Recruiter September 2014

September 2014

www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

New rules, new game Na avigating g g talen nt dilemmas in ďŹ nancial serv vices

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

THE SUCCESS TRAP

New tools come online for SME recruiters to up their game

Gavin Sharpe believes success should be a force for good, rather than suppressing our humanity

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FUTURE VISION Big data charts and predicts career paths

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As we roll firmly into the second half of 2014, we’re delighted to announce a super take-up of our inaugural Investing in Talent Awards. We’re so looking forward to telling the stories of great employers within the recruitment sector. And by the time you are reading this, the shortlisted entrants will have been revealed on recruiter.co.uk. All the best to the entrants!

This month, we look at the evolving picture of recruitment and talent management within banking and financial services. This tale is still unfolding, but we were keen to examine the state of play at the moment.

What has been your experience?

Sharing thought leadership from across the recruitment community is one of our most rewarding opportunities at Recruiter. This month, we welcome David Bloxham of GCS Recruitment Specialists and in-house recruitment leader Emma Mirrington and their calls to action in our Interaction pages.

And finally, Arvinder Dhesi of Korn Ferry reminds us this month of the importance of stepping back from activity to simply pause. Too often, the here-and-now of activity and tasks dominate so much of one’s time that there seems to be no opportunity to clear a bit of mental space. As Arvinder writes in our Insight section, we need that space to fuel vision, understanding, clarity and agility — which we all p could use in spades!

Karine Faou/www.eyecandyillustration.com

Contents

NEWS Banking reforms see boom time in the City

5

Demand for certain specialities in the financial sector is so high recruiters are ‘tripping over jobs’

Global hot spots

6

War zones and the Ebola virus crisis add to challenges for recruiters

Students of recruitment

7

The APSCo programme saw 24 UK undergrads take up internships at recruiters

Shooter’s key talent role Tech & tools

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ANALYSIS 12 Sector Analysis Emerging talent 15 Global Spotlight on Australia 20 Insight Why it is important for leaders to step back

DeeDee Doke, Editor

Scan here to get your own copy of Recruiter

33

24

FEATURES 24 COVER STORY Ethics in the City: Talent management in the financial sector The regulator’s new talent chief The headhunters Standing for standards 33 SME software New tools come online to help SME recruiters attract and find top talent

REGULARS 11 On tumblr this month 17 Interaction

Soapbox: David Bloxham Emma Mirrington Soundbites 21 The Challenge 17 17 19

Redline Recruitment and Tempo 41 Movers & Shakers Industry moves 42 Bloggers with Bite:

Gavin Sharpe

WHO’S HIRING?

15

38 HR GO, Jark 39 de Poel 40 Recruiter Republic

EDITORIAL Editor: DeeDee Doke T: +44 (0)20 7880 7601 deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk Reporter: Sarah Marquet T: +44 (0)20 7880 7606 sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk Contributing writers: Colin Cottell, Christopher Goodfellow, Nicola Sullivan, 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 Senior sales executive: Lisa-Jane Parker +44 (0)20 7880 7608 lisa-jane.parker@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment advertising: Amalia Zafeiratou +44 (0)20 7880 7608 amalia@ redactive.co.uk Fax +44 (0)20 7880 7553 PRODUCTION Deputy production manager: Kieran Tobin T: +44 (0)20 7880 6240 kieran.tobin@ redactive.co.uk PUBLISHING Publishing director: Aaron Nicholls T: +44 (0)20 7880 8547 aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk RECRUITER AWARDS Events: Juliette Bond T: +44 (0)20 7324 2771 juliette.bond@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@abacusemedia.com • Recruiter is also available to people who do not meet our terms of control: Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £29.99 UK £35 Europe and Rest of the World • To purchase reprints or multiple copies of the magazine, contact Ryan Hadden T: +44 (0)20 7880 7618 ryan.hadden@redactive.co.uk

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2013 & 30 June 2014 – 18,994. Recruiter is also sent to all REC members

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

CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2014 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group. Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

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RECRUITER

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Specialist staffing software

Hays is a global business operating across 33 countries and communication between our 8,000 consultants, candidates and clients via the internet is a key business issue.

multi-lingual capabilities, sophisticated integration options, and social media enablement combined with scalability through a web-based The latest Adapt system brings us

Steve Weston | Group Technology Director | Hays

delivery model. This provides a platform to enable business options that historically could never be imagined, let alone realised…

one global process but retain the flexibility to adjust for local functionality and data requirements. We chose Bond because they had We wanted the ability to define best practice through

the ability to configure and integrate to our other systems and to scale to our size with their Adapt platform. We are now seeing benefits of our investment where we have deployed. As we continue the further rollout, I expect to see extensive cost savings and productivity improvements over additional deployments.

Jonas Prising | President ManpowerGroup Americas

Global Vision Connecting people and processes everywhere.

Chosen by the world’s leading recruitment organisations for its multi-lingual and multi-cultural capabilities, Adapt enables global businesses to connect their offices and streamline operations via an intuitive cloud platform – revolutionising the world of recruitment.

Feature rich specialist recruitment software, Bond Adapt, is 100% configurable and fully scalable for effective global deployment. By managing the entire placement cycle, Adapt improves productivity, providing global organisations with the right tools to maximise their business performance.

Contact us to find out how Bond Adapt can transform your business.

T +44 (0) 1903 707070 www.bondadapt.com

E sales@bond.co.uk

One world. One future.

Bond International Software www.bondinternationalsoftware.com

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News

BANKING REFORMS SEE BOOM TIME IN THE CITY Recruitment in financial services is booming in the UK, with demand for certain specialities so high that recruiters are “tripping over jobs”, a sector specialist has told Recruiter.

The demand is also creating new jobs within recruitment itself, ranging from entry-level resourcer roles to subject matter specialists.

Reforms and regulations in the banking & finance sector, emerging largely in response to the global financial crisis, are contributing to much of the jobs growth with the need for significant numbers of compliance and risk specialists, among other specialisms.

The challenge for recruiters in this sector is the continuing squeeze in the talent pool. “We are tripping over jobs,” Richard Abelson, director of niche financial services recruiter MERJE, told Recruiter.

Job demand Given the abundance of jobs and comparative lack of candidates, Russell Thompson, LMA Recruitment Group managing director, told Recruiter that he was putting everything he’s got into the challenge. “It means we have to be using all the resourcing strategies we have and be a lot more proactive,” Thompson said.

He pointed out that the types of roles banks are now recruiting for, having come out the other side of the financial crisis, have changed from what they mostly recruited for previously. Today, he said, demand was high for candidates with strong knowledge and experience with risk and compliance under new regulatory frameworks, compounding a shortage of candidates in an industry where the talent pool has always been small.

Financial services recruitment firm Astbury Marsden’s associate director Adam

Richard Abelson

Priya Marianne

Adam Jackson

Jackson told Recruiter he also sees increasing demand for skilled technology staff who can design and build data security systems and automated checks, as well as equity traders.

While recent years have highlighted the benefits of hiring from outside the UK, the increased focus on regulations can make it hard to find candidates from abroad, recruiters said. As regulations are being tightened across the globe, different countries are subject to different regulatory bodies and often slightly different regulations.

Looking overseas As a result, some clients are wary of bringing in candidates from abroad. However, Priya Marianne, MERJE principal consultant specialising in risk, told Recruiter that such moves could happen — someone working in credit risk in a German bank, for example, may be able to take up a similar position in a UK bank. It very much depends on the individual and the role, she said. It was more likely to occur in risk than in compliance where people need to be “very much on top of what is happening in the UK”.

Regulation challenges A particular challenge is that certain regulations, Basel III and Solvency II, are being implemented in stages and therefore,

Russell Thompson

clients’ needs will change at different stages.

Basel III is a global set of banking reforms designed to increase transparency as well as improve regulation and risk management in the banking sector. Solvency II is an EU-wide set of reforms focusing on the insurance sector, requiring companies to implement stronger risk management procedures.

But that changing demand is also easing pressure a bit. As time goes on, more candidates can theoretically join the talent pool as they get necessary experience. For instance, Marianne said more people are now coming through the ranks having developed specialities — people who may have specifically studied an area such as risk.

Best packages Where recruiters disagree is about what their clients are doing to attract the best talent. Thompson said the higher the demand, the higher the offered salaries rise, as do the number of instances of peoplepoaching.

Marianne countered that salary packages remain a sensitive issue “due to the level of regulatory scrutiny”.

• See the cover story on talent dilemmas in financial services, p24.

SARAH MARQUET sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk

Supported by:

@

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RECRUITERAWARDS.CO.UK RECRUITER

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News

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

“Matrix SCM is fast becoming the Amazon of procurement” ADRIAN BALDWIN, MARKETING MANAGER, MATRIX SCM, SPEAKING TO THE GUARDIAN

Events The HR Society: Transforming Your Workforce 18 September, London Metropolitan University, 84 Moorgate, London eventbrite.co.uk/e/ transforming-yourworkforce-1-day-conferencetickets

SourceCon 1-2 October, Denver, USA. Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport Convention Centre. Visit 2014denver.sourcecon.com

15 October, 10am-4pm, secret location (London) http://bit.ly/1ny6Aat

Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards 22 October, Congress Centre, 28 Great Russell St, London www.investingintalent.co.uk

EMEA Global Mobility Summit 7 November, The Lancaster Hotel, London www.totallyexpat. memberlodge.com/ event-901063

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

FOR MORE NEWS AND COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

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#rcnvs/Reconverse: Developing Capabilities for Modern In-house Recruiters and Hiring Managers

WAR ZONES AND EBOLA VIRUS ADD TO RECRUITER CHALLENGES High profile crisis hot spots in the Middle East and West Africa are affecting recruitment and business operations in those regions.

Nathan Byrne, regional director at Michael Page Africa, said companies were banning travel to and within West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where the Ebola virus outbreak is having a devastating impact on the general population.

Byrne added: “This will have the usual effects — a slowdown in business and a decrease in consumer sentiment on products made in West Africa and exported out. However, I also believe that Africa has a ‘get on with it’ mentality and for the people within West Africa, they are continuing with their jobs and daily lifestyles.”

However, he told Recruiter: “Not much expat recruitment occurs into West

Africa (as it does with Eastern and Southern and Northern Africa).”

Richard Putley, a managing director of Executives in Africa, said he was currently unable to present candidate shortlists to clients looking to expand in places like Liberia and Guinea.

He told Recruiter that some UK candidates don’t want to relocate to Nigeria at the moment but added, “it hasn’t had a significant impact on the quality of individuals prepared to look at that location”.

At executive search firm Carmichael Fisher, Paul Twine, head of practice, financial services and Africa, told Recruiter that some clients operating in the worst affected areas like Liberia were being advised to postpone recruitment plans. He said: “[Ebola] adds to people’s perceptions of the risks that already exist working in Africa. It is not as if it’s a region without its political and economic challenges anyway.”

Carmichael Fisher recently opened a new office in Lagos, Nigeria. Day-to-day business and hiring processes, said Twine, were largely unaffected in Nigeria.

As the extremist group Islamic State continues to wage terror in Iraq, UK authorities recommend against most travel to the region. Lisa Scarlett, business development manager for specialist energy recruiter Earthstaff, has stopped her monthly visits to the firm’s base in Erbil, Kurdistan. She told Recruiter there was only one Kurdish staff member out there at the moment.

She said: “There are a number of operators that are still in country and it’s business as usual; they’ve mobilised their contractors and carried on.

Then you have got others that have evacuated [staff] and the contractors are on standby. They are playing it by ear.”

NICOLA SULLIVAN

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News

“The biggest predictor for [career] potential is curiosity” JILL ADER, SENIOR PARTNER AND BOARD MEMBER, EGON ZEHNDER

“Our oldest [employee] is 93 years old … we have 1,000 people working for us [who are] over the age of 75”

Contract News

MARK LINDEN, ALLIED HEALTHCARE INTERIM HEAD OF RECRUITMENT

Access Personal Checking Services: Extended its

STUDENTS OF RECRUITMENT Summer is traditionally a time for university students to travel, party or earn money to see them through the coming year.

But for 24 UK undergraduates, this summer involved intensive internships in the recruitment industry in a new Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) internship programme.

Developed to give young people an insight into the recruitment industry, the aim was also to help ensure availability of high-calibre trainees entering the profession.

Interns Sarah Clarbour, Richard Lawler and Humaima Shahid took up placements at global IT recruiter Finlay James’ Manchester office, with intern Ruth Ng working out of the firm’s Birmingham office.

They knew almost nothing about the industry before learning of the programme and were still unsure as they headed into a week-long intensive training programme led by Finlay James managing director John Gaughan.

They were given a mentor and spent the next 11 weeks sourcing talent and job vacancies. For all four, the internships were initially daunting, then exciting — but above all, provided deep insight into the industry, leaving some hoping for a career in the field.

Richard Lawler, University of Manchester philosophy and politics student: “I knew literally nothing about recruitment… I went to a careers fair at uni and was thoroughly sold on it [the APSCo programme] in about five minutes.”

Ruth Ng, University of Nottingham philosophy student: “It’s hard work but once I settled in, it’s very, very rewarding…I hope to come back [to recruitment] after uni. I’m really hoping to carry on with what I’m doing.”

Sarah Clarbour, University of Manchester economics student: “It’s pretty rare to find a first-year internship that was more than a week long and that was paid…I was aware of the industry, I knew what it was, but not as a career path.”

Humaima Shahid, University of Manchester management student: “I think I would definitely come back to a job in the industry, hopefully at Finlay James, but I would like to work in recruitment generally.”

identity verification contract with consumer data expert Callcredit… Adecco: The global recruiter has acquired software provider OnForce…

Assist Resourcing Group: Secured a £17m loan from Lloyds to support growth…

Capita: Has bought SouthWestern Business Process Services for £28m…

Ethos and BeathChapman: The executive recruitment firms will merge over the next 12-18 months… Hireology: The recruitment software provider has raised $10m (£5.95m) in funding… JLT Management Services: Has selected The Curve Group as its outsourced resourcing partner for a three-year contract…

Networkers International: “It’s a lot more hard work, and a lot more rewarding, and a lot more like being a real employee,” Lawler told Recruiter about his experience.

Ng was first of the four to actually place a candidate, following up on an application made through LinkedIn. That candidate has been offered a job starting this month [September].

Gaughan was impressed: “She’s actually created income for us.”

Gaughan said that the decision by some of the interns to become recruiters met his own objective: “My objective was for them to come out after the 12 weeks and think ‘I want to be a recruitment consultant’, ideally for Finlay

James. Worst case scenario, they realise now that it’s not for them.”

APSCo member relationship manager Moya Rylands told Recruiter that APSCo’s UK internship programme, a pilot, led to 24 internships across 14 recruitment companies.

Throughout the UK, 400 had expressed an interest in the programme, which Rylands said was far more than expected. Next year, APSCo is considering making placements longer than 12 weeks.

Internships were also offered through APSCo in Singapore, where 10 students were placed across seven companies.

Has finalised its acquisition of oil & gas recruiter CAPPO Group… Russam GMS: Following a management buyout, Jason Atkinson and Ian Joseph are now joint managing directors… SEC Pharma: Has joined forces with IAOCR, which provides training, accreditation and consultancy services… Sharna Associates: The rec-to-rec firm has partnered with video interviewing service provider Launchpad… UNIT4: Has partnered with Hireserve to resell its iCams software.

SARAH MARQUET sarah.marquet@recruiter.co.uk

SHOOTER PLAYS KEY ROLE IN FINDING NEWTALENT FOR CO-OP GROUP The multi-sector Co-operative Group is entering its “rebuild phase” with group director of talent and resourcing Adrian Shooter playing a key role in the organisation’s revitalisation.

Shooter, who joined the Co-op Group in time to also play a part in its “rescue phase”, will help attract suitably qualified candidates to fill positions on the company’s board, and reshape the governance of the 150-year old mutual.

“We have to be really honest

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with ourselves about the new shape of the organisation,” Shooter told Recruiter. “We have to look at our brand and market Adrian Shooter positioning and our end-to-end customer experience.”

New appointments will reflect the new purpose, the new strategy, and “ensuring we are commercially

successful and sustainable”. He went on to say: “We need to reshape our leadership capability and strength, bring in and develop original skills that we may not have had before, for example, digital.” He said he would be “using the past to inform the future”.

Shooter started his role at the same time former chief executive Euan Sutherland quit after 10 months in the job, and so, in Shooter’s words, was there “from day one of the crisis”.

When Sutherland quit in March,

he labelled the organisation “ungovernable”.

A review led by former City minister Lord Myners recommended a major shake-up of the organisation’s structure.

On 30 August, group members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new board structure consisting of 11 people.

Shooter said that now allows him and his team to begin searching for suitable candidates to fill those board positions.

SARAH MARQUET

RECRUITER

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News

Tech & tools

BIG DATA ENLISTED TO PLOT AND PREDICT CAREER PATH emember those school or college careers department computer print-outs of suggested professions to which we might be suited? Typically, they were treated by the recipient with scepticism, if not a little mirth. Despite being based on a multiple-choice questionnaire on a person’s interests and likes, they seemed to arrive at a range of options that often bore little resemblance to how the users saw their careers panning out.

This, of course, was before the era of big data and predictive analytics. News site Mashable recently reported how data held on professional networking site LinkedIn could help forecast where a particular individual would be professionally in five years’ time. While such a service isn’t currently offered to members but is instead a specific exercise carried out for the website, it highlights a potential valuable application of big data.

In many organisations, the traditional career ladder of progressive upward moves is disappearing, so defining clear career paths is no longer as simple as it once was. “In an era when people are swapping careers and seeking to do

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different things, the ability for them to see what other people like them have done is great in terms of choice and education around careers,” says Matt Alder, digital strategist at the consultancy Metashift. “Any tool that allows people to expand their mind about different possibilities when it comes to careers has to be a good thing.”

Considering the number of job roles that didn’t even exist 10 or 15 years ago, such a tool could have even more relevance in the recruitment space. If you look at the field of digital alone, a digital role would have typically been a single job in many organisations, but now it breaks down into myriad roles as the area has become more

specialised, says Alder. And he has no doubt that there are plenty more positions and professions to be created. “What about air traffic controller drone manager?” he says. “The world of work is changing so rapidly that it is important for people to think flexibly about what they want to do.”

Richard George, corporate communications manager at LinkedIn, tells Recruiter that the network organisation is interested in any application of its data that can offer members insights to help them manage their careers, and realise the network’s near-time goal of connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. “Part of this will be mapping out the skills and opportunities that exist around the world, and enabling them to find each other,” he says.

While emphasising again that the exercise reported by Mashable was a one-off, George points to existing applications such as its Alumni tool for universities, which is already providing insight for plotting career paths. The tool allows prospective students to see what types of jobs people from certain universities go into, as well as help them find alumni who might be able to offer them guidance. Students and recent graduates are LinkedIn’s fastest-growing demographic, totalling 39m members.

As another example of using LinkedIn’s data to deliver insight, George points to a recent piece of analysis of whether internships lead to full-time jobs. Students or graduates can hover over a graph that tells them which industries offer most internship opportunities and in which they are likely to lead to a job. (As an interesting aside, staffing and recruiting offer few intern opportunities, and few of these turn into full-time positions.)

Of course LinkedIn, with its 313m members worldwide, has a huge advantage over others trying to provide this insight, because of its vast amounts of data. It also employs teams of top data scientists to analyse this data.

“What LinkedIn has is genuinely big data, and it has invested a lot of money and time into making sense of it,” says Alder at Metashift. “Big data is something that everyone loves to talk about in our industry. But, in reality, they are often just looking at data that exists but perhaps in a different way. There is still maybe a long way to go before recruiters feel genuinely empowered and comfortable using data in ways such as this. But I think it’s inevitable that they will.”

In brief Executive search any time, any place, anywhere Executive search software developer Dillistone has launched a version of its application that allows its users to access information anytime and anywhere on virtually any device.

FileFinder Anywhere brings together four of its existing platforms: FileFinder for Desktop, for Outlook, for Browser and for Mobile.

The FileFinder platform has been used in the executive search world for around 30 years. Anywhere marks a new generation of the product and includes two new apps that allows users to manage their database from within Outlook, a mobile Web app optimised for small screen devices and a new browser app. Some 1,600 search firms and talent acquisition teams use the software across 60 countries ranging from single to hundreds of users. www.dillistone.com

Apply by code A recruitment success by mobile payment provider Droplet is backing up the theory that developers are more comfortable applying for a job by using their coding abilities than submitting a CV. The company was struggling to fill its Ruby programmer vacancies via standard job boards and agencies and so used Prehash.com, which allows organisers to build real-life coding challenges to attract new developers.

Droplet chief technology officer Tom Livesey says its latest hire might have slipped through the net if he’d looked at his CV alone.

“But I really wanted to speak with him after seeing his code,” he says. www.prehash.com

SUE WEEKES

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think this is genius?

discover the ultimate in recruitment software www.itris.co.uk REC.09.14.009.indd 2

Visit us on Stand C14 at the Recruitment Agency Expo, on 1st-2nd October 2014

02/09/2014 13:14

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02/09/2014 13:15

News

On recruitermagazine.tumblr.com, Recruiter magazine’s tumblr feed, we showcase what recruiters — and a few others — get up to when they’re not recruiting

Hays Hays is the official recruitment partner of New York City FC, the US’s Major League Soccer’s new franchise. In the line-up alongside Hays’ chief marketing officer Sholto Douglas-Home (second from left) is ex-Chelsea and former England captain Frank Lampard (second right). We wonder if Douglas had a kick around with Frank before they had the photo taken…?

%

28

of first year male undergraduates said they were confident or very confident in landing an internship, compared to just 18% of female respondents, in a study by graduate careers site targetjobs.co.uk

TOP

On tumblr this month

5

MOST VIEWED JOBS ON OUR WEBSITE

1. Pertemps, Area

business development manager, South-East

2. Permanent Personnel,

Consultant, Leicester

Berry Recruitment Employees from specialist recruiter Berry Recruitment’s 27 branches are joining the fight against cancer with a UK-wide fundraising drive in aid of Cancer Research UK. Lee Briggs (left), manager of the Sutton branch, took part in the 10km London Run and Northampton branch operations manager Debby Clayton ran in the Race for Life in Oxford. All these — and many more — fundraising efforts have meant a donation of more than £1k to Cancer Research. Well done, everyone at Berry Recruitment!

3. Synexus, Internal

recruiter, Manchester area

4. Michael Page, Consultant, Birmingham

5. Sharna Associates,

Business development manager, South-West

IT and engineering recruiter Outsource UK has picked the Alzheimer’s Society as its chosen charity partner for the next financial year.

Outsource staff (left to right) Jacqui Hooper, Will Louzado, Anne Theobald, Sam Farr, Jo King, Tom Judd and Victoria Roythorne are sporting very natty branded t-shirts, which we look forward to seeing them in throughout their fundraising year!

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation The Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s (REC) very own chief exec Kevin Green has been unceremoniously ice bucketed by his dear colleagues.

However, his efforts have raised more than £100 for Motor Neurone Disease from his appreciative (sadistic?!) staff. In retaliation he has nominated Steve Ingham (Michael Page), Mark Cahill (Manpower), Julia Robertson (Impellam) and Ann Swain (APSCo) to follow in his soggy path. We wonder if there has been any compliance to date?

TOP

Outsource UK

5

MOST VIEWED ARTICLES ONLINE

1. Recruitment agency

manager steals £8,000 from employer

2. Fraudster gets

four years’ jail for swindling £29m from recruitment company

3. Baker McKenzie opens new Belfast hub with 256 jobs

4. Japanese employers

promote power naps

5. Expert Advice on

health enquiries in recruitment

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

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Sector Analysis

Emerging talent

Views from the market

EMPLOYERS SEEKING TO FILL GRADUATE VACANCIES MAY NEED TO TAKE A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO FIND THE TALENT THEY NEED

Higher Education Statistics Agency

Subject Historical & philosophical studies Biological sciences Creative arts & design Subjects allied to medicine Social studies

First degree 65,945 45,875 45,410 44,535 41,320

That said, Ben Rowland, co-founder of IT and digital talent apprentice recruiter Arch Apprentices, tells Recruiter that progress is being made in non-traditional industries, such as finance: “Slowly it’s becoming more acceptable to do apprenticeships.” Arch works with employers to create apprenticeship roles.

Engineering firm Oxley Development Company is based in Cumbria, and the proximity of BAE, Sellafield, GlaxoSmithKline and Siemens has created a “nightmarish” situation for recruiting engineers, according to its HR manager. Melanie Harvey tells Recruiter that competition, combined with an ageing workforce, has made scaling up the apprenticeship scheme crucial. “What we’re trying to do is create our own future managers.

They [the apprentices] are taken on with a role in mind,” she says. Apprentices make up 11% of Oxley’s workforce.

Meeting the demand for accountancy professionals requires a similar approach to avoid a ‘pinch’ in talent availability, according to Gron Foulkes-Davies, chief executive of finance, HR and administration at recruiter Stark Brooks. He tells Recruiter: “The key to tackling this issue is having a push on graduate recruitment.”

The recruiters and in-house hirers who work with apprentices implore employers to consider offering such schemes. Harvey says there needs to be more awareness, particularly among SMEs, about how easy it is to operate them.

Rowland at Arch adds: “My message to the recruitment agencies is that when the job application says ‘must be a graduate’, ask ‘why?’

Three out of four times, it’s not necessary.”

NUMBER OF UNDERGRADUATES (FULL-TIME)

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME STARTS

2,000 ’000

550 ’000 450

1,750

350 1,500

1,250

250

1998/99 2001/02 2004/05 2007/08 2010/11 2012/13

Higher Education Statistics Agency

The number of graduate positions advertised this year increased by 17% on the previous summer, when almost a quarter of employers didn’t fill all of their vacancies, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

James Callander, managing director of graduate recruiter FreshMinds Talent, tells Recruiter it’s difficult to find graduates with the right qualities: “We are looking for a balance of analytical skills with the ability to communicate.

There’s a dire shortage of these candidates.”

He says he’s seeing increased demand across the retail, professional and finance sectors that FreshMinds covers, with particularly high interest from digital and high-tech retail.

Discount supermarket chain Aldi looks to graduates who already have employment experience to find the skills for its 140-strong graduate programme, whereas most schemes target recent graduates. James Hutcheson, regional managing director at Aldi, tells Recruiter: “Roughly one-third of our annual area manager intake derives from second-jobbers.”

The number of undergraduates dipped in 2012-13, the most recent year for which figures are available, falling 6% on the previous year, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. However, there are reports of record placement numbers so far this summer, and the introduction of tuition fees has had little impact on student numbers, which have grown by onethird since they were introduced.

The perception of vocational training is changing, and the number of apprenticeships has grown threefold to more than 500,000 in the past decade. However, this growth slowed in 2011-12, and the number of new apprentices fell by 2% in 2012-13.

GRADUATE CHOICES 2012/13 students by subject (top five)

150

2002/03 2004/05 2007/08 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13

“More companies in professional and technical areas are adding apprenticeship schemes, including accountancy firms.”

James Callander Managing director of FreshMinds Talent “It does help at which point you started your career. It’s quite an exciting time to leave school or university.

People should use this opportunity.”

Melanie Harvey Human resources at Oxley Development Company “There needs to be more awareness of apprenticeships, particularly in SMEs. One of the reasons they [the SMEs] don’t try them is that they don’t know how easy it can be.”

James Hutcheson Regional managing director at Aldi “As the Aldi brand continues to grow and becomes increasingly popular with a range of shoppers, this has a knock-on effect with graduates who want to work for a successful business at the cutting edge of retail.”

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

The number of young people taking places at university is set to reach a record high this summer, yet recruiters are still finding it hard to get the right talent, as graduate job offers have increased by one-fifth.

Ben Rowland Co-founder of Arch Apprentices

The next Sector Analysis for October’s issue of Recruiter will be on the Banking & Financial sectors. Please email recruiter.editorial@ redactive.co.uk for editorial or advertising opportunities

CHRISTOPHER GOODFELLOW

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Market Indicators

Global Spotlight on Australia

DESPITE ITS RAPID POPULATION GROWTH, THE CONTINENT STILL NEEDS TO ATTRACT TALENT FROM OUTSIDE — AND COMPETITION WITH OTHER LOCATIONS CAN BE TOUGH The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the population of this sparsely inhabited continent increases by one person every one minute and 20 seconds. Driven by successive waves of immigration, the population of Australia has exploded from 7m in 1945 to an estimated 23,569,161 — and counting.

For companies such as Sydney-based software company Atlassian, however, that’s clearly not enough to meet the country’s talent needs. “There are only a few thousand Java developers in Australia, and assuming we go for the top 1%, that doesn’t give us a huge amount of talent to pull from,” says Christian Macolino, a senior recruiter at the company.

Macolino says the company relies heavily on foreign nationals, with around 40% of its staff in Australia coming from abroad. “We have got people from all over the globe,” he says.

Simon Meyer, managing director of Michael Page Australia, reiterates the point that Australia’s talent pool is a relatively shallow one. “The Sydney and Melbourne market is only 30% of the size of the South-East of England,” he says.

Employers in Australia undoubtedly benefit from the country’s many ‘pull factors’ for international talent, such as its beaches, good education and enviable lifestyle, says Macolino. However, despite such attractions, in today’s global marketplace for talent, he says that Australia doesn’t have it all its own way.

“Keeping the very best talent here is tough, with the lure of top tech companies based overseas.” The US is a particular attraction for staff.

While the company “would love to keep hiring more Australians”, Macolino says they face tough competition from candidates from counties such as Argentina, Spain and Israel. If home-grown candidates are to compete, Australia needs to continue to invest in its IT education programmes, he says.

Rob Smith, head of talent acquisition at Philips, emphasises that it is important for companies operating in Australia to be tied in to today’s global talent network. “The challenge is to find people with the right technical skills… we do need to look outside the local market,” he says. Philips recently hired staff from the US, although Smith says most foreign nationals come from the UK. Dean Davidson, executive general manager Recruitment Australia at Hudson, says that more and more Australian employers are looking to hire staff from overseas. “There is a growing acceptance of this [practice],” he says. That said, “there is a slight reluctance to hire an overseas national straight away”, he says, and “still some way to go” before hiring foreign nationals becomes as commonplace as it is between countries in Europe.

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Key indicators Population 23,569,161 as of 19 August 2014. Population is increasing at about one person every one minute 20 seconds As of June 2013, 71% of the population lived in the cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Hobart Unemployment rate for June 2014 was 2014 6.4% – the highest rate since 2002 Jobless rate for 15- 19-year-olds has risen to 20.4% Full-time positions have seen a 14,500 rise Part-time positions have seen a 14,800 fall Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Percentage of Australian employers intending to hire fell by 2.1 percentage points in Q3 to 21.2% Percentage of Australian employers intending to maintain current headcount rose 2.3 percentage points in Q3 to 66.8% Source: Hudson Report: Employment Trends Q3 2014

Meyer at Michael Page says the situation has been exacerbated by changes to a tax allowance made in 2012, which means that some employees on 457 visas — for temporary work (skilled) — lose a tax break worth between 25% and 30% of their salary. “It’s a bit of a frustration for employers,” he says, suggesting that the change has reduced the numbers of skilled workers coming to Australia.

“Unless you are being driven here by the blue skies and sunshine, there are probably other places you would go if you are primarily focused on your income,” he says.

Meyer says the outlook has brightened considerably as a result of the growing influence of Asia-Pac countries in Australia’s economic life. “Exposure to the most explosive market in the world for economic growth is definitely the ‘X-factor’. The Asian market is having a positive effect, without a doubt.” The effects are already beginning to show through, he says, with several Chinese companies setting up head offices in Sydney. “They are prepared to pay over the odds for the best talent,” he adds.

Unlike US firms who tend to ‘hire and fire’ on the basis of quarterly results, Meyer says Chinese companies tend to look three to five years ahead.

Moreover, rather than foreign nationals, their preference is to hire “a C-level bunch of local people to run the business”. “Candidates are excited about it, because they realise that having exposure to a Chinese multinational could be advantageous for the next 10 years of their career path,” he adds.

For an economy that has been built on successive waves of immigration, it is apt that it is the Chinese who are offering some of the best prospects for indigenous Australian talent.

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Interaction

Target new areas but remember BOX the value on your doorstep SOAP

One of the greatest changes in the business world since I started my career in 1996 is how much more economically and logistically viable it has become for even the smallest companies to operate nationwide and even internationally.

Since then, email has become one of the world’s primary communication methods and Skype, VPN and similar technologies have increased their reach dramatically. Being able to do business beyond the limits of your geographic area offers many exciting opportunities.

As a recruitment business, expanding to new regions and countries is fantastic — and something that we have done at GCS with the opening of our Irish office last year — but I’ve always maintained it is important to understand where you operate.

I fear that some firms are ignoring local business communities in favour of the wider market, and that this oversight is leading to missed opportunities.

Over the past few years, in particular, I’ve found investing time into my local community to be rewarding both personally and professionally. My involvement with the Reading Chamber of Commerce has led to several unexpected opportunities, and a chance to introduce GCS to people who may never have considered using us.

The ability to make my voice heard — more through being a member than being president of the chamber — has meant I can not only to help shape the business agenda of the region but also offer advice from my sector to others who may benefit from it.

The voice of a recruiter in the local business community can be incredibly useful. Given that our industry can be so quickly

EMMA

MIRRINGTON

affected by market fluctuations, we often act as a barometer for the economy. Feeding back changes in the market — present or pending — to others in our region can help them make reasoned, rational decisions regarding strategy and direction.

There are also the corporate social responsibility aspects to consider. In addition to charity work, sponsoring local sports teams and being involved with the local council to increase inward investment, I’ve volunteered to speak at Reading College and participated in the Reading Jobs Club and TeenTech. All these initiatives have helped to improve employment or employability levels in the area.

Adding value to the region in which I work has, ultimately, come back around to benefit me and my company in some way. I’ve found talking to students about my sector to be beneficial — it has already increased our entry-level candidate attraction and will build bonds with people whom we can place several times during their careers.

Even if the immediate results are not obvious, I cannot overemphasise the benefits of being a champion of business in your area and giving something back.

Not only has my involvement in the local community had a clear and positive impact on my business, but it has also helped me to truly understand the behaviour, needs and challenges of the area at a grassroots level, and to better engage with both businesses and individuals in the region.

DAVID BLOXHAM is managing director of GCS Recruitment Specialists and current president of the Reading Chamber Council, part of the Thames Valley Chambers of Commerce Group

The importance of resilience in leadership in recruitment

I was having a chat with Tom Chesterton from the Tonic Agency the other day, and my love of extreme running came up. Are there any parallels, he asked, between getting through the likes of the Tough Mudder and the world of recruitment?

Actually, there is one — and it’s resilience. Increasingly I have seen the number of in-house recruiters experiencing work-related stress rising. According to the HSE [Health & Safety Executive] work-related stress makes up 40% of all workplace illness and can mainly be attributed to work pressure and lack of managerial support.

From a recruitment perspective, it’s not surprising. With the advent of direct sourcing, in-house recruiters experience ever more pressure.

Operational in-house recruiters can spend at least three days a week in assessment centres, leaving only a couple of days at their desk to manage the end-to-end recruitment process, deal with several hundred candidates, liaise with suppliers and manage their stakeholders.

When you typically manage up to 30 vacancies at any one time with an average of 50 applicants per role — well, you do the maths. It doesn’t leave much time.

A head of resourcing for a large technology firm told me the other day: “Emma, I’m burning out. I am travelling all the time, I am managing 25 senior exec search roles inhouse, delivering a transformational talent agenda, trying to support and develop my team, delivering projects around onboarding, talent pooling. I am starting to doubt my own capability and wonder if I’m actually any good at what I do. Is this normal?”

Of course such a workload is too much. I told her that it is ok to push back, that you need to actually take time off the hamster wheel to stop and review

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your workload. Think around your options, what you in-source vs. outsource, what pieces of work could be development opportunities for members of your team (if indeed you have one).

Prioritise and go to your stakeholders/managers with potential options and choices. People will think better of you if you flag this situation with a solution-based approach rather than waiting for all your balls to come crashing down at once.

In recruitment we are also our own worst enemy — we are magpies, attracted to the shiny and new. Ambitious, target-driven and motivated by wanting to make a difference. We spot opportunities to achieve, and add even more to our creaking workloads!

What are the solutions? From a leadership point of view it’s about spotting the telltale symptoms if a member of your team suffers from stress — ie. poor memory, lack of concentration, forgetfulness etc.

It’s amazing how many recruiters are poor at time management.

And the nature of the role means often early mornings or late finishes.

As an individual the first thing you must do is look after yourself.

We all know the aircraft analogy — in an emergency you must fit your own gas mask before anyone else’s. It’s the same in the workplace. Ask yourself: are you really looking after yourself and making sure that you are fit and resilient for work? In a leadership role, you must also ensure that you look after yourself so that you can do the same for others.

How many of us actually do this?

We all need to commit to looking after ourselves and our teams. We need to make this a priority so that we are then in the best possible shape to look after our organisations.

EMMA MIRRINGTON is talent director for Capita’s Write Research and co-

manager of The FIRM (The Forum for In-house Recruitment Managers)

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Interaction

LETTER TO THE

SOUND

BITES

EDITOR

“How can third-party recruiters (recruitment agencies) help organisations better onboard their new hires?”

Charles Fiddes Payne Manager, networxrecruitment.com

Third parties have limited capability because they are third parties. It’s the line manager’s job to get the new employee up and running (performance management), as well as inducted initially, but other departments can help.

If functions like HR and IT are outsourced, then the third party has more of a chance. In-house HR personnel and recruiters can extend their remit to help induct new employees by having processes automated as much as possible (another third-party service) but the line manager needs to be on top of things with the human touch from the very moment the candidate says yes.

Richard Marchington

Gender or just different sectors?

There have been reports making media headlines recently for exposing inequality of pay among men and women in the UK. If true, it is outrageous that such discrimination exists in today’s working world.

Yet there may be an array of complex factors behind these results. Disparities in average salaries between genders may reflect the fact that men and women predominate in different industries and different job roles.

For example, the most common occupation for men who class themselves as professional is software development or programming, where the average salary is £20 an hour, while the most common occupation for professional women is nursing,

where the average salary is £16.61 an hour.

This is why I would like to see examples to support the work into inequality of pay due to gender. This could be research to provide more like-for-like examples, to present evidence of a company where two managers performing the same job are paid differently based on gender.

Without these cases it is difficult not to worry that any inequality is less to do with gender, and more to do with the fact that the survey respondents work in different industries.

If there is a clear case of gender discrimination in the workplace then we need to address it. To do that we need accurate data to analyse, and not research whose methodology could have miscalculated any imbalances.

Matthew Sanders, CEO, de Poel

Director, Apex Recruitment

Recruitment agencies can certainly achieve great results with a few simple steps in the recruitment process to ensure better onboarding of their clients’ new hires.

Introducing value-add services like performing psychometric testing and leading inductions carried out at clients’ premises. Agencies should remember that we operate in the service sector and any boltons to that service will make you stand out from the crowd and win new business.

Mark Sweatman Director, Kingsgate Recruitment

At Kingsgate Recruitment we have formalised the onboarding process with many of our clients.

We speak to both parties after their first day, first week and then monthly up to six months. There are rarely any issues that we as professional recruiters cannot resolve. Some reassurance or advice can often alleviate early wobbles. Successful onboarding is helping us become a business partner who truly adds value and not just a recruiter. Successful onboarding facilitates a win-win scenario, as both parties have a smooth induction period and we rarely have any surprises or rebates.

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WEB

COMMENT Government teams up with employers to increase apprenticeships (20 August) Apprenticeships are a vital entry point to work for many talented young people who, due to academic or other reasons, are unable or do not wish to go to university. The best apprenticeship schemes will not only provide young people with the skills to do a real job, but will develop self-confidence, esteem, tolerance and encourage a work ethic from a young age. Many of our members already offer a wide range of apprenticeships to people of all ages and we must be mindful that vocational skills are valuable to everyone seeking work. Likewise, poor apprenticeship schemes have an adverse effect on the young people who undertake them and, while it is fantastic that the government is expanding the availability of apprenticeships, it must look at how it monitors the quality of schemes that our young people are undertaking.

Without proper regulation, the

viability of apprenticeships as an option to university could be compromised by poor quality schemes.

Denise Keating, chief executive, Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) More should be done to ensure GCSEs measure workplace skills (21 August) Given the lack of career IAG [Information Advice and Guidance] and education provision in schools, it is great that employers and representatives from business organisations are involved in supporting career related learning. However, I am concerned about how far this ‘external’ input should go, especially if it is the sole resource used by schools. A careers professional operates to an impartial agenda which is essential in supporting young people to make their own career/options decisions.

Sue Bailey

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Insight

True leaders have learnt how to pause OCCASIONALLY STEPPING BACK FROM ACTIVITY IS A HABIT THAT WOULD-BE LEADERS NEED TO ACQUIRE, SAYS ARVINDER DHESI In the corporate world, success in the earlier stages of an individual’s career is often characterised by drive, energy, ambition and achievement. We’re all familiar with the hungry ‘go-getters’, who are clear on what needs to be done and can marshal resources and time to make things happen quickly.

In today’s world of constant connection and rapid change, one could be led to believe that the only possible survival mechanism is to increase our pace of action and decision-making simply to keep up with the demands of customers, competitors and technology. Digitally connected every moment, we are expected to go faster and drive harder all the time, and be accountable and contactable – even at home and on holiday.

Bob Johansen, social scientist and distinguished fellow of the Institute for the Future, has characterised the environment we live in as a “VUCA world: volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous”. These elements diminish our leadership capabilities, but the leaders who cope the best in this environment are those who flip the VUCA forces and demonstrate their own VUCA characteristics: vision, understanding, clarity and agility.

Power of the pause But how can leaders demonstrate this transformative vision, understanding, clarity and agility under all these pressures? One key way is to recognise the power of the pause. The most successful senior executives consciously step back to reconnect with their purpose and look at the bigger picture, suggests research by Korn Ferry from a wealth of executive assessments.

In his classic book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr Stephen Covey uses a phrase that has become famous: “between ‘stimulus’ and ‘response’ there is a space”. Whatever may be happening in the world around us, or whatever the actions of others, we have the choice of whether we merely react or whether we engage our highest faculties and remind ourselves that we can choose our behaviour. Prisons are full of people who have forgotten this dictum.

For professionals, it is harder than ever to take a moment to pause. Derek Dean and Caroline Webb argue – in McKinsey Quarterly, January 2011 – that “senior executives badly need uninterrupted time to synthesise information from many

different sources, reflect on its implications for the organisation, apply judgment, make trade-offs, and arrive at good decisions”.

As an organisation that coaches chief executives and senior management teams across the globe, we at Korn Ferry often advise business leaders to step back and take a pause.

This is so counter-intuitive to most that it is often tough to convince them.

For most, slowing down to drive performance goes against their instinct, especially when they have previously been rewarded for speed and action. But, particularly in complex situations, action without seeking information, clarity and connection to what is most important can easily prove to be folly.

Time for reflection Some of the most successful business leaders on the planet bear testament to the power of the pause. Few are more admired than Steve Jobs, who became the embodiment of the creativity and innovation that has transformed almost all of our lives. The former Apple CEO was a driven individual, but he was also known for frequently taking time out, going for walks, having long sessions listening to music, reading poetry, going to retreats and even practising meditation.

My colleague Kevin Cashman explores the idea of pausing in his book The Pause Principle.

He argues that while fast thinking and action are qualities that are important in your early career and as a manager, senior leaders perform better when they think more slowly, allowing time for pause and reflection.

One of the most challenging shifts for executives in their career development is evolving from a management position where they need certain qualities, to a leadership position where success requires a range of different ones, often contradictory to those needed for the earlier role.

The change in role requires several transformative shifts, including the need for greater self-awareness; care for people development and liberation; collaborative and constructive engagement; and a thirst for curiosity, exploration, synthesis and innovation.

Recruiters would do well to remember that, while businesses are always looking for executives who can ‘act’, if they are looking for real leaders, they should seek out those who can pause before they act.

Power Points Recognising when to take a pause in the workflow and consider the bigger picture is a strategic talent that most successful business leaders will have learnt to develop One of the most challenging stages of transition for evolving leaders is making the leap from manager to leader This transformation will include greater selfawareness; care for people development and liberation; collaborative and constructive engagement; and a thirst for curiosity, exploration, synthesis and innovation

ARVINDER DHESI is a senior client partner for the EMEA HR practice at leadership and talent consultancy Korn Ferry

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

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The Challenge

Changing the tempo for Redline’s compliance Janice Henson Director

KEEPING UP WITH EVER-CHANGING LEGISLATION IN TEMPORARY RECRUITMENT WAS VITAL FOR REDLINE RECRUITMENT. HOWEVER, TEMPO HELPED THEM ALSO GAIN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

THE CHALLENGE The temporary recruitment industry has seen continued growth year-on-year. This crowded marketplace has created an increased challenge for agencies, striving to ensure a competitive advantage, as well as continuing to comply with ever changing government legislation.

Redline Recruitment Franchises is a nationwide agency specialising in the logistics, manufacturing and distribution sectors. Marian Butterworth, managing director of Redline, told Recruiter: “As the [recruitment] industry has grown there is now much more legislation for agencies to deal with, which from an operational point of view has meant a much larger workload. We work in a very competitive industry and a much tighter market, however Redline’s aim has always been to stick to a quality service.”

Redline operates a franchise

“For Redline, compliance is key to the long-term growth of the business” MARIAN BUTTERWORTH

business model and has expanded rapidly over the past 12 months.

The company understands the importance of complying with government legislation. However, Butterworth told Recruiter that “ensuring franchise branches are correctly monitoring compliance and working to achieve best practice can be difficult and a very time consuming task”. With more than 29 years’ experience within the recruitment industry, Butterworth feared that not all franchises were operating to the high standards in which Redline had worked hard to promote.

THE SOLUTION In 2013 Redline became a member of Tempo, an alliance for temporary recruitment agencies that is committed to raising standards in the temp recruitment industry, and saw an opportunity to expand the membership accreditation over its franchise agencies.

Butterworth decided to put all of Redline’s franchise branches through Tempo’s rigorous auditing process, to ensure compliance with legal, professional and ethical standards, as well as gaining best practice throughout all areas of the business.

Redline’s franchise branch in Northampton started the auditing process last November.

The process began with a thorough examination of the branch’s agency profile, its legal and compliance procedures,

Lessons Learned “Even though managing compliance is a long and tedious process for any recruitment agency, having well maintained procedures and keeping up to date with ever changing legislation will ensure that your business demonstrates best practice” application process, service to clients, and equality and social responsibility policies. As Butterworth feared, the branch failed its initial audit, however due to the experience of Tempo’s audit team and Redline staff, plans were soon in place to work towards rectifying those issues.

Over the following months Tempo’s audit team worked closely with all areas of the business to resolve weaknesses that had been identified. The team focused on the agency’s compliance to employment legislation and advised staff on a number of processes that could be implemented. Janice Henson, director of Tempo, told Recruiter that the Tempo team visited the Northampton branch on many occasions and kept in regular contact with both Butterworth and franchise staff to ensure a continued improvement.

Marian Butterworth Managing director

Butterworth added: “Tempo understood from an operational point of view the issues agencies face, and the fact they were willing to come in and guide staff was critical in helping us achieve better results.”

Henson said: “Tempo’s audit was designed to give temporary recruitment agencies an accredited stamp of approval.

The Tempo audit ensures our members are compliant with legal, professional and ethical guidelines, to raise standards and demonstrate best practice within the recruitment industry.”

By the time Tempo re-audited Redline’s Northampton branch, Butterworth and the team were confident that the challenges they had faced had been put right.

However, they were pleasantly surprised with the exceptional achievements and high marks that they were awarded. “All of the staff worked together … to provide a service that not just works within the law but achieves a next level of excellence,” Butterworth explained proudly.

This consistency has resulted in stronger relationships with a number of high profile clients, which has generated more business for Redline, according to the company.

Butterworth concluded: “For Redline, compliance is key to the long-term growth of the business, and we will continue to work with Tempo to raise standards and demonstrate best practice.”

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

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Recruitment Matters Issue 28 September 2014

Trade Association of the Year

What’s inside The 2-3 Intelligence and REC Talk

Rex

Interpreting the job stats, good recruitment and self employment

REC raises concerns with David Gauke MP

T&S benefits: time for review The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) is calling for evidence to inform a government review on the way travel and subsistence (T&S) benefits are used.

Following a recommendation from the Office of Tax Simplification to review T&S, the government wants to understand how T&S dispensations are used, following suggestions that some may be manipulating the system as a way to avoid tax and breach national minimum wage regulations.

It has been estimated that as much as £1.6bn in tax revenue is being lost under the scheme.

T&S policies are untaxed benefits open to temporary employees working for organisations for less

than 24 months. They can include travel, food and accommodation costs, but exclude every day expenses.

REC head of policy Kate Shoesmith said: “Members have previously raised concerns with the REC that whilst many organisations are using the scheme legitimately, a lack of enforcement and broader changes to the labour market have led to exploitation. We raised these concerns directly with the financial secretary to the Treasury David Gauke MP last year, and this consultation is an ideal opportunity to update our advice to government and provide them with specific examples and case studies of what is really happening on the ground so that they can develop more effective

guidance for employers and employees.

“Our priority in responding is to ensure that any future guidance gives all parties absolute clarity on the nature of the benefits and what impact lower NI and tax contributions can have on a worker’s ability to qualify for state benefits, tax rebates and pension contributions.”

The REC is asking members to contribute to its submission to government by detailing their experiences of T&S schemes, how they’ve seen them used, and the ways in which they have seen them being positively applied and exploited.

Submissions can be sent to REC head of policy Kate Shoesmith at kate. shoesmith@rec.uk.com

i 4-5Putting pupils first Safeguarding in education recruitment

6

Legal lowdown and business recruitment

Public procurement and Brookson

Institute of 7 Recruitment Professionals Jo Sweetland from Green Park and Harris Keillar at Keillar Resourcing

8 RAC Audited

How can REC Audited help to support you in working with the public sector

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02/09/2014 14:15

Leading the Industry

the intelligence Fig 1: Average permanent invoice value

Oddity or opportunity?

8 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile

Nina Mguni, senior researcher at the REC, looks behind the latest jobs figures

7 6

Index, sa, 50 = no change 70

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Fig 2: RIB recruiter placement salaries 50 ■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile 45 40 £’000

permanent positions higher, the same or lower than one month ago’. In contrast to the data included in the average weekly earnings, the ‘Report on Jobs’ salary index indicates a sharp upturn in salary growth since late 2013.

As the Bank of England reported in their Inflation Report in August 2014, ‘the higher pay growth seen by new employees may feed through to other employees’ pay as job churn increases towards pre-crisis rates’. ‘Report on Jobs’ captures starting salaries and the average weekly earnings includes data for existing employees and new starters; the assumption is that pay growth should filter through to the wider workforce in due course. As the Bank of England inflation report notes: “This could be because the pay growth of new employees is more sensitive to changes in labour market slack.”

So what does this mean for the recruitment industry? At the beginning of this year, Fortune magazine published an article entitled ‘2014, the year of the “passive” job hunter’. According to the article, talent shortages and higher starting salaries may mean a greater pool of passive candidates who expect recruiters to come to them.

£’000

5

In August of this year, shortly after the labour market statistics for April to June were released, Duncan Weldon, the new economics editor for Newsnight, tweeted: ‘The UK labour market is really odd right now’. But does this present a problem for the recruitment industry?

The Office for National Statistics announced that unemployment had fallen to 6.4% and the number of people employed had grown by 167,000 to reach 30.60m. The unemployment rate has long breached 7%, the rate at which the Bank of England would consider interest rate rises under forward guidance version one issued in summer of 2013. The view was that this rate of unemployment would not be reached until after 2016.

So why the ambivalent response to the labour market statistics?

Forward guidance mark three includes wage growth as an indicator. And as the red line indicates, the rate of wage growth based on average earnings (including bonuses) has fallen for much of this year.

This stands in contrast to data that is captured from the REC/KPMG ‘Report on Jobs’.

On a monthly basis a panel of recruiters are asked ‘Are average salaries awarded to staff placed in

35

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20 15 Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May 12 13 14

Improving job market benefits recruiters The fast recovering economy (in the UK at least), together with falling unemployment, has resulted in a much improved, and very welcome situation for UK recruiters.

Median average permanent invoice value has been steadily increasing over the last two years, with the growth rate accelerating at the turn of the year, so that invoices have increased by more than £1k over the last 12 months, from £3,427 to £ 4,453 (Figure 1), an increase of 30%.

Upper quartile permanent invoice value has similarly increased, up over £500 in the last year. The lower quartile has, disappointingly, fallen slightly since June last year demonstrating the importance to recruiters of benchmarking themselves against their peers to ensure that they are leaders in their sector.

What has driven this welcome increase in invoice value?

Figure 2 shows the strong increase in placement salaries, with the median placement salary increasing from around £30k to around £35k in the last 12 months. Both upper and lower quartile placement salaries have increased as well, by 21% and 17% respectively, demonstrating a broad-based recovery in placement salaries.

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

www.rec.uk.com 02/09/2014 14:15

Leading the Industry

This month the REC’s director of policy & professional services Tom Hadley looks at how the responsible business agenda can help good recruiters to thrive

The View

We were invited to take part in the recent launch of the CBI’s ‘Great Business Debate’. The aim of the campaign is as wide-ranging as it is timely: to help build public confidence in business. The initiative also has a number of implications for the recruitment industry, all of them positive.

Pump up the values: Businesses are defined by the people that work for them. The responsible business agenda should, by definition, increase the focus on recruiting individuals on their values and attitude, rather than purely on skills and experience. For example, the last REC JobsOutlook showed that employers placed the highest value (47%) on a young person’s attitude when making a hiring decision, with only 4% saying that specific exam results were the most important factor.

Unleash the hire power: As well as impacting on recruitment criteria, the responsible business agenda has implications for the hiring process. For example, a common area of feedback from employers on the steering group of our Good Recruitment Campaign was the need to get better at giving feedback to unsuccessful candidates. Building confidence in business must involve recruitment procedures that are fair, ethical and that help to promote diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Recruitment best practice must also apply to temporary, contract, fixed-term, zero-hours and part-time workers.

Supply chain love-in: Boosting the reputation of business must also involve businesses treating each other with respect, in particular through the way that suppliers are managed. Our core message here is that good practice must be embedded throughout the supply chain including where different resourcing models such as RPOs or vendor arrangements are in place. Will we see a supplychain love-in? Maybe not, but the responsible business mantra must lead to some tangible improvements.

Eighty per cent of employers are planning to hire new staff over the coming year, according to the latest JobsOutlook. The implication of the Great Business Debate is that there will be an increasing focus on how this is done. Our ‘play’ over the coming months is to ensure that our Good Recruitment Campaign slots neatly into the broader ‘responsible business’ agenda. Good recruitment is good for business.

It’s been very frustrating listening to the debate around self-employment being played out in the media recently.

Working for yourself has often been presented as a scourge that is dragging down earnings and holding back improvements in productivity.

Some have stated that freelancers, contractors and the self-employed only work this way because they can’t get a permeant role. This gives the impression that flexible working is some kind of second class choice.

An REC report published last month called ‘Flex Appeal’ focused on why freelancers, contractors and temps choose to work this way. It built on the data in an Ipos MORI poll for the Resolution Foundation that found that that no fewer than 72% of self-employed people chose to work this way rather than be employed.

It’s clear that people choose to be self-employed because it fits around other things in their life, be that caring responsibilities or studying. It’s also becoming clear that older workers are turning to freelancing as they approach retirement, which means the UK is retaining valuable skills and capability in the workforce.

Younger workers are also exploring self-employment.

This is no surprise as we have seen in survey after survey, millennials are very much more individualistic and selfreliant than previous generations.

It’s surely time that the UK celebrated those who choose to go solo and work for themselves, as this is a brave choice that needs to be recognised. It’s important that the 4.5m people who work this way (yes, 14% of everyone in work!) don’t feel patronised or alienated. The number of people who work flexibly will only increase over the next few years.

The recruitment industry plays a critical role in helping freelancers, contractors and temps find their next gig – while at the same time helping businesses find the skills they need to compete and grow.

The REC will always promote the value of flexible working because not only does it work for the UK economy and employers who are searching for talent, but as importantly for the individuals that chose to earn a living this way.

You can download the Flex Appeal report at www.rec. uk.com/flexappeal

• You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

• You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevingreenrec

Feeding into the Great Business Debate

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The Big Talking Point

Safeguarding: putting pupils first Michael Oliver explores the challenges that schools face in recruiting staff and what the recruitment sector can do to support them

T

he fall in teacher numbers shows no sign of abating. More than threequarters of the UK’s teaching courses will start the upcoming academic year partially empty.

Research by education recruitment expert Professor John Howson of the University of Oxford shows there are major shortfalls in design, technology, and some science intakes, and that the country’s rising school population isn’t being met by an increase in teachers.

Professor Howson said: “If getting fulltime permanent teachers is going to be more of a challenge, the need arises to use substitute and temporary teachers to fill those spaces.”

More than ever, schools will be looking to fill that void with supply teachers, and efforts are being made to ensure that schools and agencies work together so that safeguarding is paramount.

Schools and recruitment agencies find themselves navigating a sea of statutory and regulatory conditions in order to fill classrooms with teachers.

With any heavily-regulated industry, varying degrees of knowledge present unique challenges. Recent changes to the way teachers get their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates has added to the pressure.

With the introduction of the automatic update process and DBS certificates no longer having an expiry date, it’s incumbent on schools and agencies to ensure that staff have undergone the proper checks.

As the guide reassures schools, all

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REC recruiters are required to carry out regular checks on all candidates that go above and beyond the basic legal requirements.

In a bid to support schools, Professor the Recruitment John Howson & Employment Confederation (REC) has worked with the education industry to fill any knowledge gaps around using agency workers and puts its REC Audited Education recruiters through vigorous checks and standards.

In addition to the REC Audited Education standard, and to encourage greater collaboration between agencies and schools, the REC has introduced a fail-safe guide to simplify the process.

Putting pupils first: Essential guide to safeguarding and good recruitment practice offers a comprehensive walkthrough for hiring agency teachers and support staff.

“After a period of intense change, knowledge gaps permeate the relationship between school teachers and recruitment agencies,” says REC policy advisor David Geary.

“Our members confirm this growing vacuum David Geary

and the REC is committed to raising awareness in schools right across the UK.” The guide lays out everything a school should know about the ins and outs of hiring agency staff. It lends particular emphasis to safeguarding, drawing up eight steps both schools and agencies must follow when hiring staff [see the blackboard, p5].

Fundamentals like candidate ID, address and right to work in the UK all feature. But it also covers common trip wires, like how to get a DBS certificate and what a school should do if a candidate starts work before it arrives.

“Risk is minimised when all actors in the supply chain are fully aware of the checks that must be undertaken.

It’s more than cross off a checklist – it’s about empowering schools through the provision of concise and thorough guidance,” says Geary But with knowledge comes expectation. Schools will be expected to have vetted candidates each and every time. It’s what Professor Howson says is sorely needed in the industry.

In addition to using the new schools guide, schools can get additional peace

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• Verify a candidate’s identity, preferably from current photographic ID and proof of address except where, for exceptional reasons, none is available • Obtain a certificate for an enhanced DBS check with a barred list check where the person will be engaging in regulated activity

are undertaken via a system called ‘Employer Access Online service’ • Verify the person’s right to work in the UK. If there is uncertainty about whether an individual needs permission to work in the UK, then prospective employers, or volunteer managers, should follow advice on the GOV.UK website

• Obtain a separate barred list check if an individual will start work in regulated activity before the DBS certificate is available

• If the person has lived or worked outside the UK, make any further checks the school or college consider appropriate (see relevant sections below)

• Ensure that a potential candidate is not on a prohibited list. Such checks

• Verify professional qualifications, as appropriate

of mind by using an agency that holds the REC Audited Education standard.

With the end of the Department of Education’s Quality Mark scheme in 2013, the REC took the reins and developed a more malleable set of standards.

REC Audited Education is a thorough assessment of an education recruiter’s business. Not only does it ensure agencies are undertaking all the relevant suitability checks, it assesses its business practices too. It requires agencies to demonstrate they operate best practice in customer service, staff development, diversity, and client management.

“It is essential for schools to have confidence in the recruitment agencies

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they use,” says Shaun Wilson, the vice principal of Bishop Challoner Catholic College in Birmingham.

“The work of the REC lets schools know that the essential checks regarding identity, safeguarding and right to work have been thoroughly scrutinised and that senior staff can focus their time and efforts in a more effective manner.”

The Association of School and College Leaders’ (ASCL) Brian Lightman agrees: “Schools and colleges take the quality of support staff very seriously. It is important that they can rest assured that they are making safe recruitment decisions in sourcing supply staff.”

Looking forward to the future, it’s clear this situation won’t be resolved in the

short term. Professor Howson believes fewer students will enrol in teaching courses next year. It means schools and agencies will be reliant on each other for the long term, meaning safeguarding checks need to remain thorough and comprehensive.

Putting pupils first: Essential guide to safeguarding and good recruitment practice guide provides all the essential information for schools engaging a recruitment agency. It will ensure safeguarding and pupil safety remains at the forefront while enhancing the relationship between schools and agencies.

To download the guide, visit www.rec.uk.com/education

Recruitment Matters September 2014 5

02/09/2014 14:17

Legal Update

Developments in public procurement legislation Bunmi Adefuye, REC solicitor, takes a look at what recent changes to public procurement mean for REC members Three highly anticipated European public procurement directives were adopted in April this year. All EU member states have two years to implement them into domestic legislation, and the Cabinet Office is working hard to implement the new regulations this year. These regulations will replace the existing Public Contracts and Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006 and introduce a directive on concessions.

The expectation is that the reforms will assist with the government’s proposal to make public sector contracts more accessible to SMEs by reducing barriers to competition and creating an equal level playing field in the market.

Certainly REC members have been telling us that they have found public procurement exercises onerous, time consuming and expensive. Unfortunately, some members have been unsuccessful with their tenders for various reasons but hopefully the new directives and the resulting UK regulations will tackle some of these issues.

The key principles of the EU Treaty

will still apply, so contracts have to be competed for and awarded in a fair, proportionate, transparent and nondiscriminatory manner.

Some key points in the directives are: ● There will no longer be Part A (priority) or Part B (non- priority) services.

Instead a light touch regime will be introduced for certain services ie. health, education and social services, where the contract value meets the threshold of over €750,000. The details of how this light touch regime will operate still has to be agreed by the government ● Public authorities will be encouraged to divide larger contracts into smaller lots to boost SME participation ● There will be less reliance on lengthy pre-qualification questionnaires and more self-declarations by suppliers to reduce the red tape ● The timescales for completing the tendering exercise will be shortened ● Proof of financial standing of the supplier in terms of the turnover requirements will be limited to a

maximum of twice the estimated value of the contract, except in certain cases where it is justified.

The government has publically committed to increasing SME participation in public procurement so it remains to be seen what they will in fact deliver by the end of this Parliament. Certainly this is something the REC is keen to see achieved as we have developed good working relationships with various procurement bodies including the Cabinet Office, Crown Commercial Service, London Procurement Partnership and Health Trust Europe and we will continue to make the necessary representations on behalf of our members.

We hope the new regulations fulfil our expectations and that we see SMEs having greater access to procurement opportunities and winning more tenders.

Further information on the procurement directives is available here, http://bit.ly/1kDYKzj http://bit.ly/1iw45Ef

Business development: Brookson As a specialist accountant for contractors Brookson is proud to be one of the REC’s official business partners providing umbrella employment and limited company accountancy services.

For nearly 20 years, 70,000 individuals across a number of sectors have already benefited from our expert accountancy and tax planning advice. Brookson has a dedicated Agency Support Team who is on hand to assist you.

So what benefits do Brookson bring to REC? Andrew Fahey, Brookson Commercial Director says: “On the candidate side Brookson bring an enhanced service to the agency’s candidates as we provide a service for every way of working and have rigorous compliance checks. On the other side, Brookson proactively

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engages with agencies regarding legislation updates including MSC, AWR and the offshore/onshore regulations.

“Brookson is a member of authoritative bodies such as the FCSA and REC, which shows that we are leading the way when it comes to credibility and compliance.”

Benefits for REC members working with Brookson include dedicated account managers, direct access to operational support, tax and legal specialists, compliance updates and workshops, highly competitive terms of business and proactive advice on all legislative changes. For more information about how Brookson can help you, please contact their Agency Support team on 0800 0833 493 or email agencies@brookson.co.uk

www.rec.uk.com 02/09/2014 14:17

Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals

IMA winner Jo Sweetland, HR partner at Green Park, won the IMA Consultant of the Year at last year’s IRP Awards Congratulations on your win in late 2013 – how has 2014 been?

This year has been an exciting year for me personally with the arrival of my second daughter, Renée, who was born in March. 2014 has also been a good year for Green Park – we have grown our interim business, so much so that we are looking for new additions to the team.

You have degrees in geography and history, so what brought you to recruitment?

I didn’t finish university thinking I wanted a career in recruitment – it was something I fell into. I was actually looking to go into marketing as a career and the recruitment company I was talking to at the time asked whether I had ever considered a career in recruitment. Fifteen years later, I can honestly say I still very much enjoy working in recruitment.

You’re a senior executive at Green Park – how do you all work as a team?

The interim and search teams work closely together. Clients don’t want to work with different providers for their interim and search needs, much like we all want to do our shopping in the same place. Very often, the two go hand in hand. It’s great for the client too; very often they can call upon three or four of us, whether it be the interim consultant, the search consultant, a functional specialist or even our CEO and founder Raj Tulsiani, who still likes to offer an opinion or two.

What is the biggest challenge facing the industry right now?

Technology. Green Park is making sure we’re at the cutting edge of recruitment technology. Whether it’s a new position alert from an app, getting an urgent shortlist over on the same day or updating your CV from your smartphone or tablet, we need to make sure that every interaction is quick, easy and effective. But the rest of the recruitment industry is some way behind and in danger of being undercut by poor-quality, tech-savvy start-ups. Recruitment firms need to invest in technology, taking a short-term hit for long-term stability and gain.

What piece of advice would you give your younger self on her first day as a recruiter?

The main thing is to always listen. From day one you should be listening in order to learn about the job – listening to what clients and candidates want. Even now, after 15 years in recruitment, I am always listening to see if there is a better way to do things.

What I know This month Harris Keillar, MD at Keillar Resourcing, gives his career tips It’s more than money I obviously think I’m a great recruiter, though there are many who are financially more successful. The differentiator is genuinely being interested in both client and candidate, and getting the right person for the role.

Don’t just think outside the box – live outside it How can I possibly say no to that! People move for different reasons so it’s important we get as much information on what motivates a candidate, especially if they’re moving to a role that is broadly similar to what they have already.

The most important tool a recruiter can have Phones are ideal in a sense because you’re then able to get more information. Someone might see a role advertised and think, ‘Woah, I hadn’t thought of that’ and within a phone call the ball is rolling. Email is fantastic in terms of updating and confirming things, not to mention registering interest, but the phone is absolutely essential. I come into my office some days and it’s like a 1960s typing pool – clakity clak, clakity clak. You could spend hours trying to chase someone over email for a CV, but with a phone call it can be done within two minutes.

Linking in on LinkedIn Social media, in particular LinkedIn, is probably our best friend and our biggest enemy. We’re able to access an enormous global database of individuals, but everyone else can use it as well. The quality of a recruitment business’s database used to be the big thing, but it’s not as important as it once was.

A sale unlike any other When recruitment is great, it’s fantastic, although it’s a role where your ability to influence is much less than you think – and it’s also the only sales job where the solution can turn round and say no! I don’t have any rose-tinted views of what recruitment was like in the proverbial good ‘ol days, because some pretty rubbishy things happened then, as they sometimes do now. But I think to enjoy the job after 32 years, you have to be interested in both candidates and clients, clients and candidates. You can’t be horrible to one and nice to the other, otherwise it will come back to bite you.

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

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Events and training

Stand out in the public crowd Achieving REC Audited standard gives agencies an added advantage above their competitors With increased competition for agencies working in the public sector space it is more important than ever to ensure that you are able to demonstrate that your business is operating to the highest possible standards.

Over 100 agencies have achieved or are working towards the REC Audited and Audited Education standards, including Hays and Randstad.

Director of public sector at recruiter Fawkes and Reece, Helen Lock (FIRP), said: “We work with public sector organisations who in turn work with groups of vulnerable people where compliance is of the highest importance, including education and social care, and this is why we chose to go for the audit.

“Having the REC Audited standard helps us to stand out in the highly competitive market we work in. It is great to be able to show clients and prospective clients that we are fully compliant with the conduct regulations, as well as demonstrating the highest standards of client and candidate

Helen Lock management,” Lock said.

“It was fantastic to pass REC Audited and it gave all of the staff a real sense of achievement. Plus, it raises your profile amongst the staff that are working for you so that they take an additional sense of pride in the work that they are doing.”

REC head of compliance Angie Nicholls said: “The REC Audited product gives

you the opportunity to prove that you are a cut above your competitors by undergoing our comprehensive audit that ensures that your business is operating at the gold standard in recruitment.”

For more information on REC Audited and Audited Education go to www.rec.uk.com/audited or call us on 020 7009 2100.

REC honours school recruitment at the Education Business Awards The REC partnered with the 10th instalment of the Education Business Awards to recognise and honour outstanding achievement in the education sector. The REC sponsored the School Recruitment Award which recognised an educational establishment which has invested in its recruitment methods and processes to ensure a timely intake of appropriate teaching and support staff. This year the award went to the Reach Academy, in Feltham in Middlesex for its involvement with the programme Teach First, which recruits graduates with at least an upper second to teach in schools that serve disadvantaged communities.

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

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Given the ever increasing demands placed on schools, it has never been more important to pay homage to those that seek and obtain excellence in the many areas of responsibility for schools. School recruitment is an essential component of school management and I was delighted to present this award on behalf of the REC to Reach Academy, Middlesex Professor Howson, chair of the REC Audited Education steering group

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 8547 Consulting Editor: Ed Sexton ed.sexton@rec.uk.com Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7009 2173. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Deputy Production Manager: Kieran Tobin. kieran.tobin@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6240 Printing: Printed by Woodford Litho © 2014 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com 02/09/2014 14:18

Friday 5th December 2014 Park Plaza Westminster Bridge

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(OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS)

For more information and to book your table, please contact: Email: emilia.tosner@redactive.co.uk Telephone: 0207 880 6226

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN RECRUITMENT

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Cover story

New rules, new game It could almost be the halcyon City recruitment era before 2008. Recruitment is booming in banking and financial services. As one City recruiter tells us: “We are tripping over jobs.” However, the rules of the City game have changed since scandals emerging from the global financial crisis left careers of many high flyers in ruins, and banks’ reputations in tatters. Greater regulatory pressures weigh in on City activities, and the ‘cut and thrust’ approach of many long-time City denizens is no longer a sought-after characteristic.

But has much changed in the recruiting and hiring environment as a result? Some recruiters privately suggest that no, little has actually changed in either recruiting or in core business activities. And yes, banking scandals continue to emerge. However, pressure continues to build on the City to up its standards. Last spring, Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned the City that the future of capitalism itself was at risk unless “a malaise in corners of finance” was remedied. What is the current state of play in City talent management?

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KARINE FAOU/WWW.EYECANDYILLUSTRATION.COM

AS THE FINANCIAL SECTOR STARTS TO WIPE AWAY THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST, RECRUITMENT TO THE INDUSTRY HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY, WITH MORE EMPHASIS ON REGULATION AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR. DEEDEE DOKE REPORTS

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Talent management in financial services

The regulator’s talent chief His purpose: to develop a talent proposition — identifying, acquiring and managing talent — that is fit for purpose for a new consumer-centric regulator. This regulator is a ‘new sheriff in town’ calling the shots on how financial services organisations providing services to consumers operate in a post-global financial crisis (GFC) universe.

With such a role and purpose, there’s no small pressure then on Paul Maxin, who took on the job earlier this year to build a world-class operation in how talent is defined, recruited, and its potential tapped into and managed.

Named by Recruiter in August as one of the 11 Most Influential In-House Recruiters for a second year running, the genial, relaxed Maxin is arguably the most influential — full stop — as his talent operation must set the tone, the pace and the standard for those operating now throughout banking and financial services.

He’s wearing the pressure with grace and good humour, along with a sharply cut, yet conservative suit — a change in uniform from most of his days at global consumer products firm Unilever, where he spent seven years in the top talent job. However, a bright tie signals the presence of an undimmed creative light sparking the thoughtful methodology and rigorous process that will have to drive his work at the FCA. And along with the creative spark, a certain idealism about his mission is evident when Maxin reflects on his work.

He light-heartedly rejects the suggestion that he is the UK’s most influential in-house recruiter, saying: “I wouldn’t say that about myself but it is in a sense of making a difference that is what potentially makes the role exciting.

“I’m one of those people who likes to make a difference. So for me, the opportunity to make a difference is extraordinarily attractive,” he tells Recruiter during a conversation at the FCA’s starkly white offices at London’s Canary Wharf.

“The impact our organisation can have on financial services is significant — not least because we are about conduct regulation,” Maxin says. “And clearly, in a fast-growing industry there are pressures on talent acquisition. We are a values-driven organisation that recognises not everybody who joins the FCA is going to retire from the FCA. “But I’m a great believer in the power of talent acquisition. So by developing skills, leadership, behaviours, competencies and by bringing people on with complementary values, then by the time they are ready to leave the FCA and go into the financial services sector, they will take all of that with them.

Overall, that goes some way, I think, to improving conduct as a whole.”

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Talent management in financial services

The financial services sector is experiencing major growth in employment, he points out, at around 24-25%, compared to UK employment growth of 23% at the same time.

The FCA itself is not only recruiting for its roles from inside the existing financial services industry but it is creating a market for roles in conduct regulation, Maxin points out. “It’s a new market; it didn’t really exist before the formation of the FCA in April 2013,” he says.

Created under the Financial Services Act 2012, the FCA is part of a new regulatory structure for financial services consisting of itself, the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee and the Prudential Regulation Authority. The Act came into force on 1 April 2013.

Maxin agrees that the FCA is “very much in the spotlight”, going on to point out the use of a spotlight as a design device in the organisation’s logo, highlighting the ‘C’ for Conduct in FCA. “As far as talent management is concerned,” he adds, “everyone is in the spotlight — so therefore it [talent management] needs to be transparent.”

Further, as far as the FCA’s approach to talent, Maxin notes: “Everyone is talent — absolutely everyone in this organisation has talent, and clearly we need to ensure that the key talent is in the key roles. We need to identify what those roles are.”

ACADEMY ORGANISATION

Exciting him most at the moment in taking the talent movement forward is the FCA’s proposition as “an academy-type of organisation” in which talent and leadership reflecting its values-driven nature can be incubated, fostered, nurtured and developed.

An organisation with such high profile, fast pace and ever-changing cultural context as the FCA will likely send forth its talent back into the commercial financial services world to, metaphorically, multiply by influencing. And nothing less can do.

“If we are the best that we can be, then millions of people in this country will benefit, and that’s really exciting,” Maxin says.

He credits the concept’s creation to the formidable FCA human resources director Jacqueline Davis, whom Maxin describes as “visionary”. Her financial services pedigree includes stints at Barclays, Lloyds and RBS. She also co-authored the 2010 book, The Truth About Talent. The academy will have a prospectus, a curriculum and regular keynote speakers. Also, in an aligned programme, the FCA will collaborate with Henley Business School at the University of Reading to offer its top management what may be the first MSc in Financial Regulation.

Shortly before Maxin joined the FCA, he had published an article about how organisations that collaborated around talent development, instead of fighting over it actually won. He sees talent exchange as part of collaborating with others, and the FCA is developing exchange programmes with organisations

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such as HM Treasury, the European Union Parliament, Age UK, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and accountancy and consultancy firms, among others.

“If we are developing and creating a market in conduct regulation, then by having a talent exchange of some people within the ‘Big Four’ [accountancy/ consulting firms] coming in here to help us with financial regulatory supervision. This enables them to support their own developing regulatory practice when they go back,” Maxin says. “It’s a kind of symbiotic collaborative approach for talent that is informed by us being a talent exchange and academy organisation.”

Paul Maxin

TALENT COLLABORATION

“Little did I know,” he adds lightly, “I was going to join the FCA when I wrote at the end of last year that organisations that collaborate with talent rather than fight over it will win — it’s basically a Darwinian concept. This is a very collaborative organisation with a collaborative culture, and that works for the development of leaders and leadership, skill sets and capabilities — but it also infuses talent in the markets that we regulate, and that’s a good thing.

“The message there is, on the one hand, we recognise there is turnover. And we must always have a concern about losing talent — but not be fearful of it, because if you lose talent because you haven’t developed them, that’s far worse than the alternative of developing talent [and then losing them],” he says.

“So there is a great deal of investment in talent and identification of talent in this organisation.”

The fact that the FCA is often directly or indirectly in news discussed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme when self-proclaimed “newshound” Maxin is driving to work, reinforces his understanding that his work environment is a critical place to be at the moment, professionally speaking. But a subtle message from one of Maxin’s personal heroes let him know early on, from the very walls of the FCA itself, that the FCA could be the right place for him too.

“There’s a piece of artwork that hangs on the wall which has none other than the complete lyrics of a Bob Dylan song called Positively 4th Street — that’s got to be serendipity,” he says. “I left the building after my final interview and walked past that, and thought, ‘Well, where else do I need to be?’ ”

“THE JOURNEY THAT THE ORGANISATION IS ON IS CERTAINLY NEWSWORTHY. I DRIVE TO WORK NOW, AND I LISTEN TO THE TODAY PROGRAMME EVERY DAY, AND HARDLY A DAY GOES BY WITHOUT THE FCA DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY HAVING AN IMPACT ON A NEWS STORY. AND FOR A NEWSHOUND SUCH AS MYSELF THAT’S REALLY INTERESTING”

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Talent management in financial services

The headhunters Experience, the right competencies and a track record of achievement counted for a lot in the C-suite and the boardroom before careers crumbled and banks found themselves cast as the villain in the recent global financial crisis.

“It used to be much more straightforward,” says Jill Ader, speaking about unearthing the right candidates for leadership roles. “Now everybody is forced to look at candidates in a deeper way, and a more holistic way.”

Ader is a senior partner and board member at Egon Zehnder International. She focuses on board work at the executive search practice.

In a quiet London Mayfair conference room, Ader is outlining the ‘then and now’ aspects of headhunting candidates for the loftiest jobs at the UK’s, and even the world’s, most prestigious firms.

“So for instance, recruiting in financial services now,” Ader says, “you really do have to look at integrity and ethics along the way.

“Start with the bigger picture,” she says. “What’s the sense of purpose? What’s the purpose of the organisation? Why do they come to work? What are they trying to build? How much of that is about me and my ego, and my needs — and how much of that is about doing the right thing for society, for savers of the future, for people who have got pensions, for the organisation? It’s very much that top-level purpose.”

Once the sense of purpose has been explored, Ader investigates candidates’ values and ethics, beyond what they offer during interviews. “Of course when you reference people,” she says, “you’re double checking — are they aware of how their behaviours come across to other people? They might think they’re a good role model. But do other people see them as a good role model for values and ethics?”

DESIRED BEHAVIOURS

Today some guidance and oversight around desired industry behaviours, values and ethics comes from the regulators. However, in Ader’s view, hirers in regulated industries such as financial services or pharmaceutical “can’t rely on the regulator to do the job for you and slap you on the wrist. You’ve got to be thinking much more broadly and deeply about the values that you hold true. In a crisis, those are the values that will lead you to make the right decision”.

Just after the crisis, finding people who fitted the right profile for financial services organisations trying to alter the course of ‘business as usual’ was “quite difficult”, Ader acknowledges. “So many financial institutions were somehow involved in some shape or form that doing financial searches meant you had to go out and find someone ‘untainted’. So there were a lot of people who were brought back from retirement or early retirement at the very top level,” she explains.

“You were looking in places where people had left financial services and gone into other sectors — they hadn’t been in financial services when the crisis happened — to bring them back in.”

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But that situation had a serious downside as well; the sector moves so quickly and changes so fast that many returnees had to once again find their feet. “You can’t just rely on untainted people who were nowhere to be seen when the crisis happened,” Ader opines.

“You have to rely on who are the deep experts and who have got the values and the ethics and that sort of sense of purpose, that throughout the crisis they did the right things at the moment.

“So that’s really important to understand how somebody behaved. Not just what did they achieve, but how did they behave during the crisis. That is a pivotal way of doing any of those searches,” she says.

The name of Ader’s employer, Egon Zehnder, is synonymous with top drawer search in elite circles — to the extent that media reports in recent weeks have linked the firm with a just-launched search by the Royal Bank of Scotland to find a new chairman to succeed Sir Philip Hampton when he steps down in 2015. Ever discreet, the firm has refused to comment.

From offices in the City of London, Mike Hammond of executive search and interim management firm Sheffield Haworth is intimately familiar with the financial services sector from a firsthand perspective. The group CEO of Sheffield Haworth, Hammond arrived at the firm last year as group managing director after 24 years in financial services at firms such as Unicredit, Merrill Lynch and UBS. He agrees that there is more emphasis on core values as financial services firms hire new executives, with the newcomers’ interests now more firmly “aligned with where the business is going”. He also acknowledges that people in the run-up to the financial crisis were “quite mercenary” in joining companies, signing on often simply because of the remuneration packages on offer.

“I think a lot of the hubris is gone,” he told Recruiter.

“People learned lessons personally and professionally.

Clients are more pragmatic, transparent and working with the lack of hubris that probably existed before.

That’s how I see it.”

Hammond also believes that there has been a return to the “strategic playbook” in recruitment in the sector from a tactical approach, although in his opinion, the US is further ahead in “getting back to a normalised level”.

There is an upside to the crisis fallout Hammond sees which is still to manifest itself. “I think we will see normalisation of what the financial services sector generates as part of the GDP [gross domestic product] of the country,” he says. “We can’t be reliant on financial services to the extent we were before.”

Jill Ader

Mike Hammond

SO MANY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WERE SOMEHOW INVOLVED IN SOME FORM THAT DOING FINANCIAL SEARCHES MEANT YOU HAD TO GO OUT AND FIND SOMEONE ‘UNTAINTED’. SO THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE BROUGHT BACK FROM RETIREMENT

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Talent management in financial services

Standing for standards “I think there’s a general feeling in the profession that ever since the onset of the financial crisis, everyone has felt that they are under scrutiny.

“And the more you might think of yourself as a banker, or others describe you as a banker, the greater that degree of scrutiny — because there is, rightly or wrongly, a large measure of blame attached to people who describe themselves as bankers over what happened.”

That’s how Andrew Hall, head of professional standards at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), describes the general impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the professionals his institute represents.

CISI is the largest professional body for the securities and investment industry in the UK, with 20,000 qualified members of whom “many” hold what regulators call ‘significant influence’ functions within firms, Hall says. CISI also has 20,000 student members.

In a previous incarnation as the Securities Institute, and until 1986, the organisation was the membership department of the London Stock Exchange.

On a practical level, Hall tells Recruiter, the stunning loss of jobs in the crisis wielded the fiercest and most immediate impact on individuals: “That meant people looking for jobs had to immediately examine what their feelings were, what their experience was, how they would describe themselves and look at what the industry was wanting.

UNDER SCRUTINY

For a time, the industry “wasn’t wanting anything or anyone”, Hall recalls. “But as recruitment picked up, it then was people who could describe themselves as having an unblemished career. For people who were associated with areas which were under scrutiny for any weaknesses which may have caused the financial crisis, it was more difficult to justify their hiring.”

A tide of increased regulation with attention focused on ethics, integrity and professional standards has swept across financial services professions in recent years. Launched by the then-Financial Services Authority (FSA) at the end of 2012, the Retail Distribution Review, for instance, focused on financial advisers in the retail investment industry who provided advice to consumers on products such as life policies, stakeholder or personal pension schemes and other types of investments.

The review changed how financial advisers could charge for their advice and required such advisers to achieve certain qualifications to practise. Hall says a number of practising financial advisers left the industry as a result of the heightened demand for qualifications, with few tears shed by regulators. In fact, one of the aims of the new requirements was “to try to rid the industry of a lot of fringe players”, Hall notes.

This year, a new Banking Standards Review Council proposed by Sir Richard Lambert is being formed with the aim of setting standards for “culture, competence

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and customer outcomes”. Lambert himself has acknowledged: “Raising standards of behaviour across this large and complex industry will take time and will require a number of challenges to be overcome.”

For its own part in upping professional standards, CISI has already taken a number of steps, Hall points out. They include putting in place an online test called Integrity Matters designed to “make people aware of ethical dilemmas, think about them and respond appropriately to them. There are situations where the answer may not be obvious, and you need to recognise them and think about them”, Hall says.

Since April 2013, new entrants to the investment banking profession who will take CISI’s Capital Markets Certificate exam must pass Integrity Matters before they can sit the exam. “That was a first in the industry,” Hall says proudly, “and it was greeted, I think, with almost universal popular response.”

Another CISI offering is its face-to-face, interactive presentation Integrity At Work, which Hall says has been taken up “extensively” by two major international banks and already taken by 10,000 bankers around the world. “Anybody who is a member or fellow [of CISI] has to take one of our integrity or ethics products. We are trying very hard to raise standards in that respect,” Hall says.

“Fortunately,” he adds, “none of the people who have appeared in the newspaper as being major transgressors [in connection with banking scandals]… have been members of ours.”

Some debate is currently swirling around the question of whether or not banking and securities and investment actually qualify as professions. However, Hall says, there is little argument that “everybody within the business should subscribe to professional standards”.

Asked how CISI members have responded to greater demands for ethics training, increased requirements for qualifications and structured reinforcement of ‘best practice’, Hall says most are “fully supportive of everything we do and all the steps within the industry to try to ensure that everybody is appropriately qualified, behaves appropriately and maintains a professional stance at all times”.

However, he acknowledges, “inevitably” a few of the “longer-serving members” of the industry don’t buy in to the new regime.

“But we feel that in the context of restoring or increasing public confidence in financial services generally,” Hall says, “we are not able to make exceptions for people. And if they feel they’re not prepared to adhere to the standards that are required in 2014, then we are not prepared to allow them to continue as members.”

Andrew Hall

FOR PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH AREAS WHICH WERE UNDER SCRUTINY FOR ANY WEAKNESSES WHICH MAY HAVE CAUSED THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, IT WAS MORE DIFFICULT TO JUSTIFY THEIR HIRING

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Small can still be attractive SMALLER BUSINESSES ARE PLAYING A VITAL ROLE IN THE UK’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY. TO HELP THEM CONTINUE TO GROW, THEY NEED TO ATTRACT THE TOP TALENT AND SOMETIMES THE RECRUITMENT PROCESSES USED CAN HINDER THEIR GOAL. SUE WEEKES INVESTIGATES Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have contributed to bringing the UK unemployment rate down to its lowest levels in five years. And according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), five times as many small firms (10.5%) planned to increase headcount over the summer months compared to the second quarter of the year.

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For many of these smaller companies, recruitment is still largely a manual process. They may use job boards and/or have vacancies posted on their website but the process of collecting, tracking and sifting through applications and CVs generally lacks automation.

Jay Cholewinski, managing director of the recruitment service and software provider Webrecruit,

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SME software

Tony Brookes

MOST SMES ARE LESS EFFECTIVE AT RECRUITING THAN THEY COULD BE, WITH MANY MANAGING THEIR CAMPAIGNS

BY EMAIL AND SPREADSHEETS. CLEARLY THIS WORKS, BUT IS COSTLY IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN ESPECIALLY IF THEY WISH TO REALLY STAY ON TOP OF THE CANDIDATES

cloud and software-as-a-service, as well as a range of flexible web-based recruitment services, has made it far more accessible than five or even three years ago.

Scaleable solutions mean that SME owners can even access the same technology as far bigger organisations.

Chris Bogh, technical director of recruitment software developer Eploy, explains that its large and small clients use the same platform with the only difference being in how they are configured. “Small businesses want something they can roll out quickly so we have a preconfigured package with some features used by bigger companies turned off,” he explains. “But it allows them to do everything from job requisition to attraction and candidate tracking, as well as some onboarding.”

Similarly, Vacancy Filler recruitment software operates in both the SME and LME (large and mediumsized enterprises) market. Tony Brookes, sales director, explains that its smallest customer recruits only 10-20 times a year while the largest recruit 6,000 times or more. He believes most SMEs are less effective at recruiting than they could be, with many managing their campaigns by email and spreadsheets. “Clearly this works, but is costly in the administrative burden especially if they wish to really stay on top of the

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says that within its client base, there is one overarching theme for small businesses: how to compete with larger organisations to attract the best talent, whether it is because of a lack of budget to use the right channels, having a lesser known brand or lacking the expertise and manpower to manage the candidate experience.

Clearly, it also comes down to not being able to offer comparable and competitive reward packages but while technology can’t address this, it can help to level the playing field in other ways and help to make SMEs far more efficient and effective recruiters.

“It’s those businesses without access to the most suitable recruitment technology who face the biggest challenges, making the concept of direct hiring even more distant,” says Cholewinski, who adds that while SME recruiters can often be “resourceful and savvy” when it comes to recruitment and rely on methods such as word-of-mouth to save costs, this can mean that only “known entities” are hired. “SMEs could open up their options more,” he adds.

Software providers report that many small businesses see recruitment technology as the preserve of the bigger organisations. But the advent of the

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SME software

John Hackston

THE INTERVIEW IS TYPICALLY THE ONLY SELECTION METHOD THAT SMES USE AFTER SIFTING THROUGH APPLICATIONS AND THEY PERCEIVE PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING TO BE COSTPROHIBITIVE FOR THEM. THIS IS A REAL SHAME, AS ALL THE RESEARCH SHOWS THAT PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS ARE ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO SELECT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB

candidates,” he says. “For an SME, this money could be better spent elsewhere. The return on investment from a manual system to one like Vacancy Filler’s is typically between four to six months.”

Cholewinski agrees that software can be used to eradicate much of the “dry admin” associated with recruitment, allowing employers to spend more time on their candidate attraction and management initiatives. Its clients also report that it speeds up their hiring process especially when vacancies attract a large volume of responses. Bruce Thomson, managing director of mailing house Baker Goodchild, says that when appointing a finance manager recently, Webrecruit’s Shortlist manager facility enabled it to have the new candidate in position a week before the outgoing employee had left which would have been difficult to achieve using manual processes. “This gave us time to conduct a full handover,” he says.

Providers report that smaller companies also fail to see the importance of having a good careers page and/or portal and the ability to talent pool candidates.

“Even those recruiting just 10 people a year will have had potential candidates contact them before so having a database to go to first is a really valuable tool,” says Bogh, who adds that as an SME itself, which is regularly recruiting developers and support staff, it stays in touch with candidates in its talent pool via a newsletter. Brookes similarly urges SMEs to make talent pooling a “by-product” of the recruitment process.

“These strategies are important for SMEs to make use of in order to search out the best talent when there are perhaps not high volumes of applicants applying for roles,” he says, adding: “Then once candidates come through the process, having a simple and timely recruitment process that collaborates with the hiring manager is vital.”

One of Vacancy Filler’s clients runs a number of talent pools, which has enabled it to reduce its external advertising. Judith Sadler, group HR manager of the Sinclair Group, a motor group based in Wales, explains that previously it would also receive a number of CVs and covering letters with no mention of the role for which they were applying. “Now it’s very clear and having all the applications in one place doesn’t just make the receipt of CVs easier, but by being able to add in hiring managers to the process without losing sight of the CVs we can still monitor the process,” she says.

SME recruiters should also look at how they can combine recruitment systems with other specific tools to aid the process, such as video-interviewing which, as Brookes points out, projects a professional image to the candidate as well as saves time. The accessibility of video technology has made this far more practical for

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SMEs to build it into their recruitment practices.

Psychometric testing has also become more affordable to the SME employer. John Hackston, head of research and development at OPP, which distributes many of the world’s leading psychometric instruments, says that the interview is typically the only selection method that SMEs use after sifting through applications and they perceive psychometric testing to be costprohibitive for them. “This is a real shame, as all the research shows that psychometric tests are one of the best ways to select the right person for the job,” he says.

“And it’s worth remembering that one bad recruitment decision can have a relatively much bigger effect in a small company than in a larger one.”

OPP has therefore launched Sirius to make objective assessment available to SMEs at a reasonable cost and without the need for training. It uses a unique combination of personality assessment and ability testing and it compares and rank-orders candidates based on the competencies required for a specific role. Hackston reports that SMEs value Sirius for a number of reasons: being able to use tried-and-trusted psychometrics in their recruitment process, reducing risk by getting the correct hire and having far more information to assist them in interviewing than they had previously. Among its early adopters are Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. “It has enabled me and my team to support our managers in adopting a competency-based selection process, where previously interviews tended to focus on the technical aspects of a role,” says Mel Francis, head of HR. “The ‘compare candidates’ screen is particularly helpful, and the Interviewer’s Guide gives me the reassurance that our interviews are thorough and fair, by presenting relevant competency-based interview questions.”

If SMEs are to continue to play a vital part in the UK’s economic recovery and attract top talent to help them grow, many need to re-examine their recruiting processes. Where appropriate, they should introduce technology that enables them to recruit more efficiently and more effectively. And this includes using tools that help them to extend their reach and presence in the mobile space as this is increasingly where candidates begin their job search.

Eploy alone has seen a 190% increase in mobile applications this year and 196% increase in mobile logins on its candidate portals. “Just because a company is a small business, it doesn’t mean the mobile space isn’t relevant for them,” says Bogh. “A candidate will want to search on mobile and apply on mobile. A big brand will have a presence there so it’s essential that those with a lesser known brand promote themselves in this space too.”

Jay Cholewinski

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SEPTEMBER 2014

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Are you looking for an exciting new opportunity?

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software solution, e-tips®. We are based in rural surroundings in Knutsford, Cheshire and seek to employ only the best talent to support our enviable client list. de Poel has been awarded the Investors in People accreditation (2012) and The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For listing in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

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SENIOR CONSULTANT / TEAM LEADER – ENGINEERING FREELANCE Leicester / Midlands

An independent recruitment brand have an emerging freelance division that requires the leadership and development of an experienced Temp Recruiter that is keen to build and develop their own team. As a specialist independent, this Àrm operate nationally with many major Building Services Engineering Àrms in a busy niche. Instant client and candidate database, inheriting all existing temps / relationships.

RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT – HR Cambridge

Join a large and modern team of Recruiters in Cambridge that work to incredibly high quality standards and enjoy an elite status with clients and candidates across the region. This is an established desk and client base that requires the professional and polished approach of an experience Perm Recruiter. Great reward schemes and inheritance of existing relationships.

SENIOR CONSULTANT / ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR – PROPERTY London

Want to join London’s most successful and proÀtable agency focused on all areas of Property & Surveying disciplines? Established desks with strong fee billing track records are available for experienced Recruiters as this agency dominate and further expand their London team. Great prospect to work with brilliant mentors, achieve industry topping earnings and route to Director.

HEAD OF PRACTICE – PROPERTY / REAL ESTATE London

Want to head up the development and growth of the established London business for a national independent specialist within all areas of Property / Real Estate / Surveying? This is a great option for a Senior / Principal / Billing Manager looking for greater scope and fast-track route to Directorship. One of the best working environments in London.

SENIOR RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT – OFFICE SUPPORT PERM Norwich

A brilliantly successful independent recruitment brand in Norwich seeks an experienced Perm Consultant to take over an existing client base. This Àrm work to high quality account managed structure and offers a fun loving and stylish working environment. Immediate interviews are available for Perm Recruiters looking for a new challenge.

• • • •

£28,000 - £34,000 base Comm | Bonus | Big Desk | G’tee Call Darren: 01223 792193 Ref: 1863

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£26,000 - £32,000 base Comm | Bonus | Guarantee Call Darren: 01223 792193 Ref: 1492

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£27,000 - £30,000 base Comm | Bonus | Guarantee Call Tara: 01223 792191 Ref: 1728

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£32,000 - £38,000 base Comm | Bonus | ProÀt Share Call Richard: 0203 301 0789 Ref: 1782

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£50,000 - £60,000 base Comm | Bonus | Shares | G’tee Call Richard: 0203 301 0789 Ref: 1626

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£24,000 - £28,000 base Comm | Bonus | Laptop | G’tee Call Tara: 01223 792191 Ref: 1755

WWW.RECRUITERREPUBLIC.COM WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK

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03/09/2014 15:44

Movers & Shakers

BRAZIL: Denys Monteiro, •chiefAESCexecutive and partner of

ALEXANDER DANIELS: The •recruitment group hired

Mike Willmoth to lead a new healthcare division.

•

ASHTON CONSULTING: The •Bristol-based specialist

PLACED RECRUITMENT: •TheBETTER sales, marketing and

HR agency has appointed Mike Thomas to lead its new engineering and manufacturing division.

BIE EXECUTIVE: The executive •recruitment specialist has

appointed Roz Alexander to its HR interim management division.

• CUMMINS MELLOR: The East Lancashire-based recruitment group has hired Helen Jackson as head of recruitment.

CO-OPERATIVE GROUP: •TheTHEgroup has made three hires:

Simon Grieve, head of executive resourcing; Emma Porteus, interim executive resourcing partner; Mark Gilbertson, head of group resourcing.

•executive search firm has hired CTPARTNERS: The global

Boston-based Kevin McKeon as principal in the financial services practice. Leslie Cook has also joined as principal in the global consumer and retail practice.

global executive search firm has hired Carlos Garcia as partner in Los Angeles and Alan Cork as partner in Minneapolis.

John Hindley has also joined as partner in the financial services practice in London.

RUTHERFORD CROSS: The •Scotland-based, global specialist

•global specialist recruiter has appointed Sarah Greensmith to lead its commerce and industry and professional services divisions.

MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL: •Board member Tim Miller

•

SPHERE SOLUTIONS: The Plymouth construction industry recruiter has appointed Helen Rosborough business improvement manager.

•global executive search firm has promoted Tamás Gönczi in its Hungary office to client partner.

• recruiter.co.uk/jobs • inhouserecruiterjobs.co.uk • internationalrecruiterjobs. com

•

SHARNA ASSOCIATES: The rec-to-rec firm has appointed Matt Young to head a new IT and digital rec-to-rec sector.

•based international energy

PEDERSON & PARTNERS: The

For more jobs, people moves and career advice go to

search firm has appointed Derek Lauder and Lucy Edgar to lead its new interim employment division.

stepped down on 13 August. The company has also promoted Marcus Johnson and Peter Simmonds to the respective posts of operating director of Michael Page Finance and operating director of Michael Page and Page Logistics.

has appointed Yusuke Nishino as the new country manager for en world Singapore.

Nigel Frank International Business development manager – EMEA Sales sector Lucrative commission scheme London

•

James Taylor to recruit new partners and lawyers, and oversee HR. MCGREGOR BOYALL: The

Apogee Recruitment Senior consultant IT sector £25k-£30k basic c.£50k OTE uncapped Near Basingstoke, Hampshire

has appointed Celina Zhao as group chief finance officer.

KNIGHTS: The professional •services firm has appointed

EN WORLD: The mid-career •recruitment solutions provider

•

Hudson General manager Generalist/human resources/personnel £competitive salary Hong Kong

RMG SELECTION: The Beijing•headquartered global recruiter

ROWAN GROUP: The Manchester-based senior executive research firm has appointed Carl Meyer as associate director.

NES GLOBAL TALENT: The global oil & gas, power and infrastructure recruiter has appointed subsurface specialist David Styles as lead consultant in Brisbane, Australia.

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES: The

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk

Global credit insurance company Euler Hermes has hired Fiona Hanoman as HR director for the Northern Europe region, based in London. She moves from her role as head of HR UK and Ireland for the nearly 100-year-old company.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, an accredited executive coach and has a Master’s degree in employee relations and law.

Before joining the company three years ago, she ran her own HR consultancy business.

ARCHIPELO: The training and business coaching consultancy has hired Catherine de la Poer as client services director.

recruiter has appointed Zoe Norquoy as recruiter within business intelligence in IT and Claire Sharp joins as head of the in-house legal division.

Your next move?

NEW ROLE FOR HANOMAN AT EULER HERMES

global executive recruitment firm Fesa, has been appointed chairman of the Brazil National Committee for the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).

SPENCER OGDEN: The London-

recruiter has opened three new US offices headed by: Bryan Chancellor (Orlando), with Larissa Morgan as deputy; Stella Cronshey (San Diego); and David Dolman (Denver).

•

•

TATUM: Randstad US’s management and advisory services firm has hired Scott Law as its new Atlanta office managing partner.

TEMPO: The alliance for •temporary recruitment agencies

has hired Janice Henson as director (see also The Challenge, p21).

•

VENQUIS: The specialist business change and transformation recruiter has appointed two new team leaders — Sean Anderson, in insurance, and Nick Miles, in investment management. & DANIEL OWEN: •TheWORKMATES construction and engineering

recruiter has made five appointments. Kevin Parsons and Steve Woodward were appointed divisional managing directors.

Jon Underwood, Kevin Tull and Karl Burnett were all promoted to associate director.

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

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Bloggers with Bite

RELEASE YOURSELF FROM THE TRAP OF SUCCESS Success can easily fence us in and suppress our humanity, but it doesn’t have to be so

I

n January 2012, I walked away from the company I co-founded and ran for almost 10 years [Shilton Sharpe Quarry]. It was the UK’s most profitable recruitment company, according to Recruiter’s HOT 100.

I didn’t just step off the corporate ladder — I jumped. I sold my entire stock back to the business.

Only my name remains on the door. Why did I walk away at what was arguably the peak? What lessons, if any, have I learnt?

Close your eyes and define what it means to be successful. I guess most of us define success by material wealth. There is nothing wrong with that per se. However, when do we know we have acquired enough wealth or enough power? As John O’Neil argues in The Paradox of Success, wealth and power have meaning only in comparison to what others have: we must be more wealthy or more powerful than the next person.

As with many ‘successful’ people, my self-worth and identity became inseparable from material success. That is the success trap. Getting out feels like self-annihilation.

As a consequence, we unconsciously widen the gap between our real selves and the self that we project into the world.

Success not only traps us but also draws out our darker side and/ or pulls dark people in. Narcissists are attracted to leadership roles. They are addicted to power.

There are almost definitely narcissists in managerial roles in your organisation.

Typically grandiose, they

seek to control everything and everyone to preserve their self-interests and self-image. They exaggerate their achievements, and put down anyone who might pierce the veil of their carefully constructed identity.

I recognise some of myself in that. I think I could have been a better role model. My objective was to maximise revenue from each employee. It was not to support each employee to achieve his or her full potential, as it should have been.

In unconsciously micromanaging those closest to me, I was able to feel ‘more than’ them and they, inevitably, felt ‘less than’ me.

To quote Gore Vidal, the mantra at play here was: “It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

What have I learnt?

• Perhaps we need to widen our definition of success. We are more than the image we project into the world.

• If our raison d’etre is only to maximise profits, we will probably suppress our humanity and that of our staff. Our culture will be oppressive. Employees will be suffocated, not liberated. Real power can be given away, not tightly held. Cloud cuckoo land?

Think Google. Think Zappos.

• We need to find and/or integrate our true selves into all aspects of our lives. If we split and become one person at work and another at home, there is a high probability it will affect our mental health.

Gavin Sharpe co-founded international legal recruiter Shilton Sharpe Quarry

What might you gain if you step off the ladder for a while to reflect and be rejuvenated?

I embraced a portfolio career. I joined the board of a fast-growing UK recruitment company. I am striving to be an authentic leader. I joined the board of a notfor-profit NGO. I qualified as a psychotherapist. We find more time for travel.

I am more aware today of my personal and corporate journey(s) and the need to have them aligned. Success need not trap us. But my experience is that it so easily can do so.

If our raison d’etre is only to maximise profits, we will suppress our humanity and that of our staff What would you like to have a rant about?

Tell us at recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk

TO POST YOUR COMMENTS, GO ONLINE

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In October: Low pay, tough work — is caring the hardest job to recruit for?

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