On Recruitment Feed

A new survey from online recruitment website www.staffbay.com has found 63% of employers identify spelling and grammatical errors to be the most common mistake to find on a CV. The survey found that despite widespread awareness that deficient spelling is simply unacceptable within a CV; the majority of employers surveyed regularly encountered considerable errors.

The poll from www.staffbay.com, that asked 1000 employers what the most common CV mistake to see was, revealed in addition to poor English, 25% of employers feel that a CV’s second biggest mistake is including too much information rather than an applicant’s failing to tailor a CV application or not selling themselves enough which was previously at the top of the list.

Employers surveyed listed examples of where applicants had failed to accurately structure sentences and use traditional English grammar. Most common errors were where applicants struggled with the use of: you’re and your ; it’s and its ; have and of ; accept and except ; yourself and you.

Tony Wilmot, founder of staffbay.com said “A few years ago, an applicant’s biggest down-fall was not tailoring their CV to the specific role that they were applying for. Now, applicants are aware of the necessities of personalising their entry and have completely sidelined the importance of the English language. To employers this looks lazy and careless, which is the exact opposite of what you look for in a future employee.”

Staffbay.com encourages candidates to create an interactive profile (CMe) to help sell themselves to potential employers by using revolutionary approaches and new digital techniques.

For more information about staffbay visit www.staffbay.com

Kamanchi, the leading provider of IT services to the professional staffing sector, is now servicing its clients on a global scale, supporting recruitment businesses in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Australia.

The company has experienced rapid growth over the past two years and is now supporting over 800 recruitment desks across the globe based on its core philosophy of providing a complete IT outsourced service.

Recruiters can access UK-based client service at any time day or night as Kamanchi has launched a 24/7 support desk manned by highly-trained staff.

“Increasingly recruitment firms are looking to the global market for really exciting growth opportunities,” says Commercial Director Raymond Pennie. “We can now offer the same level of IT support and service to our clients overseas as they would expect to receive in London, Manchester or Birmingham.”

“Staffing companies working in new markets have enough work to do establishing their business without having to deal with local technology suppliers. Our monthly per-user fee cloud based business model allows our clients to expand to new markets without any capital outlay, enabling them to effectively manage risk.”

Kamanchi offers tailored IT solutions to a diverse client base of professional recruitment firms with over 300 of its users now fully operating in the cloud.

“Strong technology and systems are essential for recruitment businesses to be successful in the cloud world,” adds Raymond. “The days when you could hire one person to run your web tools, network and CRM system are over. Technology can give companies real competitive advantage and make a big impact on the bottom line.”

Competition to get a first job in the City is getting tougher, according to the latest survey from the leading global jobs site eFinancialCareers.com, with three quarters (75%) of students surveyed saying they’d be prepared to work for free – up from just over half (63%) last year. And of those graduating this year currently looking for a job, only 16% have so far been offered a position.

Likewise, while the City of London retained its popularity as the premier financial centre in which students wanted to work, students are under no illusions about the obstacles that may lie ahead. More than a third (36%) believe it will take up to three months to find a new job once they graduate, and more than a quarter (28%) think it could take as long as six months.

The overwhelming majority (98%) of those surveyed want to start work as soon as they finish their studies, with only a handful seeing any benefit in taking a Gap Year to wait for the market to pick up.

That said, many are optimistic about their earnings prospects once they do find employment, with more than half (59%) believing they would be able to pay off their student debt within five years. One in five (21%) say they expect it to take closer to ten.

James Bennett, Managing Director, EMEA and APAC for eFinancialCareers.com, said:

“The allure of the City remains strong and whilst overall hiring levels in the sector are up compared to 2010, this growth isn’t being reflected in the number of graduate or internship roles currently on offer1. Students fully understand that securing their first job in the City is going to be extremely challenging this year but our findings suggest that the overwhelming majority remain undeterred.”

The most sought after companies to work for remain Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Barclays Capital, unchanged from last year’s top three.

The eFinancialCareers.com online UK survey of 234 students took place between the 17th of June 2011 and the 24th of July 2011.

Dyson, the pioneering electrical manufacturing firm, is being hindered in its latest recruitment drive by the government's migrant cap, according to a company spokesman. 

The company representative said that the limit on the number of skilled workers they are allowed to bring in from outside the European Economic Area is making their previously announced recruitment drive, for 350 new engineers, very difficult. 

"It should be easier for promising graduates with good degrees in STEM subjects to stay in the UK through the post-study work route," the spokesman said. "We find that there is a shortage of high-calibre graduates in the UK – finding the right person for a role isn't always easy."

He said that the problem chiefly affected some of the more specialist roles, such as those in the motors team, leaving them with vacant positions for impractically long times. 

The revelation came in the same week that the company's founder, Sir James Dyson, told The Daily Telegraph that if recruitment difficulties persist then they could seriously have to think about taking the company abroad. 

The company has said that they aim to find "problem solvers" when they are recruiting, and want to find people from a range of disciplinary backgrounds who will look at problems from oblique angles.

Spencer Ogden, the recruiter of choice for the energy sector, today announces the launch of its new Energy Trading and Energy Finance division. The new service means that the agency can now offer its clients a recruitment service covering the entire energy life-cycle, from commodity traders and financial analysts through to power generation and distribution. The Energy Finance and Trading team will be based at the recruiters’ London office and will be headed by energy and commodities specialist, Dave Vinton.

Vinton has an impressive track record in building successful teams within the energy sector; he developed his skills at Huxley Associates, where he helped build the energy recruitment division from scratch to turn over £1million in 18 months. He brings this experience to Spencer Ogden, where he has already hand-picked five top energy recruiters from across the industry: “One of the things that makes Spencer Ogden unique is the fact that it recruits exclusively for the energy sector, and therefore intimately understands the fundamentals of business in the sector.

“As opposed to a more general agency, where energy recruitment might be an afterthought or ‘added extra’, everyone here knows their particular market inside-out. Recruiters across all teams share market information, meaning that we can put forward a much stronger proposition to clients.”

David Spencer-Percival, Spencer Ogden co-Founder and CEO, comments: “We are delighted to be able to offer our clients a full, end-to-end recruitment service. We pride ourselves on our specialist knowledge of the energy sector, and the launch of the energy trading and finance division means that we can now approach a client and recruit for almost every role in their organisation; as far as the world’s energy firms are concerned, we are effectively a ‘one-stop shop’ for all their staffing requirements.”

Vinton adds: “We have ambitious plans to expand the energy trading and finance team, and aim to have 15 people on the team in 12 months’ time; this would be an excellent opportunity for someone handling energy clients at a more general agency, who would like to specialise in a particular sector.

Blemain Group has further strengthened its HR approach with an investment in an integrated IT system, Cascade HR.

The financial lender, which was established 35 years ago and operates across the UK, now employs 350 staff at the head office in Manchester. The system will hold increase management efficiencies and therefore free up the HR team’s time spent handling regular tasks. Cascade HR also helps meet personnel legislative requirements.

The new system will bring considerable benefits to both the employer and employees across the company. With Cascade in place, employees will now be able to ‘Self Service’ their own information and perform a number of time-saving tasks themselves such as request holidays, identify personal development timelines and make nominations for in-house awards. Similarly, the HR team can access training records, monitor performance and ensure employees can regularly keep track of their own career progress.

Kevin Fisher, HR Director at Blemain Group, said: “We are already seeing the positive impact this system will have on the day to day running of the business. Not only does it reduce hours spent on administration but it also engages the employees and allows them to have key information at their fingertips.

“Staff benefits and retention are an integral part of our business and the sheer number of our long service awards alone reflects this. We have made an effort to listen to our employees and find out what it is they are looking for from an employer. From this engagement, we have taken innovative steps to invest in everything from free gym memberships tochildcare vouchers, and provide the specific benefits and incentives that our hard working employees are actually looking for.”

Andrew Court, marketing manager at Cascade HR, said:

“Some companies have not yet realised the importance of a strong HR team and happy employees. Similarly, businesses often grow at fast rates without investing in beneficial systems such as this – it is therefore fantastic to see Blemain Group has realised the value in it and made the forward thinking steps to make the investment.

“Cascade benefits management and staff alike and helps build up the credibility a HR department brings to the business. The progress at Blemain Group is a credit to a proactive HR team and savvy senior management. We see our relationship with them as an ongoing partnership.”

Behind the latest Economist Intelligence Unit Liveability Ranking, by report editor Jon Copestake.

With the latest Economist Intelligence Unit Liveability Ranking freshly released, attention in the press and public will focus on Vancouver falling back to third place and Melbourne taking the coveted position of the world's most liveable city.

However, in the world of Human Resources a very different perspective will be taken. In fact, most HR professionals will have little interest when scrolling down the ranking until they reach Bratislava in Slovakia. This isn't because the city itself should enjoy any special prominence, but because this is the first city where, according to the survey methodology, some form of additional "hardship" remuneration should be a consideration when deciding an expatriate relocation package.

The liveability survey, which originated around a decade ago as a hardship survey precisely for use in expatriate remuneration, divides liveability into five tiers, depending on the score a city receives:

Rating Description Suggested allowance

80–100 There are few, if any, challenges to living standards 0 % of salary

70–80 Day–to–day living is fine, in general, but some aspects of life may entail problems 5% of salary

60–70 Negative factors have an impact on day-to-day living 10% of salary

50–60 Liveability is substantially constrained 15% of salary

50 or less Most aspects of living are severely restricted 20% of salary

From an HR perspective the 63 most "liveable" locations are largely irrelevant. Postings to these locations do not require any form of additional remuneration, although the ranking will be useful in justifying why an expatriate doesn't receive such an allowance for such locations.

It is with Bratislava, with a score of 79.8 (just 0.2 below the first threshold) that expatriates will need to have an additional allowance rolled into the package. For this tier the recommended allowance is just 5% of post-tax, adjusted salary. How firms interpret this depends on their own policy. Some will double the suggested allowance while others will apply to gross salary. Others still may have a fixed hardship allowance regardless of salary for each scale of hardship.

Of the 140 cities included in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Liveability survey 77 would require some form of liveability or hardship remuneration. Of these, 25 fall into the highest tier, where Day–to–day living is fine, but some aspects of life may entail problems. Of these a surprise addition is Athens in Greece, where unrest prompted by austerity measures has made the city less attractive to expatriates.

Twenty two cities fall into the next category where negative factors have an impact on day-to-day living, and 17 cities fall into the penultimate category where liveability is substantially constrained. These two categories will contain many cities in the Middle East and North Africa, where the "Arab Spring" has seen a pan-regional deterioration in stability. Finally, 13 cities have the unenviable position of coming in the very bottom tier, where most aspects of living are severely restricted. In some cases these will be locations where expatriates are leaving rather than arriving, notably Tripoli in Libya and Abidjan in Cote D'Ivoire.

For any HR professional the liveability ranking should be considered a "bottom-up" proposition, where the size of the allowance involved in locating people is a greater consideration than whether a location offers the "best" degree of liveability.

A summary of the full report is available at www.eiu.com/Liveability

Graduate Prospects has secured a contract with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) in Scotland to develop a Virtual Careers Fair.

The software development business unit within Graduate Prospects will develop the bespoke software, which will create a more user-friendly, stimulating and interactive virtual fair system. Initially it will be for employers from across China and South East Asia.

As well as facilitating group chat with forums and chat rooms, it will stream video and audio and a ‘virtual exhibitor hall’ will be created.

Mike Hill, chief executive at Graduate Prospects says: “The virtual fairs software solution will be fully integrated across our Prospects’ platforms, enabling students and employers to incorporate the new system into their accounts. We anticipate that this will be the first of many regional collaborations as careers services and employers seek to develop their online capabilities.”

Jim Campbell, international careers adviser at the University of Glasgow is leading the project. He says: “It’s vital that students and graduates who wish to pursue employment opportunities internationally are supported by giving them direct contact with graduate employers in their target country. Virtual fairs provide an efficient way of exploring career options and applying for vacancies without the expense of an overseas trip.

“We decided to work with Graduate Prospects due to their expertise in developing software as well as their unique insight and knowledge of the graduate recruitment environment.”

For more information on Graduate Prospects software visit www.prospects.ac.uk/software

Lumesse today announces the results of its Performance Management Assessment Tool (http://tools.lumesse.com/insight-tools/ <http://tools.lumesse.com/insight-tools/> ) which reveals companies in the US and Canada as overall global leaders in employee performance management. Based on assessments by 500 business and HR executives in 44 countries worldwide, the results, available at http://www.lumesse.com/be-inspired/insight-library <http://www.lumesse.com/be-inspired/insight-library> , highlight the contrasts between North America, Europe and Asia Pacific when it comes to the maturity of employee performance management processes. The report also details five key areas, based on real-world feedback from the best practitioners, where companies can make the most noticeable improvements in performance management. Areas examined included key processes such as the use of cascading goals, the identification of career plans, links between pay and performance, and good use of financial metrics.

North American companies came out on top at every basic performance management practice; other regions had much more variable results. In the UK, for example, 37% of organisations had cascading goals for the majority of employees – the second highest of all regions – but the UK proved to be the least effective at providing financial metrics. Meanwhile, Germany, France, Italy, Benelux and Scandinavia were above the global average (32%) in terms of providing career goals and linking these to financial metrics (19%), but still struggled to make a connection between pay and performance – all falling below the global average (24%).

The Asia Pacific region also had different strengths and weaknesses. It was the second best region at enabling its employees to see a connection between performance and compensation. But only 22% of its organisations provide cascading goals for the majority of employees, and just 17% measure the majority of its managers on leadership effectiveness, proving to be the weakest region on both measures.

Matthew Parker, CEO, Lumesse comments: “Wherever we look we see the best organisations enhancing performance management processes to develop the talent that will be needed for growth and competition, because only people can create great performance. But these results show that, while there are global hotspots of good practice, there is still plenty of untapped opportunity for substantial business improvement by focusing on the areas which deliver the most benefit.”

The global data showed, for example, that the best companies were setting their employees cascading goals so they could understand how their work supports the company objective. Almost half (47%) of the best have cascading goals for most or all employees and more than a third (35%) retained more than 90% of their high performers and high potential employees over the past five years.

The best companies were also more likely to hold their managers accountable for leadership effectiveness, with nearly half (42%) confirming they measure most or all managers’ leadership ability. However, while leaders fare well in connecting pay and performance – 40% say most or all of employees are able to see a clear relationship between performance and compensation - only 28% of leaders have financial metrics in place to create employee goals.

To download the full insight paper and receive recommendations and top tips to improving performance management please visit - http://www.lumesse.com/be-inspired/insight-library

Onrec are offering a Earlybird Discount for tickets at the Onrec Conference and Exhibition. The deadline is TODAY. Price is now £295+VAT instead of £350+VAT

Speakers confirmed are:

• Ruth Spalding, Recruitment & ID Manager, easyJet
• Michal Kalinowski, CEO, Universum- Communicating with Talent – Trends and Best Practice in Employer Branding
• Mike Bishop, National Resourcing Manager, Ricoh UK Ltd  – How to reduce recruitment spend and get corporate buy in
• Alex Kozloff, Senior Mobile Manager, IAB - Digital media and recruitment overview; advertising spend and online and mobile market trends
• Laura Stoker, Executive Director of Global Training, AIRS - Ahead of the Rest – The Latest and Greatest Internet Resourcing Trends
• Jeff Chang, Kerry Viner and Matthew Briggs, Osbourne Clark-  Online Recruitment Legal Update - Update on the Agency Regulations - The Use of Social Media in the Workplace

The conference programme is promising to be the most inspiring and innovative yet.

David Hurst, CEO of onrec says "I always look forward to our conference & exhibition, here in the UK – it's a unique opportunity for discussion and debate about what's happening and what might happen in online recruitment over the next 12 months"

The Conference will run alongside an exhibition of suppliers to the industry, including the Main Sponsor of the event, Jobsite

Conference tickets cost £295+VAT (EARLYBIRD)
The price includes:

• Full Conference Pass
• Exhibition Pass
• Hot Lunch
• Morning & Afternoon Refreshments & Networking

Please contact Stuart Gentle: email stuart@onrec.com to book your tickets.

www.onrec.com/conferenceuk

Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company, has revealed the results of a new survey, which finds that 66 per cent of SME decision-makers say a graduate’s experience in social networks and tools is important to them.
 
This enthusiasm for social networking ‘cuts both ways’. A separate salesforce.com study finds that 76 per cent of graduates would be more attracted to an employer if it was an active user of social networks and tools.  

• “The salesforce.com survey results show that to attract and retain tomorrow’s talent, SMEs need to understand social networks and tools and use them to engage with customers, prospects, employees and in the recruitment process. Likewise, the salesforce.com survey confirms that social networking skills are extremely important for students to help them boost their job prospects when they graduate,” says Tim Barker, vice president EMEA marketing, salesforce.com
• “Using social networking tools for business benefit is on the rise. Many companies, in particular SMEs, now recognise that there is much to be gained from evolving their business model into a social enterprise – where they connect with customers, partners and employees in an open, mobile and social business environment, thanks to the next generation of cloud computing technologies.” says Tim Barker.

The study sponsored by salesforce.com and conducted by One Poll, surveyed the opinions of senior decision makers in UK SME organisations, to find out how important social networks and tools are to their business and to discover if a graduate’s experience in social media is of benefit to an employer. In addition, salesforce.com conducted another separate survey to ask the opinions of graduates about the importance of working for a social media savvy company.

• The results revealed that the social enterprise is starting to become a reality within SME organisations with nearly half of SMEs (47 per cent) using social networks and tools to interact with customers and prospects.
• This figure is set to grow, with 66 per cent of respondents saying that social networks and tools are important to the future of their business; rising to 86 per cent among decision-makers aged 18 to 24 years old.
• This enthusiasm for the social enterprise is further reflected in more liberal attitudes towards the use of social networks in the office. Only 15 per cent of SMEs ban all use of external social networks and 37 per cent have no restrictions in place.
• Adopting this freer approach is key if SMEs want to attract the best talent in the future – two-fifths (40 per cent) of graduates surveyed said they would be deterred from working for a company that had banned Facebook and Twitter.

• A graduate’s experience with social networks and tools is becoming increasingly important both to their chances of winning a job with a SME and to their prospects of future success in that job.
• A growing number of experienced managers in SME companies (27 per cent) now look to new graduates to educate them about social networks and how best to utilise them to grow business.  

New figures on the current state of recruitment in the UK have shown that many companies are still cautious about taking on new staff, due to the still volatile economy. 

The statistics in the latest Report on Jobs, from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG, have shown that demand for new employees saw its slowest rate of expansion since November 2010.

The report’s figures are measured on a scale on which anything above 50 indicates growth. The figure for last month indicated that the number of vacancies rose to 54.3 – but that was down from 55.9 in June. 

KPMG partner, Bernard Brown, said, “Employers across all sectors remain cautious about hiring new staff. The key reason for this is the uncertain economic outlook with domestic demand being weighed down by government cutbacks and falling real wages, while exports and investment are not strong enough to take up the slack.”

His colleague at the REC, Kevin Green, said, however, that there was still reason to be optimistic, and the figures were actually just one per cent off their pre-recession high-point. 

“These figures show that the jobs market is continuing to perform well despite general weakness in the UK economy,” he explained. “We have now had two years of continuous growth and employers are still continuing to hire staff, albeit not in the numbers needed to radically reduce unemployment.”

Sussex Enterprises advises its members to screen new employees as a part of the interview process to ensure they know who they are employing and is now hosting a solution for its online business community.

Sussex Enterprises, who have around 2,000 member companies, support and represent local businesses providing practical business support and advice. The latest addition to their HR Advice section, launched today, offers an online tool for companies to verify the identity of new recruits and collect references.

The tool enables companies of any size the functionality to professionally background check without the concern of major time or cost implications.

The cloud based technology provided by Antevida and supported by 192business data is an automated system that collects personal, educational and employment references, gap analysis, identity verification against numerous databases and ID document checking.

Mo Rasanayagam, HR Consultant at Sussex Enterprises is pleased to announce the new addition to the site, commenting;

“All businesses are obliged by law to be sure that the people they employ are entitled to work in this country, and a there’s a £10,000 fine per employee for those who do not comply. However, it’s clearly also in the business’ interest to check that people are who they say they are and that their experience is genuine. This system takes the hard work – and the guess work – out of the process, speeds it up and delivers a really comprehensive report so that you can make an informed, risk free decision. Whether you employ 10 people or 1000 people every year, our system will save you time and money and protect your business.”

The background checking tool is available to its members from today. For more information contact the HR team at Sussex Enterprises on 0844 3759 552.

The UK’s largest network of regional job boards today announced that it was opening an office in London as unprecedented demand for its services continued. MyJobGroup.co.uk operates over 300 regional job boards across the UK.

MyJobGroup.co.uk’s new venture in London will supplement its existing offices in Yorkshire, and The North West, capitalising on recent major contract wins for the company and facilitating further expansion in the future in what is the UK’s biggest and most dynamic jobs market.

Launching the office will be Bridget Newton, Head of National Accounts who has been with MyJobGroup.co.uk for over 4 years, and she is joined by Michelle Duffy and Nathan East, both Senior Agency Account Managers.

The new London office will also provide a launch pad to tap into new labour markets for MyJobGroup.co.uk following unprecedented demand for its services. MyJobGroup.co.uk also confirmed that further staff would be joining the London office as it becomes established.

Geraldine Finn, Managing Director of MyJobGroup.co.uk, said: “We are thrilled to announce the opening of our London office and to welcome two very accomplished members of staff to the team.

“Both Nathan and Michelle are highly talented individuals who have outstanding experience and expertise in this sector and will play a key role in its establishment and growth.

“Without doubt, London is the biggest and most dynamic labour market in the UK and we are ideally placed to capitalise on our recent growth through opening an office in the city.

“We look forward to introducing many more companies to our unique and proven service for recruiting the best candidates. The opening of our new office will undoubtedly facilitate further growth for the company.”

For more information visit www.myjobgroup.co.uk

Despite a slow economy, in the 12 months to June 2011 Voyager revenues increased by 18.5% and pre-tax profits from operations have doubled according to its preliminary results.

“This has been a very strong year,” commented Nick Ray, CEO of Woodcote Software, Voyager’s parent company. “Our recurring revenues have risen substantially, helped by Voyager’s success with Virtual Voyager, our ASP offering, where revenues have trebled in the past twelve months.”

“There is no question that the recruitment industry suffered during the downturn, but it is clear that the fortunes of recruiters have improved in the last year. The total number of active licenses of Voyagers <A HREF="http://www.voyage.co.uk/">recruitment software</A> products at the end of June 11 is 10% higher than it was in June 10. This reflects not only a strong performance in new business wins, but also a turnaround for many of our customers who have increased their headcount and therefore licenses over the last twelve months.”

“Not only has Voyager had an excellent year, but Woodcote’s other business, expressHR, posted record pre-tax profits and EBITDA from our operating companies has exceeded half a million for the first time in the group’s history. Anticipating further growth in the years to come, Voyager moved to larger premises a few months ago and both companies have maintained their investment in new products and this positions us well for the future.”

“While some competitors have looked to cut back on service levels to their clients, or have started charging for product upgrades, we have maintained a singular focus on customer satisfaction,” said Simon Warburton, Voyager’s MD. “To be competitive in this market and to maintain customer loyalty we have always known that it requires more than just a good product. That is why our Voyager customers get access to first rate telephone support, training and why we run free on-line clinics to help customers take advantage of the many features in their software. And our commitment to software upgrades as part of the support contract remains undiminished.”

onrec, the leading global resource for online recruitment, has added the Executive Director of Global Training for AIRS, to its speaker line-up at its annual conference on October 18th 2011 at The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London.

Joining an already packed high-profile programme of speakers, Laura Stoker, Executive Director of Global Training, AIRS, will give insight about online recruitment from the candidates perspective.

Other speakers confirmed are:

• Alex Kozloff, Senior Mobile Manager, IAB - Digital media and recruitment overview; advertising spend and online and mobile market trends
• Michal Kalinowski, CEO, Universum- Communicating with Talent – Trends and Best Practice in Employer Branding
• Mike Bishop, National Resourcing Manager, Ricoh UK Ltd  – How to reduce recruitment spend and get corporate buy in
• Jeff Chang, Kerry Viner and Matthew Briggs, Osbourne Clark-  Online Recruitment Legal Update - Update on the Agency Regulations - The Use of Social Media in the Workplace
• Ruth Spalding, Recruitment & ID Manager, easyJet – Challenges for a multi national company using online recruitment

The conference programme is promising to be the most inspiring and innovative yet.

David Hurst, CEO of onrec says "I always look forward to our conference & exhibition, here in the UK – it's a unique opportunity for discussion and debate about what's happening and what might happen in online recruitment over the next 12 months"

The conference programme is available here http://www.onrec.com/conferenceuk/pages/schedule

The Conference will run alongside an exhibition of suppliers to the industry, including the Main Sponsor of the event, Jobsite

Conference tickets cost £350+VAT (£295+VAT EARLY BIRD EXPIRES FRIDAY)
The price includes:

• Full Conference Pass
• Exhibition Pass
• Hot Lunch
• Morning & Afternoon Refreshments & Networking

Please contact Stuart Gentle: email stuart@onrec.com.

www.onrec.com/conferenceuk

From 5th to 10th September, Fish4jobs in association with the Daily Mirror will host a series of free temporary job fairs in key UK locations.

Fish4jobs ambassador, Channel 4’s Fairy Jobmother Hayley Taylor and the roadshow team will visit Kent, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle in a double decker bus, setting up one-day job fairs in central locations.

Jobseekers will be able to book a personal career advice session with Hayley and have their CV reviewed by recruitment experts. Employers such as Barclays, The AA, Nissan, npower, Yorkshire Water and The Army and recruitment agencies Brook Street and Premium People will be at the show promoting their local jobs.

Advice will also be on hand from education and training providers including Home Learning College and Lifetime Fitness Academy to help jobseekers choose the best training opportunities for today’s job market. 

Recruitment expert Hayley Taylor comments: “This roadshow is really important because the job market is still tough and by being able to spend quality face-to-face time with jobseekers we can deliver the right advice and support.

“Our recruitment experts from Fish4jobs and recruitment agencies, as well as employers promoting their local vacancies will allow jobseekers to access the right advice for their career and help them progress in their job search.”

The roadshow is supported by The Daily Mirror and Trinity Mirror's regional newspapers including Birmingham Mail, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News and Newcastle Evening Chronicle who are helping to promote the roadshow to their communities.

Determining a job applicant’s personal values is crucial in preventing costly hiring mistakes, which can cost firms an average of £6,125 per employee in associated labour turnover costs (i). That’s according to global talent assessment organisation Pearson TalentLens, which is launching a new, values-based assessment tool that will help combat the ‘hit and miss’ approach to recruitment still used by many UK firms.

Sosie, set to launch in the UK in September, will provide employers with a richer starting point from which to make informed recruitment decisions, because it measures personal motivations, interpersonal values and personality traits within a single assessment tool. Current research indicates that the mindset of an individual, as linked to their personality and values, is more important in many instances than the skills a person brings to a role (ii). In today’s fast-moving world many employers cannot say with certainty what skills will be required by their staff in ten years’ time but they do know exactly the sort of people they will want working for them in terms of their mindset.

According to Chris Hall, Managing Director of TalentLens, “Values are instrumental in determining what people do, the effort they put in and how well they perform. When measured alongside other relevant information such as personality traits, they contribute to an accurate and well-rounded assessment of an individual.” He continues, “By exploring specific values such as conformity, leadership and orderliness you can gain insight into the person’s beliefs, interests, attitudes, needs and preferences.”

Sosie is a French term, which translates as "a perfect resemblance to another.” The test highlights the fact that two people with the same personality traits may act very differently according to their value system. By measuring values, businesses have the opportunity to assess the degree of similarity between the values of the employee, and those of the organisation, in order to maximise fit into specific roles.

“Employers are increasingly looking for a level of ‘fit’ between the organisation’s cultural or brand values, and those of the individual,” said Hall. “A clash between personal and organisational values can lead to disillusionment within a role, lower levels of productivity and higher staff turnover. Sosie offers recruiters the opportunity to assess compatibility in the very early stages.”

Developed by TalentLens globally, Sosie is already a widely used and well-respected instrument that has been implemented by organisations such as La Poste and SNCF; it can be used by organisations for selection and development, career counselling and coaching.

i source: CIPD: The 2009 Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey
ii source: James Reed and Dr Paul G Stoltz; Put Your Mindset to Work: The One Asset You Really Need to Win and Keep the Job You Love

Ricoh UK Ltd to speak at the onrec online recruitment London Conference – 18th October 2011

Title: How to reduce recruitment spend and get corporate buy in

onrec, the leading global resource for online recruitment, has added the Manager for Ricoh UK Ltd, to its speaker line-up at its annual conference on October 18th 2011 at The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London.

Joining an already packed high-profile programme of speakers, Mike Bishop, Manager, Ricoh UK Ltd, will give insight about online recruitment from the candidates perspective.

Other speakers confirmed are:

• Jeff Chang, Kerry Viner and Matthew Briggs, Osbourne Clark-  Online Recruitment Legal Update - Update on the Agency Regulations - The Use of Social Media in the Workplace
• Ruth Spalding, Recruitment & ID Manager, easyJet – Challenges for a multi national company using online recruitment
• Laura Stoker, Executive Director of Global Training, AIRS - Ahead of the Rest – The Latest and Greatest Internet Resourcing Trends
• Alex Kozloff, Senior Mobile Manager, IAB - Digital media and recruitment overview; advertising spend and online and mobile market trends
• Michal Kalinowski, CEO, Universum- Communicating with Talent – Trends and Best Practice in Employer Branding

The conference programme is promising to be the most inspiring and innovative yet.

David Hurst, CEO of onrec says "I always look forward to our conference & exhibition, here in the UK – it's a unique opportunity for discussion and debate about what's happening and what might happen in online recruitment over the next 12 months"

The conference programme is available here http://www.onrec.com/conferenceuk/pages/schedule>

The Conference will run alongside an exhibition of suppliers to the industry, including the Main Sponsor of the event, Jobsite

Pricing
Conference tickets cost £350+VAT
The price includes:

• Full Conference Pass
• Exhibition Pass
• Hot Lunch
• Morning & Afternoon Refreshments & Networking

Please contact Stuart Gentle: email stuart@onrec.com.

www.onrec.com/conferenceuk

An exclusive partnership has been formed between two of the recruitment industry’s most innovative players to deliver a unique service offering. The award winning recruitment solutions provider, networx recruitment, has formed an agreement with the UK’s leading job board, Jobsite and will now be officially recognised as their Preferred Advertising Partner.

The agreement is yet another stepping stone in networx’s continued commitment to support businesses throughout every stage of the recruitment process and is the latest of many partnerships secured by the organisation.

Designed to support clients who only use networx’s recruitment management system, the partnership will enable clients to link their adverts directly to Jobsite in a seamless manner. It will also allow a client to purchase credits for Jobsite through the networx technology and post them at the same time, to further enhance the systems efficiency.

Operating in a similar manner to the multi posting options available on networx’ more comprehensive recruitment technology apoint+, this breakthrough functionality will offer a number of benefits to clients including automatic upload of job details and the option to purchase advertising credits directly from Jobsite as required. The partnership is just one feature from a diverse range of exclusive offerings provided by networx.

Commenting on the announcement, Director of networx, Andy Pierson stated:

“Over the past few months, networx have managed to secure a number of partnership agreements all of which are designed to ensure our recruitment technology reflects the specific needs of our clients and support the additional platforms that they currently utilise. We are extremely proud to be able to partner with Jobsite in this manner and know many of our clients will benefit considerably as a result. “