Contractor services

While eliminating false-employment is as the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) points out a ‘commendable goal’, it doesn’t believe the government fully understands the complexity of the problem nor the potential impact of what it has so far drafted. “The proposed legislative changes as they stand will instead jeopardise the viability of compliant recruitment businesses, increase the extent of ‘false’ self-employment and employment tax avoidance, and result in a dramatic failure to meet the government’s revenue target,” it warns, adding: “A delay in the implementation timetable is crucial.”

Steve Wortley, business development director of Outsauce, provider of financial and business support to the recruitment industry, says: “The legislation as currently drafted is confusing and recruiters will need to be extra careful to ensure that they only use fully compliant operators who should provide a level of protection to the agency in the case of any challenge.”

The draft legislation (see sidebar) states that recruitment agencies or managed service providers (MSP) which supply the workers will be liable for tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) unless they can prove to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that the workers aren’t under the “control, supervision or direction of anyone”.

This is one of the main areas of contention since as Kevin Barrow, partner at the international law firm Osborne Clarke, warns it will be extremely hard to determine. “Because the concepts of control, supervision and direction are potentially quite broad and because, frankly, it is the hirer not the staffing company who knows what goes on on a day-today basis,” he says. “HMRC has promised additional guidance on what will constitute control, supervision or direction and many major suppliers are now doing detailed legal analyses of their options.”

Julian Ball, legal director at PayStream, agrees and says that contractual rearrangements will have to be revisited. “Recruitment agencies will need to liaise with their client, the service provider and the worker to satisfy themselves that there is no element of control over the worker,” he explains. “Contracts will need to reflect this, which will be difficult because agency contracts traditionally do the opposite, in that for good commercial reasons, they put various responsibilities on the client. To reduce risk many agencies will probably only deal with PAYE umbrellas or PSCs – which HMRC has confirmed will not be caught – going forward,” he adds.

Barrow predicts the main ‘battlegrounds’ will be in the construction industry and, perhaps, logistics/ haulage. He reckons the major problem will not be staffing companies or workers who are trying to ‘get round’ tax, but hirers who don’t want to increase what they pay to allow for the relevant tax and NICs, especially employers’ NICs. Derek Kelly, managing director of umbrella company Parasol, concurs that the consequences will be felt ‘most keenly’ among agencies operating in construction and other blue-collar sectors, as opposed to professional/technical recruiters but stresses there is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach. “Every agency should be looking to conduct a thorough compliance audit,” he says. “The most straightforward way to ensure compliance with the onshore

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

40-44 Recruiter_feature_MAR14.indd 43

THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE Kevin Barrow, partner at international law firm Osborne Clarke, outlines what the legislation means to recruitment businesses.

Onshore “The staffing company or MSP which holds the contract with the end client will be liable for tax and NICs in relation to workers who are supplied via them and who are paid whether by the staffing company or an intermediary below them in the supply chain (on a sole trader/self-employed basis free of tax and NICs) unless the staffing company or MSP can prove to HMRC that the relevant workers are not under the control, supervision or direction of anyone.”

Offshore “The staffing company or MSP, which holds the contract with the end client, will be liable for tax and NICs in relation to workers who are supplied via them and who work in the UK but who are paid on a tax-free basis (perhaps via an umbrella) offshore.

“If a large group of contract workers supplied via them are in fact (perhaps unbeknown to the MSP or staffing company) paid offshore, it could involve a material loss, far exceeding the margin they will have made on the supply of those workers. They will need to check where the workers are paid. They will be liable even if they can show they tried to root out the offshore payments — there is no statutory defence of ‘having tried to check’.”

intermediaries’ legislation is to engage a reputable third-party provider that will employ and pay workers.

This will remove all of the risk and uncertainty posed to agencies by the new legislation.”

John Chaplin, director, human capital at EY (Ernst & Young), shares the concern over onshore legislation, believing that it will more likely create a “problem of false employment”, forcing individuals who are currently legitimately self-employed on to PAYE and NICs models as a result. What’s more, he reckons there is still a great deal of uncertainty around what the impact of the proposals will be both in isolation as well as their combined impact on the sector. “I don’t think your average recruitment agency is geared up to deal with these two pieces of legislation by quite a long way and it will require a lot of work to be done in a short space of time,” he says.

Both sets of legislation will undoubtedly require recruitment agencies to scrutinise their supply chains far more closely, and Chaplin stresses that they shouldn’t be as accepting of what the supply chain tells them as might have been the case in the past.

“Agencies not only have to ask the right questions but have to test the answers given to them,” he cautions.

As far as the offshore legislation is concerned, Barrow suggests anecdotal evidence points to arrangements involving offshore payments having already “started declining in advance of April”.

Although he adds: “We do not believe MSPs and staffing companies have yet started putting in place spot checks on payment destinations.”

Plainly, one way for recruitment businesses to minimise their exposure to risk is to draw up a preferred supplier list (PSL) of firms whose practices have been scrutinised and can be safe in the knowledge are UK-based and fully compliant with all legal requirements. Kelly says a robustly prepared and ‘fully embedded’ PSL will give agencies peace of mind that they will not be pursued for unpaid

Julian Ball

Kevin Barrow

John Chaplin

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

35

06/03/2014 08:51

Contractor services

employment taxes as they will only be dealing with a select few providers they can trust.

Kelly adds that while communication has come on leaps and bounds in the ‘post-AWR world’, there is always room for improvement. One of his concerns is that at the time of writing there has been no attempt to set out a single, approved means by which legitimate providers can demonstrate to agency partners that they are based onshore and pay all relevant employment taxes.“The danger is that agencies will develop myriad bespoke methods for compliance checks,” he says. “Parasol has called for the introduction of standardised reporting criteria, and it is to be hoped that this will happen prior to the legislation being enacted.”

Alex Baines, operations director of umbrella firm Liquid Friday, reports that in light of the offshore rules the majority of its agency clients, especially the larger ones, have already started reviewing their PSLs and are gaining much better understanding of who’s involved further down the chain. “Especially where master vendor arrangements exist and there may be second and third-tier suppliers, each with their own PSLs,” he explains. “As long as the agency has total confidence that PAYE is being operated properly for all agency workers on assignment under the direction, supervision or control of the end client, there should be very little risk.”

Baines also reckons that the likelihood of the

36

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

40-44 Recruiter_feature_MAR14.indd 44

onshore employment intermediaries’ legislation targeting false self-employment being implemented at the time should address the ‘migration’ of workers from offshore employment to UK based self-employed models. Although he does anticipate a financial impact for clients or agencies dealing with lower paid assignments, “where charge rates may need to include employers NICs, holiday pay, pension contributions or any other statutory obligations the worker may become entitled to”, he says.

Ultimately, no one can predict quite how either piece of legislation will play out on the ground for the contractor market and recruitment industry. But Chaplin attests the best hopes for a positive outcome is through effective communication, and greater collaboration. Too often in the past, he reckons, each element of the contractual supply chain has fought its narrow corner sometimes to the cost of another part of it.

“So the end user has blamed the agency, the agency has put the responsibility on the service provider and the service provider has either done the right or wrong thing depending on what their culture is,” he says.

“The only way the legislation is going to work is if the whole supply chain comes together and gets involved in a dialogue with HMRC and the Treasury and gets something in place that closes down tax avoidance loop holes and introduces best practice without creating a lot of hassle that frankly isn’t necessary.”

Derek Kelly

Steven Wortley

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 09:10

3$<0$77(56 /Î&#x2013;0Î&#x2013;7('

PayMatters Solution to: OFFSHORE LEGISLATIVE CHANGES: Background: The Government is clear in its commitment to reduce tax avoidance. In recent years there has been a growth LQ WKH XVH RI RÎ?VKRUH HPSOR\HUV WR HPSOR\ 8. ZRUNHUV ZRUNLQJ LQ WKH 8. IRU 8. EDVHG FRPSDQLHV 0DQ\ RI WKHVH DUUDQJHPHQWV DUH LQ SODFH IRU OHJLWLPDWH FRPPHUFLDO UHDVRQV VXFK DV LQWHUQDWLRQDO VHFRQGPHQW KRZHYHU D VLJQLČ´FDQW QXPEHU RI EXVLQHVVHV XVH WKHVH VWUXFWXUHV WR DYRLG SD\LQJ HPSOR\PHQW WD[HV IRU WKHLU 8. EDVHG ZRUNHUV 6RPH DJHQFLHV LQVLVW ZRUNHUV XVH WKH VFKHPHV EHFDXVH WKHUH LV QR UHTXLUHPHQW WR GHGXFW WKH ZRUNHUČ&#x2021;V LQFRPH WD[ DQG 1Î&#x2013;&V RU WR SD\ HPSOR\HUČ&#x2021;V 1Î&#x2013;&V RQ WKH ZRUNHUČ&#x2021;V IHH Č&#x201A; DV WKLV LV WKH UHVSRQVLELOLW\ RI WKH XPEUHOOD FRPSDQ\ Č&#x201A; ZKLFK PD\ VXSSUHVV WKH UDWHV FKDUJHG WR HQG FOLHQWV

REC.03.14.045.indd 2

What does it mean for the industry?

8QGHUSLQQLQJ WKH ZKROH FKDQJH LV WKDW +05& DUH ORRNLQJ WR PDNH D UHFUXLWPHQW FRPSDQ\ OLDEOH IRU DQ\ VKRUWIDOOV LQ WD[HV GXH ZKHUH D ZRUNHU XVHV WKH VHUYLFHV RI DQ RÎ?VKRUH SURYLGHU 5HFUXLWPHQW FRPSDQLHV ZLOO QHHG WR FROOHFW UHWDLQ DQG UHSRUW LQIRUPDWLRQ DERXW KRZ $// RI WKH ZRUNHUV WKH\ SODFH ZLWK HQG FOLHQWV DUH XOWLPDWHO\ SDLG DQG HQJDJHG 7KLV DVSHFW PHDQV WKDW UHFUXLWPHQW FRPSDQLHV DUH OLNHO\ to require far more information from contractors they VXSSO\ VXUURXQGLQJ RSHUDWLQJ VWUXFWXUHV

PayMatters Can Help You 3D\0DWWHUV DUH DZDUH RI WKH SRWHQWLDO SLWIDOOV RI WKH legislation and as such are ready to assist : 7HDP RI SURIHVVLRQDO DQG IXOO\ TXDOLČ´HG VWDÎ? WR

handle mass transfer of contractors 7UDLQHG DQG H[SHULHQFHG PDUNHW SURIHVVLRQDOV

DYDLODEOH WR H[SODLQ WKH GLÎ?HUHQFHV IHDWXUHV DQG

EHQHČ´WV DQG FUHDWH EHVSRNH UROO RXW VROXWLRQ 2Q VLWH &RQVXOWDWLRQ &OLQLFV DYDLODEOH 6KRZ DFFXUDWH WDNH KRPH SD\ FDOFXODWLRQV DQG H[DPSOHV

â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘

Call us

0800 121 6513

Visit

www.paymatters.co.uk

05/03/2014 08:32

Movers & Shakers

Sponsored by Recruit Ventures

ADMORE: The multi-sector •recruiter has hired Mark Grigg as

ANDREWS IS HEAD OF TALENT FOR DIGBY MORGAN

senior partner.

•

ARGYLL SCOTT: The specialist recruiter has appointed Steve Leeson as head of financial services permanent practice.

GROUP: The •TMTARROWS (technology, media &

telecommunications) and healthcare recruiter has appointed David Eglen as group financial director.

Digby Morgan, a specialist HR search and selection consultancy, has employed Nicola Andrews as head of talent.

Formally of the Prudential, LIFFE/Euronext/NYSE and Tate & Lyle, her previous role before joining Digby Morgan was head of talent, development and acquisition at independent clearing house LCH.Clearnet.

Commenting on her appointment, Andrews said: “From a client perspective, I understand and appreciate the pressures and the nuances of HR roles and can empathise with the profession as it seeks to bring new talent into the organisation.”

•

ASTBURY MARSDEN: The global firm has made two hires. Gareth Sowter will head up the firm’s energy practice in London, and Sandip Kotecha will be the new head of business technology at the Singapore office.

•

BULLHORN: Peter Markland and Andy Ingham have been hired to handle client relationships in Asia, APAC and EMEA.

FROM A CANDIDATE VIEWPOINT, I’VE BEEN THERE AND BELIEVE THAT I’M EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED TO ADVISE AND COUNSEL CANDIDATES ON CAREER PATHS, OPPORTUNITIES AND APPROACHES

• CAST UK: The procurement and logistics specialists have hired Dan Rowe as a senior logistics consultant, along with four new people to the company’s graduate training academy: Hannah Villa-March, Natalie Foster, Frances Upton and Genevieve Greensted.

CIRCLE RECRUITMENT: The •IT consultancy has promoted

Matthew Leach to director.

FEDERGON: The Belgian-based •federation of HR services has

appointed Christophe Velge as president, for a term of three years.

HARVEY NASH: The global •recruitment and outsourcing

group has appointed Dr Jonathan Mitchell as non-executive head of its global executive search and advisory practice.

•

HEAD RESOURCING: The IT & business change recruitment consultancy has appointed Martin Ewart as chairman.

•

MANPOWERGROUP: The staffing giant has promoted Darryl Green to president and chief operating officer, and Sriram Chandrashekar to executive vice president.

•

MOON CONSULTING: The executive recruitment firm has hired Simon Quinn and Samantha Bunn as executive search consultants.

manager of Recruiting for Care (a trading division of R & P Recruitment).

MORGAN MCKINLEY: The •international recruiter has

promoted Shami Anand to managing director.

appointed Rio Goh as operations director — China country head.

OPINIO GROUP: The digital •services recruiter has announced

the appointment of Jonathan Wright as non-executive director.

•

OUTSAUCE: A provider of back office and accounting support to recruitment agencies and contractors has hired Steve Hartley as group chief operations officer.

PLUM PERSONNEL: The •specialist and technical recruiter

has appointed Laura Godwin as senior recruitment consultant.

R & P RECRUITMENT: Jay •Gibbons has been appointed

group manager and the national

INTERNATIONAL: The •USRAINES executive search firm has

•

REDLINE: The technology recruiter has appointed Kevin Elliot as managing consultant and Andrew Robson-Graham as talent acquisition manager.

• RSA: The life sciences specialist has appointed Claes Zackrisson as its director of information.

WATSON: Tim Richard •joinsTOWERS the professional HR

Your next move?

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

Athona Recruitment consultant Healthcare/nursing Competitive, OTE £80k Brentwood, Essex

Calverton Finance Corporate manager £40k + bonus + incentives & benefits London Flex Recruitment Plus Business development manager £45k basic (£75k OTE) Leicestershire

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

do you want to

START

YOUR OWN

RECRUITMENT

business

totally risk free?

consulting firm in London from the Dallas office as head of the firm’s HR service delivery and technology practice in Europe.

•

THE WORK SHOP: Sophie Chaldecott has been promoted from a resourcer to temporaries consultant.

Your business - YOUR BRAND Contact David Simons on

07900 263043 dsimons@recruitventures.com

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

38

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

46_Recruiter_movers_MAR14.indd Sec3:46

www.recruitventures.com

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 08:52

LIVE VACANCIES – LONDON, MIDLANDS & EAST Senior Consultant – Construction / Civil Engineering London / City / East £35,000 + Car + Comm + Bonus + Parking + BeneÀts

Senior Consultant / Principal Consultant – Construction London £35,000 + Comm + Bonuses + BeneÀts

Elite brand in civils offer instant inheritance of large busy white collar temp desk including commission on existing fees Ref: 1363

Successful independent brand in stunning location with a big billing team spanning all areas of Property & Construction Ref: 1210

Senior Consultant – Trades & Labour London £32,000 + Car + Comm + Guarantee + Bonus + Parking + Bens

Senior Consultant – Building Services London City £35,000 + Car + Comm + BeneÀts

Continued expansion with market leading independent on warm desk with strong live accounts Ref: 1398

Top performing brand in London with large and expanding team and established desk. Entrepreneurial team Ref: 1363

Senior Consultant – PQS London £35,000 + Comm + Bonus + BeneÀts

Managing Consultant – Freelance – Built Environment London £40,000 + Comm + BeneÀts + Equity

High proÀle national independent group are expanding across all areas of built environment and offer great prospects for promotion Ref: 1516

Highly specialist niche player – existing desk and team with remit to expand team out further spanning all areas of built environment Ref: 1363

CALL LONDON TEAM ON 0203 301 0789 Senior Recruitment Consultant – OfÀce Support Temp Cambridge £27,000 + Comm + Bonus + G’tee + BeneÀts

Team Leader / Managing Consultant – Finance Norwich £34,000 + Car + Comm + BeneÀts

Admired brand with big billing team in Cambridge offer existing and developed temp desk for quality driven Consultant Ref: 1117

Top performing brand offer desk billing in excess of £200K per year and team management opportunity Ref: 1146

Recruitment Consultant – Accountancy & Finance Peterborough £28,000 + Comm + Guarantee + Bonus + Parking + BeneÀts

Recruitment Consultant – Accountancy & Finance Essex £28,000 + Comm + Bonus + BeneÀts

Live desk billing in excess of £15K per month with market leading independent Àrm in East of England Ref: 1469

Specialist independent Ànance recruitment agency seek experienced Consultant to develop existing temp desk Ref: 1432

Senior Consultant / Team Leader – Engineering Bury St Edmunds £30,000 + Comm + Bonuses + BeneÀts

Senior Recruitment Consultant – Property Milton Keynes £32,000 + Comm + Bonus + Car + BeneÀts

Big billing team with leading independent name. Existing and well developed desk ripe for further development Ref: 1033

National independent seek Consultants across Architecture, FM, Surveying as part of major expansion plan for 2014 Ref: 1621

Senior Consultant – FM / Prop / Arch Birmingham £30,000 + Comm + Bonus + Car + G’tee + BeneÀts

Senior Consultant – Financial Services Birmingham £34,000 + Comm + Bonus + Car + BeneÀts

Independent agency working wide geographical area are expanding out across all areas of built environment Ref: 1353

Executive level Àrm focused on senior appointments across Financial Services offering big billing perm desk Ref: 1623

CALL CAMBRIDGE TEAM ON 01223 792190

www.recruiterrepublic.com WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

Recruiter Republic FP.indd 1 RECMarch14.indd 39

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

39

03/03/2014 05/03/2014 16:31 14:57

ProMedical are HIRING! We are a healthcare staffing solutions company specialising in the supply of medical locums, agency nurses and allied health professionals to the NHS and due to our continued success are now looking to appoint key individuals to join our business.

Sales Manager We are looking to appoint a Sales Manager who will bring together both the sales strategy for the business as well as co-ordinate and direct the sales teams as part of their development.

You will be an experienced individual that has managed a sales force in excess of 25+ staff and is an established recruitment professional within the healthcare market who can deliver against budget. Understanding detailed MI and interpreting this into business actions and decisions is key critical as part of our development.

Knowledge of the healthcare recruitment market and the NHS is paramount, as well as a detailed understanding of the current frameworks.

Medical Locums Lead Consultants Nursing Lead Consultants AHP Lead Consultants Key Account Officers/Managers We are now looking for lead consultants and key account managers to join our healthcare division.

ProMedical are appointed suppliers under the CCS (Medical Locums and Nursing), H.T.E (Medical Locums and AHP), LPP (Medical Locums and AHP) Frameworks.

For further details on the opportunity and financial package, please e-mail your CV to J Coombes, Head of Operations: jan.coombes@promedical.co.uk

T: 01277 212797 • E: info@promedical.co.uk • W: www.promedical.co.uk

DON’T GET LEFT BEHIND Senior Recruitment & Recruitment Consultants Salary £18-40k dependent on experience with an excellent commission scheme and benefits.

National technical recruitment agency Integra People is looking for senior recruitment and recruitment consultants to join their growing team.

Having recently expanded into a new head office, Integra requires pro-active and driven consultants. Hard work and determination will be rewarded with strong career opportunities and benefits..

To apply, email a CV and covering letter to HR supervisor Natalie Whelan: natalie.whelan@integrapeople.com

634 Fountain Court, Birchwood Boulevard, Warrington, WA3 7QU

T: 0845 4747 316

www.integrapeople.com e: contact@integrapeople.com

Our insight goes deeper

40

RECRUITER

RECMarch14.indd 40

MARCH 2014

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

05/03/2014 14:57

Experienced Recruitment Consultants - Devon Girling Jones Ltd specialises in the recruitment of technical professionals for the construction and property sector in the South West. The business provides a high quality, professional service to clients and candidates alike. This approach has led to rapid growth in market share and a fantastic name in the market.

Attracting and retaining the right calibre of consultant is key to our success. We place heavy emphasis on continuous training, career progression and a “non-sales” approach. The business has a relaxed but hard working culture with regular social events and fun sales incentives.

As a company we also complete regular challenges for our charity of choice and sponsor a number of industry events throughout the year.

6\Y VMÄ JLZ HYL ILH\[PM\S HUK V]LYSVVR [OL ,_L[LY 8\H` HUK surrounding countryside. We are a stone’s throw from the city centre and provide parking for all who need it.

We also offer excellent basic salaries and personal commission which tops out at 40%. For this we expect the best and want to attract hard working, career minded individuals to join our team.

Interested?

Call Simon Girling on 01392 493347 or email simongirling@girlingjones.com

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

RECMarch14.indd 41

We are currently looking for the following key hires:

Senior Recruitment Consultant Civil Engineering The longest standing and one of the highest billing desks in the business.

Currently managed by one of the company Directors who is looking to handover all his clients to an experienced hire. Live jobs, mature candidate base.

Recruitment Consultant Construction & Property Consultancy Expansion of an existing desk with too many vacancies and clients to manage effectively. High salaries and fees.

We would welcome applications from experienced recruiters with knowledge within any sector of recruitment.

Assistance provided with relocation.

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

41

05/03/2014 14:57

Bloggers with Bite

WANT THE TOP JOB? JUST SAY NO TO FLIP-FLOPS Take a tip from designer Zandra Rhodes and dress like you have taken care an you, hand-on-heart, say that you know what any item is on your dress code? To take it a step further — do you know where to find the policy? Do you even care?

Just so you know which side of the dress fence I’m on, I’ll start by ‘coming out’. I’ve always held the firm and simple view that you should dress for the job you aspire to, rather than the position you hold today. So if you want to be a director or manager, look at how they dress and follow suit.

Views on what or what not to wear at work can vary dramatically between employees sitting opposite each other, let alone across companies or industries.

For the purpose of this blog, let’s assume that my opinions are confined to our industry — recruitment.

The choice of what to wear in the workplace tends to be a mix of fashion, culture, workplace trends, comfort, weather and preference. Last summer I watched a group of people board the office-bound train dressed for the beach. Flip-flops have no place on the office floor — apart from anything else, they breach health & safety laws.

Gents, don’t leave me yet, this applies to you too.

Something that may appear loosely casual can be turned into being much more the part — with a bit of clever lever accessorising. So before you pull ull out the jeans in the morning, slip lip on the trainers going out ut the door, bare lots off flesh because the weather is hot, decide not ot to shave (or iron) because ecause you’ve had a late one, or not bother other with the hair because ecause your trains wait for no man (or woman)… take a second, econd, stand back to look ook at yourself and

GETTY

C

Sue Cooper is the managing director at Morgan Hunt

ask…. “Do I look the part? Is my look in the spirit of the company and appropriate for the audience?”

If the answer is “I’m not sure”, then go back and start all over again.

Happily conforming to the female stereotype, I take pleasure in buying and wearing clothes for work.

Given how much time I spend in them, the CPW (cost per wear) is infinitely better than any of my casual wardrobe. I don’t think you need a lot of money to look good. For me, it’s about the time and effort that you put in.

I do have a point, and here it is: Zandra Rhodes, famous for her pink hair, has been dressing international stars and royalty for over five decades. When she received an honorary doctorate at Rochester University, she said to the students: “You may not like what I wear, indeed you may find it strange, but it took me a lot of time and effort, and I would not come here to talk to you unless I had put that effort in. Please remember this when you go into the outside world looking for a job. You must dress like you have taken care, too.”

Rhodes’ dramatic look is part of her identity and what she does, but the real point I want to make is the effort that it takes is evident… maybe skip the pink hair.

Clothes don’t make the man (or woman) but they certainly go a long way towards making an impact.

The office isn’t a catwalk but it’s not a pyjama party or a nightclub, either.

You may not like what I wear, indeed you may find it strange, but it took me a lot of time and effort What do you think? Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

TO POST YOUR COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

RECRUITER.CO.UK 42

RECRUITER

MARCH 2014

50_Recruit_bloggers_mar14.indd Sec2:50

In April: learn how Echo Managed Services gave wings to RAF Careers WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

06/03/2014 15:03

In association with:

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED!

BOOK YOUR TABLE NOW www.re ecruittera awarrds..co.uk k

WEDNESDAY 7 MAY 2014 GALA AWARDS CELEBRATION GROSVENOR HOUSE HOTEL, LONDON 2014 HOST: SIMON EVANS Subtle, sarcastic and smart Simon Evans is one of the most intelligent comics in the business. Not only will he have you in hysterics but Simon will also announce this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winners!

AWARDS ENQUIRIES

@

BECOME A SPONSOR

Call:

LinkedIn:

Call:

+44 (0) 20 7880 7625

RecruiterMagazine

+44 (0) 20 7880 6205

Email:

Twitter:

lois.hunt@redactive.co.uk

@RecruiterAwards

@

Email: jasmine.pengelly@recruiter.co.uk

Sponsors: Supported by:

REC.03.14.051.indd 2

05/03/2014 08:17

A fresh approach to contractor solutions

futurelinkgroup.co.uk UK based contractor solutions from experts you can trust.

Compliant, fast, efficient and flexible services all designed to save you time and money.

It’s time you called us, isn’t it?

As part of your team we have all the solutions to fit your contractor needs. Umbrella PAYE, CIS compliant, Limited Company or Sole Trader – Futurelink Group has it covered.

01923 277 900 @futurelinkgroup company/futurelink-group

REC.03.14.052.indd 2

05/03/2014 14:45