Category Archives: employment agencies

07/03/2011

Ian Duncan Smith, calls on better recruitment.

Mr Duncan Smith made some sweeping statements about the unemployment figures in this country and called upon recruitment agencies and recruitment in general to start matching jobs to candidates better.

The unemployment figures currently stand at 2.5million, however ‘The work and Pensions Secretary’ explained that there are also around 500,000 vacancies in the economy… so why are they not filled?

The blame of this was put on the labour government, accusing them of failing to help the British unemployed people find and take up jobs. This was also a key reason why many immigrants came over to take up these posts. The Coalition is focused on reversing this trend and concentrate on the key question, if there is people looking for work and there are jobs available then why are they not being married up.

There is of course a realisation that some specialist roles may be difficult to fill and hence there is a need to look elsewhere but these cases are few and far between and in whole there needs to be a better understanding of these candidates. This can also lead to asking questions about the taboo subject of out of work benefits, I’m sure many employment agencies have experienced similar situations of offering people work and then getting the response of it is better to be out of work and claim benefits, a system that is flawed by nature.

Filed under: employment agencies,recruitment agencies — Goto @ 09:56

16/12/2010

Merry Christmas you’re fired

Recruitment agencies should be prepared for a strange Christmas, usually a time when there is little candidate generation it seems this year will be different.

The coalition government has made cut’s that will no doubt reduce staff in many parts of the public sector, the estimated number of cuts predicted over this present period is expected to reach the 100,000 mark. This is quite astonishing statistic when you consider this is the Christmas holidays and the question undoubtedly being asked is why not wait till the new year? There is however a reason for this, local authorities must have their austerity reports in place by 31^st March 2011. The problem here is that they must also give 90 days notice of any job cuts. This therefore means job cuts must be announced before New Year’s Day.

My problem with this is that of course this 90 day rule can be changed and even if the inevitable job cuts will occur, I can see no loss by waiting to disclose this in January. The other issue I have with these massive public sector job cuts is that the presumption of these job cuts will be offset by the increase in private sector jobs, I definitely believe this is a big IF and I believe employment agencies will have to work as hard as ever to find where these jobs exist.

Filed under: employment agencies,recruitment agencies — Goto @ 10:16

16/07/2010

Unemployment figures set to increase

The emergency budget has come and gone and now the realisation of what effect these policies will have is setting in. For public sector recruitment agencies it does not make pleasant reading as predictions of unemployment rising to 3 million by 2012.

The forecast came from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). This is on the back of today’s unemployment figures dropping by 30,000 in the 3 months to May to 2.47m but with the expectation of substantial public Sector jobs to go, it was worked out that the economy would have to grow by 2.5% a year so that the private sector to accommodate all the job losses. The OBR predicts only a 1.2% this year and only reaching 2.5% after 2.12.

Police jobs are particularly under threat, with funding cuts that could lead up to 60,000 police officers to go by 2015. The figure was based on the Treasury warning departments that there could be as much as 40% cuts.

A separate study showed further worrying news for employment agencies, with jobs in construction, science and manufacturing at half the levels the same time last year.

It seems that with radical shake up happening across the public sector, we all have to brace ourselves for what can be a bumpy ride. If however in a few years time the finances and the operations of many public sector departments are running at similar levels but with half the costs involved then surely it will be seen as a victory for ConDem…. but that is a big if.

Filed under: employment agencies,public sector recruitment agencies — Goto @ 10:10

21/06/2010

Britain ready for action

For one day only, the people of Britain will not be wondering what game is next on the World Cup but be bracing itself for one of the most important budgets of our time.

Employment agencies will be wondering how detrimental these changes will be, as will many companies and individuals. With George Osborne obviously getting the country ready for his budget speech tomorrow, with colloquialisms such as “Tough but Fair”, his £85 billion package will be across the board with the likely targets of welfare payments and freeze on public spending.

Shadow Chancellor Alistair Darling has a different view and feels that hindering the recovery will cause problems for Britain in the future, problems such as sluggish growth and borrowing in the longer term. These comments seem to fall on deaf ears with George Osborne, who is looking to cut £180 billion a year in welfare, with promises to use this money in other areas needed, such as education, defence and transport.

It is clear though that public sector recruitment agencies and healthcare recruitment agencies will have to be prudent in there planning over the coming years and make sure that there service is adaptable to the changes that will occur.

Filed under: employment agencies,healthcare recruitment agencies,public sector recruitment agencies — Goto @ 10:16

11/05/2010

April reports on jobs

Recruitment agencies are all to aware of the recruitment and employment confederation’s report with KPMG, that shows from month to month the state of both permanent and temporary staff appointments in the UK.

The latest reports show that there is still a rise in the number of appointments in April, however the indication was, that it was not as strong a rise as the month before. Employment agencies showed a rise in permanent staff salaries and temporary staff hourly pay rates also increased at its fastest rate for over 2 years. Inflation also rose at its sharpest rate since March 2008.

The REC’s, chief executive, Kevin Green said that whoever is in charge after the elections, their job is to ensure that they can still stimulate the job market whilst reducing expenditure and without creating a public sector recession. This is of course a worry with many public sector recruitment agencies, that the prospect of 1000’s of public sector jobs being slashed. Many private sector clients have coped with the recession by utilising initiatives such as short-time work, sabbaticals and pay freezes, these strategies have shown to work and it is crucial that these innovative techniques are used in the public sector as well.

Bernard Brown, from KPMG services, stated that the public sector have realised the scale of the task in front of them and are preparing themselves for a public sector recession. Therefore it would be no surprise that the increase in the `reports on jobs` may come to a halt.

Filed under: employment agencies,recruitment agencies — admin @ 11:05

28/04/2010

Which Recruitment Agency?

When people ask me which recruitment agencies they should use I often say that it is not as simple as saying `that one`. There are now an abundance of employment agencies that cater for many different skill sets and these agencies have a wealth of knowledge of what is happening in their sectors.

You could base your decision on location of agency, accreditations the agency may have, if they mainly deal with permanent placements or do they provide temping opportunities, what contracts do they have in place and quality of service provided. It all depends on what the individual wants out of the recruitment agency they use, some may prefer the personal touch and really get to know the consultant others may prefer agencies which have many contracts in place.

Although agencies operate very differently the overall standard of how an employment agency works has improved over the years. To the point that many will have in depth knowledge of their sectors and it doesn’t surprise me to hear that many consultants know more about their sector than people that work in that sector.

Therefore although I could not give you advice about which agency is right for you as a lot is based on personal preference, my advice will however be always use a recruitment agency when looking for work. They have the knowledge, the contacts and the understanding to find the right job for you.

Filed under: employment agencies,employment agency,recruitment agencies,recruitment agency — admin @ 11:19

19/04/2010

Public sector jobs at risk

Public sector recruitment agencies were stunned by the prediction of the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development. They stated that out of the 5.8 million people that work for the public sector, that as much as 10% may lose their jobs by 2015.

John Philpott, chief economic advisor for the CIPD, has said that the political parties do not really address how they will tackle UK debt problem and that in his view the public spending squeeze will be much greater than what the political parties are prepared to admit. He added that comments such as reducing spending through reduced wages and short-time working is very misleading and probably far of the mark of how the UK will cope with this deficit.

John philpott also said that he did not support the Conservative view of making immediate cuts and that this kind of action could have an adverse affect but did support the Conservative’s view of reversing the planned labour national insurance contributions increase in 2011, which was described as a `Tax on Jobs`

Employment agencies will take a cautious view of the public sector and will try to anticipate which areas the jobs will be more at risk. What is for sure though is that whoever wins the next General Election, will be judged mainly by their ability to tackle the UK’s deficit.

Filed under: employment agencies,public sector recruitment agencies — admin @ 14:26

06/04/2010

Media jobs created in Swansea

A grant of £100,000 has been made available by Coalfields Social Enterprise Grant Scheme for the not-for-profit media production company YstradTV, so that they can employ more staff.

YstradTV which is changing its name to Spill Media, provides training for people and has trained more than 500 people in the area. This is just one aspect of what they do, with the company also producing promotional films for NHS direct and Shelter Cymru.

They hope the grant can mean they can be more of an influence in the area and provide media training opportunities to many college students.

If you are interested in a media career in Swansea then use Gotorecruitment.co.uk to list the employment agencies that recruit in this area.

Filed under: employment agencies,media career in Swansea — admin @ 12:31

31/03/2010

National Insurance increase will cost jobs

Alistair Darling finally admitted that employment agencies may be getting more job seekers next year when the controversial plan to increase National Insurance by 1p comes into affect next April.

Under a barrage of questioning from shadow chancellor George Osborne, Alistair Darling, said that he admits that jobs will be lost due to this change but added it will be manageable.

In a TV debate between Darling and Osborne, Osborne stated that although the government had identified and wasted £11 billion and instead of focusing and stopping this kind of waste, the actions of the government is to tax every single person more by increasing National Insurance. Osborne went on to say not only is this wrong but when we are trying to recover and encourage more jobs it seems ludicrous to squeeze everyone’s income.

The news of the 1p increase, which means basically that now for every pound you earn, you will pay 12p instead of 11p to the government. Then there is also a change for the employers as well, with an increase from 12.8% to 13.8%, this will cost businesses billions. This has not been met by much support and we will have to see how business and employees can cope with this kind of added spending.

From my point of view, I think there is a fine line of acceptable increases and find that this kind of action as a bit to broad ranging and penalising, not forgetting companies with many employees will suffer greatly with added pressure of paying more National Insurance and when we are hoping that companies are just now finding their feet, this Employers NI increase could only be a set back for them.

Filed under: employment agencies — admin @ 10:28

17/02/2010

James Caan and a positive Recruitment Industry Survey

Employment agencies have received some positive news from a recent survey done by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG. The demand for staff seems to be at its highest since 2007 and although not all sectors will grow at the same rate, there is signs that many sectors are beginning to find their feet again.

James Caan has a number of interests within the recruitment industry and has spoken about how his portfolio of companies are all beginning to show more jobs and more activity. One of these companies is Webrecruit and Phil Roebuck, managing director, stated that the number of vacancies they are now working on a daily basis has increased 10 fold.

Within the REC report, it is good news for the IT recruitment agency, which showed that this sector had most demand at the moment. This is of course no surprise as in a recession this is probably an area you would look to reduce spending in and in a recovery, one of the first to be looked at.

James Caan other companies, such as The Resourcing Group has posted its best ever net profit and Eden Brown reported that the permanent job market is rebounding. This all of course suggests that the job market is moving in the right direction.

I can imagine 2010 being an important year to the recruitment market as there are many unknowns still and just where the natural level should be for vacancies and fill rates.

Filed under: employment agencies,it recruitment agency — admin @ 18:30