Category Archives: Recruitment

HR News, Recruitment

Skills Shortages Continue Despite Impact of COVID on Employment – new research from XpertHR

The impact on the economy from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is stark when it comes to employment, but businesses remain concerned about filling certain positions, according to research from XpertHR.

With the onset of the pandemic, the HR profession had to take difficult decisions around employee numbers in some sectors, where even with the introduction of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme businesses could not justify the headcount in place.

More than four in 10 (42.1%) of the organisations surveyed by XpertHR reported that their workforce has shrunk since the start of the pandemic. Manufacturing organisations were particularly hard hit, with 48.8% reporting a decline in workforce size, while public sector organisations were most likely to have seen no change.

The knock-on effects of the pandemic and Brexit are expected to have the biggest influence on how organisations fare, along with the effects of both on the economy. Only a handful of organisations reported no concerns for their business over the coming year.

However, there is also a strong sense of optimism, with more than seven in 10 (71.6%) organisations feeling either “very” or “somewhat” confident about the outlook for their business. Confidence was lowest in the public sector, perhaps reflecting a concern about further austerity measures.

Skills shortages for certain occupations – around seven in 10 (68.3%) respondents told us they had experienced difficulties in recruiting for some roles or functions over the past 12 months, with most skills shortages centred on IT roles, manual roles and those in engineering.

Looking ahead, more than half (56.8%) also anticipate difficulties in recruiting for some functions in the coming 12 months, due to skills shortages. Among them, IT, manual and engineering roles were again most likely to be cited.

Workforce planning

Workforce planning is designed to help deal with periods of unpredictability – surges and plateaus in business and demand. However, as one respondent told us, the coronavirus pandemic has changed that: “We no longer have any idea what our headcount should be. Our workload is very unpredictable and trying to manage staff levels is proving challenging. We are juggling a reduction in turnover and trying to cover staff costs while we have concerns about how we would manage a high amount of absence due to coronavirus as well as the usual winter bugs. Workforce planning has never felt so tough!”

Many respondents within the hospitality sector referenced the unpredictability of demand in the industry in non-pandemic times, and how the current situation is putting the sector under even greater strain. One respondent told us that they currently do not have enough employees to cope with an upturn but cannot risk employing more staff as they fear they will have to let them go before too long.

Organisations can plan for this uncertainty by thinking about how to balance their short-term and long-term workforce needs, and by using contingency plans and adaptive planning to adjust their approach as circumstances continue to evolve.

At all times, XpertHR advises organisations to “deal with all your staff as honestly as possible and show them genuine care and respect, as the impact of this will be seen in the willingness of employees to be flexible in the short term but also in how they feel and behave towards the organisation for years to come.”

XpertHR senior editor Noelle Murphy said:

“While the coronavirus pandemic has stress tested workforce planning strategies to the limit, the perennial issue of skills shortages continue. While the current level of labour market churn will mean an increase in prospective applicants, getting those with the right skills will continue to cause employers a headache. Putting succession plans in place and looking at ways to develop skills within the current workforce needs to be a priority for employers, feeding into our ‘new normal’ way of working.”

 

AI, HR News, Recruitment

Five reasons why personality assessments could lead to more successful hires in 2021

A well-written CV and a confident attitude in a face-to-face interview aren’t enough for recruiters to decide whether a candidate is the right person for a role says Nicolas Speeckaert from skeeled, a provider of AI predictive talent acquisition software, who urges employers to also carry out a personality assessment to avoid costly hire mistakes in 2021.

This comes as recruitment web site Monster.com[i] recently revealed the top three recruiting process challenges for 2021 were assessing candidates during the interview, identifying quality candidates quickly and effectively screening candidates pre-interview.

Nicolas Speeckaert says, “The high cost of bad hires and poor retention have made it clear for many companies that they need to hire better, but with many still relying on CVs and interviews it can be difficult to determine if someone will succeed in a position or not. “There’s a lot more to a candidate than their education, experience, skills and past experiences. Today, the key to predicting future success and making the right hiring decisions is assessing candidates’ personality traits, something which is becoming increasingly important.

“Personality is a proven predictor of job performance and assessing candidates’ behavioural tendencies in a work environment enables recruiters to understand whether they will become top performers and thrive in their role, as well as fit into the culture of the company.”

“We recommend employers make more use of predictive hiring technology, which incorporate personality assessments to improve the quality of their hires in 2021. These assessments can help identify which traits are predictive of performance and engagement in the job they’re hiring for, and match profiles of candidates against these criteria.”

Nicolas Speeckaert highlights five key reasons for using personality assessments to improve recruitment in 2021:

Data-driven recruitment leads to better hiring decisions – Personality assessments provide employers with standardised and valuable insights into how candidates will behave at work and can predict job performance and company fit.

Unlike CV analysis or face to face interviews, a personality assessment allows companies to accurately assess important personality traits such as openness, conscientiousness and stability, as well as various characteristics such as sociability, leadership orientation, self-confidence and creative thinking.

Improves candidate screening at the top of the funnel – When combined with other types of assessments, such as motivation and cognitive ability, and structured interviews, the personality assessment provides powerful insights to improve the selection process. Using this at the start helps to screen out candidates that are not a good fit and makes it easier to focus only on the most promising profiles, and to identify and hire the best talent at the end.

Assess if a candidate has the ideal personality for a wide range of job categories – A personality assessment can successfully predict employee performance across a wide range of job categories. When hiring senior level executives for example companies will probably want to assess overall personality traits, but if they’re hiring a waiter they may be specifically interested in personality traits like sociability or conscientiousness.

Increases employee quality and retention – Companies can screen candidates more efficiently for aptitude and personality and assess whether a candidate is likely to stay in the role. Many factors are assessed such as passion for learning, ambition, initiative, empathy, communication skills, critical thinking skills, honesty, motivation and curiosity etc. Screening for these skills during a standard face-to-face interview can be extremely difficult.

Employees that aren’t the right fit for a job will eventually underperform in terms of engagement with the role and productivit, and will be more likely to leave which is costly and time consuming. A personality assessment can reduce hiring and training costs by providing data that will help hire the right people for a position the first time round.

Driving an evidence-based recruitment process increases legal defensibility – Using a personality assessment can increase the legal defensibility of the recruitment process as it provides employers with objective, scientifically validated predictors of success in a job, in opposition to other more subjective hiring methods. This gives companies a better chance of defending their hiring procedures if someone questions their hiring process legality.

For more information on skeeled visit: www.skeeled.com

Events, Jobs, Recruitment, Software Development

New face at expanding North Wales events pioneer thanks to award-winning recruiter

SEARCHING for a job during the Coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for many furloughed or at risk-workers in North Wales.

But it was completely unchartered territory for Emrys Roberts.

The 39 year-old, from Blaenau Ffestiniog, had been in permanent employment for almost two decades; the last time he needed to find work was at the turn of the century via traditional routes, long before the multitude of online platforms and portals there are now.

Having been furloughed and later seen his hours reduced due to the pressures of Covid-19 – which has had a dramatic impact on all sectors – the skilled software designer opted to find something new.

Swamped by the vast amount of paperwork and research needed to identify anything close to the criteria he had set, Emrys contacted S2 Recruitment – based in Bangor and Colwyn Bay – and is now happy and settled in his new position with Abergele-based events and experience pioneer, Worldspan.

“I hadn’t had to search for a job for nearly 20 years, so it was a bit of an eye opener,” said Emrys.

“I spent a lot of time signing up to job sites and scouring the internet, reading through profiles and filling out applications. I started to get responses, but they were for jobs in distant parts of the country or in roles that did not match my requirements.”

Using their vast experience and training, the award-winning recruitment team at S2 began matching his skillset with roles he had not even thought to apply for.

“I was surprised when they came back with jobs utilising specialisms within my sector – I was very impressed,” said Emrys.

“The interview for Worldspan was via video conferencing and I was delighted to be offered a place with them as there is a focus on development and the opportunity to learn and grow.”

Sian Shepherd, Business Manager at S2 Recruitment, congratulated Emrys and says there are opportunities out there in myriad industries, notably IT.

“Coronavirus has been tough on all businesses but if there is one positive it’s the way in which they have embraced advances in technology and adapted to new practices, such as home and remote working, and conducting interviews and the recruitment process online,” said Sian.

“We are at the forefront of that here in North Wales and proud to be in partnership with so many fantastic organisations, like Worldspan. We wish them and Emrys the very best of luck for the future.”

Ian Davies, Managing Director of Worldspan, echoed those words and thanked S2 Recruitment for their support.

He added: “At Worldspan we very much believe our team is at the heart of the company and we look for new members who want to grow and develop with us.

“Finding good software developers with the right skill set for our growing team isn’t easy, but S2 know what we want and always place the right people; Emrys is no exception, and we are delighted he has joined the team.”

For more on S2 Recruitment, visit www.s2recruitment.co.uk

Visit www.worldspan.co.uk for the latest news and information from Worldspan.

News, Recruitment

Recruiters: Get 12-Months’ Free Marketing Support worth £24,000 for Sharing Your Insights in Survey

Specialist recruitment marketing agency Growth Recruits are offering 12-months’ free work to one lucky respondent who completes their marketing survey.

The free marketing service up for grabs equates to £24,000 of work and will include support across SEO, PR, website performance and more.

The digital marketing agency, who cater exclusively to the recruitment industry, are calling upon recruiters to share insights into their marketing activity with an industry-wide survey.

The purpose of the research is to support the development of the agency’s groundbreaking Visibility Index which will be analysing and ranking the marketing efforts of specialist recruiters across the UK. The survey will also allow Growth Recruits to further identify how marketing is prioritised and managed within the recruitment industry, and where recruiters could gain most value from support with their marketing activity.

The survey asks for insights around how marketing is prioritised, what activities are utilised and what the key goals are for marketing teams within the industry.

Growth Recruits are encouraging respondents to share their thoughts by offering £24,000 worth of work completely free of charge to one respondent who will be picked at random. Respondents who refer another participant will be given an extra entry into the prize draw for any person they refer who completes the survey.

As experts in marketing for recruitment companies, Growth Recruits offers a wide range of marketing support ranging from SEO and PR to web design and development.

The agency has worked with clients including 360 Resourcing, VetFinders, and JGA Recruitment – boosting enquiries for those businesses and improving their visibility in search engines like Google.

The team have also worked with global leisure and hospitality agency Silver Swan Recruitment for many years, having gained incredible results for the company including press coverage on major national and international news publications and growing their audience from 1,000 to 40,000 visits each month.

Founder and Director of Growth Recruits Tom McLoughlin says, “We are incredibly excited to be launching our Visibility Index and are incredibly keen to hear from as many recruiters as possible to aid us in our research.

We are thrilled to be able to offer £24,000 of marketing to one of our respondents, and we really appreciate the insights of everyone who takes the time to participate.”

To share your insights and be in with the chance of receiving a period of free marketing from Growth Recruits complete their survey here > https://growthrecruits.com/marketing-recruitment-survey/

Find out more about Growth Recruits and how they can support your business here.

AI, News, Recruitment

How technology can help recruiters look beyond a candidate’s experience when hiring

As competition for top talent intensifies, Nicolas Speeckaert, co-founder of skeeled, a provider of AI predictive talent acquisition software, says many companies are not using the best methods to assess candidates and make the best hiring decisions because they are placing too much focus on their past experience.

Research from the Florida State University[i] investigated the link between an employee’s prior work experience and their performance in a new organisation and found no significant correlation between the two. The study concluded that someone’s experience does not predict their success in a new role. The research highlighted that 82% of 115 job ads they analysed on Monster.com required or stated a strong preference for experience. However, hiring mistakes are still commonplace. A study by the IBM Smarter Workforce Institute[ii] suggested that on average, 39% of recent hires would not be rehired.

Other research by Frank L. Schmidt[iii] found that job experience alone only predicts job performance with just 16% accuracy, whereas the combination of cognitive ability with personality allows 78% accuracy in future performance prediction.

Nicolas Speeckaert says, “Even though someone’s experience can be a poor predictor of their future performance, it continues to be the most used criteria to assess whether a candidate is suitable or not for a new role. However, it will not tell hiring managers how a candidate might behave in the workplace or what drives them. Instead of just looking at hard skills and experience, companies should look at soft skills and personality, which are what makes people thrive in a role. Assessing someone’s personality, motivation and cognitive ability is essential to determine whether they will succeed in a position and this approach will help companies find the right person.”

Nicolas Speeckaert adds, “Given the weak correlation between previous work experience and future job performance, it’s time for companies to look at other criteria to better match candidates to the job brief. We recommend a predictive hiring approach that relies on data and analytics to help companies narrow down candidates before they ever meet them for an interview.

“An important part of this approach is the candidate assessment. Using the right type of pre-employment assessments can accurately screen candidates and identify the right person for the job. This can help companies get to know candidates beyond their CV, gain a better understanding of their personality, what motivates them and their level of mental agility. “These criteria are a far more reliable predictor of whether someone will succeed in a role or not, than just their past experience. Using predictive hiring software can stop companies making costly hiring mistakes and ensure they are bringing in the right people for their business.”

For more information on skeeled visit: www.skeeled.com

Jobs, Recruitment

Christmas web events to give free support and guidance to jobseekers in North Wales

A RECRUITER will host a series of live web events to help jobseekers find employment during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Supertemps has organised three webinars to take place over the coming weeks, beginning on Tuesday December 1.

Launched 40 years ago, the Colwyn Bay and Bangor-based company plans to cover a range of topics during the free sessions, including seven traits of the successful jobseeker and how to craft the perfect CV.

The virtual programme follows the recording of support and advice videos earlier this year for furloughed and at-risk workers, featuring team members including Managing Director Sarah Ellwood and Sian Shepherd, Business Manager at S2 Recruitment, the IT, executive and engineering arm of Supertemps.

Sarah says they plan to hold online sessions for employers in the new year, but for now the focus is on supporting candidates searching for a new role.

“Despite the pandemic and the challenges of 2020 there are still opportunities out there,” she said.

“We have seen some green shoots and clients are growing in confidence as the landscape starts to shift, especially here in Wales.”

Sarah added: “There has been a positive response to our web sessions and videos from those who are either looking to retrain and try something new, or staff at risk or furloughed.

“The sessions are free, and we have one simple aim – to get our people working and our economy moving again.”

There will be presentations by the firm’s qualified recruitment experts, followed by Q&A sessions. Participants are also able to send questions in advance.

During the summer, Supertemps and S2 Recruitment launched a suite of new services to complement its award-winning temporary and permanent recruitment offering.

These included multi-channel job advertising and their ‘Recruiter Rescue’ service – where a member of the team will act as an extra pair of hands for internal HR departments swamped with applications – plus additional support including online skills testing and psychometric and personality profiling.

Sian believes the way in which myriad sectors have transformed their business models and adapted to the ‘new normal’ by further embracing online technology puts them in a position to rebuild and come back stronger.

“There are still obstacles and challenges for many industries and the Coronavirus has had a negative impact on employment figures, with so many people sadly losing their jobs or at-risk of redundancy,” she said.

“We are here for you, and best-placed to help identify the right position with the right organisation. Hopefully, there will be a good response to these virtual events, and we can move forward together.”

Register for free and find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/supertemps-and-s2-recruitment-18797243039

For more on Supertemps, call 01248 671477 or 01492 517602. Alternatively, visit the website: www.supertemps.co.uk.

For more on S2 Recruitment, visit www.s2recruitment.co.uk or call 03333 234 371.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDDc48hfPJTMq_4pyI3ZAQ

ENDS

Charity & CSR, News, Recruitment

It’s ‘Go-vember’ for Smart Solutions

Image: Smart Solutions team’s Snowdon climb in 2019

Staff from one of the UK’s largest recruitment agencies, Smart Solutions, are showing the true meaning of giving this month by declaring November ‘Go-vember’, as they take on their latest fitness challenge to raise money for Age Cymru.

Teams from all 80 hubs and on-site locations throughout the UK are donning their trainers and walking boots, aiming to travel as far as possible, all in the name of a very good cause. For every 1000km staff cover, Smart Solutions will be donating £100 to Age Cymru, their official charity partner.

Age Cymru is the largest charity working with and for older people in Wales. Their vision is to create an age friendly Wales through providing information and advice for older people and their families, enabling independence by promoting physical activity, as well as helping to combat loneliness through a number of initiatives.

Rob Webb, CEO of Smart Solutions, said: “It is a worrying statistic that 70% of older people had difficulty accessing health services during the coronavirus pandemic so far, with 44% saying they found the situation mentally and emotionally challenging. It has never been more important for us to step up our charity work as a company even further and raise vital funds for the excellent work that Age Cymru does.

“At Smart, we empower our teams to explore ways to support their own wider community and gift a day a year to their chosen project. It may include volunteering in a charity, spending time with residents at a local care home or working in partnership with an initiative close to their hearts.

“Although we’re only early on in November, I’ve been hearing some great stories of our teams across the country really embracing ‘Go-vember’ and getting in some serious steps. We’re looking forward to seeing just how far we can go and how much money we can raise for this great cause.”

Staff from Smart Solutions are no strangers to taking on challenges in the name of charity. This time last year, staff were preparing to climb Snowdon in aid of Age Cymru and Gemma’s Pink Army (founded by a Smart team member), for which they raised £4,000, completing the climb in an impressive four hours. Teams across the country are able to take one paid ‘CSR’ day a year to work with Age Cymru and also to take part in beach cleans in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society. Previously Smart have also completed numerous other initiatives for charities such as NSPCC, Bobath, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan.

Established in 2007, Smart Solutions is a pan European recruitment firm that provides large-scale workforce solutions.

News, Recruitment

Housing recruitment firm pivots to ensure sustainable growth

Specialist recruitment consultancy, Andersen James, is investing a significant sum to reshape its business model and offer a new strategic service to clients to ensure sustainable growth following the COVID-19 crisis.

The North West-based firm, which also operates nationally and places talent in New York, has pivoted its business model as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Andersen James, who has just celebrated its 5th birthday in October, has introduced a new innovative strategic partnerships service to support clients in driving better attraction, recruitment and retention of talent.

The new strategic partnerships service ensures Andersen James can add even more value to its clients through amplifying its partners’ brands, incorporating innovative technology and methodology to help with more informative hiring decisions, and implementing processes to improve the retention of talent, all whilst reducing overall costs for clients.

Having invested heavily in infrastructure and technology to bring the new service to fruition, Andersen James also plans to expand its operations across the UK and the USA markets, grow its presence in private and public sector housing, and has also enlisted the support of marketing communications agency, Jam.

The firm is also set to increase its headcount by 170%, with recent senior appointments including operations director, Rick Ollerton, non-exec chairman, Alex Arnot, and outsourced finance director, Dan Cooper of Ryecroft Glenton, through its Outsourced | FD proposition. It will also work with leading recruitment trainer, Barum Jeffries of reclearn, to develop and upskill its sales and leadership team.

Demonstrating strength and resilience through the coronavirus pandemic, Andersen James secured two major client wins with regeneration firm, Urban Splash, and housing association, Riverside.

The Urban Splash long term exclusive partnership will involve Andersen James supporting to deliver talent and overhauling the candidate journey, whilst its consultancy work with Riverside has included implementing a dedicated BAME talent strategy and planning a wider talent acquisition strategy for the group, with the hopes of setting the standards and ensuring best practice for recruitment in the housing industry as a whole.

James Leighton, Managing Director of Andersen James, said: “We made the decision to reshape our business model and invest heavily in our strategic partnerships to not only secure sustainable growth, but also set us up for future growth. While we’re still supporting our customers with traditional recruitment strategies, through our new direction, we can continue to provide leading recruitment processes and consultancy as well as demonstrating strategic value to support our clients with long-term mutually beneficial partnerships.”

Andersen James is a specialist recruitment partner for the housing sector and offers strategic partnerships in the attracting, recruiting and retention of talent.

News, NHS News, Northamptonshire, Nursing, Recruitment

Join our new team! Brand new hospital ward in Brackley seeks nurses

Brackley Medical Centre is due to open in late 2020, housing an inpatient hospital community beds service run by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), amongst other services. 

The community hospital inpatient beds service will be similar to three other services NHFT runs across the county at Isebrook Hospital in Wellingborough, Danetre Hospital in Daventry, and Corby Community Hospital. They provide specialist care for adults needing medical, physical or specialist rehabilitation, for example after a stroke or brain injury.  

As this is a brand new site the Trust need a new local team of Band 5 staff nurses to help shape and deliver the new service.  This is a unique opportunity to help establish a brand new facility, and be part of a fresh team as part of the award-winning Northamptonshire Trust.  

Community hospital inpatient beds Clinical Practice and Service Development, Vanessa Cross, said, “We’re really excited to start delivering the inpatient beds service in a brand new purpose-built facility in Brackley, meaning that patients in the south of the county can be treated closer to home, their families and friends. We’re going to need a strong team who are passionate about making sure we give our patients high quality, compassionate care, whilst also getting the new service embedded.” 

Sarah Clarke, Recruitment business partner added, “NHFT is a great Trust to work for. We know that in order to deliver the best possible care to our patients, we also need to support our staff, and the Trust has received national and international recognition for our work on staff wellbeing and engagement.  Our excellent quality care is reflected in our Outstanding CQC rating, and we’re looking forward to working with the people of Brackley and the surrounding area to bring our care and expertise to this part of the county.” 

For more information about the vacancies available, and to apply, please visit bit.ly/NurseBrackley 

Alternatively, you can visit www.nhft.work and click on the current vacancies nursing section.  

Background Screening, News, Recruitment

Technology-led UK Right to Work Identity Document Verifications Redefine Employer and Candidate Experience During the Hiring Process

Sterling—a leading provider of background and identity services—is expanding the global Sterling Identity suite of services and has launched a new UK Right to Work Identity Verification solution that uses facial recognition and fraud detection technology to accurately verify an individual’s right to work status.

According to Cifas – the UK’s leading fraud prevention service – there have been consistent increases in identity fraud over the last four years which means that the potential fines that businesses could face by failing to properly verify an individual’s Right to Work status is becoming a growing concern for employers. With in-person checks now also becoming a challenge due to social distancing rules, as well as an increase in remote working, Sterling is proud to provide an easy-to-use service leveraging technology that enables fast and accurate remote Right to Work ID verifications.

Using this new functionality, candidates follow a guided journey, which will invite them to use their smart phones to capture photos of relevant ID documents, along with a selfie image. The combination of facial recognition and fraud detection technology can accurately determine document authenticity, while the AI software examines the image to verify if it is a ‘live’ photo and matches this against the ID submitted. The results are then instantly available and accessible for final in-person checks, streamlining the verification process. As a full-service provider, Sterling is able to deliver this as either a standalone service or as part of a wider, more comprehensive background check program.

Steve Smith, Managing Director EMEA at Sterling, commented: “Modern hiring starts with identity verification and with every company in the UK legally required to carry out Right to Work checks, the accuracy of verifications is essential. With identity fraud arguably becoming much more refined, the tools to verify workers should be equally sophisticated. This combination of artificial intelligence, facial recognition software, and fraud detection technology makes the Right to Work process more accurate by removing the full reliance on human verification and, perhaps more importantly, enables the process to begin remotely, with results immediately available to the employer. With more businesses re-opening and beginning hiring, having access to fast ID verification solutions that enable a better and more efficient experience for employers and candidates alike, will be crucial to getting the UK back on track as we continue navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

To learn more visit: https://www.sterlingcheck.co.uk/services/right-to-work-verification/