Recruitment Archives

June24619788 July 18, 2019 No Comments

Finance firms sign code in bid to support women-led start-ups

A host of major banks and venture capital firms have signed up for the Government’s latest initiative to boost funding for female entrepreneurs, the Treasury has said.

The financial institutions signed up on Tuesday to the Investing in Women Code, agreeing to a set of measures aimed at improving equality for small business founders including publishing gender funding data.

The banks putting their name to the plans are Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Santander, TSB, Metro Bank, the Co-operative Bank and Bank of Ireland UK.

They are joined by venture capital firms Frontline and Episode 1, angel networks UK Business Angel Association and Angel Academe, and institutional investor British Business Bank.

Speaking at the launch of the Investing in Women Code at a reception in Downing Street, the Exchequer Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Breaking down gender barriers could add billions to the UK economy.

“I’m pleased to see so many of our major banks and venture capital firms support the code, and I call on others to follow suit.

“It’s shocking that only one in three entrepreneurs are women and I hope that today’s commitment signals a turning point in attitudes towards investing in female-led businesses.”

It follows the findings of a review led by NatWest’s deputy chief executive Alison Rose earlier this year which showed closing the gap between male and female entrepreneurs could add £250 billion to the UK’s economy.

Challenges facing female founders identified by the report include low access to capital, high risk awareness, disproportionate primary care responsibilities and a lack of relatable role models.

Research commissioned by the Chancellor had previously revealed that female-led start-ups get just a penny for every £1 of venture capital investment in the UK.

Signatories of the new Investing in Women Code pledge to nominate a senior leader to take responsibility for equality, as well as adopt internal practices that will improve access to funding and resources for women-led founder teams.

They will also publish data on funding granted to businesses, showing whether the founding teams are male, female or mixed.

Ms Rose said: “When we began this process, everyone involved was in agreement that raising awareness of the Rose Review’s findings is only one small part of what is needed; what we need is action.

Why Britain’s record jobs and pay miracle is not what it seems

Britain has witnessed a remarkable period of high employment, with the number of people in work at its highest since the 1970s.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the unemployment holding steady at 3.8%, its lowest rate on record.

Wages have also increased at their fastest rate in more than a decade, data published on Tuesday shows.

But the reality of Britain’s labour market is a lot less rosy and a lot more complex than some of the headline figures suggest.

Half the new jobs are in self-employed, insecure work

Half of the past year’s employment growth has been in self-employment, which is typically far more insecure and often less well-paid than staff roles, according to the Resolution Foundation.

“One of the big changes in the job market over the past year has been the return of growing self-employment. The number of self-employed workers has increased by 167,000,” the think tank said.

It is part of a growing trend over the past decade, with increased numbers of young people employed in the gig economy and rising numbers of over-65s continuing to work on a freelance basis.

EasyJet reassures on outlook, hires Ryanair operations chief

Britain’s easyJet on Thursday reported third quarter trading in line with expectations, boosted by more customers taking optional extra services and enabling it to reiterate its full-year profit forecasts. The budget airline also announced that it had poached Peter Bellew as its chief operating officer from Ryanair.

EasyJet said revenue for the quarter ending June 30 increased by 11.4% to £1.8 billion, driven by more bookings, initiatives to optimise its pricing and more ancillary revenue from additional services such as allocated seating and luggage check-ins.

Shares rose 3.2% after the update.

The robust trading, at a time when many the industry are struggling, comes despite a general softening of demand due to tougher economic conditions across Europe as well as Brexit-related consumer uncertainty in Britain, it said.

“Make no mistake – it is still tough out of there. It is still a challenging environment… but I think what we are seeing is that the actions we are taking ourselves is having a positive effect,” Chief Executive Johan Lundgren told reporters on Thursday.

“We’ve been pleased with how the late trading has come in, which has been supported by these initiatives.”

The airline said it expected to deliver a profit before tax of between £400 million and £440 million, in line with market expectations, and Lundgren said that second-half forward bookings were at 78%, giving the airline better visibility.

The group added that it had hired Bellew who is stepping down from his role at Ryanair at the end of the year, according to a memo to staff seen by Reuters.

The former chief executive of Malaysian Airlines re-joined the Irish carrier in December 2017.

Ryanair on Tuesday said it had cut its forecast for growth in traveller numbers for summer 2020 to provide for the possibility of further delays in deliveries of the grounded Boeing 737 MAX.

Lundgren said that easyJet’s strategy on capacity wouldn’t change with anything a competitor was doing.

June24619788 December 6, 2018 No Comments

How businesses can do more to address Britain’s skilled worker shortage

Lloyds Bank’s Business In Britain survey showed a rise in business confidence, but firms also said that it is getting harder and harder for them to find the staff they need to capitalise on it.

The bank reported that while confidence was at an 18 month high, challenges in hiring were at a ten year high.

A staggering 52 per cent of respondents said they struggled to recruit skilled staff in the last six months.

It should be stated at this point that this is no cynical attempt by Lloyds to garner a bit of cheap publicity. The Business in Britain report is in its 25th year and is put together from the views of 1,500 companies, mostly small and medium sized enterprises that are (as we keep being told) the engines of growth. As such, its findings are worthy of note.

Now, regular readers won’t be surprised to see me using this as yet more evidence of just how stupid, and damaging, the current Government’s approach to immigration is.

Making EU residents feel unwelcome, and pandering to racists, will cause real, and lasting economic damage to this country. They’ve already started to vote with their feet, exacerbating the nation’s yawning skills gap.

However, at the same time, it is also fair to ask whether businesses are doing enough to mitigate the problem themselves, and whether their approach to recruitment isn’t making the difficult situation they identify worse than it otherwise might be.

After all, we were talking about the skills gap before the EU referendum and it would likely have continued to cause problems even had David Cameron’s decision to call it not resulted in an outbreak of collective insanity.

Part of the reason why it continues to be an issue is that businesses are failing to exploit the talent that is under their noses.

For example, I constantly highlight the disability employment gap within these pages. Despite the labour shortages Lloyds references, skilled disabled people can’t find jobs.

According to disability charity Scope, the difference between the rate of employment among able bodied people when compared to that of disabled people currently stands at a staggering 31.3 percentage points.

But it isn’t just disabled people. Unemployment is also markedly higher among black and minority ethnic people, about twice the rate found among white Britons in fact.

Last year, I revealed the results of a TUC study that found that the disparity in incomes between BAME workers and their white workers actually increases the more qualifications they get.

Meanwhile, we constantly see reports highlighting poor treatment of female staff, and of LGBT staff.

What all this indicates is that UK businesses are failing to tap into some substantial pools of talented and skilled workers, failing to make the best of the workers from them when that they do hire them, failing to treat them well.

Part of the problem might be being caused by recruitment agencies. Many firms use them, and they may sub consciously, or even deliberately, exclude certain candidates from shortlists to minimise what they misguidedly perceive as “risk”, all with the aim of keeping their clients happy.

Half UK companies expect to recruit staff in 2018 amid skilled worker shortage

Half of firms expect to recruit staff next year, with smaller firms most confident, according to a new study.

A survey of almost 300 companies, employing one million workers, also found that most believed a diverse workforce was important to their future success.

The CBI said its research found that a shortage of skilled workers was the biggest worry for companies, with many worried about being able to attract overseas employees.

Half of the companies questioned said they were aiming to increase pay at least in line with inflation in the coming year, slightly fewer than this time a year ago.

Fewer than one in three said they would be able to absorb the costs of increases in the national living wage, with one in five planning to increase prices or restructure their business.

Neil Carberry, the CBI’s managing director for people policy, said: “Britain’s record on job creation is second to none, and this year’s survey shows that this is set to continue in 2018.

“But with softening economic growth matched with high employment, the survey again emphasises the vital need to make progress on the industrial strategy and secure a good Brexit deal to improve productivity, support job creation and boost pay growth.

“The survey also shows that firms are concerned about finding the right staff in the future and this is damaging the outlook for investment in the longer term.”

Tracy Evans of recruitment firm Pertemps, which helped with the survey, added: “Although there has been a lot of change in 2017, confidence is high among employers, with most expecting to expand on opportunities in the coming year.

“One of the big problems we face in recruitment at the moment is the skills gap and how to overcome it. Finding the right staff is obviously key in recruitment and we need to find a solution to this ever-growing problem.”

Barclays offer graduates £550 to tackle interview costs

According to new research from Barclays, UK graduates spend an average of £550 attending job interviews before securing a job

The research which polled 1,000 graduates found that 48% of graduate jobseekers have to borrow money, take out credit cards or go into their overdrafts to fund expensive commuting fares to interviews, which makes finding a job inaccessible for many.

Jobseekers frequently spend £80 on buying appropriate clothing, £90 on travel and accommodation, £205 on resources to boost employability and £175 on software to enable upskilling – so the costs quickly rack up.

And, the survey revealed that 61% of prospective employers wouldn’t even cover the basic costs of an interview, while 54% have had to turn down interviews or not even applied (51%) because they know that they can’t afford to attend the interview.

So, to tackle this problem following results from the survey, Barclays are launching their Graduate Fund scheme to help student jobseekers access their careers more easily.

Graduates can apply for grants from the £20,000 pool of ‘free money’ to make attending interviews more affordable. And, this money can be used for anything from interview clothing, travel and accommodation to training and development resources and upskilling.

This grant is a one-off cash injection that doesn’t need to be paid back.

June24619788 October 18, 2018 No Comments

Employment and Wages Are Up Again But Progress Is Slowing

Wages are on the increase amid near record rates of employment, according to official figures.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics this morning reveals unemployment fell by 47,000 to 1.36m in the three months to August and pay rose by 3.1% over the quarter, compared with a year ago, while inflation for the same period was 2.5%.

There were 32.39m people in work over the quarter – down 5,000 on the previous quarter.

Commenting on the data, Pawel Adrjan, UK economist at the global job site Indeed, said Britain’s labour market is slowly pivoting from job growth to pay growth: “Average pay is now growing at its fastest rate since 2008, and the curtain could finally be starting to come down on the lost decade of stagnant wages.

“With the number of new jobs created flatlining as the economy hovers close to full employment, employers are having to fight harder and pay more to recruit staff.

“For the economy to deliver more sustained pay growth it needs an injection of the labour market ‘X factor’: better productivity.”

Also commenting Recruitment & Employment Confederation CEO Neil Carberry said the data reflected the strong performance of the UK’s flexible jobs market, with wages rising in real terms and near record rates of employment.

“But there is some evidence that progress has slowed as businesses enter a holding pattern ahead of any Brexit deal.

“What we need now is for the government to take a pragmatic approach that delivers a smooth Brexit for the economy – and for people’s jobs. A transition period and longer-term clarity and stability on terms of trade and mobility between the UK and the EU are essential to avoiding a bumpy landing.”

David Tully Joins Resource Solutions as Associate Director

Resource Solutions has appointed David Tully as Associate Director from Global RPO provider Cielo Talent, where he was a New Business Development Director for EMEA.

David has a wealth of experience in business development within the recruitment industry, having also held senior roles at SJB Group (acquired by Experis’ Manpower) and Adecco UK, selling across all their 14 brands, including Spring Technology and Pontoon Solutions.

As Associate Director – Sales, based in the Robert Walters Group Head Office in London, David will be developing business development strategies to drive Resource Solutions’ client-focused ethos and tech-enabled outsourced recruitment solutions. David will spearhead telecommunications, technology and a number of emerging sectors.

Commenting on this recent senior appointment, Joanna Fagbadegun, Resource Solutions’ Sales Director said:

“David’s extensive experience within the RPO and MSP arena will be harnessed to focus on supporting our continuing diversification across a range of sectors. Our long-standing client relationships are at the heart of our business and David will play an instrumental role in generating new business whilst developing deep and lasting relationships with our clients. We are excited to welcome David to the Resource Solutions global family.”

Why Companies Are Turning To Headhunting Firms

There was a time when business leaders resorted to working with headhunters only for the seemingly impossible job searches. Today, companies are changing their perception when it comes to executive search firms with the numbers indicating this trend strengthening over the next decade.

As business and hiring practices continue to evolve, the plight of the headhunter looks to be one of longevity, and business owners may find themselves increasingly reliant on them to fuel their company with fresh talent.

At the same time company leaders are turning an eye towards headhunting firms, they are finding it harder than ever to find good talent using traditional methods. While the value of personnel is better understood and appreciated than ever before, the availability of talent seems more scarce by the minute. Traditionally, internal recruitment teams have filled the vast majority of roles for a company, yet the increasing complexity of today’s job descriptions is proving to be more difficult for corporate recruiters to manage than in years past.

There are simply too many roles at most large companies for a handful of corporate recruiters to adequately recruit for. This is especially true for upper-level positions that may not need to be filled frequently. A corporate recruiter may not have experienced the job search before for these positions.

For a company to have the breadth and range an executive search firm possesses, they would need to employ an entire search firm themselves; fully equipped with the tools, licenses, and operational processes.

Simply put, recruitment firms with specialized teams of recruiters are far more likely to have the experience to find and, more importantly, qualify candidates for specialized roles than corporate recruiters.

Based on the survey responses of nearly 4,000 corporate talent acquisition leaders, 61 percent say their team will stay the same or decrease in size in 2017. One reason for this is companies are warming up to the idea of using search firms for positions that are not commonly filled. While an organization with a large sales team may have no trouble filling average sales roles, the internal recruitment team may struggle to find a director of compensation with the right experience. Not being exposed to the wide range of compensation talent like a headhunter, the internal team is likely to look for individuals with the same job title, and underestimate the importance of the type of experience, varied exposure to both specific and broad-based areas of compensation, and the importance of finding an individual who has worked with a similar company. In the medical field there are general practitioners, and then there are specialists — the headhunter is the specialist.

One clear advantages headhunting firms have over corporate recruiters is the ability to reach out to passive job seekers. Passive job seekers are professionals who are not actively looking for a new job but may be open to new opportunities. Eighty-five percent of professionals in 2017 are open to new opportunities and with recent developments like Linkedin’s “Open Candidate” tool that allows professionals to indicate they are open to conversations with recruiters, the ability to recruit from a company’s competitor is easier than ever for a recruiter. While headhunting firms excel at this, corporate recruiters have limited resources. It takes a much more proactive approach to attract this level of talent than the average active job seeker.

Companies also have a better understanding of the cost of a bad hire these days. Poor hiring decisions can cripple a company’s growth and the data points to bad hires being costlier to an organization than previously thought. Because hiring mistakes are costly, companies are extending their hiring process longer and taking more precautions to guard against making poor personnel choices. This, however, can be a double-edged sword as time-to-hire increases and jobs stay unfilled longer.

While companies are willing to put more effort into finding the right candidate, they still need to fill the jobs in a relatively similar time frame. This is where the speed and efficiency of an executive search firm is attractive to business leaders. The lack of bureaucracy and a focused approach, typically lead to faster time-to-fill and quality candidates.

Top 10 mistakes corporate recruiters make:

Unrealistic job descriptions,
Shotgun approach to marketing jobs,
Recycled job descriptions,
Reliance on dated techniques and processes,
Take time away from hiring managers to explain the job,
Recruit through employees friends,
Too rigid on specs,
Boring communication,
Failure to evolve,
Complacency.

Recruitment Body Looks To Improve Disability Hiring

New data has found that many companies are struggling to source disabled talent – with 70% not knowing where to look.

In response, The Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) has launched RIDI 100 – a directory of recruitment service providers which are committed to the inclusion of disabled jobseekers.

Hoggett Bowers, an executive search firm who recruit for seniuor hires, has been confirmed as the first partner.

Paralympian sets up rec firm to bridge disability employment gap

Karen Wilson, CEO of Hoggett Bowers, RIDI’s commented on why the recruitment firm signed up to the RIDI scheme.

She said: “As Hoggett Bowers, we have been active supporters of the D&I initiative for many years, having worked with some major organisations to help them face challenges as early as the mid 1990’s. We are delighted to be the first RIDI 100 partner; we are also actively participating with The Clear Company as Clear Assured Foundation members.”

Kate Headley, spokesperson for RIDI and subject matter expert, added that recruitment can play a starring role in helping firms find the talent they need.

She added: “We have long known that businesses, while open to hiring disabled individuals, often feel that they ‘don’t know where to start’ when it comes to engaging with disabled candidates.

“However, our latest research underlines the fact that many hiring managers simply don’t know where to turn to even access this valuable talent pool.”

“By creating a dedicated directory of Disability Confident recruiters, we believe we can help businesses to overcome this crucial hurdle.”

07:30 – 19:00

U.K Office