http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com News from http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Europes_Monster/1   The Monster Employment Index Europe has shown year-over-year growth in January. The Index gives a measure of online job demand, based on the opportunities available across a selection of career and job websites. While the growth figure may initially seem good, growth itself is down, scoring only nine percent in January compared with double figure growth throughout 2011.  Across the countries included in the study, only Germany is maintaining strong annual growth – now at 30 per cent – while The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and France all turned in negative growth figures over the first month of the new year. Engineering, production, manufacturing, maintenance and repair are all enjoying high levels of growth – over 20 per cent – while management and consulting are down by 11 per cent. While this represents the steepest decline sector-wise, the market is also shrinking for the public sector, the arts and education opportunities. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Executives_Rise/1   The quarterly Boyden Executive Outlook, from Boyden Global Executive Search claims executive hiring is maintaining good demand with some areas of growth to look forward to in the new year. Roles in technology, human resources and not-for-profit organisations all hold promise for 2012. Trina Gordon, President and CEO of Boyden World Corporation suggests the time has come for new hires to reflect the economic conditions in which organisations now find themselves: "Companies are facing challenging markets and are prepared to hire leaders who can effectively steer them through the 'new normal'," she says. "In developing regions, organisations are looking for senior executives who can apply strong global experience to further drive growth opportunities in local markets." Ms Gordon reports a good level of search activity in Europe the end of last year, despite the apparent cautiousness of most employers. While this trend is likely to continue into the new year it seems clear organisations are keen to find effective leaders who will make a difference to their business. Leadership skills, and the ability to impact on the bottom line are particularly important. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Call_Me/1   A webcast hosted by Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. has suggested that one of the most important trends affecting contact centres in 2012 will be the increased employment of remote agents. Interactive Intelligence is an IP business communications solutions and the webcast attracted more than 2,300 registrants including many contact centre industry experts. The increased use of remote agents was flagged by Art Schoeller, a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “Driven by more flexible staffing, reduced real estate costs, a broader recruitment base, and improved retention, it’s clear why the use of remote agents is on the rise,” he said.  Other trends identified included a renewed focus on the customer experience, the adoption of cloud solutions and the impact of social media on contact techniques. When audience members were asked, “How are you using social media?” the largest number, at 45.5 per cent, indicated they used it to listen to what customers were saying about their brand. That was followed by the use of social media to provide customer support (35.9 per cent), and its use for lead generation (32.9 per cent).  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Rover_Recruits/1 Jaguar Land Rover have increased the number of apprentices it will recruit this year. A total of 133 individuals will be taken on by the business – up from 114 in 2011 – and application will be accpeted from 6 February. The apprentices will be located in Solihull, Castle Bromich and Wolverhampton as well as Halewood in Merseyside.  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/ManPower_Results/1   ManpowerGroup have announced their final quarter and year end results. The results show the company is recovering for previous set-back and has accounted for reorganisations within the group.  Overall, net earnings in the quarter were $63.6 million compared to a net loss of $350.4 million a year earlier. Revenues for the fourth quarter totaled $5.5 billion, an increase of 5 per cent from the year earlier period, or an increase of 6 per cent in constant currency. The company has including a reorganisation charge in the current year fourth quarter as a result of office consolidations and severance costs. These amounted to $20.5 million in total.  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Get_Talent/1   The Talent Management Trends 2012 White Paper from global market research and consulting firm SIS International Research has identified the increasing importance of return on investment and mobile/online recruitment tools.  With technology offering less expensive and resource hungry methods of identifying talent, it seems web based solutions, social media and mobile platforms not only provide an efficient way to find talent, they also have the benefit of appealing to the current generation of jobseekers. Indeed, social media and mobile platforms – encompassing everything from YouTube to smart phones – are regarded favourably as they increase the pool of applicants an organisation can reach. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Skilled_Data/1   A survey from Robert Half has found increasing great demand for database skills. The company’s Professional Hiring Index found these skills in demand from 46 per cent of 100 CIOs surveyed, driven no doubt by the rise in the amount of structured and unstructured data now being processed by business. “Big Data is becoming a significant issue for organisations,” says Neil Hedges, senior manager at Robert Half Technology UK. “Many are struggling to manage the vast amount of information passing through the business, and lack the tools required to analyse it in a reasonable timeframe, using conventional techniques.” The expanding use of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook is also providing greater challenges for sourcing IT professionals. At the same time data management is increasingly important as regulatory requirements change and evolve. Alongside these influences it should not be forgotten that technology continues to push into completely new areas – cloud and mobile technology are both likely to experience skill shortages in the future.  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Joining_the_ARC/1   ITP Education Resourcing has become a member of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies. The announcement came yesterday as ITP’s director, Tim Mirsadeghi explained the move was intended to help the company’s work in the future.  Mr Mrisadeghi said: "We're delighted to be joining ARC as a strategic partner to support our rapid growth. “We've been incredibly impressed with their professionalism and expertise,” he continued, “and as a business operating within the Education Recruitment Sector, we consider a targeted approach to be extremely valuable. We look forward to the many benefits that our ARC membership will provide." http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Good_Jobs/1   The Ministry of Manpower in Singapore have released figures showing unemployment reached a 14-year low in the country last year. Early estimates suggest total employment has grown by 121,300 across the year, including an increase of 36,300 in the fourth quarter alone. The year has been better than 2010 when growth stood at 115,000 jobs. Interestingly, local employment grew less last year than in the previous year. Only 36,600 jobs were accounted for in this way compared with 56,200 in 2010. Foreign employment on the other hand saw strong demand and increased by 79,800 compared with 54,400 in the previous year. In the final month of the year the workforce in Singapore was split 67.2 per cent locals and 32.8 per cent foreign workers, the latter figure showing a slight increase from 31.4 per the previous year. Sector-wise the best performance was seen in the services sector (gaining 95,100 jobs over the year) with construction achieving 22,200 more jobs boosted by public projects, and manufacturing growing by 2,900 jobs. Randstad Regional Director for Singapore and Malaysia, Ms Karin Clarke commented: “There is still a shortage of talent across the board as companies look to hire experienced skilled staff. This is reflected in the 2.2 per cent increase in employment for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) compared with 1.5 per cent increase for non-PMETs which Ranstad is seeing with our clients.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Foyne_Appoints/1   Chris Newman has joined specialist sales recruiter Foyne Jones as Sector Manager. Chris, who has a background in sales recruitment, will be heading up the company’s work in the building supplies area working to increase customers in manufacturing. Peter Jones, managing director of Foyne Jones commented: “We have seen exponential growth within our key markets of builders’ merchants, manufacturers, trade suppliers and showrooms. Sales professionals are in short supply and we have seen a 30 per cent year on year growth in vacancies.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Growing_concerns/1 If you are thinking of expanding overseas for the first time or you are a seasoned recruiter operating in other countries, the Global Recruiter UK Summit 2012 will offer vast amounts of frontline advice. The March 15th summit, held at the King's Fund, Cavendish Square, London, is fittingly titled Ready to Launch and features expert guidance from those perfectly experienced in overseas growth. We have put together a panel of experts from recruitment including: Graeme Read (Antal International) who will discuss hot spots and tactics Fiona Lander (Lander associates discussing how you create a sustainable training plan for your own overseas talent Robert Langston (Saffery Champness) is presenting a dos and don't of overseas employment accountancy Kevin Barrow (Osborne Clarke) has an overview of the legal pitfalls in the important recruitment markets. More below... http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/ASWEB_and_APSCo_deal/1 ASWEB and its social work employment business members are to merge into the APSCo brand. All 13 recruitment businesses who are members of the Association of Social Work Employment Businesses will become full APSCo members while ASWEB itself will, from February 2012, function as a sector group within APSCo, retaining its name and logo. The ASWEB sector group will be chaired by Ben Arnold, Managing Director of Amicus Recruit, and will participate fully in all APSCo activities. ASWEB was established in April 2007 to raise professional standards among both recruiters placing social workers and among the locum social workers who they place. ASWEB members are bound by rigorous, independently audited standards to ensure candidates are properly accredited and matched to suitable roles. ASWEB is also responsible for organising professional training for social workers following the abolition of the Greater London Post Qualifying Consortium.   The 13 ASWEB members are: Reed Social Care, Social Work 2000, Backstop, Sugarman Group, Action First, DASH, Caritas Recruitment, Remedy Recruitment, Amicus Recruitment, Fawkes & Reece, DLK Social Care, Medicare First and Manpower.   The ASWEB members have a combined turnover of approximately £55 million per annum and about 2,000 contractors on assignments at any one time. Together, ASWEB members represent over half of the staffing market for locum social workers. There are currently around 93,000 professional social workers in the UK.   According to APSCo, both trade bodies are leading the way in championing professional standards in recruitment, but APSCo will also provide substantial commercial benefits to ASWEB members, which will make the tie-in mutually beneficial. Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo, comments: “We are delighted to bring ASWEB under the APSCo umbrella. We see this as a logical fit. Both ASWEB and APSCo members place candidates who are predominantly graduates with professional qualifications and both trade bodies share a common determination to raise professional standards.” “APSCo can offer the kind of commercial benefits and infrastructure support which can be prohibitively costly for a small association to provide.” More below....   http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Work_For_It/1   In the United Arab Emirates it used to be the case that country of origin would in part determine how much of a salary increase an employee would receive. However, this year it seems expats may find their remuneration tied to performance more closely than ever before. A Gulf Talent report, has suggested the increasing trend towards performance pay is now narrowing the salary gap that had characterised the UAE employment market for some years. “I think you will see companies slowly moving away from the pay difference of nationalities and begin to implement internal equity programmes,” said Shane Phillips, MENA Regional Practice Leader, Financial & Professional Services at Stanton Chase. “The downturn has really taught Boards the importance of executives who can actually deliver results, so I would predict pay hikes are going to those individuals who can deliver growth in a contracting market.”  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Olympic_Task/1   Around 180,000 temporary jobs are set to be created by the London. Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has said the London Olympics will generate around 180,000 temporary jobs. This is a new estimate for the amount of roles generated by the games and reflects the diversity and number of roles required by the event. It was also revealed that the official security provider at the Games has received 34,000 applications for temporary work: “We are really encouraged to see so many people are interested in working for us,” said a spokesperson for the company. “Many are keen to be involved in the Olympics and we’re confident we will get a high calibre of new recruits at all levels.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Recruit_Standard/1   The British Standards Institution (BSI) has created the first ever international standard of competency in recruitment decisions. The standard is called BS ISO 10667 – Assessment Service Delivery. It offers a benchmark which indicate the quality of occupational assessment services and should in effect, lead to the more efficient and exact placement of new employees. The standard has been developed with input from committee members including organisations such as the British Psychological Society, SHL, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Association for Coaching. “Good measurement through assessment is the key to enhancing the acquisition and management of talent,” says Professor Dave Bartram, chief psychologist at the talent measurement company, SHL: “Good talent measurement provides the ‘people intelligence’ managers need to deliver the business results.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Going_Underground/1   The London Underground is now featuring advertising from CV-Library. It is the first time this location has been used by the company which is keen to help London jobseekers if they’re looking for work in the New Year. Tube panel adverts will appear on every train line under the capital for a fortnight starting on 23rd January 2012. They will be present in at least 1,000 carriages reaching over 500,000 commuters or an estimated 20 per cent of London Underground users. The initiative is intended to educate and engage with professional candidates, as well as raise awareness of the company’s online job search facilities. The company’s other offline campaign will continue including local radio and new TV adverts. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/More_For_Encore/1   End of year financial results for Leicester based Encore Personnel Services have recorded a good year for the company. Despite economic and sector woes elsewhere, the recruitment agency delivered a turnover at the end of 2011 of £24,918,218 up a full 11 per cent on the previous year. The agency is celebrating a decade in the blue collar recruitment sector. Formed by its directors Greg Latham, Chris Hockey and Ian Briers, the first office opened in Millstone Lane Leicester in January 2002. The Recruiter Fast 50, prepared by Boxington Corporate Finance, recently ranked the company as the country’s 35th fastest growing recruitment firm based on compound annual sales growth over the last three year financial reporting period. In the past 12 months alone the company has expanded further with another two offices opening in Birmingham and Slough. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/New_Direction_Home/1   New Directions Holdings Ltd have announced the creation of a new division which will recruit for the social housing sector. Led by Steve Peake, a former business director for Hays Specialist Recruitment, the operation will be based in Cardiff and provide support providing support to across all of Wales. “I am delighted to join the New Directions team to launch this division of the business,” said Steve Peake. “As one of the government’s priority sectors in recent years, it is vital that Wales continues to invest in this hugely important sector. We have already had some really exciting discussions with key stakeholders and feedback is extremely positive.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Failing_Graduates/1   Research from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has found nearly a third of companies did not meet their recruitment targets last year due to poor skill levels among graduates. The report, compiled from a survey of 214 major employers, found 32 per cent of businesses failing to recruitment predicted levels of graduates an increase of almost a quarter in the past year. Reasons offered for this problem include applicants just not being good enough, rushed applications and consequent mistakes. Organisations also stated they did not have the time or resources necessary to train students in the key skills required. Most concern seems to rest around the engineering, transport and logistics sectors. The AGR also believe vacancies for graduates will fall by 1.2 per cent next year due to continuing concerns about the economy. However chief executive of the AGR, Carl Gilleard believes the fall will not be significant given the past two years of rising vacancies: “With the job market intrinsically linked to business confidence, I am cautiously optimistic for graduate recruitment in 2012 and it is encouraging to see that only a slight drop is predicted,” he said. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Diversity_Rules/1   Businesses should go beyond ‘box-ticking’ to ensure their organisations recruit a diversity of talent says the recruiting company Hays. There are now more female directors in British boardrooms than ever before, but this is not a time for complacency, says the organisation, nor is it a time to undervalue the real effect diversity has on a business. “Gender quotas are very much the public face of the diversity agenda and it is positive to see Britain is making progress,” says Charles Logan, Director at Hays. “But many remain sceptical about the effectiveness of such quotas when it comes to driving performance, change and share value.” Logan argues that mandatory quotas for diversity could soon become redundant as long as orgnaisations realise that diversity in the workforce has critical importance for their company’s performance. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Evenbase_for_Jobsite/1   Digital recruitment has seen the emergence of a new group of companies bringing some of the industry’s leading names into a single portfolio. The company behind the new organisation is Jobsite, who are using the move to further their global aspirations. Within the Evenbase portfolio, Jobsite are joined by Oilcareers, Broadbean.com, Cityjobs.com, LondonJobs.co.uk, emedcareers.com, and seven other companies as well as technology partnerships with organisation such as the NHS, Northcliffe Media and Johnston Press. Evanbase’s chief executive officer is Keith Potts who oversaw the genesis of Jobsite. "Today's announcement is a significant milestone in the group's maturity as a business,” he said. "We've come a long way from a family start up as Jobsite.co.uk to the group of market leading brands and 330 employees we have today. It's not surprising that our ambitions outgrew our structure and operating model along the way. Although many of our brands are already operating on the international stage, we see a far greater potential for Evenbase given the synergies of our portfolio as a whole." http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Orions_Star_Deal/1 The Scottish based manpower provider Orion has secured two deals to the value of £20m per year with the Canadian-based energy company, Nexen Petroleum UK Ltd. The company which is headquartered in Inverness, has secured a contract to be one of two providers supplying workers for Nexen’s Golden Eagle Project, as well as extending its current contract with the organisation. The Golden Eagle development includes both the Golden Eagle and Peregrine reservoirs located in the North Sea, approximately 43 miles from Aberdeen, with Orion Group providing UK and overseas manpower services over a fixed five-year period. The original contract has also been increased by a further three years which will see Orion Group provide recruitment services to Nexen’s Aberdeen, Uxbridge and offshore installations with the company operating in high-quality oil and gas in three key basins: the North Sea, offshore West Africa and the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Reed_Ruling/1   Reed’s claim that payments for lunches and commutes for temporary workers were part of a ‘salary sacrifice scheme’ have been dismissed at a tribunal. The company were in dispute with HMRC over the payments which were made to around 500,000 staff between 1998 and 2006.  Temporary staff at Reed were allowed to claim £6 a day for subsistence and up to £11.45 for travel. The tribunal said that despite claims to the contrary there was no real salary sacrifice scheme in evidence and workers were not effectively being given these expenses in return for lower salaries. Instead it appears Reed were simply manipulating salary figures after the event. Central to HMRC’s winning argument was the view that the employed workers were engaged on a job-by-job basis and not under a continuous contract. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Jargon_busters/1 Monster is aiming to simplify the 'confusing' job market place and corporate jargon when job seeking through its latest advertising campaign. Following the success of Monster UK & Ireland’s recent multi-platform advertising campaign which ran in November 2011, the brand is launching a second wave of radio activity. Drawing on the same creative hook of excessive corporate jargon in the workplace, the campaign aims to build momentum, further strengthen brand awareness and drive existing and potential job seekers to the Monster site to help them uncover new opportunities. Launching on the 23 January, the radio activity will be bolstered with further developed content (40, 30 and 20 second commercials) and a heavier weight media spend across a wide selection of stations. The radio creatives feature voiceovers from Downton Abbey star, Hugh Bonneville and Radio 4’s comedian, Lu Corfield. They will run on regional and national digital radio stations, including Capital FM, XFM, Kiss, LBC, Talksport Key 103, Heart and Absolute Radio. The campaign will run until the 27 February, backed up with extensive digital SEO and advertising support. The campaign aims to target job seekers looking to regain control of their careers in an increasingly confusing job market and position Monster as a welcome source of support and advice. It also alludes to the benefits of Monster’s Semantic Search technology which is designed to help jobseekers identify the opportunities most relevant to them. The corporate jargon creative will run across 4,600 radio spots, reaching 60 per cent of the UK’s population. More below.... http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/No_Half_Measures/1   The Professional Hiring Index from Robert Half has delivered some good news for the recruitment industry. According to the survey three quarters of UK executives are more confident about their company’s growth prospects than they were last year. Furthermore, a third of executives are planning to recruit permanent professional staff over the next year. “Private and publicly listed companies have above average confidence in their businesses’ ability to grow this year,” says Phil Sheridan, Managing Director at Robert Half UK. “This positive belief in their future success is the main driver behind stronger predictions for new hires over the next six months: more than three-in-four private companies and 80 per cent of publicly listed companies are confident in their businesses’ growth prospects.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/ARC_pleased/1 The REC has decided not to include a prohibition on supply teacher agencies from using the ‘professions’ exemption within the Agency Workers Regulations. This move has been welcomed by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies. Adrian Marlowe, chairman of ARC, pictured, said: “Having pursued the issue with both the Department for Education and the REC for a number of months, the volte face indicates that common sense and fairness has prevailed. Agencies and teachers must be allowed to operate in accordance with the law without additional and unnecessary restrictions being imposed.” More below.... http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Oriel_Deal/1   Following recent difficulties due to the economic downturn and the effects of floods in Cheltenham a few years ago, Oriel Support, Oriel Contractors and Oriel Accounting has attracted a major investment from Energize Capital. Now with a majority stake in the business, the private equity firm expects their investment to pay off in the near future: “Oriel has a really good management team and with our knowledge and contacts in the recruitment sector we expect to return this business to significant profits,” commented Jeremy Carr, Managing Director of Energize Capital. Brian Pursey, CEO of Oriel Holdings founded the company in 2000. He has built the operation up to have a turnover of around £80m and it employs 35 staff. Three years ago the company was listed in the Real Business Top 100 Fastest Growing companies.  “This is tremendous news for Oriel,” said Pursey. “This investment will enable us to take advantage of some large business gains won recently as well as new opportunities as they arise.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Darwins_Win/1   End of year results from Darwin Recruitment delivered the company its best ever quarterly results. Neither the economic downturn nor problems with skill shortages appear to have held the company back as it reported net profits of 350K – a full 15 per cent up on the preceding quarter. Darwin specialise in IT, technology and digital professionals and claims to have experienced improved demand in both the permanent and temporary areas of their sector. Interestingly the recruiter has seen no increase in the supply of new candidates to the European job market but has experienced a dramatic increase in demand from the Scandinavian territories and from Germany where unemployment is reaching record lows. “The message from our overseas clients is that they are not anticipating any slow down in their business needs,” says Darwin Owner and MD Paul Kirby. “Whilst the effects of the euro-zone debt crisis will be felt everywhere, the technology sector remains one of the most buoyant.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/BBC_Bias?/1   The Labour MP for Salford and Eccles Hazel Blears has called for the BBC’s new MediaCity, located in Salford to employ more ‘local people’. According to reports, only 26 of the 680 new jobs created by the move, have gone to local residents.  The BBC have responded by fielding Ken Lee, the human resources director for BBC North. Mr Lee has said appointments were made “based on skills and experience, not postcode” but this has not satisfied the MP who wants local to "have a fair crack of the whip" at the new jobs. "There is much, much more the BBC can do to try and recruit people from the local area,” says Ms Blears."Morrisons supermarket have just opened a store in exactly the same area and something like 80% of those jobs have come from the Salford estate.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Young_and_Jobless/1   With depressing unemployment figures announced yesterday, the CBI has called on the government to address the skills of young people. The number of 16-24 year olds has risen to 22.3 per cent of their age group, 70 per cent of whom are not in full-time education.  “These figures show that unemployment continues to be a major concern and is particularly worrying for young people,” said Dr Neil Bentley, CBI Deputy Director-General. “The only way to resolve unemployment in the short-term is to pull out all the stops to get the economy moving and businesses growing. Specialist help for our young people, like the new ‘Youth Contract’, will help support them to make the difficult transition into work.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/The_Happy_Few/1   Growth among UK recruitment agencies is being enjoyed by only a few companies. The inequality of the current market has been brought to light by a new study from industry analysts Plimsoll Publishing. They have identified a group of 393 companies who are currently enjoying an average of 23 per cent growth on their sales.  Across 1000 companies analysed a total of 355 appear to be suffering from their contemporaries’ success with sales shrinking by 16 per cent within these firms. While overall market growth has been unreliable – shrinking by 13 per cent two years ago and growing by 3 per cent last year – the high growth companies have clearly forged ahead regardless of overall conditions and Plimsoll believe their success will grow further in 2012.  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Fairs_Unfair/1 The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed that the increased qualifying period for unfair dismissal will only affect new joiners. The time an employee needs to have worked for an employer before they can claim unfair dismissal will increase from 1 to 2 years on 6 April this year. However, employees who were engaged prior to this date will still be covered by the previous time period – in other words, if they have cause to do so, they can claim unfair dismissal after only 1 year. "For recruitment purposes, businesses should ensure they are aware that new joiners starting at any time up to and including 5 April 2012, the one year qualifying period will still apply,” says Andrew Rayment partner at law firm Walker Morris. “It will be crucial to ensure that employee start dates are clear in contracts and offer letters to avoid any uncertainty over whether an employee has unfair dismissal rights and what qualifying period applies." http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/London_Shrinks/1   Financial services companies dropped 58,000 jobs last year as the global crises and fallout from the European Union financial situation resulted in the City of London shrinking more than any other financial marketplace in the world. According to figures from Bloomberg, 45 per cent of cutbacks from all western European banks fell in London with the result that employment for the city’s bankers dropped 8.5 per cent in 2011 compared with the previous year. http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Guarantee_a_Job/1   Think tank IPPR North is calling for a ‘job guarantee’ scheme in areas worst affected by unemployment. According to the organisation, analysis of ONS figures suggests in some areas of the UK there are as many as 20 job seekers for every vacancy. The national average of job seekers to vacancies stands at 4, and according to IPPR only Crawley, Cambridge, South Bucks, North Warwickshire, Harborough, Daventry and the City of London enjoy a ratio of 1 or fewer candidates per vacancy.  http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Recruit_a_Brand/1   December saw the launch of a new Australia based website designed to help businesses, franchisors and brands streamline their recruitment processes. The site, www.brandnewjobs.com.au offers free brand profiles for companies and recruiter profiles for recruitment agencies. Document hosting, tailoring and automation services can also be used so companies can offer diverse roles across multiple sites through this single resource. Bernadette Williams and Danny Hawks are behind the initiative and have a good track record for working with franchisors such as Eagle Boys Pizza, Noodle Box and Zarraffa's Coffees. “We’re thrilled to offer a new alternative for those looking for a better recruitment solution,” said Ms Williams. “In our experience, and for the many companies we have spoken to, recruiting through other jobs websites has become an increasingly long, tedious, impersonal and inefficient process.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Super_Job/1   ‘Super Reed’, the winning advert from reed's ‘Who’s hired? You decide’ competition hit the nation’s TV screens on Sunday night. The website's initiative saw 20 new directors creating 30 second adverts to promote the company’s ‘Love Mondays’ campaign. Votes were cast by the public in December attracting preferences from more than 100 countries. The winning advert for reed.co.uk features a job-weilding superhero played by maths teacher, Adam Gutteridge alongside ex-Edinburgh fringe comedy trio ‘The Wogans’. It was made by director, Jonathan Brooks, and produced by Mat Laroche. The commercial, premiered during Dancing on Ice and will now play across all major terrestrial and satellite channels, including ITV1, Channel 4, Five, Sky as well as Freeview. Managing director of reed.co.uk, Martin Warnes, explains: “reed.co.uk is all about giving people opportunities and we wanted this to sit at the heart of our latest campaign. We had six great commercials in the running, we’ve showcased some great creative talent, and now we’re really excited to be working with the team behind Super Reed.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Page_In_Casablanca/1   A Moroccan subsidiary opened by Michael Page International plc has made it the first major recruitment consultancy to have a direct presence in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. Based in Casablanca the office has been created in response to demand within the region and the objective of the company to offer wider recruitment services. “This is a logical step for Michael Page International that reflects our development strategy in emerging countries,” said Managing Director of Michel Page Africa, Paul Mercier. “With a steady annual growth close to 5 per cent, the Moroccan economy is gathering momentum and companies need to reinforce their executive team as well as their middle management.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/VATs_VAT/1   Agencies have again been reminded not to change their handling of VAT on the provision of temp staff in the healthcare, charities and financial services sector. Pressure has grown from some clients across these sectors as a the result of the tribunal, resulting in a briefing note being published by HMRC last August and the REC now reiterating the message. “HMRC’s position is clear,” says Tom Hadley, the REC's Director of Policy and Professional Services. “The Reed tribunal ruling should not in itself result in changes being made. We will continue to remind recruiters and client organisations of the current state of play. Any agency deciding not to charge VAT without having previously obtained detailed legal and tax advice would be taking a significant risk and would essentially be engaging in a game of Russian roulette with the tax man.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Cleggs_Clout/1   Nick Clegg’s campaign to open up city recruitment to the less well-off appears to have attracted significant backing. Barclays, HSBC, Credit Suisse and RBS have all backed an initiative to ensure internships, work experience and recruitment functions are made open and accessible to a diversity of social backgrounds. Clegg, who underwent an internship at a bank, has been keen to push the idea of social mobility and he seems to have convinced some companies with support coming from financial institutions including Citi, JP Morgan and Nationwide as well as a string of law firms such as Allen and Overy, Baker & McKenzie and Norton Rose.
“This is an important step towards a society where it’s what you know, not who you know, that counts,” said Clegg. “Working with the Coalition, the biggest hitters in the City of London are helping lead the way to a fairer, more open society.” http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/article.php/News/Diverse_Succes/1 Businesses should go beyond ‘box-ticking’ to ensure their organisations recruit a diversity of talent says the recruiting company Hays. There are now more female directors in British boardrooms than ever before, but this is not a time for complacency, says the organisation, nor is it a time to undervalue the real effect diversity has on a business. “Gender quotas are very much the public face of the diversity agenda and it is positive to see Britain is making progress,” says Charles Logan, Director at Hays. “But many remain sceptical about the effectiveness of such quotas when it comes to driving performance, change and share value.” Logan argues that mandatory quotas for diversity could soon become redundant as long as orgnaisations realise that diversity in the workforce has critical importance for their company’s performance.