Louise's UK Recruiter Blog

IRP Awards 2011 Winners

Last night was the REC's IRP awards evening.

The awards aim to find and celebrate the achievements of recruiters and recruitment businesses across the country.  They support the IRP’s aim of giving recruiters a professional identity that reinforces their credibility among peers and demonstrates professionalism to clients and candidates alike.

The winners were:

Best Newcomer – Mitch Preston-Phypers, Matchtech Group; highly commended - Shaun Hunt, Rethink Group
 
In-House Recruiter of the Year – Richard Hughes, Assystem
 
IMA Interim Consultant of the Year – David Heron, Penna
 
Best Client and Candidate Experience of the Year  - Matt Dwire, Carrot Pharma Recruitment
 
Permanent Consultant of the Year – Joanne Whittington, Sammons Pensions
 
Temporary Consultant of the Year – Nick Rowe, Matchtech Group
 
Business Manager of the Year – Emma Morley, Tate;  highly commended - Russell Soan, Barclay Meade
 
Business Leader of the Year  - Jo Edwards, Tate
 
Best Business Support Team of the Year – Meridian Business Support
 
Best Contribution to the Community – Contract Scotland
 
Best  People Development – ABC Contract Service, SRG and scom;  highly commended  - Tate
 
Best Small Company to work for  - Amoria Bond;  highly commended - Venturi
 
Best Medium Company to work for  - SRG;  highly commended - Encore Personnel Services
 
Best Large Company to work for  - Capita Resourcing
 
The Eileen Simpson Award for Outstanding Contribution  - Emma Kitchener, Matchtech Group
 
Lifetime Achievement  - Angela Masters,  a+a recruitment
 
Recruiter of the Year – Emma Morley, Tate

Advertiser Profile: Colleague Software

This is a new feature on my blog. Yes, it's shameless promotion for some companies that advertise with us in the weekly newsletter, BUT it's also an opportunity for you to learn more about some of the suppliers that could be assisting your recruitment business.

Company: Colleague Software

Product: Colleague Recruitment Software

Description: Operating for 16 years with an experienced and passionate team of highly qualified technical staff, Colleague has a long and proud heritage of continuous software development. With an attitude of integrity, respect and honesty Colleague Software has built strong two-way relationships with almost 200 specialist consultancies – including names such as Square One Resources, InterQuest Group plc, Networkers International plc, Lucas Kennedy and Pacific International − resulting in recruitment software that is client driven, customisable, flexible, functional and scalable.  Colleague Software is a Microsoft Partner and Sage Developer.

3 USPs:

* Highly customisable and flexible

* Ideal for specialist recruitment consultancies

* Client driven, evolving software

Contact: For a free demonstration − we are always happy to come to you in person – and some friendly advice call Anthony on, 01603 735935 or email sales@colleague.eu

Other Links: Twitter and LinkedIn

Social Media Infographics

I'm collecting together some information for our upcoming Directors Only Social Media event on 20th October.  I find that, especially with social media, stats can be so overwhelming and change so fast.  Sometimes it's a lot easier just to glance through a graphic representation of the information. 

One of our speakers, Andy Headworth, has very kindly gathered four relevant infographics around social media.  No doubt he'll pick the pertinent facts out for the event - but in the meantime here they are:

The Social Media Report from Nielsen
To Tweet or not to Tweet
The ROI of Social Media by @mdgadvertising
Twitter Facts and Figures from Touch Agency

As I (or Andy!) collects more information I'll be sharing some of it here.  However, to really understand how to use social media successfully in your recruitment business you'll have to attend our event!

Recruitment Technology Event Roundup

We ran our first Recruitment Software showcase event last week. It was a full afternoon with a mix of speaker presentations, speed-pitching by ATS/CRM providers and networking time. Our commitment to our sponsors was 60 attendees and we managed in excess of 80. It was great to see so many recruiters showing an interest in what the market has to offer.

I’m still working through the feedback but we I see over 90% so far having enjoyed the event and some of their comments:

"Great concept, thoroughly enjoyed."
"By attending this event it has saved me weeks worth of research."
"Thanks it gave me a fantastic insight into some brilliant companies around and have already been in conversation with some this morning!"

We’ll be running another similar event next year so will take on board all the feedback before starting work on it!

After the daytime element of the event we moved on to evening drinks (sponsored by Simply Jobs Boards) with a bit of speed networking and a presentation from Kevin Green of the REC.  This was the first time we've run an event with the REC - and I look forward to many more!

Thanks to everyone who supported the events and hopefully we’ll see you at either our Directors Only Event on the 20th October or the End of Year Recruitment Conference (we’ve not published the events page for this yet so let me know if you want more information).

Limited free AWR legal clinics at the REC National Convention

If you haven't booked your place at the REC National Convention (taking place this Thursday 29th September in London) then now is the time to do it.  Not only will you engage with "new ideas, technical data, simple know-how, and the brightest thinking on offer" - but they have also created a backdrop of AWR clinics featuring employment law specialists from Brabners Chaffe Street, Squire Sanders Hammonds and the REC.  You have the opportunity to book a clinic slot during the convention and get your burning questions answered face to face.  Book for the convention and then on the day, you can book your AWR clinic -  bookings are on a first come first served basis.  To book your place contact Juliette Bond on 020 7324 2771 or email juliette.bond@redactive.co.uk.

Smart Social Media Recruitment Strategies

Andy Headworth really knows his stuff. I probably didn't need to read his new book to tell you that mind!

However, I begged him for a copy and said I'd share my thoughts.

To be honest, though, I'm not quite sure how to review the book. I can't possibly do a "little summary" of the 130 pages (50,000 words)!  However, in order to suggest what you might learn I can share with you the PR blurb....

This report provides a practical guide to getting the most out of social media as part of an integrated, low cost recruitment strategy.  Packed with best-practice tools, strategies and guidance Smart Social
Media Recruitment Strategies will enable you to:
• Make sense of the huge number of social media tools and applications available;
• Ensure your organisation is prepared for technological and cultural changes that social media is driving within recruitment;
• Identify which social platforms will be most beneficial for your organisation;
• Build a business case for using social media in your recruitment strategy;
• Identify who should be responsible for creating and managing your new social recruiting strategy;
• Understand the role of HR in the implementation and management of using social media in the recruitment process;
• Understand the legal implications of sourcing new talent via social networks;
• Measure the different levels of ROI of your social media recruitment efforts;
• Manage talent pools and communities for best effect; and much more...
Real-life case studies also demonstrate how companies like G4S, TGI Fridays, ITV, Staples, Unilever and more are successfully using social
media platforms to attract and engage with their future employees.

This book is aimed at inhouse Recruiters and HR professionals.  It will truly hit the mark there.  However, it's a book that ANY recruiter could benefit from. 

The book has got facts, case studies, anecdotes, guidance, stats and knowledge just bursting from the seams.  There are 14 chapters which work through from the "history of recruitment" to how social media is being used in recruitment and ending with "what does the future of recruitment look like". 

In my opinion it's not a book you can dip in and out of and it isn't one you can read over one weekend (I tried!), but it is one that you should find the time to properly digest. 

This is a serious business book written by a real social media recruitment expert!

Finally, the best news; there is a special offer of £100 off the book if you get it via Andy’s blog.

 

HR Demanding Proof of Current Salary

So, here is an interesting real life situation I've just been hearing about....
 
A recruiter has an offer on Bob (not his real name!) BUT HR at Company B want to see his most recent payslip as proof of income. 
 
Bob has offered a recent (8 weeks old) letter from his employer (Company A) confirming his salary and his P60. 
 
Company B are holding out for his payslip.
 
A few other facts....
 
Company B is a direct competitor of Company A
The candidate is earnig a good 10% more than Company B wanted to pay (and they've known this from the start of the process)
 
 So, what do you think?  Is something more than meets the eye going on?  Should Bob have said NO at the start?  Should the recruiter put their foot down?!
 
As an aside you might be interested in a couple of other recent blogs on this topic....Nick Corcodilos of "Ask The Headhunter" thinks you should always Keep Your Salary Under Wraps anyway and Gary Franklin recently questioned, on his blog, Do You Really Need to Ask About Salary?
 
 
 

 

Technology must be personal

This was sent to me by one of our Sponsors for the recruitment software event we are running on the 22nd September.  I thought it worth sharing.

It is almost a cliché that in order for technology to maintain its place in the recruiter’s processes, innovation must be constant and relevant. But while applications and services will always be important, the functionality being provided must stem from the needs of the individual consultant. 

But how will the provision of technology for the industry change over 2011? Or, to put it more bluntly, how does its provision need to change?

Technology now allows consultants to treat all their clients like real people: on an individual and personal basis, and not as an amorphous mass. Ironically however, much of the industry’s technology research and development is not as personal. Due to a focus on satisfying hype and blinkered one-upmanship, many technology providers have spent time and resource developing applications and services without due care and attention being paid to the most important question of all – “how will this help recruiters in their day to day activity?”

The industry has only a handful of technology solutions that truly boost ROI, and these solutions are increasingly evolving into more personally engaging applications, suitable for every level of user.

Indeed, if every level of user, from the board to the junior researcher, is not considered, or even ideally directly consulted, the research and development efforts can only deliver short term ‘gimmicks’ that satisfy a temporary perceived need or unsupported desire. Instead, these efforts should be directed towards delivering quantifiable, readily identifiable ROI and competitive advantage. 

Throughout our experience in the market, we have seen countless technological innovations boldly being launched that pay little attention to the needs of the individual recruiter– innovations that have often disappeared from view as quickly as they have arrived. 

Flexibility and accommodation have to become the watchwords not only by the way in which the technology providers approach the market, but also by the way in which the products themselves are developed. 

PS, if you are interested in the event there is still time to sign up!

Recruitment Directors Networking Event - 20th October 2011

This is our last Directors Only event of 2011 and I'm hopeful it'll be as well attended and received as the others we run so far this year!
 
We've steered clear of the subject for as long as possible (not wanting to jump on anyone's band wagon!) but now we HAVE to talk about.... Social Media.
 
However, this event is totally focussed on social media usage from the perspective of a Director of a Recruitment Business.  Our experts are going to be talking about how you can use Social Media in YOUR Recruitment Business.
 
It takes place on Thursday 20th October at the Guardian offices near Kings Cross, from 3.00pm to 6.00pm (after the event you are invited to networking drinks). 
 
It'll be a mix of informal networking, speaker sessions and structured networking. 
 
And, we have fab speakers:
- Andy Headworth is a social media expert (our words not his) and will be talking social media in his usual no nonsense style.  His presentation will be full of useful information and NO waffle!
- Steve Evans runs Net Natives, helping recruitment companies actually implement social media campaigns and technology.  He'll be sharing his knowledge and experience of working with job boards, recruitment companies and large corporations (but don't worry - he won't be selling you anything!)
- Sophie Relf, Head of Marketing Strategy, Guardian Jobs will talk on 'social media and recruitment'.
 
Finally, with support from our sponsors (Broadbean, Trisys Software, Simplicity) it's very nearly free to attend (only £20).  So it couldn't get any better value!
 
If you still aren't sure if you want to sign up why not see what other attendees this year have said:
 
A winning combination, well organised and highly informative with great opportunities for networking with like minded people.
 
Thank you Lou found the whole afternoon very interesting!
 
Very good, well run and attended
 
Excellent value really!
 
Enjoyable event, well organised and well worth attending
 
An excellent day!

Managing Metrics within Recruitment

Ahead of our recruitment software event next Thursday I thought I'd share something from one of our presenters, Jeff Brooks. 
 
I have been astonished by the lack of analysis of the information available in small- to medium-sized agencies — the term would probably be key performance indicators (KPIs) in today’s parlance. Too many owners run their businesses based on their gut instincts. Ask them how many qualified requirements they received last month and how that compared with the previous period and they’ll struggle to tell you. Nor will they know how many CVs were dispatched or interviews arranged. You might see the odd interview board but it will nearly always be out of date. Very few will have good data on individual recruiter performance. They’ll usually know how many placements they made last month (not always, in my experience) but that’s not business management — that’s simply writing the score down.
 
The companies that will thrive as we return to growth will be those that have an eye for detail and can use the KPIs available to them to inform their decisions and anticipate issues that will arise and ready themselves accordingly.
 
Here are some examples:
You are busy and think you ought to be hiring. Ask yourself — how long has it been like this? How many requirements are you now handling against the same period last month and the month before? Has a trend emerged that you can rely on?
 
Ask your customers about their hiring plans. Are they changing markedly and will any growth in their needs be sustained? If they plan to increase their headcounts by 10%, then you have some measure of how you need to grow your delivery capability
 
Is it getting harder to find good candidates and compare that month-on-month. That will soon show a sustained upturn is happening — or not! How many people are registering with you for work? Has that grown or shrunk?
 
Will you keep controls in place regarding your expenditure — forced upon you during the recession? How will you ensure this actually happens?
 
How will you keep your best recruiters as they get more confident about the market and wonder if they should look around? They’ve helped you through the downturn – how will you secure their future with your firm in the upturn?
 
The market will have shrunk by at least 10% — in fact even with an upturn there will still be firms that fail over the next 12 months — so you have less competition. But new agencies are starting out and will appear fresh and hungry. Is your proposition distinct and attractive? The world has changed — has your service changed with it?
 
Your margins and fees may have been eroded during the recession. What value can you add to help build these back as growth returns — or will you become mired in a world of low gross profits and low returns?
 
Do you have the right blend between servicing your long-term customers — who have stuck by you — and new client development? We can all fall into the trap of being excited by the chance of winning a new client and neglect the ‘old faithfuls’ in the process. How will you measure that?
 
 
As a sector we’ve had a tough time and it is only now just beginning to abate. But confidence is growing and opportunities will emerge. Will you simply respond to them as they do or will you plan your way to growth by knowing what to do and when to do it? The answers lie within the data and the events that are happening in your business every day — they are there if you look for them. I wish you great things as confidence returns — listen to what your business is telling you and you’ll make better decisions and get ahead of the curve!
 
So, do you measure these things (or have the systems in place to do so)?  Jeff Brooks has 40 years’ experience in industry, with the last 25 in the recruitment sector. He is a non-executive director of three agencies and a council member at the REC. He provides advice and guidance throughout the sector and this topic of metrics is something Jeff will be talking about more next Thursday.

Recruiters Toolbox from 2LS

We mentioned this in the newsletter earlier this week but I wanted to take a proper look. 2LS have recently added a "toolbox" section to their site; this is a series of free online resources to help recruitment consultants in their day-to-day job.

There are a number of "calculators" and the "Recruiter’s Book of Checklists". The later is a PDF document which aims to give you hints and tips around certain areas of your job; locating hard to find candidates, managing your pipeline, writing the perfect job advert etc. the calculators (accessed from the site) can work out margin/mark up for you, the end dates of contracts and deal value (ie, you enter start/end date, pay rate and charge rate and it tells you how much fee you have made). They are a nice set of tools for recruiters to take a look at and a nice value add from a software company.

APSCo's Annual Conference

There are A LOT of events going on during September and October.  However, here is one not to miss if you are in the market for global expansion (or want to know how to capitalise on what you are already doing in that area).  It's the APSCo annual conference and it takes place on 7 October in central London.

The APSCo Executive Conference in association with Henley Business School brings together for the first time an elite group of business gurus, international experts and academic thought leaders to focus on the recruitment market. You will gain insights into how to thrive in the complex, fast-changing global environment of the business of recruitment.

The title of the conference is "The world is our oyster”.  Some of the presenters/presentations include: the Chief Exec of SThree talking about their success story and how they would have done things differently if they had their time again, Squires Sanders Hammonds will talk about how to fund international operations and the immigration issues to take into consideration and Staffing Industry Analysts will share insights into market opportunities internationally. There are also some country specific focus sessions and a  panel debate around building a global business.

APSCo always put on great events so if you are looking to expand internationally check it out.

10 different recruitment software products

In case you’ve missed my PR we’ve got an event on the 22nd September for recruiters to investigate different recruitment software providers.

During the afternoon they get to take part in brief demo’s from up to six of them (kind of like speed-pitching).  However, it can be difficult for the recruiters to decide who to take a demo from.  So I’ve got all our sponsors to share some basic information in a Comparison Table format and then their USPs.  I thought other people might be interested in it too.

Bullhorn 
Unique Passive Outlook integration. All email activity is automatically tracked.
Fully integrated Marketplace gives access to market leading solutions
True cloud solution: global accessibility including mobile, future proofing, etc

2LS 
Fast, flexible and easy to use
Available to access anywhere on desktops and mobiles
Integrated with Office and extendible with third party tools 

Eploy
Established since 1998 - Proven record of innovation and excellent service
Unlock new revenue streams - Offer value added services through your website
Search LinkedIn, Google, CV libraries – CVs imported with CV data extraction

Talisman
Total solution for recruitment
Fully web-enabled
No hidden charges

evolve
No Special Hardware required
zero data entry
new developments included

i-Business Resources (i-BR)
SMARTfeeds - Instantly be informed of and alerted to actions and to-do items. Includes RSS feed.
EZedit Configuration - No programming required, simple-to-use GUI editor.
Compliance Manager - Full compliance manager for peace of mind.

Bond

100% configurable and scalable to suit client specific requirements, support business growth & change with business needs.
37 years+ of continuous development, £4.5m+ R&D investment p.a and 100,000+ global users
Over 500 support & deployment personnel provide unrivalled levels of service worldwide

Microdec
SMARTfeeds - Instantly be informed of/alerted to actions and to-do items. Includes RSS feed.
EZedit Configuration - No programming required, simple-to-use GUI editor.
Compliance Manager - Full compliance manager for peace of mind.

Safe Tempest
Around half of the top 50 UK recruitment agencies use Safe Tempest
Safe Tempest clients range from 150 employee to 60,000 employee businesses
Safe offer a range of hosting and Software as a Service (SaaS) options

Cirrus Nova Prism 
100% cloud-based so you can access it from anywhere at anytime
Built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 ensuring complete stability
Ofers extraordinary levels of customisation and personalisation

If you want to meet with some of these comapnies make sure you are signed up to attend the event!

A few words from our sponsor....

I thought it might be interesting for people to hear more from our 22nd September recruitment software event sponsors about why they are getting involved. Here are some of their thoughts:

“We felt the format of this event was really unique and exciting and a great way for us to showcase our cloud-based recruitment solution Prism, in a targeted but informal environment. Being one of the smaller companies in the recruitment industry, it is nice for us to be able to attend an event where we are on an even playing field alongside some of the larger companies. in normal shows or exhibitions small companies tend to be judged by their stand size and that really isn’t an indicator of how good your product or company is, so doing things this way is much fairer for everyone involved and offers recruiters a great way of comparing and contrasting the different offerings.” Laura Harwood, Cirrus Nova

“Eploy® will be demonstrating their new ‘Social Recruiting Toolkit’. Designed to provide a much tighter integration with social and business networks such as Linked In, the Toolkit also allows recruiters to seamlessly search and import data from multiple CV libraries, Google Docs and many other online resources. Eploy® will use this event to gauge delegate’s views and opinions on the new Toolkit, and discuss how the company’s latest innovations in recruitment technology can help their business.” Paul Burgess, Eploy

"i-Business Resources (i-BR) are very pleased to be a part of the UK Recruiter event as it will coincide with phase one of the release of our new version of Quick-Recruit. Visitors to the event will be able to see our very latest fully hosted, true cloud based seamless front to back office recruitment solution with its new interface, features and functions. We will also be discussing the phase two developments due for release by the end of the year and agencies attending will be able to take advantage of our free implementation promotion potentially saving upwards of £3000.” Michael Pretty, i-Business Resources (i-BR)

"This event will give us the chance to showcase our latest version of our market leading Bond Adapt software to a captive audinec. We are also looking forward to networking with the delegates and finding out what the hot topic of the day will be!"  Sarah Woodman, Bond
If you are looking to buy a recruitment CRM solution NOW or in the next six months come along on 22 September and meet lots of recruitment software companies under one roof!

Bonus reason to attend networking on 22nd September

Yesterday I mentioned the two events we have coming up on the 22nd September.  If you need an added incentive to come along to the evening event here it is.... Our sponsor for the event is Simply Group.  They will be providing the first drink for free AND making a special job posting offer.
 
The offer is £179 for 50 Job ads per month/unlimited CV database access.  Any recruiter attending will be able to advertise jobs on any of their sites for any sector/level etc, these include:

• Simply Marketing Jobs
• Simply Sales Jobs
• Simply HR Jobs
• Simply Customer Service Jobs
• Simply Law Jobs
• Careers in Recruitment
• Travel Job Search
• InAutomotive Jobs
• Simply PR Jobs
• Simply New Media Jobs
• Simply New Media Sales Jobs
• Simply Office Jobs
• Renewable Energy Jobs

If you are attending and are not a recruiter (ie, you are from a software company or a ad agency) – you can give your “voucher” to a recruitment buddy!  Also, as an added extra Simply Group will be giving away this package to one lucky winner on the night; a bit like a champagne draw – just worth a bit more.
 
Hope to see you on the 22nd; during the day or the evening!

What are you doing on Thursday 22nd September?

Why not attend the Recruitment Software Showcase Event. The event is just for recruiters - so apologies if you are an industry suppliers (scroll down to find out about the evening social you are welcome to attend!).

Thursday, 22nd September from 2pm until 6pm (with drinks afterwards) in central London

Technology in recruitment is constantly evolving making it difficult to keep up with offerings which may really add value to your business. This brand new event run by the Recruiters Network (www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk) has been designed specifically with this issue in mind.  It's an event for recruitment Decision Makers who are looking to change or purchase a new CRM/ATS system in the next 6-8 months. There will be a large mix of attendees at the event; coming to view products, hear from the speakers and network - so don't worry if your current vendor is sponsoring. You may even be able to suggest some features you'd like them to implement for you in their next release!!

During the afternoon you will hear from our two great speakers.  The software companies at the event include: Bullhorn, 2LS, Eploy, Talisman, evolve, i-Business Resources (i-BR), Bond Adapt, Microdec, Safe Tempest  and Cirrus Nova.

What you'll get out of the afternoon:

- View short demonstrations (speed-pitching) from a selection of our ten CRM/ATS providers.
- Network with other attendees and talk with the suppliers, in an informal environment.
- Learn from our speakers
- A thorough update on the recruitment software market in one afternoon
- No other suppliers trying to sell to you (as all attendees will be recruitment professionals)

To find out more and understand how investment in technology will increase the number of placements you make, please visit http://recnet22sept.eventbrite.com.

If you can't make the daytime we've got an evening social you are welcome at (this is open to anyone within the recruitment industry).  You can find out more at http://recneteve22sept.eventbrite.com/

This is set to be a great event so hopefully I will see you there.