Louise's UK Recruiter Blog

In these tough economic times...

I will be doing a proper write up on last week's technology event.  The way the event worked was, so I’d have a rough idea of how many people were going to come, recruiters paid a £20 deposit that is refunded to them after they attend the event.   These are two emails I got on Friday from event attendees.

"Many thanks for organising yesterday. Thoroughly worthwhile as well as being thoroughly enjoyable! No need to return my deposit. Please donate to your nominated charity."

"Thanks for organizing the event yesterday – it was good.  I would like the £20 refunded please, rather than giving it to one of your charities. When and how will it come back to me?"

Nothing wrong with wanting your money back but a little tight to actually spell it out!!

Building your future in recruitment: things to consider when going it alone

This is a guest post written for us by Richard Prime, Founder of  Sonovate.com

Recruiters are by nature entrepreneurial. After their first year of recruiting and once they’ve established themselves in the industry, gained a certain level of experience and built up a network, most begin to ask themselves the question: “If I can do this for an employer, could I do it for myself?” For most the answer is yes. The trigger to search for a new opportunity can be something simple such as a difficult manager, or frustrations with the market that they are working in. This can be all that is needed to plant the seed of doubt, and encourage them to leave the safety of a permanent role for the excitement of their own company.

Before the internet age, setting up a recruitment business had its complexities. At a basic level it wasn’t difficult; all you needed was a phone. However, without online job boards and social media, it could be a struggle to acquire that constant source of candidates, required for any recruitment business to flourish.

Now, however, recruitment entrepreneurship is easier than ever before. Most experienced recruiters will have a strong, carefully built network and access to a range of CV databases offered by job boards and social networks.

Furthermore, as the industry matures it is becoming increasingly specialised, and small, boutique recruiters serving niche market needs are doing good business. I’ve worked with a number of recruitment entrepreneurs (and been one myself!) and I know that there are certain commonalities across all successful recruitment businesses.

Specialising

The first choice to make is which sector will be your specialism. Common sense says continue in the area you worked in before you were your own boss. You should have a good level of expertise and a strong network.

Landing those early clients

Then you’ll need some terms on the books. You will need to break down doors with hiring managers, and in most companies your previous employer will have set down a number of restrictions within your contract. I would never recommend breaking these, but for the majority, these restrictions are only relevant for a limited time period. And anyway, these shouldn’t put you off - if you’ve made it this far in the industry, then you no doubt know that winning business is always competitive. But you’ll also know how to win business, and how to service it. Your previous clients worked with you because of your knowledge and ability to deliver, not because of the company you worked for. Just keep doing what you’ve always done.

Setting up on your own, you have a real advantage over established recruiters. You have the control and flexibility to decide how you value your client’s business, and nearly every case will earn considerably more, simply because your expenditures are less when going it alone. It’s in these first few months that real perseverance will pay off.

Using online tools

Recruitment will always be anchored on human engagement, but it is becoming more of an e-business every year thanks to the rise of social media, online referrals, CV stores and job boards. You will of course exploit these tools in practice, but remember not to miss the boat yourself - let the trend work for you too. Thankfully, there is a host of excellent tools to help any start-up become an online recruiting machine. These include CRM systems (such as Bullhorn), timesheeting (e.g. ETZ) and job boards (e.g. Broadbean).

Establish your business across multiple online platforms to create a consistent brand and help win new business.

Keeping on top of the admin

This is the time when you want to concentrate all your resources on placing candidates and winning new business, but it will all be in vain if you don’t take care of those pesky back office considerations. The last quarter of 2011 saw cases of insolvency rise in recruitment businesses, often as a result of clients (who are themselves experiencing cashflow issues) holding back on payments. The last thing an embryonic business wants is to be stuck in a catch-22 scenario where it’s losing money because it’s wasting time chasing money. If you don’t have your house (and your books) in order then potential for growth will be frustrated.

And growth is the aim, whether that is achieved by billing more or hiring additional staff. While you may start out alone, in time you should be growing and recruiting members of your own team. Indeed, growth could even come quickly and you will have control over its pace, since you’re now the one making decisions and banking the lion’s share of the client fees.

While approximately 2000 recruiters set up their own companies every year, it may seem like the odds are stacked against recruiters going it alone – the factors that can make or break a young business are many. One of the key factors in a new recruitment business’s success is how much time they actually spend recruiting. It is the ability to sell that makes them good at their job, but often, their skill in this areas doesn’t match their ability to deal with operational and administrative tasks. Too often they spend their vital office hours dealing with time consuming admin – which will take even longer when the recruiter has no previous experience in, for example, invoicing, debt collection or VAT.

There are, however, services available that can help recruiters as they take their first tentative steps in the market. With the support of these services behind them, recruiters are freed up to concentrate on closing deals and developing their business. The trend is towards a new, entrepreneurial recruitment practice in which back office worries like online branding and invoice-chasing are delegated to the service-provider.

In the 2012 business environment, going it alone needn’t be such a daunting prospect. Increasing numbers of recruiters are taking control of their careers and exploiting this new model which gives them free rein to expand their own business by doing what they do best: recruiting.

This isn't an advertising post - but I'll give Sonovate their little pitch... Sonovate is a cloud-based platform that takes care of these peripheral stresses, meeting a growing demand for the tools recruiters need to set up their own businesses quickly and easily....

The ten strangest job titles on LinkedIn

I recently got sent this press release from IntaPeople about the 10 most peculiar job titles on LinkedIn.

The top ten:

1. Digital Overlord
2. Creator of Happiness
3. Retail Jedi
4. Wizard of Light Bulb Moments
5. Dream Alchemist
6. Chief Chatter
7. Change Magician
8. Accounting Ninja
9. Chief Biscuit Dunker
10. Direct Mail Demi-God

Whilst the people using these titles on their LinkedIn profiles may think they are absolutely hilarious I'm guessing most recruiters, spending hours scouring the internet for the right candidate, aren't too likely to either spot them in a search or find their obscure job titles quite so funny! 

Assessing capability

This is a guest post written for us by Dominic Wake who is a Director at ETS

Recruiting new staff has become tougher than ever before.
 
In today's tough economic climate, HR departments are finding themselves inundated with applications from very talented people for available roles. It can be a job in itself sifting through the suitable from the not-so suitable - not to mention writing rejection letters and fielding apologetic phone calls from disappointed candidates.

But what about when it comes to shortlisting for interview and you have to choose between applicants who are similar in experience, education and interpersonal skills? According to employee survey provider ETS you need to measure candidates against the job, and not against each other. After all you're not after the best candidate, rather the most appropriate fit for that job.

With that in mind we've put together a few hints and tips to bear in mind when you next advertise an available role in your business.

1- Look on your own doorstep first

Although you may need to expand your team, you should start by looking in your own house first. Providing promotional opportunities for current employees both boosts morale and makes your current staff feel that their skills, talents and love for the business are appreciated. Even if you still end up hiring outside your organisation, giving your employees an interview and a chance of filling the role will help you learn about their hopes and aspirations.

2 – When looking through CVs there are 3 golden rules…

•    Can this person do the job?
•    Will this person do the job?
•    Does this person fit my organisation?

CAN - This refers to the candidate's technical skills and knowledge needed to get the job done. Pay close attention to the person's work history and experience and education.

WILL - This refers to the candidate's level of motivation and drive. Do they come across as enthusiastic? Are they full of energy and hunger? Does their work history demonstrate a passion and will to succeed?

FIT - This refers to the candidate's specific attributes and traits which they need to fit in well with your business. For example is teamwork more important than individual effort? Is it a high-pressured role or more relaxed culture? After all, the ability to adapt and fit will have a direct bearing on an applicant’s success.

As a separate thought, remember to assess the previous employee's traits and identify their characteristics - what did they do well? What were their characteristics which made them so successful? Also think about what they did less well - what would you hope a new applicant will add to the role? If you are filling the role for the first time, what will it take to guarantee success?

3 – Before inviting to interview, check them out online

This may be somewhat controversial, but in today's internet age most people have an online footprint. Simply putting their name into a search engine can return some interesting results - would you really want to hire someone who's Facebook profile is littered with drunken and somewhat compromising pictures? Websites such as LinkedIn let you check out their work history and spot any irregularities in their CV.

4 – At the interview stage – beware of the common mistakes…

Once you’ve narrowed down your shortlisted candidates and let down those who you felt didn’t make the grade, the interview stage will have the biggest impact on whether or not you decide to hire.

However, beware of the over-influence of first impressions. In the first few minutes of an interview many employers make the common mistake of deciding there and then if they’re suitable for your business. But beware! Can you really afford to make the mistake of hiring someone after just a few seconds of meeting them?

Also beware of what’s known as “the cloning trap”. Don’t ever make the mistake of recruiting in your own image or replicating a certain ‘company type’. Focus on their accomplishments, energy and enthusiasm.

To assess capability at interview you should measure the candidates against the job, and not against each other. Remember that you're not after the best candidate, rather the most appropriate fit for that job.

5 – After the interview – involve your employees in the hiring process

The final stage in assessing capability is to get your employees involved in the hiring process. They could help you recommend candidates who they feel would make a good fit by reviewing CVs. And, once they come for interview, why not introduce them to the team to see how they gel? Maybe even ask them for a trial morning to spend the day getting to know them.

6 – References, references, references

It goes without saying, but references need to be checked out. Unfortunately many employers don't bother with this and can sometimes find themselves hiring someone with a less-than-satisfactory work history.

To sum up…

Assessing a job applicant's responsibly includes an ability to fit well in your organisation. Such a comprehensive effort takes time, the time to prepare for interviews and conduct them, but it is an investment that proves its value in the long run and prevents the far greater cost of failure.

How Much Does your Job Cost You

I've been sent this "How Much Does your Job Cost You" infographic from Guardian Jobs.  It's a nice visual representation of how much time we spend on getting to work and buying coffee and lunch during the working day.  In these tough economic times who wouldn't want to save over £260 a year by making their own sarnies!!

 

 

Increase your client and candidate base through effective content marketing

I was recently sent a whitepaper specifically for recruitment agencies. It has been put together by Red Rocket Media. It was developed after last year’s Social Media in Recruitment Conference. At the start of the event delegates were asked where they spend their money:

Job Boards 39%

Recruitment Agencies 20%

Social Media 13%

Referrals 16%

Corporate Website 13%

By the end of the conference, 65% said they would be using social media.

This whitepaper explains how, through highly effective content marketing, recruitment companies can build an audience of loyal clients and candidates before their recruitment journeys even begin. It describes how to:

Attract more traffic to your website

Increase job description ‘view to application’ ratios

Use social media more effectively

Improve brand awareness

Compete with the big boys

To download the whitepaper visit the Red Rocket Media site.

Email Blunder .... could it have been you?

I’ve noticed that the response from people to this email, which I blogged about yesterday, has been split into two main areas. 

a) Should Gary Chaplin have been fired for sending the email(s)
b) Debate as to whether you would ever be in a similar situation. 

Obviously the stereotype of recruiters is that of the type of person who is always slating candidates, bitching about clients, abusing everyone in sight.  We see plenty of comments of that nature on the discussion board from disgruntled jobseekers and HR professionals.  I can assure you I don’t have rose tinted specs – but I really don’t think it’s fair to tar recruiters with that same brush. 

However, I can see how a recruiter could quite easily get cross with a lazy jobseeker emailing his CV, with no covering note, to 4,000 recruiters in one go (and with another recruiter using the opportunity to try and do a spot of headhunting).  In those circumstances can you see why he (or she) could have, in a heated moment, sent an email back saying they were both a pair of twonks?  Do you find yourself regularly annoyed by the attitude of jobseekers and do you ever want to tell them to brush up their act?

Or, regardless of your frustration levels, would you NEVER even think of responding to a candidate in a negative way.

What do you think?  Which camp do you fall into? 

Gary Chaplin's Email Blunder

I’m sure we’ve all accidentally hit “reply to all” rather than “reply” and had an awkward few minutes worrying about our blunder.  Or perhaps accidentally hit send before removing the bit where you call your client a plank in a late night email.  However, nothing can compare to Gary Chaplin who sent an abusive email to 4,000 recruiters, rather than the one (poor) jobseeker he meant to abuse!

You can read all about it in the Daily Mail

But as a top investigative reporter I’ve searched far and wide (actually I just asked a friend on Twitter) for the email correspondence for anyone who wants to see exactly what Gary said.

ORIGINAL EMAIL

Dear Sirs,

my name is Manos Katsampoukas and I am interested in finding a job in the banking/ marketing sector in the UK. Please find attached my CV. Further information available upon request. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards, Manos Katsampoukas

RESPONSE FROM DAN

Thanks, Emmanouil, for introducing us all.

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that One Search are actively hiring experienced Recruitment Consultants who have a couple of years' experience but are now looking to switch to Financial Services front office. Alternatively you may already be a front office recruiter disenchanted with the bureaucracy and looking to run your own desk.If you have the drive and intellect to work in one of the recruitment market's toughest yet most rewarding sectors, please give me a call or drop me an email to arrange a chat.

I will of course make a donation to Emmanouil, in lieu of a Rec2Rec fee!

Regards Dan

EMAIL FROM RICH (who turns out to be Gary Chaplin)

Emmanouil - I think I speak for all 4000 people you have emailed when I say "Thanks for your CV" - it's nice to know you are taking this seriously and taking the time to make us all feel special and unique.

If you are not bright enough to learn how to 'bcc' and thus encourage cock-jockey retards to then spam everyone on the list (yes Dan from One Search I'm talking about you - you opportunistic thunderc*nt) then please f*ck off ....you are too stupid to get a job, even in Banking.

I get enough retarded spam from idiots - I don't need the Dan 'F*cktard' McCunthy's of the world thinking they are being smart and original by spamming back to your 4000 best friends. (PS – is 'One Search' what you've successfully completed on this year?).

Yours hitting the delete button Have a nice day! Rich

There is more; it does go on.  However, I won't post it all here.  If do you want to see the rest of it, which resulted in Gary losing his job, just drop me a note.

Whilst I don’t condone abusive emails to candidates I can see Gary’s frustration at a candidate who has mass mailed his CV out. In the old days I’ve had candidates send their CV, by post, in response to up to a dozen completely different adverts. I no doubt wanted to tell them what a numpty they were being. Luckily I kept my thoughts to myself!  

What do you think about Gary losing his job over this and how do you think it'll affect his own jobseeking chances?

Sales Salaries

I’ve just had some interesting salary data in from Salestarget (as you might guess from the name they are a job board focussing in the sales arena). The first chart they’ve sent me shows the top paying locations for Sales Managers based on information taken from Sales jobs postings in their database.  It’s really interesting data as it would suggest that if you are working in a sales role in Maidenhead it would be seriously worth your while to consider a move up North to Sheffield where the difference in salary is over £40,000.  Of course what could be (most probably is) reflected here is the difference between actual roles and job titles; with the more junior roles in the Maidenhead being given the lofty title of “manager”!  Nevertheless I think it makes an interesting chart.

UK Recruitment Squash Tournament

Recruiters are nothing if not competitive – so this ought to be perfect for the industry....

Organised by InterQuest Group PLC the UK’s first ever Recruitment Squash Tournament is open to any recruitment company in the UK, from any sector and/or any location.  The finals will be played on the Glass Squash Court at Canary Wharf March 2012 (I’m sure that venue is significant within the squash world – but means nothing to a potato couch like me!).

All the profits are going to charity (the primary charity is Cancer Research UK and secondary charities include CLIC Sargent, MacMillan and Marie Curie).

Their main sponsors are Colleague software.  You can take part by contacting matt@interquestgroup.com.

Advertiser Profile: 2LS

You may have spotted this new feature on my blog; where I shamelessly promote some companies that advertise with us in the weekly newsletter. However, it's also an opportunity for you to learn more about some of the suppliers that could be assisting your recruitment business.

Company: 2LS Limited
Product: GRIP
Description: If you’re looking for a recruitment software system that is flexible and easy to use, then GRIP is for you. Its simple design makes it possible to have multiple windows open and switching between them very quick and easy.
To an efficient recruitment consultancy, time is all important. GRIP features; such as dragging and dropping single or multiple records between windows and hot links between clients, candidates and vacancies, will improve your consultant’s efficiency.
3 USPs:
1. Fast & easy to use
2. Connected and extendible
3. Available anywhere
Contact: Neil Thompson, 0845 685 2230, neil.thompson@2ls.com
Other links: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn

 

Hidden Cost of Running An Office Infographic

This is a cheerful little infographic from Towergate Insurance's blog.

They've researched the facts on the "hidden costs of tea and smoking breaks, sick days and falsely claimed expenses, among many others".   Did you know your average employee will cost you £16.98 in toilet roll a year and fiddle £462 on expenses?

Join UK Recruiter Plus and get 50% off the End Of Year Conference

Have you come across our UK Recruiter Plus service before?  It’s a web based knowledge portal designed to assist and offer guidance to all individuals involved in a recruitment environment. It offers a range of guides to recruiters at all levels. So whether you are a trainee consultant learning your trade and keen to know how to start a successful recruitment desk or an experienced manager working on increasing motivation and profitability within your team, UK Recruiter Plus provides the information and guidance you need.
 
At only £40 + VAT per year it’s really good value anyway.  However, did you know that by joining up you can get discounted admission to some of the UK Recruiter networking events?  On the 2nd November we are hosting the End of Year Recruitment Conference with some pretty amazing presenters.  Tickets are £40 each.  However, UK Recruiter Plus subscribers get in for half price. 
 
There you go – one extra reason to sign up today!

All work and no play

Not a massive surprise sadly; 30% of executives check emails once a day whilst on holiday.  Less than a quarter never check emails whilst away.

Experteer have recently conducted a survey into the holiday behaviour of “executive professionals”

Perhaps worth a quick peek to either make yourself feel better about having to take calls from your boss on the beach or to show your spouse so he/she doesn’t divorce you before the plane has even taken off!

Explaining the value of Social Media to your Granny (or boss!)

Many people tell me that social media is a waste of time.  Not you lot of course, you probably found the link to this blog post on Twitter!  I’m talking about technophobe friends, the chap who mended my boiler, my mate’s boss who runs a recruitment company....

This real life example is a superb case study in which you just can’t ignore the effectiveness of social media.

a) On Monday I saw Gary has posted as his status update on Facebook that our friend Lisa had tickets to Chelsea Flower show that she didn’t need anymore.
b) On Wednesday Ruth posted on Twitter that she was annoyed with herself for not managing to sort Chelsea Flower show tickets for her mum
c) I replied to Ruth to say I understood that Lisa has some tickets available
d) With a bit of help from Neil (who actually had read Gary’s status update better than me) Ruth and Lisa connected
e) Ruth’s mum was off to Chelsea Flower Show

Now, you tell me how that would have happened so simply without social media!

NB, maybe next week I'll actually come up with an example relating to the recruitment industry :)

Recruiters breakfast – the food of kings?!

I had a flashback to my early days in recruitment this morning.  Was popping into the shop near my kids’ school when someone I worked with during the 90s was walking out.  He had bought and started eating his breakfast; a packet of crisps and can of coke.  That’s what everyone I worked with seemed to consider breakfast. That, and 20 fags before lunch (smoked at the desk!).    As I was having a little giggle to myself about this I suddenly realised I was popping in to buy 2 bottles of wine.   People in glass houses and all that :)
 

Let’s Do Lunch

I’ve had a rather comprehensively conducted report from Bupa about how “UK companies are losing close to £50million a day in lost productivity as over six million UK employees fail to take a their lunch hour”.  It’s part of their “Reclaim The Lunch break” campaign.

Unlike lots of these surveys I get sent this one actually has some proper research behind it.  Most of the reporting findings are taken from the Bupa ‘Helping You Find Healthy’ report.  They also have research data from four other sources. 

The basics are that only 13% of UK workers takes their lunch hour.  The reasons for this are:

34% of employees experience pressure from managers to work through their lunch hour
50% feel the weight of their workload prevents them from taking a break.

As I’m sure you’ll know the impact of not taking a break can be significant.  In their report almost half  of workers felt their productivity levels plummet at around 3pm and as a result they lose almost 40 minutes of their day due to this dip.

The solution actually isn’t necessarily to take a full hour for lunch – it’s to take regular breaks.  This doesn’t mean you even have to leave your desk; just change the activity you are doing.

Obviously this lack of lunch break isn’t just happening in the recruitment sector – but I can’t think of many recruiters I’ve worked with who have regularly taken any lunch break at all.

So, take a break and increase your productivity and reduce your stress levels!

Apprentice Finalist Blogging for UK Recruiter

This year we are lucky to have Chris Bates blogging about The Apprentice for UK Recruiter.  Chris was a finalist in the series last year so will know all about the pressure these guys are under.
 
This week’s episodes are on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, Chris is at The Recruiter awards on Thursday so I’m expecting to get his first blog up Friday morning.  Assuming he makes it home in one piece!
 
If you want to find out all about the characters we have for this series (including two recruiters; Natasha and Ellie) check out the BBC website.  

Removing information about yourself from Google

It’s a more frequent problem for individuals…. what can you do  if you spot some seriously dodgy stuff posted about you on the internet.

Karen Blakeman has the answer.  I’ve been reading Karen’s Tales from the Terminal Room for nearly 10 years.   In a nice succinct blog post she shares an overview on the subject and links to some very useful information on what you can do if you find something on the web that you need to remove.

Check it out (and while you are at it you should bookmark her blog)

 

Job Creation and the London Olympics

I was chatting to my contact, Joe, who works with Totaljobs last week about the number of jobs created by London Olympic projects (they are expecting increases in searches across construction jobs and engineering jobs as well as number of other areas).  

I had vaguely thought about pulling together some blog posts/articles to see what’s being discussed.  Well, Joe has saved me the work by getting a number of up to date articles on the very subject.  So, if you are interested in keeping up to date with current thinking on this topic here you go:

• IT sector given temporary shot in arm from Olympics job boost
• 1,000 government ICT jobs from Olympics
• Can the 2012 Olympics be the bait to get more people into construction?
• London 2012 Olympics could create more graduate jobs
• London 2012 Olympics to Create more than 5,000 IT Jobs

 And, looking at the other side:

2012 London Olympics won’t win any medals for providing jobs

Budget 2011 – Recruitment Focussed Summary

I thought it might be useful to pull together some recruitment relevant resources after this week’s budget.

Firstly there is the APSCo Spring Budget 2011 document which you can download from their site.  The Summary covers the key tax changes announced in the Chancellor’s speech and includes tables of the main rates and allowances.  They have also included tips and traps which you may want to consider.  They also have a more general summary of the budget on their site.

XpertHR has a nice roundup of comments on the budget relating to HR issues (it’s a very well written summary worth a look at).

The People Bulletin have a good summary too.

I wanted to include the REC’s response but all they have on their site is something from their public sector group and from their Pharmaceutical & Scientific Chair

Also, check out Voyager's Capitalising on the Budget article.

If I’ve missed a really good summary please add it to my comments.

 

What do you want to ask the REC?

I've got a meeting with Kevin Green, CEO, of the REC on the 23rd March.
 
Apparently we are talking about "REC updates".  So, shall report back on that.  However, I want to get more from my meeting... so if you've got any questions you want me to put to Kevin please leave them in a comment here.

Recruitment Personality of the Year 2011 - unofficial poll

It’s not long until the Onrec Awards 2011 (taking place in London on 23rd March).  One of the categories is Personality of the Year Award.  I thought it might be quite fun to run a pre-event poll to see who you think should win.

The finalists are:

Colin Minto, G4S Plc
Bradley Placks, MyResourcer.com
Carla Fern, Red Advertising
Mark Lennox, Only Marketing Jobs
Mark Lennard, MyResourcer.com
Tilly Hertherington, CVWow.com
Louise McCarthy-Teague, Meridian Business Support Ltd
Simon Lewis, Only Marketing Jobs
 
Interestingly this year, adding a bit of extra tension to the category, both MyResourcer and Only Marketing Jobs have two finalists. 

You can vote on who you want to win (and also who you think WILL win) here.  I'll share the results once I have a decent sample size.

 
 

 
 

How do you celebrate turning 500?

...Surely that's a good reason for a party?

We are getting close to our 500th issue of the newsletter and I could do with some inspiration from you guys, who read it, on how best to celebrate! 

Should we do a retro issue, re-investigate some of the sites and best articles or press releases from 500 issues ago, give away some goodies, raise some money for charity? 

For our 250th issue we got loads of goodies donated and then gave them away in a massive lucky dip.  However, those were more affluent times and I'm not sure I want to be begging the industry for freebies!  Or should I?

So PLEASE let me know what you think and send me some ideas by dropping me an email or commenting here. The person who sends me the best idea will get drinks all night on me at our next networking event!

What do Graduates want to do?

Following a recent graduate survey by Totaljobs.com (which compared both graduates and current undergraduates), nearly half of both groups were non-specific when asked which sector they would like to work in after university. Just under half of graduates, and just over half of undergraduates, were looking to enter the job market with an “open mind”.

According to the executive summary from TotalJobs.com public sector jobs have been seen by many to be more of a 'safe bet' than jobs in the private sector, especially during an economic downturn, but with the austerity measures and cuts proposed by the coalition government mean this is increasingly becoming a fallacy.

The survey asked these job seekers thought about the potential of working in the public sector.

When questioned specifically about work in the public sector and what would attract them the most, graduates and undergraduates differed in their leading answer. Most graduates were attracted to the public sector by the potential career prospects (again, possibly the result of a perception that the public sector is more stable than the private sector during a recession), whereas most undergraduates would be persuaded to enter the public sector due to the training opportunities available. These days graduates are aware that transferable skills are a must on a job seeker's CV, so the training in the public sector offer a distinct advantage.

While each group diverged when asked about their initial attraction to the public sector, when asked about which specific area of the public sector attracted them the most, a majority of both graduates and existing students came back with the same answer: 52% of graduates and 55% of undergraduates were interested by opportunities in education. This will no doubt come as music to the ears of Local Education Authorities amid news reports of a nationwide shortage of teachers and falling standards in schools across the UK.

But what about the private sector? As well as escaping the dreaded government cuts, private sector jobs often offer greater financial rewards and incentives, as well as a wider variety of roles in a wider variety of companies for prospective employees. When questioned about working in the private sector, the graduates and undergraduates in our survey both said that securing a graduate-specific role was at the forefront of their minds.

In summary they suggest that even with the current cuts, the public sector is seen as offering a varied and exciting range of graduate jobs  and soon-to-be graduates, and while the financial rewards are not always as enticing as those offered by the private sector, there are numerous perks, like flexible working hours, job stability, and fantastic training on offer, along with some of the safest pensions in the job market.

If you’d like a copy of this report just drop me a note and I’ll put you in touch with my contact at TotalJobs.

By the way I'm going to be writing something next week about the superb project Peter Gold and Bill Boorman are working on to match graduates up with recruitment mentors. 

Promoting a small business?

Recently I had a lovely email correspondence with a really nice chap called Anthony Mellor.  He is a Chartered Accountant and works with a select bunch of professionals. 

I honestly can't remember where the conversation started but we got onto how someone who only needs a small number of clients, is best to advertise for them. I think it struck a cord as I have the same problem around the psychometric testing I offer; I can't "service" more than a dozen clients without it having a detrimental effect on all involved.  Anyway, back to Anthony.  He actually wrote a blog post on the subject called "How to advertise myself".  I love his honesty and thoroughness of thought (I guess that's a skill which you'd want in an accountant!).

I would seriously recommend you take a quick look at it.  He talks about the pros and cons of being a one man band, he talks about pricing for a service such as his and he talks about how many accountants (and probably other professions) advertising on the basis of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

I wouldn't normally post a blog like this; explicitly promoting one person/oganisation.  Anthony isn't paying me (honest) but I totally understand his challenge and even though we'll never probably work together, I like the idea of what he represents and how he feels about clients. 

He does provide free advice on his blog but if you are a looking for a new chartered account (he's especially interested in people working outside the UK as he is ex pat himself) he has all the infrastructure to support you in every practical way; banking, billing, legal, tax planning, residency and the like.  

Check him out at his accounting practice site is www.mellor.co.uk and via his blog www.mellor.co or give him a call on 0121 314 4750 (it diverts for free to his Swiss mobile), he does not keep a diary and is always happy to talk.

Would be interested in any comments on how other small businesses like this promote themselves?

Compromise Agreements

In the current climate the compromise agreement is common practice between many employers and employees when employment disputes happen.  I’ve no idea how I got onto the subject but I’ve been doing a bit of research (aided in part by Thomas Mansfield who I mention later!).

In layman’s terms, the agreement is an effective and useful way of resolving a range of employment disputes; disputes that can too often become overblown and aggressive, timely and costly.  The agreement is a legally binding one, and is the follow-up to a termination of employment.

Employers are frequently happy to legally bind relationships with their employees in this fashion, so as to prevent any further issues or disagreements at a tribunal, particularly when it comes to making redundancies.  It serves companies to protect themselves; just as much as it serves the employee.

However, the key thing to consider as an employee is that in signing a compromise agreement you ensure that you cannot take any claim concerning your dismissal to an employment tribunal at any future date.

Seeking sound advice prevents jumping the gun in unemployment panic and running to the services of any law firm: don’t. The solicitor and firm who play your advisor, plays a hugely vital role.

Interestingly  the compromise agreement does not become binding until AFTER it has been talked over with a solicitor.  So you must seek independent advice from a solicitor.

So if you do find yourself in a situation when an employment agreement is on the table a) read up as much as you can about them and b) locate an appropriate solicitor. Thomas Mansfield are the ones I spoke to about compromise agreement for this blog but there are lots out there.  You should at the very least ensure you engage a firm who specilise in employment law.

iProfile’s Return on Investment Calculator

First up – because it does contain such a blatant “advert” I want to point out that iProfile aren’t advertising with us (although they ought to be) and they haven’t paid me to write this!

They recently sent me a press release talking about Measuring Return on Investment (ROI). 

ROI is something that recruiters talk about all the time.  It can be complicated to measure (ROI from a new software upgrade) or easy (ROI from one job board post) but I bet that not many recruiters measure it at all! 

iProfile have developed a calculator which evaluates the amount of placements you should make based on the size of your candidate database (using your existing stats).

The actual reason for them creating the ROI calculator is to show you the monetary profit iProfile can help your business develop if you were to use their system.  If you are interested you can read more on their site obviously but at the most basic level the way it works is that iProfile clients find that on average for every 1 new CV their contribute to the network, they receive another 5 updated iProfiles from other iProfile recruitment companies.

Aside from the promotional element of the calculator I think it’s a good demonstration of the sort of figures recruiters ought to be tracking and an useful overview of what your results might be if you hit your figures.

SEO is Dead… Long Live Inbound Marketing

We've got a guest blog post today from Lisa Jones....

I have been mulling over this concept for a while, and then came across an article about it which discusses the fact that SEO is dead and we should be considering a move to a more joined-up approach to our online marketing. 

So is SEO dead?  Should we be spending our cash on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (Pay Per Click?) to drive traffic to our site?  And if we do have a budget for SEO, do we really “get” what our SEO partner is doing for us?  I have met 2 clients recently who once we had investigated what their SEO budget was being spent on, decided to suspend their contract and review their strategy.

So, are you a recruiter who feels that being on page 1 of Google is critical to your marketing strategy?  Are you sure that your clients and candidates really search Google for recruitment companies?  Perhaps you are in the school of thought that subscribes to the idea that clients looking to buy already know about you and simply want to build their confidence in your approach by researching you online and seeing what you have to say about your approach and your sector experience.  In any event, maybe you should be reviewing your strategy to your online marketing.  Let me introduce the new kid on the block SMO – Social Media Optimisation.

The recent news stories of Marks and Spencer using the term ”Interflora” in its adwords campaigns re-ignited the debate of whether paid-for web traffic is an appropriate (or ethical) approach to online marketing.  Note the image below that Interflora ranks 3rd, after Marks and Spencer and Asda’s paid for ads when searching for Interflora in Google.  Thoughts?

 
I know that a colleague of mine has found out recently that a competitor of hers is using her company name to generate traffic to his own website.  This is not good!

There is no doubt that optimising your site to attract traffic is a must.  Ensuring that your content, your titles and menus have key words etc…. is just the beginning. It’s fair to say that many SEO companies offer an invaluable service, and that PPC campaigns can and do help generate business. But what else could you be doing to drive traffic back to your web?

Social Media has really leveled out the playing field for many recruitment companies during the recession and many case studies point to the use of it to generate web traffic. (Small but powerful example: you make a comment on LinkedIn, someone likes it, reviews your profile and clicks onto your website…)  The term “personalized discovery” is now being used by experts to describe how everyday users use the web to educate themselves before buying.

Ask yourself, what are you doing before buying?  Maybe you even started to think about buying before going to Google, and discovered a product via your Facebook page (maybe your friends commented on it and that drove you to start researching it.)  Maybe you spotted a discussion stream in one of your LinkedIn groups that led you to go to someone’s website to check out their offering…

The concept of inbound marketing -  helping yourself to get found by people already in the buyer’s market – is not a new one, but it is one that social media nests very nicely with.  Many recruitment companies are now using LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogging, Twitter to add value to their brands, engage with their customers and drive traffic back to their website.  You will even find that if you comment on Blogs, you website traffic will increase (subtle!)

In any event, remember that the content on your site IS KING!  News, blogs, Twitter feeds etc… all add to the growing need of consumers for knowledge before they buy.  Your website is probably one of the most valuable assets you have, so invest in it wisely.  Your time creating content may be just as good as an investment as your marketing budget.

Lisa Jones is a Virtual IT Director with Barclay Jones – IT Strategy, a technology consultancy delivering impartial, strategic and practical advice to business leaders. She works with growing recruitment companies advising them on the most effective use of technology, web and social media to improve their business processes and bottom line.

Follow Lisa on Twitter, her blog and connect via LinkedIn.

If you want to write a guest post for the blog  let me know. 

Dropbox - Dan's freebie of the year

We've got a guest blog post today from Dan Atkinson....

Once in a while something comes along that makes so much sense and you wonder why it's taken so long.  To add to my list of personal favourites (suitcases on wheels, those little folding  bag clips from Lakeland) I'm now adding Dropbox.

Dropbox is an incredibly simple idea executed beautifully.  It's a free Web based service that creates a virtual 'drive' on your computers in which you can store your documents.  And I'm loving it why?

- Because it will also replicate the same files on all the other machines I've installed  the Dropbox software on (and that goes for Mac, PC and Linux). No more saving stuff on USB sticks and running the risk of losing them. It's all there on my home and office machines.  It's also securely stored online too so anywhere I've got internet access I can access my work safely and securely.
- Because I can also access files I hold in Dropbox on my iPhone - no  matter when a Client calls I can always retrieve  information for them.
- Because  you can get up to 8gb of workable space free of charge, which is more than enough for most people if all your saving is Word and Excel documents (although you can upload and share photos etc too).
- And finally, because I can share designated  files with other users.  My attitude as a researcher is that I'm a co-consultant with whomsoever is fronting the work; I'm loving that that I can give my customers 24-7 access to work in progress to review and collaborate on.

You get the first 2GB of storage for free.  For every person you sign up you get an extra 250mb up to the maximum free allocation of 8GB. There's also premium services that can give you up to 100GB of space.   I'm going to shamelessly plug my free space allocation and ask you to sign up here. 

Dan Atkinson is a Director of research firm Accite Ltd.  He is also a bit of a technology junkie (first going online in 1995 and being one of the first 250,000 people worldwide to join LinkedIn). 

If you want to write a guest post for me just drop me a note.