Recruitment Woes answered

2010-04-29T01:44:00.001-07:00

Just settled into new offices, enjoyed the networking event which has sparked and idea! I'll keep you posted...

2010-04-26T06:34:00.001-07:00

I love my clients today!

2009-12-15T14:06:00.001-08:00

Good old Business Link http://ping.fm/LNP2Z

2009-12-15T13:57:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine has been a professional business adviser for longer than he cares to remember (yep he get letters from Saga) but recently he mentioned that of late,he has never known so much adverse reaction from business owners towards dear old Business Link.

Since they re-invented themselves to be a “signposting” organisation in 2007, I really do not know what useful purpose they serve?

Even when I talk to accountants and bank managers about Business Link, their eyes roll upwards and they bite their lips for fear of uttering an unprofessional oath or three!

Not surprising really, I’ve tried to phone Business Link to get some information for a client; but because I am not the client, they won’t talk to me! When I have met and been given a business card from a Business Link manager and sent them an e-mail, I never get a reply – unless its “I am out of the office now until 17 December. If your message is important, please call the main switchboard at 08400 650202”. So you phone the switchboard they put you through to their extension and the voice mail says “Freda Bloggs is out of the office/away from her desk please leave a message and I will contact you on my return.” You wouldn’t, no couldn’t run a business like it!

I don’t think it’s the fault of the Business Link advisers that go out and meet the SME’s; more that their bosses are completely out of touch with what happens in the “real” economy. These public servants don’t seem to realise that they owe their jobs to the private sector, the real wealth creators, the ones who will pay taxes to keep these hangers on in “gainful” employment.

This is a general malaise in our country at the moment, there are lots of “do gooders” but not many of them are doing much good. If the money spent on these public services were channelled into small businesses – through lower taxes lets say, those same businesses would become more competitive and be able to create real jobs. Or am I being too simplistic?????????

2009-11-03T11:01:00.001-08:00

Great day today!! New clients, bills being paid and nice things being said....now how to bottle this!

2009-11-03T10:57:00.001-08:00

Great day today!! New clients, bills being paid and nice things being said....now how to bottle this!

2009-10-28T11:41:00.001-07:00

Everybody I seem to come into contact with at the moment seems to be a self proclaimed "expert" opinions are free I guess

2009-10-26T06:24:00.001-07:00

Looking to access SME Retailers with an excellent, affordable e-commerce platform, www.managedecommerce.co.uk

2009-10-26T03:13:00.001-07:00

Good Morning all, Today I would like to hear from people that are looking for business finance, be you a start-up or established venture.

2009-03-11T04:01:00.001-07:00

Recruitment: size matters?

2009-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

Golf scores, gas bills, Dr Evil's sidekicks...bigger isn't always better. Unless you work in recruitment, that is.

Take a closer look at any rec-to-rec's books or website, and among the straightforward consultancy and managerial roles, you will more than likely find a number of stealthily exaggerated opportunities. 'Worldwide Operations Director' may seem like a prestigious position, but why does it only require six months' branch managing experience? If you Google the employer you'll quickly find that it's easy to manage the 'worldwide operations' of a single-office job agency in Bradford!

So why has the recruitment sector taken to inflating its job titles more than Simon Cowell's ego? Probably because as a sector we are very aware of the instant effect of job roles. Beyond the impressed murmurs they elicit at parties, swish titles suggest experience, aptitude and seniority, at a glance, to busy potential employers.

Equally, many up-to-the-minute recruitment agencies make their jobs easier using CV-parsing technology. While the more upmarket software is cleverly designed to look beyond certain 'keywords' when shortlisting applications, recruitment above all other industries is aware of the power of ticking the maximum number of boxes to get your resume seen.

So your potential employer finds your CV on their desk, flicks through and sets up an interview. Your elaborate job role has put you a step ahead – so far so good. But what happens when you're sat face-to-face?

“Give an example of how you have successfully handled a difficulty in communication between your international offices.” When 'international' goes no further than the travel agent's, how do you field a question like that? Was your impressive job title worth that sinking feeling as your interviewer finally demands “Mr Jones, exactly what 'worldwide operations' did you 'direct'?!”

Sloping home after a grilling worthy of George Foreman, your flashy title has merely exposed your lack of skills. The interview was a waste of your time and the employer's, and has left an impression for the future that you'll need a ladder to climb out of.

Had you applied for a more junior role, been honest about your skill set and shown enthusiasm for training, your ambition and willingness to work hard might have earnt you respect, not to mention a new job.

Beneath every job title lies a job description – the details of a candidate's experience that truly show whether they fit a role. So like a big green Scottish ogre taught us in 2001 (and Shrek 2, and Shrek The Third...), when it comes to the perfect match, it's what's underneath that counts.

Recruitment.....Still a good career?

2009-02-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

Imagine if Tarantino had never left that video shop - if Elvis’s parents had bought him a bike instead of a guitar - if Johnny Depp had stayed in school…Careers can define people; all they need is someone to point them in the right direction.

One of the major rewards of working in recruitment is getting the chance to be that someone; making a difference to your candidates - whether by increasing their salary, moving them closer to home, or cutting down their hours so they can spend time with their families. Forming relationships, and listening to the experience, skills and personal needs of both clients and candidates, are all key parts of a recruitment consultant’s day-to-day role.
I know, I know, that warm fuzzy feeling won’t pay the bills - but it is a nice bonus on top of the sales-based pay structure at most recruitment companies. With commission-per-placement the industry standard, in recruitment you can keep your morals and your Merc.

However great it sounds to have a rewarding job with decent pay, though, it is too good to be true - if you’re the wrong kind of person. Like any job, there are certain attributes, abilities and passions that make you right - or wrong - for the role, and being able to identify them in yourself will help you identify them in your candidates.

Talking the talk - a lot of recruitment is about sales - both verbal and written. You need to be able to sell your agency to clients and candidates against your competitors; your candidates to clients, through phone calls and later their CVs; and your clients to candidates, so that they’ll actually turn up to interviews when you book them. You’ve also got to be confident with a variety of people: your clients could be senior executives of major companies, while your candidates could be school leavers looking for their first job - and you’ve got to negotiate pay between them, because that determines your commission.

The small print - it’s not like you’re a librarian or a book reviewer, but there will be some careful reading involved. You need to be able to go through and match the key parts of a job spec and a CV, as well as to write up appropriate ads tailored to the right sort of candidate.

Thick skin - you can be as charming and as cheery as you like, but now and again, some more reticent candidates and clients just won’t tell you the whole story. Out of the blue, the ‘perfect’ candidate will be rejected, will refuse to take a job they seemed so keen on, or just won’t show up at all. The question here is whether you see this as a failure, and let it get you down, or enjoy the challenge, and rise above it!

Big fish/little pond - there are some aspects of the job that you can tailor to your needs. For instance, if you thrive on pressure and need the buzz of goals and pep talks, then look for an agency who has targets in its ethos. Meanwhile, if CVs over coffee and face time with your clients are more your cup of tea, then a company whose focus is more holistic and individual might be more your style. Like any business, recruitment agencies vary by size, mission statement, and how your boss thinks.

If you’re a bit of a wallflower who is happier with stats than smiles, and better online than in real time, then be a mathematician, games tester or blogger…But if you could sell ice to the Eskimos, but would prefer to peddle something more ethical, and are looking for a challenging, people-focused role where you can make a difference to average Joes and Janes, then look a little closer - recruitment might be the route for you.

Email killed the telephone star . . . ?

2008-12-17T06:56:00.000-08:00

From Christmas luxuries to true love, the internet now professes to be an in-house, at-your-fingertips solution for almost anything. Just as the days of the telegram were numbered by the phone, and VHS wound down for DVD, email is quietly swelling as the communication technology of choice. Now web experts www.peoplecompare.co.uk ask whether the ever-growing convenience and popularity of the medium means vocal communication will eventually get a message to ‘stop’.

An afternoon of telephoning human resources (HR) teams nationwide yielded surprising results for us here at Peoplecompare. Around 80% refused to take our call, despite us making it very clear that we were not selling a product or service, and only wanted two minutes to ask questions pertaining to readership trend, All of these people wanted an email!

So what is it about emails that these HR professionals find so attractive? Does it really take less time to read and process all that writing than to respond to a 60 second call? Perhaps not, but there is certainly some pragmatic promise to the option.

For instance, how often have you cut a salesperson short - be they recruiter, mobile phone company or one-man-band organic furniture provider - with a cheery “Sounds great, get it all over in an email”? Now you can make a decision when you like - take your time, mull it over, with no in-the-moment pressure.

Or perhaps you’re just plain bad on the phone - your churlish voice betrays an inner nervousness for which lines of text provide a welcome façade, or you find your mind wandering from the wittering of the receiver to shinier things in your surroundings? An email is a handy storage facility for information that you can go over and over again - and, of course, keep a nice secure paper trail of.

Whatever each individual’s reason, and however fast its popularity continues to spread, few would argue that email is any less than a firmly established method of day-to-day business communication. Just as well, then, that this flexible, stress-free, convenient and secure method is one of the key ways in which Peoplecompare.co.uk puts recruiters and employers in touch

Recruitment in Crisis - Rising to the challenge

2008-11-23T04:45:00.000-08:00

The balance of power has shifted – and not just in the White House. As Obama takes his seat in the oval office, he looks out over a world economy in tumult – and a recruitment industry finally feeling the effects.

Where once, confident financiers sat deliberating the next sky-high step for their salaries, now, quivering bankers fill recruitment agency waiting rooms, not knowing where their next pay-cheque may come from. The financial industry is just one of a glut of traditionally candidate-led industries now seeing a dramatic reversal of roles, as shrunken budgets and tightened purse strings see employers cutting back and taking control in the face of the financial crisis.

The candidate-employer relationship is not the only one breaking the conventional mould: having experience a huge downhill slide in permanent recruitment, and a concurrent upward spiral and stabilisation of temp demand, the function of the recruiter has altered – and with it the service offering.

‘Value-added’ is a well-known term in recruitment and most business sectors, yet of late it has come to mean not just the optional luxuries for the most affluent clients, but vital, unique extras that will ensure the very survival of an agency. As such, recruiters worldwide have put their thinking caps on and attempted to scramble out of the box with original offerings and improvements to their service.

Not only this, but many niche recruiters – whether by industry or perm:temp ratio - have realised that demand for their slice of the market is dwindling, and taken action by sticking their fingers immediately into whole new pies: legal recruiters are expanding into human resources, while primarily perm engineering agencies are spreading into industrial temp services. Diversification is widespread and growing.

With all these shifts and shake-ups in the industry, an up-to-date, dynamic information resource is crucial for employers, candidates and recruiters alike to keep each other informed of their needs and services. Recruitment agency comparison site www.peoplecompare.co.uk , for example, not only allows recruiters to modify their online service listings in real time, but enables employers and candidates to then compare these latest profiles, make contact with the recruiter of their choice and then make quick, cost-effective decisions based on the results.

An unpredictable economy means that employment demand and supply could continue to fluctuate for some time to come. The importance of dynamic internet-based news sources looks set only to be augmented by this uncertainty, as timely information becomes a business differentiator, allowing those who have it to make those crucial business decisions with up-to-the-minute accuracy.

Peoplecompare -Theatre Promotion

2008-09-22T04:17:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Online Recruitment Generation

2008-09-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

As increasing numbers of people look to the internet to find new jobs, online recruitment sites are on the rise.
The way in which people go about looking for new jobs has changes dramatically over the last 5 years. The pavement pounding of agencies and constant redrafting of the CV has been largely replaced thanks to the onset and spread of online recruitment. As more and more people have looked to do their job hunting from home, the agencies have been busy getting themselves an internet presence to cater for the market shift.

The CIPD estimates that between 80% and 90% of job seekers use online resources to find prospective employment. This places the Internet as the second most popular method of job searching behind local newspapers and advertisements.
The internet is a captive market for recruitment agencies and they are swiftly capitalising on the online recruitment revolution by developing internet capabilities. All of the major agencies now have online capabilities to register and search for jobs online.

Whilst these agencies retain a traditional presence on high streets the movement towards online functionality is considerable.
The online recruitment marketplace is not confined to the large, full service agencies and has proved to be a breeding ground for smaller, niche agencies offering recruitment for specific market segments , The sheer volume of online searches for recruitment services creates distinctive markets for niche agencies to increase a presence that may previously have been confined to specific locations or word of mouth within respective sectors.
For job seekers the choice and breadth of recruitment options is widened considerably.

The opportunity to hunt for suitable employment from home reduces the time and effort traditionally spent on recruitment. For prospective employers the services provided by online recruitment service like www.peoplecompare.co.uk allows them to view prospective options and begin the recruitment process with greater ease, cutting the time spent on sifting through CV's and arranging interviews. The online marketplace has become the first port of call for recruiter and candidates alike, providing an initial meeting point and signalling the first stage in the recruitment process. While traditional methods such as newspaper advertising still prevail, the online recruitment sector is booming and adds an alternative method of job search into the mix.

The aggregators are here

2008-08-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Nowadays millions of people in the UK regularly use comparison sites to source the best deals in financial, car, property and travel products. However, our ground-breaking new website launched last month, www.Peoplecompare.co.uk takes the comparison model one step further by applying it to the recruitment industry.

Now for the first time ever employers across the UK can compare the best means of sourcing candidates from a selection of recruitment companies with specialisations in the required geographical area or industry sector. Uniquely the site acts as a bridge between employers seeking fresh new talent and the UK's most capable and go-ahead recruitment companies.

Peoplecompare.co.uk is the UK’s first ever recruitment comparison tool of its kind in which employers are provided with a fast and effective way to compare recruiter service offerings and guide pricing for active roles from a number of recruitment companies in a quick one-step easy process.

The Peoplecompare.co.uk site divides the UK into local regions and currently offers over 20 individual industry sectors including accountancy, banking, catering, retail, information Technology, sales & marketing, and many more. New sectors are being added each month.

Peoplecompare.co.uk limits the number of recruitment agencies in each industry sector to 20 per region so ensuring maximum performance for the recruitment company’s low investment into the scheme. When a client adds an agency to the list of companies they would like to consult about their requirements, they are emailed a link containing the contact information along with a brief job description.

For a small annual fee recruitment companies enjoy cost-effective genuine enquiries from employers on a regular basis throughout the year. Many have been quick to get onboard and take advantage of the site’s introductory offer of just £150 (+vat) which covers one year’s subscription to the site and includes account creation, Logo upload, and an initial amount of credits to get started. However those singing up during the initial launch period will also benefit from an extension of a further 3 months free of charge.

Important to note is that the site is totally independent of any recruitment business and do not take a commission from agencies upon placement. Neither is there any allegiance to any particular advertiser as everyone pays the same subscription cost regardless of size or reputation.

The Peoplecompare.co.uk launch will be backed by a full PR and advertising campaign which will include TV advertising, e-shot and trade show marketing.
Recruitment agencies interested in being a part of this exciting new development in the UK recruitment industry should visit the website at http://www.peoplecompare.co.uk/ or email info@peoplecompare.co.uk.