Category Archives: city recruitment agencies

17/12/2009

Recruitment agencies welcome clampdown on City bonuses

Recruitment agencies working in the City are taking the news of Bonus clampdowns rather well. The situation is now that most state owned banks are trying to reduce or remove any kind of bonus structure, which means that most employees are looking to jump ship to a company in the private sector. This is good news for banking recruitment agencies, who are dependant on the movement of staff, rather than the total of staff currently working.

The added benefit is that most companies are working on higher basic packages rather than bonus packages, which for recruitment agencies such as Robert Walters is again good news. This is because they work on a percentage fee of the basic package and not on bonuses.

Robert Walters also announced that they expect to break even this year, which is better than the £2 million pre-tax loss they originally forecast. This is due largely to the fact that many overestimated the recession and so many banks are now rehiring and also by the fact that Robert Walters themselves reduced overheads to combat the downturn.

2010 therefore looks like it is starting in the right direction and recruitment agencies will hopefully have turned a corner in the financial sector and see a rise in activity.

Filed under: banking recruitment agencies,city recruitment agencies — admin @ 11:59

08/12/2009

Monster European Recruitment index increased in November

Monster Employment Index, rose to 100 from 99 in November, a 1 point increase, which followed the 1 point increase in October. The index which is considered to be a good employment indicator, evaluates online jobs on corporate websites.

The increase was mainly attributed to a slight rise in employee demand in the creative and marketing and media sectors. This combined with the view that the decline in job vacancies has reached the bottom, means that confidence is beginning to build in the market.

The value of 100 was the same value as in 2005, however a lot less than last year when it was 146. With growth trends showing mainly in the UK and Sweden, Hugo Sellert, Monster’s head of economic research, expects other European countries to follow this trend.

For recruitment agencies this is a positive sign and could mean in 2010 it will be a much more promising year. With many companies being quite reserved in their spending in 2009, they may be ready to expand in 2010. This will be expected for Oil & Gas, where candidates are applying to Oil & Gas Recruitment Agencies in abundance at present with only a few jobs available, however with rising Oil prices and new Oil sites found, even this sector is hoping for goods things in 2010.

Lets` just hope everyone gets what they want for Christmas and the New Year!!!

Filed under: city recruitment agencies,oil and gas recruitment agencies — admin @ 11:29

17/11/2009

Modelling recruitment agencies have been warned

In the world of entertainment and modelling some recruitment agencies have taken advantage of their situation and acted in an unscrupulous manner, which has depicted all agencies in the same poor light.

Recruitment agencies in this sector are quite different from other sectors as many of them will charge the aspiring models or artists to go on a portfolio as such for potential employers to see. However due to the abundance of rogue traders that exist out there, many are charging extortionate amounts with little results.

Business Minister Pat Mcfadden said that they introduced a cooling off period for agencies charging upfront fees, but due to the number of reports they are still receiving from candidates being exploited, the cooling off period will now be made permanent from October 2010 all recruitment agencies in this sector will not be allowed to charge any fees upfront.

This kind of action should hopefully put an end to the rogue traders out there and allow modelling and entertainment recruitment agencies to gain an improved reputation.

Filed under: city recruitment agencies,entertainment recruitment agencies — admin @ 13:14

20/10/2009

Recruitment Agencies have been warned about supplying the Royal Mail

Recruitment Agencies have been put into an awkward position in relation to supplying the Royal Mail, as the leader of the Communication Workers Union (CWE), Billy Hayes, stressed that hiring extra staff to replace existing staff that are on strike had been outlawed.

The CWE is outraged that the Royal Mail have hired 30,000 temporary workers, although Royal Mail have claimed that the hiring of temps is not to replace any person that is on strike but to handle the backlog of undelivered post from this week’s nationwide strike.

Recruitment Agencies are concerned as they have been told by the CWE to be aware of the law, which forbids any employer or employment agencies to use staff to break a lawful dispute. This could lead to public sector recruitment agencies that are supply staff to suffer fines of up to £5,000 per worker for every day they are supplied.

Royal Mail have informed Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, that has to enforce these laws, that the extra staff is for clearing old post and not for replacing any worker. Royal Mail also explained that around Christmas time they usually hire an additional 15,000 temporary staff to handle the extra work load.

Lord Mandelson could not hide his anger with the CWU and believes’ they are obstructing the Royal Mail from a much needed modernisation, even going as far as to say this matter is `life or death` for the postal service. Mr Hayes on the other hand has said he understands there could be job loses in the industry but wants there to be a compromise.

Is there a solution? At the moment it is difficult to see where it will come from. The biggest problem may be if these strikes continue, the Royal Mail may not be able to survive and if this is the case then you could see the Royal Mail being sold to foreign investors.

Filed under: city recruitment agencies,employment agencies,public sector recruitment agencies — admin @ 10:33

21/04/2009

CEBR raises hope in the City

The Centre of Economics and Business Research announced that the UK is over the worst of the recession and there is now stability appearing in City firms.

Initially the CEBR forecasted that 34,000 wholesale finance jobs will be lost in 2009, however they have now changed there forecast to 29,000.

Douglas McWilliams, chief executive at the CEBR, says “The long-term outlook for the City of London remains in the balance. Clearly there is a need for action to improve incentive payment structures and discourage overly risky behaviour in the future. However, if the regulatory response is too wide ranging and constrictive the government risks the long-term growth of the City”

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), stated that they expected the green shoots of recovery next year.

City recruitment agencies are talking about a slight increase in number of vacancies they are trying to fill, however they still say the number of vacancies is a long way off what it used to be.

Let’s hope the CEBR and CBI are correct and we are over the worst of this recession.

Filed under: city recruitment agencies,finance jobs — admin @ 10:19