350 applications, 1 role, 7 days!

Obviously reading the latest official jobless figures today, showing that unemployment is continuing to rise - and is now at its highest level for 17 years - made us think about some of our advertising campaigns & the sheer volume of applications we receive. Youth unemployment has also increased, with more than a million now out of work. The latest jobless figures show that the number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds had broken the one-million barrier, rising to 1.016 million, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

We have recently been asked to run a Fixed Fee Recruitment campaign for a Marketing Administrator role within a premier law firm. The advert stated these rare words “The role would be an ideal first job for an ambitious 'A' level or degree level graduate or a placement student with a desire to join a professional and service focused Marketing and Business Development team”

As you can imagine, we were inundated with applications for this role (an average of 50 a day for the 1^st 7 days of advertising) – many of whom were probably already visualising themselves sitting at that very desk fulfilling the role! This always makes our job a lot harder when we have to reject them and they don’t understand/think they are perfect. We were also surprised that at least 50% of candidates applying had a wealth of administration experience (3-5 years +), considering the salary on offer and the way the advert was written, many of these we would have to reject too. The client has been able to literally cherry pick the most suitable candidates and will be interviewing & hiring soon, which is great news for them.

I was also listening to Radio 5 live this morning with Victoria Derbyshire and a couple of the phone-in’s were expressing their pure frustration when applying for jobs (they were experienced candidates and couldn’t understand why employers were not moving forward with them, thinking they would get ‘more candidate for their buck’ rather than a more junior candidate. Victoria agreed saying that it was “short-sighted of employers” and that it was “highly unlikely that a candidate would leave after 6 months” when they get a better offer.

It isn’t short-sighted of an employer/recruiter to not select the more experienced candidate, it is based on a) previous similar experience of hires leaving for a better offer and b) they obviously know the type of candidate they want for that role and when in a position to pick & choose, then they will do!

If you are an employer and want help in dealing with recruitment administration / direct advertising recruitment campaigns then we’d love to hear from you J

Back to the real world ....

Where the heck have the last 7 months gone? Edith started nursery today

(pic to show she really was quite happy about it!) and my maternity leave is 'officially' over. Running my own business does mean that actually i've been keeping things going and doing some work since she was born, but now I have some serious work to do.

I'm very excited about e-recruitment buddy's plans for 2011 and look forward to sharing them with you as they unfold. In the meantime, our fixed fee recruitment model is consistently sourcing top quality candidates for our clients.

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.