Louise's UK Recruiter Blog

UK Ladders Subscription Model Scrapped

As of last Thursday jobseekers wishing to use TheLadders.co.uk site were no longer required to invest in a £10 per month account.  This move is a significant change in the somewhat controversial subscription model.  However, the change is only taking place within the UK.

The move is, at a basic level, to increase the number of jobseekers using the site, to satisfy the growing demand from UK recruiters.  TheLadders will still keep their USP of vetting all CVs so that “human eyes” check and approve all candidates.  

It’s early days and elements of the model may change slightly but it’s looking good so far with job applications having shot up 71% in the first 4 days after the change.

I shall report more over the next few weeks as they move from "soft launch" to a more formal rollout.

Monster Jobseeker Infographic

This lovely infographic looks at what people are searching for on Monster and shares some trends from what days are the most popular for searches to how many graduate positions are searched for every week.

Well work a peek for any recruitment professional.

Jobsite's Quarterly Recruitment Review

I see that Jobsite have released their (independently conducted) Winter 2011/12 recruitment review. The survey is based on online research of 500 job seekers and 200 recruiters.

The questions asked focussed on areas such as the percentage of businesses trying to fill vacancies, the most used job search methods by jobseekers (job boards - but that's not surprising seeing as they asked jobseekers "online") and the most used recruitment methods by businesses; the number of job boards used by candidates and businesses (a massive percentage of business use only one job board per vacancy).  Also the most important factors when choosing a job board (pricing is unsurprisingly number one - but the other facts may interest and surprise you).

I won't go into lots of detail here because what you should do is check out the free report and read their nice concise summary.

CV-Library’s TV Debut

I think this is quite exciting news; CV-Library is debuting its first ever TV campaign this month.  I’ve known the chaps at CV-Library since the very early days (for both of us) and have enjoyed seeing their business grow (database of 4.2 million CVs now!!).

They have worked with the creators of the MoneySupermarket.com and Confused.com adverts for their own advert which has it’s first outing on Monday 9th during Dragon’s Den at 6pm on Dave.

The stats sound impressive.. “during the six week campaign the advert will be aired over 1,200 times on more than 14 of the premium digital channels. The 30 second advert will be seen by more than 5.5 million ABC1 adults with a total of 22 million viewings.” 

I’ll apparently get a sneak preview on Monday morning – shall comment more then!

Decline in Number of Science & Technology Graduates is Bad News for the Media Industry

Jamie Gavin, MD Of  inPress Online has produced this guest article for the blog:

There is an interesting skills gap developing in the UK jobs market right now. We are hearing a lot about a lack of competent science and technology graduates and as a recent study by Zurich has highlighted, many tech SMEs are concerned about a lack of IT and tech skills in the current marketplace.

In the media sector however we seem to be faced with an altogether different set of problems: Primarily the decline of traditional media outlets and a lack of jobs for both media graduates and experienced media professionals alike.

A quick look at the data publically available on the totaljobs.com website provides some quantitative evidence of this trend. Of the 140,000 jobs listed on the TotalJobs home page (some of which are listed in multiple categories and by multiple agencies) IT and Internet roles accounted for almost 12,000 of the total number of jobs listed, which is a significant 8.5 per cent.

This category ranked third overall out of the 32 jobs sectors listed on the site, behind only sales (12.2 per cent) and another technology-driven category, ‘Engineering, Manufacturing, & Utilities’ with 10.9 per cent of totaljobs. The category also derived 25.8 per cent of all positions from the £50,000+ per annum salary bracket, placing more than one quarter of total available jobs in the sector in the higher earners category.

The media sector however tells a very different story, with ‘Marketing, Advertising and PR’ jobs accounting for just 4 per cent of the total listed and ‘Media, New Media, and Creative’ jobs accounting for a significantly lower 2.1 per cent. Between them therefore these two arts-degree based categories add up to only 6.1 per cent of total jobs, or a total of 8,538.

In many ways this discrepancy is unsurprising. Media and to a lesser extent PR and marketing roles have traditionally been thought of as more appealing than their more geeky, science and technology based relatives, and that trend would appear to be continuing today.

Where the problem lies however, is in the changing nature of the media and communications industries themselves.

As an online PR agency, inPress Online understands the need for PR and communications professional – as well as journalists themselves – to become more technologically minded. Now of course, there is a distinction to be made between having a working knowledge of social media and working as an ICT manager for a cloud computing company, but there is undoubtedly a wider shift going on within the media from art towards science.

Take for example the role of a journalist. In days gone by their role would have been solely to submit a written article on a relevant subject, from where it would be edited and submitted to the printers for inclusion in the finished publication. Now however, a journalists role has expanded to become extremely IT savvy, incorporating social media publications, SEO, link sharing, multimedia file gathering, etc. So as a general rule of thumb the creative industries themselves are becoming more technically demanding.

As these figures show, and as the current trends indicate, there is a significant lack of graduates and undergraduates who are interested in the more scientific and technology elements of today’s economy, and that could well produce a skills gap for the media and communications industries themselves going forward.

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!

Is LinkedIn playing hard to get?

I've just had a conversation with a recruiter who has noticed a strange thing happening with LinkedIn.  I'll explain the situation and see what you think (I've changed a few of the details just in case!).

She posted a job on the site for a Director of Mobile Strategy.  She duly went through the response but when LinkedIn offered her the option of paying extra to "unlock matching profiles" she declined.   A few days later she did a search on LinkedIn to back up the ad response... and lo and behold she could not find ANYONE in a strategy role within a mobile organisation.  She is confident that she got better results when searching before she posted the advert.

Is it possible that LinkedIn are excluding those "matching profiles" from her searches?

Has anyone else noticed anything like this?  Is she being paranoid or is a known issue with LinkedIn?

Feedback greatly appreciated!

Totaljobs Infographic

I’ve just come across an interesting infographic containing data from the Q2 2011 Totaljobs Barometer (I think I mentioned the Barometer before; it provides comparable data of “supply and demand” in the the UK job market). 
 
The first graph is the “Tracker” and shows the number of applications per month from April 2010 to June 2011.  In the Q2 data you see a dip in April due to the bank holidays but that figures are rising again in May and June (above figures for the whole of 2010).
 
The next chart looks at jobs “By Region; Scotland suffered the most of all regions, however, Northern Ireland, the North West and West Midlands all showed double digit increases in jobs posted.  This is reflected by other information I’ve had from TotalJobs showing that they are now focussing on some of the more southern areas to increase traffic, with particular focus on Jobs in Bristol and Jobs in Kent.
 
The final chart is “By Sector” (and is by far the prettiest if that’s in any way relevant!).  This shows the amount of jobs advertised by sector.  Sales Jobs are the highest with Engineering Jobs a close second.  This type of chart can give you really good data to go to a client with.  For example being able to state that according to the barometer construction, aerospace, engineering and electronics sectors all grow (in number of jobs advertised/applications) by more than 20% year on year – is pretty useful stuff for a client. 
 
It’s also useful data when deciding if Totaljobs is the right advertising platform for you...!
 
 

Launching TipTopJobs’s Summer Offer

Here’s a tasty summer offer for those of you looking for bargain job postings. 
 
TipTopJob are offering 100 job posts for £100/month or 500 jobs posts for £300/month.

You can sign up at this price for anything from a 3 to 12 month contract!  As with these things it’s open to new (recruitment agency) clients. 

All job postings appear on TipTopJob, the relevant industry specific sites (e.g. theITjob.com, theSALESjob.com) and over 50 job aggregator websites that they’ve partnered with. All jobs are branded with company logo and are emailed out to all relevant candidates as soon as they are posted.

Well worth a look at... just get in touch with them by email

I've had a BeKnown Brainwave

After yesterday's post I have been thinking a bit more about BeKnown.  It’s not that I think it’s rubbish; I actually think it’s quite clever.  What I think  has been making me grumpy about it is that I think it’s a wasted opportunity.  It’s like having your hair done, buying new frock and looking really amazing just to spend the evening staying in with your parents.  It’s cool technology on a enormously utilised platform BUT it’s just for one job board. 
 
It would be brilliant if you could use BeKnown to locate jobs from ALL the job boards and ALL the corporate sites; I wish Indeed had invented it.   But they didn’t (don’t get me wrong – I like Monster BTW). 

I was having a mini rant to Stephen O’Donnell earlier when he came up with the real brainwave (as Indeed can’t invent something already invented)... why don’t Monster integrate with all the other job boards and corporates and use BeKnown as a gateway to the world of work.  See, genius!!

Searchable Totaljobs Barometer

I've found a nice little tool on the Totaljobs website.  They produce quarterly figures on the status of the UK online recruitment market (you can sign up to get them free of charge) but what they also do is allow you to search these figures via the site.

So, if you have a client who has Engineering Jobs or recruiters mostly for Jobs in Leeds you can search the totaljobsbarometer and give them some up to date stats on how the market is looking.

For example the market for Engineering, Manufacturing and Utilities in East Midlands shows a pretty static amount of jobs posted in the last quarter of 2010, a dip at Christmas and then an increased (but again pretty static) number in the first quarter of this year.  However, jobs posted, job views and job applications have all dropped in April. 

You might want to remember that they ask you source 'Totaljobs Barometer' whenever you use the data! 

Summer Offer from The Ladders

Each month we deliver a “partners offers” emailshot.  This month’s has got a rather LARGE discount from The Ladders which I thought I’d just mention here too.

Did you catch their brand campaign at the start of the year which included some TV and  radio advertising?  Well, it was obviously rather successful as they have increased their database of candidates from 100,000 at the start of 2011 to nearly 600,000 now.

They sell their product on the basis of having the “largest pool of qualified professional talent earning £50,000+ in the UK”. Each CV is manually screened (now that sounds like a tedious job if you don’t mind me saying) before being “approved” onto their database.

Anyway, on to the offer:

Unlimited Advertising
Unlimited CV Database Access
Up to 5 Licenses
Dedicated Account Manager
Ratecard - £3000 ...... Summer Offer - £1200

If you want to know more you will need to contact them on 0800 158 4441 or email specialoffer@theladders.com

Job Boards all over the TV

You can’t help but have noticed all the job board advertising on the television since the start of the New Year. 

We’ve got Jobsite with the lovely Max Beesley (who I find more scary than sexy in these adverts) , The Ladders with their tennis pitch invasion (their US advert is a lot more sexy) and TotalJobs with talking electrical appliances.  

The adverts from TotalJobs were trialled in the North West (presumably as they are focusing on areas such as jobs in Manchester.  I understand the rest have been nationwide from the outset.

A stat I saw years ago (the details of which I would share if I could find it!) was that whenever any job board advertises on radio or TV ALL job boards benefit.  With 3 major players pushing job boards to the masses it’s no surprise that every job board Director I speak with is reporting a jolly good January!  Good for them, good for jobseekers and good for recruiters….I hope!

 

 

 

Social Networks vs Job Boards

CV-Library have done some research to investigate how candidates like to find job vacancies.  Now, the first thing I’d say is that CV-Library are a job board.  They are conducting a survey of job seekers using their site.  They are going to find that these candidates use job boards.  However, that aside I think the research is interesting and has some validity.
 
There is much talk of how recruiters (inhouse as well as agency) need to be embracing social media to attract candidates; both passive and active candidates.  When you go to a conference there is a lot of talk about creating facebook groups, creating a talent pool on Twitter, getting all job vacancies on YouTube etc.  I am also (far to often) hearing “are job boards dying?”. 
 
Well, and this doesn’t surprise me, according to the research from CV-Library it appears that candidates do not perceive social networks as a highly viable means of applying for vacancies.  The survey indicates job sites remain the top choice for candidates when applying for job vacancies; 53% of candidates prefer to search and apply for a vacancy directly through recognised job sites, followed by a job board service such as 'Jobs-by-Email' (25%), straight to recruitment agencies (12%), mobile phone apps (9%) and social networking trailing behind with 1% of the votes.
 
Don’t get me wrong – I know that people find jobs via social media.  I absolutely believe it has a place in recruitment (and regularly share tips on how to use Twitter/Facebook, etc for recruiting).  However, I’m just not surprised that many job seekers feel more confident using a job board to look for jobs. 
 
The lesson – don’t ditch the job boards just yet!

Market Report on European Job Sites

Listen up…. if you do any recruitment across Europe and if you use (or are considering using) any job boards – this is the report for you!   It’s the 6th edition of the "International Market Report on European Job Sites" and it’s an in-depth analysis of the international job board market.  It includesg 46 profiles of the most important job boards of 23 European, media data and prices for job posting, information on marketing activities, strategic positioning, latest innovations and commercial partnerships for the job boards and articles scanning global e-recruitment trends and major developments in the international job board market.  It also has profiles and pricing of CV-databases.

It’s produced by Aktor (who are an HR communication agency specialising in e-recruitment on an international basis). 

There is a cost (as you might expect for something of this detail) and it’s 250€ (+VAT).  If you want more information drop corinna.litera@aktor.fr a note.  Sadly we can’t get you a discount (and I’m not on commission!) but do feel free to mention you heard about it here.

Summary of Employment & Training – the year so far

Every week those very nice chaps at Experian Hitwise send us the "Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites" stats for us to run in the newsletter.  I asked our Marketing Research Analyst over there (hello James) if he could find me something to use as a summary for the last 12 months.

Well, he's gone one step further and written an entire blog post!  That should leave me more time to consume mince pies and write my Christmas cards.  So here it is:

The Employment and Training category had another solid year in 2010 accounting for 0.59% of all Internet visits in the UK. Over the last year traffic to the Employment and Training category has grown by nearly 10%

 

Looking at traffic to the industry in the last three years December is always the low point of the year before traffic picks up again in January when people are looking for fresh starts with a new job.

 

The interesting thing about this year is that the January 2010 peak was less intense than in January 2009 but visits to the category have been more consistent throughout the year, indicating that people are using online job sites more frequently as their main source of information, not just in the January rush. Online is becoming a more trusted and reputable source year-on-year.

The top websites in November in the category were LinkedIn, Reed.co.uk and Total Jobs. What’s interesting is that these three were also among the fastest climbers of the year. Comparing market share of visits between November 2009 and November 2010, LinkedIn has grown from 6.5% of all visits to 10.5%.
 
 
Another worthy mention is Indeed UK, the second fastest mover of the year to date, and the seventh most popular Employment and Training site in the UK overall for November 2010. This is one of the rising stars of the online employment market.

If you want more information on these stats or just find out more about Hitwise contact James Murray on 020 3042 4565 or by email at james.murray@uk.experian.com

Special offer for Recruiters from TheLadders

Last time we published a special offer TheLadders had they got a great response - which must mean that you want an excuse to give them a go!

So when Jamie sent me what they've got going on now I said I'd happily mention it...

Book your 2011 package with TheLadders.co.uk and have the rest of 2010 free of charge! But hurry up, time’s ticking.

2011 will be an exciting time at TheLadders. Not only are we back on TV in Q1, we will also launch our first heavyweight radio campaign on LBC, to drive the highest calibre of candidates for you. Book your 2011 package this year and TheLadders will give you the rest of 2010 for free, so the sooner you book, the more you‘ll get for free. Email us today for more details, time's ticking. specialoffer@theladders.com

By the way, if you are unsure; TheLadders is a job board for £50,000 plus jobs.

 

Job Board Future Survey

Back at the end of the summer The Job Board Doctor started a survey into the future of job boards.  He gathered data from job seekers, HR professionals, recruiters, and job board employees. It was something we mention in the newsletter at the time. 

The results are now out and here are some of the key findings:

- LinkedIn and Twitter are the primary social media channels for recruiting
- Most job seekers use 3 or more job boards in their search
- Planning recruitment spending is static for job boards and going up for social media and referral programs
- Job boards continue to see the recession as the number one problem for their business
- Job seekers are most influenced when choosing a job board by ease of use and profession or industry focus
- Most job boards are planning to add new social media features in the coming year
- Less than 7% of HR or recruiting professionals have purchased .jobs domains for their organization
- Most job seekers are using job boards to locate jobs, then apply for them (either on the company site or job board)
- The biggest challenge for HR and recruiting professionals in meeting hiring goals is a lack of qualified applicants
- There are some warning signs for job boards in the results. For instance, less than 20% of job seekers have found a job via a niche job site.  Also, usage of general and niche job boards by HR and recruiting professionals falls behind social media, company career site, and referrals with regard to frequency of use.

You can get a copy of the complete results (a nicely put together 18 page document) via Job Board Doctor's website

RecruitRank Awards roundup

Last week's Jobsite had their annual RecruitRank Awards bash.  The awards recognise the country’s top performing recruitment agencies based on candidate feedback.

The categories and winners were:
- Low volume Jobsite user: Best Candidate Communication - Kensington Consulting
- High volume Jobsite user: Best Candidate Communication - networx
- Low volume Jobsite user: Best Understanding of Candidate Needs - Core Talent Recruitment Ltd
- High volume Jobsite user: Best Understanding of Candidate Needs - Wynnwith Group Ltd
- Low volume Jobsite user: Best Industry Knowledge - MECS Communications Ltd
- High volume Jobsite user: Best Industry Knowledge - Morson International (Aerospace)
- Low volume Jobsite user: Best Recruiter - Kensington Consulting
- High volume Jobsite user: Best Recruiter - networx
- Low volume Jobsite user: Most Improved - Blue Octopus Recruitment Limited
- High volume Jobsite user: Most Improved - Solutions Driven Ltd
- Best Recruiter Overall - Kensington Consulting

There are also photos on Flickr and in a slideshow.

I like the idea of these awards.  However, obviously/naturally they are rather biased towards Jobsite clients so aren't reflective of the entire recruitment industry.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not dissing them - I still think that these winners should be very proud of the achievement (and that Jobsite do a great job organising them).  It's just a shame that, as these are the only industry awards based purely on feedback from jobseekers, someone else out there (a more independent resource) couldn't perhaps take over these awards and make them more industry encompassing.  

NORA & MARA Events

I've been busy this last week sorting out final details for our Recruitment Directors Networking event.

However, I wanted to mention two other events which are coming up. 

The first one is the National Online Recruitment Awards (which we are co-hosting) which takes place on the 4th November in central London.   I've done my judging bit for that and registration is open (you can book your tickets here: http://www.eventelephant.com/recnet4nov ) so I'm looking forward to a superb evening in a few weeks time.

The second event is the Marketing & Advertising Recruitment Awards 2010 (MARA), organised by Simon Lewis of Only Marketing Jobs.  The awards have only been esetablished this year but have had lots of interest and it's looking like it'll be a glittering event.  You can find out more and book tickets on their event site at http://mara2010-rss.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you at one or both events!

 

Taking a look at JobMate

JobMate ran an advert in our monthly emailshot last week.  As I've known Richard from JobMate for years (he also runs the Red Advertising network) I was interested in what's different about jobMate (the multiple job board posting market has quite a few competitors!).

I'm sure most recruiters get the point of using a product like this - basically it means you can post to numerous job boards at the same time.  Not like in the "old days" when you had to log onto each job board, fill in different data for each site and then copy and paste your main body text.

The way JobMate works (which is similar to most of the other products) is that you upload your job the once and then tick the job boards where you want the job published. This can include posting your job advert to:
- Any UK Job Board you have an account with (JobMate have over 750 fully integrated)
- Your own website (even if you don’t currently publish your own live jobs)
- Various free to post Job boards (over 70 available)
- Twitter (they can set this up for you for Free)
- A mobile phone Application (again, included free)

The system includes all the back end stuff you should need too (applicant tracking, job posting http://www.jobmate.co.uk/free-trial/quota management, auto email responses etc).

Now, some of these types of product can be very expensive but I understand that as JobMate are based in Staffordshire rather than the City they don’t have some of the high overheads for offices and staffing that some of their competitors have. They have been established over 8 years now and their development costs have all been paid off. This coupled with the fact that they have a regular renewable client base, means that they can keep costs down and offer their product at a very low price point.

Whilst I wouldn't suggest anyone buy purely on the basis of price - JobMate's model is very simple: £365 + vat for the year, per agency.  In fact it's so simple that they've won an award for their pricing model!

In the past I think that multi posting software that was in some cases seen as cost prohibitive.  However, at £1 a day surely it’s now financially viable for all recruiters. Think about it - even if you are just posting to two job boards you will more than half your job posting time.
If you want to give them a go they are currently offering a free trial.  Also, for a limited period JobMate are offering UK Recruiter readers 15 months for the price of 12 (email or call them to find out more about this).

Thoughts on some stats from TotalJobs

TotalJobs.com have recently been kind enough to send me some exclusive information from their ‘Total Jobs Annual User Survey’ and there were some interesting facts to take from this in relation to jobseekers perceptions and expectations within the UK jobs market.   Here are a few of the stats:

* While searching for a job, 47.36% have applied for 11 or more jobs. Of all the applicants, 36.44% have had zero interviews following their applications.  I know a common complaint from recruiters is candidate who apply to EVERY single job out there and don't tailor their cover letter.  I'm guessing these stats might back that up.  Over a third of applications to get no interviews is pretty shocking though and could suggest more time should be spent researching and tailoring job application forms, CV’s and cover letters.  There are loads of sites out there which can help candidates with this.  In fact there is loads of "career advice on the Totaljobs website at http://www.totaljobs.com/careers-advice.  In the spirit of fairness I should also point out some other sites which have good career advice - including the government website.

* 22.95% are willing to compromise on pay but only 18.95% are willing to compromise on title.  I found this one interesting; perception (your job title) over reality (how little you actually earn)!  So the message to recruiters is big up the job title if the pay isn't up to market rates. Also, 25% of jobseekers would compromise on location or even pay, but only 3.9% would compromise on their pension. Don't get me wrong I know  pensions are important - but the survey suggests 96% of people would turn down a job if the pension wasn't right. It suggests they value the long term pension more than job title, location and getting a job that pays good money right now.

* Over half of jobseekers (54.95%) don’t feel like they were given enough support when looking for a job. I wanted to comment on this but wonder who these jobseekers were expecting support from.  An employer who has made them redundant, government, education establishment?  Total jobs have been working hard to collect more data on this matter which I am hoping to share with you in the coming months.
 
This data is from an internal survey that they don’t share with the public but for further information you can contact Caterina Masso (Marketing Manager), on email caterina.masso@totaljobs.com.  Total Jobs do however run a series of other surveys throughout the year which are made available to the public and can be found on http://recruiter.totaljobs.com/barometer/home  - where users can sign up to receive various stats and survey results.

National Online Recruitment Awards

This is the 10th year that the National Online Recruitment Awards (NORAs) have been running and the 9th that I've been a judge (Stephen let me off one year when I was pregnant!).  They are hosted by AlljobsUK.com and 1Job.co.uk. 

The idea behind the awards is that they acknowledge and reward excellence in online recruitment practice. They are voted for and judged from a candidate perspective.  They cover a wide range of online players in the sector, including job boards, recruitment agencies, employers, career advice websites, trade and national publications. In addition there are awards for best newcomer and innovation.  This year there is also a "Recruitment Website of the Decade" award - shortlisted from all those who have been finalists and winners over the last 10 years

So, nominations are closing on Friday of this week (if you want to nominate yourself or someone else do it quick!). All nominated sites are put to the Shortlisting panel to decide the finalists for each category. These sites will then be put to the Judging panel (you can see who the judges are here).  We then have to "examine and determine which sites perform best".
 
And then there is the actual awards night.  For the 3rd year this is run in conjunction with our very popular Recruiters Network events.  The event is being held in central London and will consist of time to network, have a drink with the finalists and other guests and then the awards will be presented.  If you want to find out more about the event or register to attend you can visit the registration site.  

I will post more about the awards once nominations close and Stephen can reveal the finalists!

UK Jobs – Mixed News for Jobseekers Considering Public Sector Job Losses (guest post)

I’m going to start a regular feature of monthly content provided by TotalJobs.com.  Here is the first article from them:

UK Jobs – Mixed News for Jobseekers Considering Public Sector Job Losses

 

Totaljobs.com has reported an increase in job vacancies posted, however in some sectors competition is fierce with up to 26 applications per job.

  

Totaljobs.com have released their first Totaljobs Barometer report since the General Election and it makes for some interesting reading.  Since the Coalition came to power there has been a 6.5% increase in the number of jobs posted between the 1^st and 2^nd Quarter of 2010.

 

This indicates that employers have a more positive outlook, and the private sector is set for growth, which is very encouraging for the economy. However, with each job vacancy receiving an average of over 11 applications, jobseekers are facing some tough times ahead as unemployment is set to increase through the year due to public sector cuts.

 

The BCC recently announced that the rate of unemployment has actually fallen and although unemployment will rise from 2.51 million to a peak of 2.65 million (8.4% of the workforce) in the first quarter of 2011, many areas in the private sector still look buoyant.

 

Jobseekers who can transfer their skills to a new sector or who can easily relocate will have a better chance of obtaining the job they want. Sectors that have seen a significant increase in job vacancies include catering and hospitality (+11.8%) and customer services (+15.0%). In contrast, sectors to have suffered between quarters include social services (-10.7%) and health/nursing (-22.5%). However the Coalition Government has indicated that they will be focusing on developing Britain’s manufacturing industry and it is hoped that this will result in opportunities opening up in sciences and engineering.

 

Regional jobs figures from the Totaljobs Barometer also show some interesting trends in job supply and demand. The West Midlands, for example, has seen an 8.5% increase in regional jobs posted, but the number of applications remains at 9 per job. This is also reflected in competition for jobs in London which remains at an all time high of 32 applications per job.

 

The North East and North West jobs market also show they have more to offer then just public sector jobs. Finally, bouncing back after a 16% fall in posted jobs in Q4 2009, the job market in Scotland is showing the first signs of improvement, with 7 applications per job, down from 8 applications per job in Q1 2010.

 

About Totaljobs.com

http://www.totaljobs.com is one of the UK's leading jobs & recruitment websites, attracting over 2.8 million jobseekers every month on the hunt for one of 90,000 live vacancies the site carries at any one time. All of this activity generates over 1.5 million applications a month, cementing totaljobs.com’s strong reputation among recruiters and jobseekers alike. Thousands of recruiters from multinationals to smaller regionally based businesses, recruitment consultants and advertising agencies recruit through totaljobs.com.  More data from the Barometer is available at http://www.totaljobsbarometer.co.uk/

Using NORAS for jobboard research

The NORAS 2010 results have been out for a few weeks now.  You've probably come across the NORAS before, but if not they are "the largest piece of online recruitment research in the world and helps identify where to find the most relevant candidates online."
 
This year the survey includes research taken from 95,000 candidates spread across 62 job boards.
 
It's the largest number of job board's they've ever had in the research and does cover a large number of the most well known sites.  However, you do need to bear in mind it doesn't cover ALL the main job boards.
 
Anyway, having got all that out the way, it's still data well worth a look at.  Once you've registered (free) you can search by industry, job function, salary and region to find out which is the best job board on which to advertise your vacancy. 
 
I did a search for where to advertise a Financial Accountant role in the South East region.  The results showed me that totallyfinancial was first (7% of users matching my criteria), ICAEW Jobs second (4.9%) and GAAPweb third (4.3%).  Whilst I'm not expert in recruiting financial accountants this looks like it's on the right track.
 
However, when I searched for a Marketing role in FMCG at £45k the results were a little poor; GrocerJobs and Top Consultant.  Now, I would have actually thought of GrocerJobs myself... but the results told me that only 0.3% of the jobseekers on GrocerJobs match my criteria.  Eeeek not so keen now!
 
Anyway, I guess that some sectors aren't well served by any job board, and you do have to take into account that not all job boards have taken part in the NORAS.
 
Even in light of that I'd suggest the site is worth a visit when looking for somewhere to post a role you've not worked on before. 
 
Also, you should really check out the results booklets when they go online as these have always been pretty interesting reading in previous years. 

BringUsTogether - Saving you some cold calls!

BringUsTogether is a simple concept - the site brings together employers and recruiters in an online environment.  Now, don't get me wrong this isn't a unique concept, but I do like it and think it's worth mentioning again. The idea is that agencies can work with clients they would not normally have access to.  Allowing them to develop new relationships and boost placement revenue. This service in theory eliminates the need for cold calling and speculative emails (saving money, time and making HR recruiters less annoyed!)

The way it works is that recruiters sign up for free, they are verified by BringUsTogher, and then can view live vacancies. They pick the positions they feel they can work best and then send suitable candidates to the client.   Each vacancy gives details of the job title, a brief job description, the salary and any other benefits for the role, and also the placement fee available upon successful placement.

BringUsTogether makes it's money from a 20-25% fee taken from the overall placement fee once the successful candidate has completed a rebate period with the employer.

One of the regular topics on the forum is around how to develop new business and this site could well be a useful tool in the recruiters arsenal. The service is currently in its early stages of launching so don’t  expect 1000s of vacancies straight away! However, I am assured they have business development and sales consultants working around the clock to provide vacancies for recruiters to work. As soon as a new vacancy is posted to the site, all registered recruiters are sent an email notification so they can visit the site and view updated details.

TalentPuzzle

TalentPuzzle launched at the tail end of last summer. It's basically a introduction agency for employers with a vacancy and agencies who can fill it.  It works on a bounty basis for contingency placements.

An employer posts details of their vacancy (confidently) and the amount they are prepared to pay for a successful placement.  Agencies can log in to view the vacancies and then put forward suitable candidates.

Employers don't pay to post vacancies.  TlaentPuzzzle take 25% of the placement fee earned by the recruiter.

The idea behind the model (which is very successful In the US via http://www.bountyjobs.com/) is that time and money are saved by the corporate by not having to locate an agency to help them fill their roles and not having to get involved in negotiations about terms.  It means that agencies can locate roles without having to cold call or get onto PSLs. 

I personally think this is a great addition to the current online recruitment landscape.  It's not going to be the answer for everyone (recruiters who won't negotiate on fees or work on a contingency basis won't use it) but I should think it's worth any recruiter checking out the site.  All you need is for a role for which you have the perfect candidate to be up there and you save yourself an awful lot of time in placing that candidate.

 

AlljobsUK.com, Online Recruitment Index

Every week, since August 2000, the volume of vacancies advertised on Britain’s most popular job boards (and you can find who they are here) has been monitored by AlljobsUK.com.

As they say.... "because we monitor a range of of websites, we are able to more accurately reflect the state of the UK online recruitment sector. Whilst the Monster recruitment index will tell you the experience of only one job board, we are able to track the ebb and flow of the market as a whole. The effects of the current recession are all the more dramatic, when seen in visual form."

And here is the chart:

So, for 2009 the decline in job postings seems to have been halted.  We've had little peaks and troughs throughout the year and now are into the "Christmas dip".  I don't feel great about sharing bleak news in the run up to the festive period - but it's all there in black and white (and colour).

Networking and National Online Recruitment Awards

Last Thursday we ran a recruiters networking event which also hosted the annual National Online Recruitment Awards (NORAs).

There was a superb turnout on the night with nearly 250 recruitment industry professionals in attendance.

Our sponsors were TheLadders and Astoria Rec2Rec - joined by a great line-up of awards sponsors from 1job.

After a spot of general networking and drinking activity (with the sponsors enjoying the VIP room with the "interesting" smoked salmon served in hot dog rolls!) we had a few sessions of speed networking organised by Natalie Campbell.  Then it was onto the awards. 

Stephen O'Donnell was the compere for the night and he entered the stage to the theme from Kill Bill (it was fairly dramatic and all that was required was a bit of dry ice to finish the scene perfectly). Each award was presented by the relevant category sponsor and the winners were:

BEST GENERALIST JOB BOARD: http://www.jobsite.co.uk
BEST SPECIALIST (NICHE) JOB BOARD: http://www.retailchoice.com
BEST REGIONAL JOB BOARD: http://www.key103jobs.co.uk/
BEST NATIONAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY WEBSITE: http://www.rhr.co.uk
BEST SMALL RECRUITMENT AGENCY WEBSITE: http://www.mccarthyrecruitment.com/
BEST NATIONAL EMPLOYER’S WEBSITE: http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk
BEST SMALL EMPLOYER’S WEBSITE: http://join.gcsltd.com
BEST ONLINE RECRUITMENT BY A CONSUMER PUBLICATION: http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/
BEST ONLINE RECRUITMENT BY A TRADE PUBLICATION: http://www.drapersjobs.com/
BEST EMPLOYMENT ADVICE WEBSITE: http://www.careerplayer.com
BEST NEWCOMER IN ONLINE RECRUITMENT: http://www.careerplayer.com
BEST INNOVATION IN ONLINE RECRUITMENT: http://www.twitterjobsearch.com
 
Representatives of all the winners (expect one which I won't mention as I understand he was meant to be there!) were there to collect their awards.  There was some disappointment that the chap from The Army wasn't in uniform - but you can't have everything.  We'll have photos of all the winners receiving their awards available in the next day or so.  I managed to get myself up on stage by pulling the business card for the bottle of champagne given away by Perms Connect.
 
After the awards it was back to the networking with the winners receiving congratulations and buying celebrationary rounds of drinks. 
 
It was a great night and as usual a pleasure to work with Stephen and his team from 1job.  If you want to follow Twitter chatter about the event you should use the hashtag #NORAs and you can follow http://twitter.com/TheNORAs
 
Details of 2010's events will be coming soon!

The Agency Central Employment Index

With an online presence since 1999, Agency Central was built with the recruitment agency model in mind – allowing Employers & Candidates to find Recruitment Agencies under the detailed roles an agency is able to recruit for; selecting an agency based on skill specialisation or geographic location.  Interestingly, in a market where the use of agencies is apparently declining, their figures show that the company has seen a 34% like for like increase in unique visitors when comparing 2007 to the last 12 months, with 4.51 m visitors between October 2008 and October 2009.
Figures for September 2009 show a 24% upturn in Employer Requirements when compared with February 2009.  The findings are produced via Agency Central's new Employment Index, which effectively “takes the pulse” of the job market by gathering data from a range of employment sources.

This index is based on statistics, (specifically relating to the Recruitment Agency Marketplace), compiled from the companies using the website and tracks the employment market activity across a variety of variables.  The index shows a steady improvement in employers’ usage of Recruitment Agencies since February 2009. 

Agency Central plan to make these figures available on a monthly basis via the UK Recruiter community.

For more information about Agency Central or this data contact stuart@agencycentral.co.uk