New edition to e-recruitment buddy!!

Delighted to announce the safe arrival of my gorgeous daughter - Edith May - on the 1st July. She isnt much help in the business so far, apart from being a good girl and sleeping a lot during the day, allowing me to still do some work!!

Her big brothers - Louis, Ollie and Archie - are all happy to have a little sister.

10 Questions Every Employer Should Ask a Job Board

According to Whatjobsite there are 10 simple questions to ask a job-board before making a decision to use it;
1: Who uses your site?

This is the most important question you can ask. If you are looking to find a 'Sales Manager ' then you should ensure that the job board covers sales manager jobs and make sure there are a good number of those types of jobs on the site. Ask the job board how many jobs like yours are on the site and how many other direct employers are advertising. All job boards will have lots of recruitment agency jobs but having real employers advertising is often a sign of a quality site.

2: How many people use your site?

The key to successful job board recruitment is getting lots of relevant people looking at your ad. That is, to get applicants for your job you're going to need lots of eye balls looking at your ad. No eyeballs means no new employees for you. So, before you choose to advertise on a job board find out how popular the site is.

Job boards will usually answer this question by quoting internet statistics like Unique users, Visits, or Applications. Whatjobsite cover online statistics in detail in our guide 'An introduction to statistics for recruiters'

3: What kind of response can I expect for my job?

Each job ad is different and the performance of each advert is unpredictable. But your job board should be able to give you a rough idea of how your job will perform. They will have historical records of job applications. So even if they can't tell you exactly how your particular job will perform, they should be able to tell you how similar jobs have done in the past. Find out how many average views or applications you can expect.

4: How much does it cost to post a job and what do I get?

Get the price and be sure about exactly what you are getting. For example, on some job boards job adverts last 1 month (which is the duration whatjobsite would recommend) while on others they last only a week; some job boards allow you to have your logo while others charge extra for this; some job boards allow you to edit your job ad after it has gone live, while others don't. Some job boards will include a CV search as part of the advertising while others won't. Find out exactly what you get in the job posting package.

5: Is there Account Management?

Many job boards allow you to post a job yourself online with a credit card. Often, this is the cheapest way of advertising the job. However, whatjobsite would always recommend paying a little more and opting for an account managed service. If you are new to job board advertising, your account manager's expertise will be invaluable. They will be able to help you with your ad, check that it is okay, optimize the keywords, make a number of suggestions, help you when things go wrong, and give you an idea of the market. It's worth availing of this expertise when you are hiring.

6: What other products does the job board offer?

Posting a classified job advert on a job board is popular among employers, but it is not the only product that job boards offer employers. For example, you may be able to enhance your advertising with banner or button display advertising, targeted emails, home page logo buttons. And, as we said above, many job boards will also allow you to search their CV database for relevant candidates. Find out what other products and services the job board offers that might help you in your online recruitment.

7: What deals are on offer?

It's always worth asking what special offers job boards are running or what deals they will do for you. All job boards are eager for your business and they may be willing to do a deal to get your business. And be sure to check the whatjobsite Recruiter Discount for exclusive offers.

8: Who are your competitors?

You are asking the job board this question so that you will get the names of other job boards to talk to. Many times sales people will say that they really don't have any direct competitors. Obviously, that is seldom true. There are over a thousand job boards in the UK alone, so everybody has a competitor. When you get the names of some competitors, talk to them too. Doing so will give you a better idea of what job site is the best for your job ad.

9: Who is behind your job board?

In recent years many recruitment agencies have set up job boards. We at whatjobsite don't see anything wrong with this if it's made clear that the job board is owned and operated by a recruitment agency. Unfortunately, the relationship between the job board and the recruitment agency can be unclear or, in some cases, deceptive. Is the job board really a job board or is it, rather, simply trying to attract employers and candidates that can be used in the recruitment agency businesses. If there is any hesitation or evasion from the job board in this matter, stay well away.

10: Testimonials

As with any service you are buying, ask for testimonials. Do a search and see if there are reviews of the site. That said, if you have found the site on whatjobsite then you can feel secure that we have done a lot of the due diligence for you. Every job board that we profile in our search results has been checked and verified. It's one less thing for you to worry about. Make sure the testimonials are up-to-date and relevant to your recruitment requirement.

Original Article: WhatJobsite

Team building for Cameron and Clegg?

So we have a coalition government. Could this be stated simply as a result of the nation as a whole not being sufficiently persuaded by one party’s values for there to be a clear winner? Or is this too simplistic and are there much more complex and diverse reasons?

Whatever the reasons, we are now in a position where 2 parties with differing values and motivations have to come together and form a working government. Now those 2 parties are themselves made up of a large number of individuals, all of which have their own values and motivations. I suspect it’ll be a hard task to manage all of those expectations as well as managing the country!

However, this is what businesses across the globe have to do on a daily basis with varying degrees of success; the politicians being the employees and the country being the clients!

Can business leaders teach the government a thing or two? How well do you manage the expectations of both your clients and your employees; the most important stakeholders in your business? How much do you know about the values and motivations of both? How do you ensure that those with differing drivers can still work together towards a common strategy and outcome?

According to a study by OPP workplace psychologists, almost a third of employees have never experienced any kind of team-building, despite the average UK worker being part of four separate teams.(reported by HR Magazine). Even more interesting, according to the report, is that only 11% of people would rather have a day off work than engage in a team building exercise!

Properly planned and delivered team building and coaching can have dramatic effects on the motivation and productivity of a team. It is second to none in understanding and respecting individual values and motivations and pulling these together to create a highly efficient team, all of whom are pulling towards a common and agreed goal and strategy. An incredibly powerful team is created in this way as every person in it knows “what’s in it for them”. At the end of the day, human nature makes us pursue our own interests; be honest, how often have you approached a task half heartedly or not at all because you don’t know “what’s in it for you”?

So will we see David Cameron and Nick Clegg heading off for a bit of team building or will your business be ahead of them on that too?

Michaela Hardwick of Beyond Expectation is a Business and Personal Performance Coach who works with businesses of all shapes and sizes nationally delivering 1-2-1 and team coaching in packages tailored to suit each different client. She believes that team building should create long term solutions to the business whilst engaging the teams in an entertaining and memorable way. For more details, go to www.beyond-expectation.co.uk or call on 0121 288 6002.

What a year so far!

At e-recruitment buddy we’ve had such a good year to date that we thought we’d honour it with a brief blog post. Kicked off the year by running 2 campaigns for a key law firm in the South West – very different roles, one accounts based and the other someone to join their business development team as a Bid/Proposals Manager. We are very happy to report that both positions were filled through candidates attracted utilising our Vacancy Management service, a low-cost highly effective fixed fee recruitment model.

We then had a call from a client that I have personally worked with since 2002. They hadn’t yet dabbled in the ‘fixed fee recruitment’ model, so they decided they would trial it to recruit an Office Administrator. This was a great success – in fact they employed 2 people from the campaign – an Office Administrator and a Receptionist. As you can imagine for such a low fee (c£550-650), the cost-per head of new employee is minimal. The company in question have since run another 2 fixed fee recruitment campaigns with us and have asked us to put a proposal together for a ‘rolling recruitment’ contract. I am delighted with this, as having worked with them since 2002 it is good to be fluid in your approach to their recruitment needs and to have such a solid working relationship. In fact I have just looked back at a testimonial from them (in 2004) …. "As you know (and as is evident from our repeat business) we have been very impressed by the service you have given us over the last year. We have provided you with some diverse and specialised challenges from a recruitment point of view and you have risen to them with great enthusiasm, resourcefulness and professionalism. We have been extremely happy with the results of your searches for us and the friendly, yet unobtrusive way that you communicate with us during the process. As a company we would always come to you first with any recruitment requirements, knowing we are assured of a high quality, honest and professional service at all times."…. Interestingly I don’t believe their opinion has changed and looking back at the people I placed there originally, many are still employed – one is in fact now the MD!!

Also over the last few months we’ve had a handful of completely new clients and an existing one that hasn’t had a need since last November who came back just 2 weeks ago seeking a Junior Website Tester – someone from the campaign started this week and they are also looking at 2 of the other applicants for potential roles. Now that’s what I call value for money!

If you are a business looking for help to relieve the burden of the extra administration now involved in the recruitment process, then we at e-recruitment buddy would be delighted to hear from you.

Job of the Week: Credit Manager (Motor Finance)

Talented, knowledgeable Credit Manager working within the finance industry is urgently needed to work for one of the UKs fastest growing motor finance companies. You will report to the Head of Credit and apply your high standards of experience in assessing credit and risk profiles, accurate recording, monitoring and reviewing of all exposures and sound underwriting knowledge of motor dealers and customers in motor and asset finance.

As Credit Manager you will effectively credit underwrite for dealers, consumers and corporate customers, and ensure that policy is defined, documented and amended where required in accordance with CMF requirements. Your role will also involve;

· Deputising for the Head of Credit as and when required.

· Ensuring that deals referred to the Credit department are analysed and summarised in order to reach a decision.

· Monitoring and contributing towards the ongoing development of the credit scorecard

· Attending and contributing towards the monthly Credit Committee meetings & take and distribute minutes and follow up any action points.

· Prepare, present and recommend dealer funding requests, top-ups and reviews out of agreed authority limit.

· Prepare a monthly dealer funding report for the Managing Director.

· Attend monthly funded dealer meetings & take and distribute minutes and follow up any action points.

· Compile and maintain a schedule of funded dealers and present a report for Directors, Regional Directors and Branch Managers on a monthly basis.

Salary: £35-40k + benefits package including pension & life assurance scheme
Location: Doncaster

For full details and to apply view this Credit Manager Job on e-recruitmentbuddy

Can Recruiters Compete with Job-Boards for Candidate Traffic?

I read with interest the article on recruiter.co.uk, 17th March 2010, & its opening paragraph ….. “Recruitment agency and employer websites are missing out on traffic from online searches. How can they get more people to their pages? The internet is often a jobseeker’s first port of call and website search engine rankings are crucial to reaching potential candidates. However, a new report indicates that recruitment agencies and employers’ websites lag far behind jobs boards in generating traffic from employment-related search terms.”

Having worked in the job-board industry since 2004 and given that the majority of companies advertising on job boards are recruiters, you would think that it would be ‘obvious’ for recruitment agencies to develop their own websites and ‘beat the boards at their own game’! In my opinion it is virtually impossible to compete with the generalist sites and their top keywords – they will naturally hold thousands more vacancies, have dedicated online marketing professionals increasing their site visibility including highly targeted search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns.

For large recruitment firms with highly generous candidate attraction budgets then I am sure that with the right strategy in place, long-term, they will definitely see the benefits of a well-optimised, content rich and dynamic website. Competing directly with job boards on broad based terms such as “solicitor jobs” or “nursing jobs” is a losing battle. However a well optimised website that targets terms such as “recruitment agency” or “recruitment firm” with a geographical qualifier can still bring in traffic from both candidates and potential clients.

If your agency covers a fairly small geographical location you can also have a degree of success when using the location in your SEO and terms such as “jobs” and “vacancies”. It’s also a given that you should claim your Google local business listing as this is free and is triggered by the term “recruitment agency” and the location.

As it says on recruiter.co.uk “The selection of keywords by careers sites and recruitment agencies’ is often more selective than the job boards that are achieving higher levels of visibility online.”

For small to medium size agencies they can have a good quality, well-thought out website and candidate attraction plan covering social media to increase their direct applications, but I do believe that trying to compete against the job-boards really isn’t worth the effort & that your money would be far better spent on a monthly subscription to the job-boards that are most effective in your sector/region etc.

Are you inundated with jobseekers?

It was reported in the February 2010 edition of the Recruitment Consultant magazine that “businesses have seen a 130% increase in applications in the past two years” and on average they receive ”c120 CVs for each newly created advertised vacancy according to a survey of 872 businesses”.

It is true that most vacancies are attracting far greater numbers of candidates, a natural process in such times of high unemployment. I am currently running an advert for an Administrator and in 8 days have received 150 applications! It takes lots of time to view each application and make a judgement as to whether they are suitable for the role/client. It is difficult as probably at least 50% of those applicants could do the job, but we have to be harsh and cut it to a min of 10% to take it to the telephone interview stage. The benefit to clients of course is they can literally cherry pick the best applicants for their role.

The Recruitment Consultant also reported “Shortlists have also doubled and candidates face a one-in-ten chance of passing the interview process”.

If you are a business looking for help to relieve the burden of the extra administration now involved in the recruitment process, then we at e-recruitment buddy would be delighted to hear from you. Our Vacancy Management service could be ideal for you.

As a candidate if you want your CV to stand out from the crowd to stand a chance of being shortlisted, then take advantage of our CV Writing Service.

REC response to latest jobless figures

As reported on OnRec, 22nd February 2010

Responding to today's ONS unemployment figures which show a fall of 3,000 to 2.46 million, Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) says;

"This is good news and supports the feedback we’ve had from members who have reported an increase in recruitment activity over recent months. Improving employer confidence is resulting in a more positive outlook on hiring intentions over the coming year, but the UK jobs market remains fragile. There are real concerns that the squeeze on public expenditure will counteract some of these positive trends, particularly in regions that are heavily dependent on public sector jobs."

Commenting on the TUC argument that the UK jobs market looks "deceptively healthy" because of an increase in temporary and part-time work, Kevin Green concludes:

"There is nothing 'deceptively healthy' about the fact that temporary work provides an important bridge back into employment and helps to develop the skills, experience and confidence to access permanent job opportunities. Flexible working options provide real benefits for job-seekers as well as for employers; they must be recognised not stigmatised. With regards to part-time jobs, it is true that some employers have reduced hours rather than make redundancies. In these cases, employers will increase the hours of existing staff before they recruit new staff which is another reason that the road back to full employment will be long and tortuous."

The REC's latest JobsOutlook survey, also published this week, confirmed the trend of increasing employer confidence with only two per cent of businesses saying they expect to make further cutbacks. This is the lowest number seen since the monthly survey began last year. Overall, 94 per cent of employers expect either to maintain or grow their permanent workforces over the next 12 months with one in four employers planning to increase their temporary workforce in the next year.

The survey also highlights specific attributes which employers are looking for from new recruits as they start to lift recruitment freezes with communication and interpersonal skills topping in the list.

News, News, News – the recession!

You can’t avoid the most recent news that we are ‘out of recession’, but what are your thoughts in the sectors you work in? Are you feeling a positive move out of the slump? A few headlines have caught my eye ……

The Guardian’s headline, which I love, read “UK economy: out of intensive care but still confined to bed”. Having had a hubby in intensive care several years ago I am well aware of the long & painful road to recovery!

Reuters headline was “Britain crawls out of recession”. Matt Falloon from Reuters wrote “The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday gross domestic product rose by 0.1 percent between October and December, well below analysts' forecasts for growth of 0.4 percent and lower than all the predictions in a Reuters poll. For 2009 as a whole, the economy shrank by 4.8 percent -- the worst yearly performance since records began in 1949. The Labour government has been banking on a strong bounce back to growth to help overturn its poor opinion poll ratings before an election expected in 100 days, but these weaker than expected figures make a political comeback even trickier.”

The Telegraph’s most recent article regarding the recession was headed “Bumpy road ahead as Britain limps out of recession”. It then went on to say “Although Britain’s 18-month recession has now technically ended, the lacklustre recovery alarmed financial experts amid fears of a further slump and prompted a political storm. The weak economic figures undermined Government assurances that the economy would bounce back strongly from the worst recession since records began in 1948 and raised questions over the plans drawn up by both of the main political parties ahead of the imminent general election.
British families, meanwhile, were warned that interest rates are now unlikely to rise in the coming months, which means their savings will suffer. The value of the pound also fell which will make holidays abroad more costly. The weak recovery also threatens to derail the improving housing market – and the recent fall in unemployment - as companies become concerned about the country’s economic prospects.”

Personally I haven't yet seen an upturn in the recruitment business as a result of the return to growth. This is no major surprise as employment usually takes longer to recover than other economic indicators. It is good news we are out of recession and lets hope the growth rates sprint ahead in the next couple of months.

Top LEGAL JOBS

We've had some great new jobs registered in the last week, so if you work in a law firm - whether in HR, Business Development, Accounts or as a Lawyer then we'd like to hear from you. A selection of our latest jobs;

Generalist HR Officer, London

Bid Manager / Tender Specialist, South West {Devon, Somerset or Cornwall}

Credit Controller / Credit Senior, South West {Devon - Plymouth}

Employment Associate, London {4yrs PQE, strong reputation in media, technology & real estate}

It’s Snow Joke (again!)

It feels like only yesterday that I wrote a similar blog post …. an already suffering economy is really going to feel the pinch as ‘snow absence’ rates in the UK reach almost 14% and cost economy £0.5bn a day (according to Firstcare). Despite being predicted snow and this fairly lengthy cold snap we still seem to be unprepared and able to cope with carrying on as normal. We appreciate that blocked roads, dangerous driving conditions and cancelled public transport means that commuters are unable to get to work, but its does completely amaze me how little effort some people make to get to work. I do understand though, as a parent that many schools are closed, forcing working parents to stay at home. My Son’s nursery was closed yesterday but has reopened today and I take my hat off to them as they are one of the only ones in the area to open!

I have an old school friend that lives north of Glasgow, she experiences 2-3 foot of snow on a regular basis and is always amused by the chaos snow causes south of Brum!!

I noticed on twitter yesterday that Peter Jones (aka Dragons Den tall man) said that he had just ranted “where’s the commitment” at an employee who didn’t make it to work, but then got stuck himself!! He then went on to tweet “on a serious note, if you are driving today, please be careful. It is quite bad out there, goodness knows how Santa does it each year!”

That brings me on to Rebecca Clake, organisation and resourcing adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She has said: "Employers should make clear to employees that they should not risk life and limb to get to work, and be understanding if employees need to leave early to avoid getting stranded unnecessarily on their way home - particularly if conditions worsen during the working day."

Fair enough. Anyway, back to business - whilst it is fun for many, having a day at home or venturing out to sledge or build a snowman – many SMES will suffer a back-lash from the fact that their workforce are absent. The cost to businesses across the UK due to lack of production is immense.

p.s; that’s my gorgeous Son in the picture!!