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More companies are recruiting overall but number of advertised vacancies is fewer

Following the figures yesterday from the Office for National Statistics showing unemployment has dropped by 49,000, Jobsite reports while more companies are recruiting overall, fewer vacancies are being advertised, suggesting that it is still critical hires that are being made rather than widespread recruitment.

The report shows it is SMEs that have made the biggest change in recruitment with 11% more advertising vacancies in this wave of research then in February 2010.

Businesses are also looking to return to more tried and tested recruitment methods with adverts in newspapers, on job boards or in trade publications the most likely considered options for recruitment and a sharp decline in using social networking websites or business networks. This is reflected in how people are looking for jobs, with the most popular method being online job boards and both social networking and career fairs experiencing declines.

Both businesses and jobseekers are looking for a simple, ‘no-frills’ service from job boards but whereas recruiters tend to remain focused on using one job board, candidates are more likely to use several different ones. The latest research shows an 8% increase in candidates using between three and five job boards. This is in line with businesses wanting to minimise recruitment costs and candidates feeling they have a greater chance of finding a job by spreading their net wide.

Keith Potts, MD of Jobsite, said: "The Online Recruitment Quarterly Market Tracker report is an invaluable piece of independent research detailing how both recruiters and jobseekers are changing their behaviour. It helps to show the true effects that factors such as the recession or a new government have on job hunting and recruiting. It’s fascinating to see both the similarities and differences between the two audiences and by gaining a better understanding of their changing attitudes and behaviour it means we can do a better job at meeting their needs”.

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Social Networks Overtake Search Engines

For the first time in the UK, social networks received more web visits than search sites during May. Statistics from Experian Hitwise show the former accounting for 11.88% of internet visits, with the latter on 11.33%.

"We have been expecting this, but it is a pretty big milestone," says Hitwise Research Director Robin Goad.

"Although social networks and search engines perform different functions, they both act as gateways to the wider internet. This data perfectly illustrates the key role that social media now plays in so much online behaviour."

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Recent Surge in Employer Confidence

The latest research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) shows a massive rise in employer confidence as the jobs market begins to return to normality.

A welcoming 96% of employers stated they now expect their permanent workforces to remain static or grow within the next three months - a rise of two per cent on the previous month.

While a total of 86 per cent expect their use of agency workers to grow or stay the same within the same period.

Roger Tweedy, the REC's Director of Research, said: “This is the most encouraging sign we have had so far that the jobs market is now gathering momentum led by a higher demand for temporary workers. Following last month's slight dip in employer confidence businesses are forging ahead with plans to stabilise or expand their workforces. This fits with the feedback from professional recruiters on the ground, who are reporting increased hiring activity in most sectors.

“Looking ahead, public sector cuts could act as a counterweight to the improving jobs outlook in the private sector. Post-election, the debate will need to focus on new ways of delivering public services rather than on short-term cuts, and this is one of the main thrusts of our current public sector resourcing campaign.”

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UK’s Leading Job Board

Leading UK job board, reed.co.uk, has been the UK's most visited commercial job site so far in 2010.

Figures released by Hitwise show that reed.co.uk has received a greater share of visits than any other independent job board.

February's figures show reed.co.uk received 4.29% of all visits to Employment and Training sites in the UK.

In January, reed.co.uk became the first UK job site to reach 3 million unique visitors in a month - a feat repeated in February - as applications soared to more than 1.8 million.

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments:

“Achieving record breaking levels of traffic is only the first part of delivering an effective service to our clients.

“We’re increasingly seeing a renewed confidence amongst businesses to recruit new staff and our role is a simple one: to match their vacancies with the right candidates. By continuing to invest in developing our products and promoting our service, reed.co.uk is enabling UK companies to hire the staff they need to grow their business.”

reed.co.uk will continue its ambitious plans for growth throughout 2010 and is currently recruiting staff to join its sales team.

eRecruit Solutions is one of the leading flat fee recruitment companies in the UK. To see eRecruit Solutions roles on Reed please click through to this link Reed - eRecruit Solutions

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Estate Agents ‘Open the Door’ to Flat Fee Recruitment

The recent downturn in the economy has turned the tables on traditional Recruitment Agencies, and bred a new form of Recruitment Company; the Flat Fee Recruiter.

Charging a small one-off fee per role, eRecruit Solutions stepped in to the Estate Agency market in early 2008 to provide a low-cost, high-impact alternative to traditional recruitment methods such as agencies and newspaper advertisements. They have since formed partnerships with a number of the largest Estate Agencies, Letting Agencies, Financial Advisors and Property Management Companies throughout the UK, and are now supplying them with a range of sales, support, management and financial staff.

With first-hand experience of eRecruit Solutions’ service, Gillian Mills, Training and Development Manager for Reeds Rains, commented:

“We were approached by eRecruit Solutions a few months ago, and decided to ‘dip our toe in’ with a Lettings Administrator role. After taking a detailed brief from me, the results of their campaign were almost immediate, providing us with a great selection of candidates to choose from; one of which started very quickly afterwards, and all for a flat fee of £499.

We have since used eRecruit to source a high volume of Graduate Development Programme applicants, a Branch Manager for one of our major branches, and will be using their service for a number of other roles that will be coming through in the very near future”.

With wide experience of the Internet’s job boards, eRecruit Solutions advertise their clients’ vacancies across the UK’s largest and most effective online recruitment sites, harnessing the strength and accessibility of the Internet to reach an optimum level of relevant job-seekers for any role. More than 80% of active job-hunters now use the Internet as their first port of call, giving eRecruit a huge net to catch the right people with.

eRecruit’s Client Services Team then manage and screen all applicants for each individual role, and then send successful candidates directly to their client to be taken to the next stage; leaving the client in full control of their own recruitment process. Most of eRecruit Solutions’ clients are reporting between six and eight hours in saved administration time per role, compared with advertising the job themselves and dealing with huge response levels.

 

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Customer Case Study – VIE at Home

Background:

VIE at home is one of the leading direct sales companies in the UK, selling a wide range of cosmetics and skincare products through 10,000+ direct sales consultants and a transactional website.

VIE at home, formally Virgin Vie At Home, has recently been bought out by a management team led by Ros Simmons and Ratan Daryani who have both worked for the company since its fruition. Their strong belief in the direct sales model means that the new management team is well positioned to harness the full potential of the brand and business.

To continue the growth of VIE at home the new management team will continue to focus on and enhance the direct sales channel, which is the core of the business. To achieve this, they recently began a national recruitment campaign with eRecruit Solutions to recruit direct sales consultants throughout the UK.

Challenge:

When looking to recruit direct sales professionals throughout the UK, VIE at home faced a number of challenges. Yvonne Clay, Head of Brand at VIE at home explains “Recruiting direct sales professionals involves a lot of time and effort due to the way the direct sales model is structured. To advertise, and appoint a new direct sales representative can take a considerable amount of time”.

VIE at home has looked at expanding its national network of direct sales professionals through previous recruitment advertising in local/regional media, such as local newspapers and radio.

Clay explains further “Using local media to recruit regionally is an obvious idea but from our experience this can be very expensive, difficult to track and often does not give a good return-on-investment. Print advertising costs vary depending on the area you are recruiting within, and to research each regional media and source local readership figures is resource heavy”.

“As a company (formerly) under the Virgin umbrella, VIE at home benefits from a great deal of word-of-mouth recommendation and exposure. As a direct sales business a large part of our success is down to word-of-mouth, a strategy we were keen to use when recruiting in order to avoid high recruitment costs”.

With the need for an effective recruitment program capable of recruiting direct sales consultants, a low recruitment budget and the need for efficiency throughout the entire process, eRecruit Solutions was appointed to help manage a national recruitment campaign.

Issues:

As a direct sales business, one of the most important issues VIE at home is the efficiency of operations. With a large number of direct sales staff, and a relative small number of back office workers, efficiency is key throughout the business.

Yvonne Clay, Head of Brand at VIE at home comments ”Operational efficiency is crucial to our business and applies equally whether we are dealing with skin care products or recruitment processes. Having to deal with multiple regional media departments, sign numerous advertising contracts and deal with a multitude of different advertising sales executives would have taken hours”.

Instead, VIE at home turned to eRecruit Solutions and Managing Director Dave Morgan. Morgan comments ”One of the many advantages we offer is a single contact point for companies looking to recruit throughout the UK. Rather than dealing with numerous regional media executives we advertise opportunities on a wide range of regional and national job boards, ensuring we reach the widest possible audience throughout the UK for our clients with a single point of contact, saving a lot of time and energy”.

Another important issue for VIE at home was measuring the return-on-investment of the recruitment campaign. As VIE at home was looking to recruit direct sales consultants throughout the country, measuring the number of applications from different regions in the UK and the quality of applications from different regions was very important.

Yvonne Clay explains further “Experience has taught us that using traditional recruitment advertising works well in some areas of the UK, but in others it falls short of the mark. Using eRecruit Solutions for all of our national recruitment and an online recruitment strategy has allowed us to reach the entire country simultaneously and directly measure the number of applications we have received from different geographies”.

Solution:

In early 2009 VIE at home approached eRecruit Solutions, an innovative new flat-fee online recruitment business which helps organisations gain optimal exposure for their vacancies across a broad range of online recruitment resources.

VIE at home was recruiting for a number of commission based direct sales consultants throughout the UK and was looking to create a national recruitment campaign to communicate key messages regarding the VIE at home brand, explain the direct sales model and achieve a high number of qualified good quality leads in order to recruit the next generation of VIE at home direct sales consultants throughout the UK.

Dave Morgan, Managing Director of eRecruit Solutions comments “VIE at home needed a national recruitment campaign. With access to a network of hundreds of online job boards including Monster, TotalJobs, Fish4Jobs and Jobsite.co.uk, we were quickly able to draft and upload the opportunity onto a large number of online recruitment sites throughout the country”.

Morgan continues “The vacancy was written and approved within hours and was online for several weeks. It is difficult to put an exact number of the number of jobseekers that read the advertisement but we estimate it to be between 15,000 and 25,000 - a fantastic level of exposure for any business”.

Yvonne Clay, Head of Brand at VIE at home continues the story “Within a few weeks we had received ninety-nine CV s expressing a direct interest in becoming a VIE at home direct sales consultant. From just under one hundred applications received over 40% were deemed ‘highly desirable’ candidates”.

Clay continues “The ability to tap into eRecruit Solutions specialist online recruitment knowledge has saved VIE at home a lot of valuable time and expense. In the past few weeks we have recruited four direct sales consultants. We paid eRecruit Solutions a single flat fee, and the return-on-investment has been fantastic. We estimate we have saved over £6,000 in recruitment advertising costs”.

”New consultants are worth on average many thousands of pounds to the VIE at home business within any one year. The new consultants we have hired through eRecruit Solutions are a fantastic addition to the business. We have compared the use of eRecruit Solutions against other recruitment channels we have previously used and they have they produced the best results and the highest return-on-investment we have seen”.

Dave Morgan comments, “Since eRecruit Solutions began in 2008 we have helped hundreds of companies with their recruitment strategy. We are delighted to have helped a number of direct sales businesses such as VIE at home with their recruitment and look forward to working with them again in the future”.

About eRecruit Solutions

eRecruit Solutions is an innovative new flat-fee online recruitment business, helping companies slash their recruitment costs. The business is managed by leading UK recruitment specialists Dave Morgan, Jon Druitt and Sean Curtis and allows clients to gain optimal exposure for their vacancies across a broad range of online recruitment resources.

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Online Recruitment Grows

Online recruitment showed further signs of recovery, with Monster’s Employment Index growing by seven points in October.

Hiring increased across most sectors spurred by strong growth in education, manufacturing, transportation, hospitality and sales.

The highest demand was recorded in Wales, with notable upturns also recorded in Scotland and the South West, while the construction sector remained at an all-time low.

Year-on-year, hiring levels in the UK are down 29%.

Hugo Sellert, head of economic research, at Monster Worldwide, says: “Despite economic indicators showing that the UK remains mired in recession, the solid expansion in online recruitment activity in October suggests the fourth quarter is off to a better start.

“The rise in online job openings to an eight-month high points to an early recovery in hiring demand. Companies across the UK may now be considering expanding payrolls again as economic conditions have stabilised”.

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Customer Case Study – Building Strong Foundations and Cutting Down on Cost

Background:

Pick Everard is an independent multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering partnership. Established in the 1860s the business has nine regional offices in Bury St Edmunds, Derby, Galway, Glasgow, Inverness, London, Nottingham, Sligo and Taunton, with the UK head office based in Leicester.

With over 400 employees spread throughout the UK the staff of Pick Everard includes a wide range of professionals with skills to match the company’s comprehensive range of engineering, architectural and construction management services. They cover concept and feasibility studies through all stages of design, site supervision, project management, cost control & commissioning.

Challenge:

As a multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering business, Pick Everard relies on a talented and diverse team of employees. The business operates within a number of industries including health, education, industry, defence, central and local government, leisure, retail and financial services and as a result, demands employees from a variety of backgrounds and skill sets.

Csaba Princz, HR Assistant at Pick Everard comments, “The diversity of skills, backgrounds and experiences within the business is incredible and includes engineers, surveyors, environmental consultants, architects and many other professional services. However, from a human resources standpoint recruitment can be challenging due to the specialist nature of each position the HR team is asked to recruit for.”

Traditionally the Pick Everard HR team has approached specialist recruitment companies or has tried to recruit directly via advertisements within relevant trade publications.

Princz continues “In the past we have used specialist or general recruitment agencies to help fill vacancies. Although the quality of service is reasonably good, the costs for filling each vacancy are very high. A traditional recruitment agency will typically charge a high percentage of an employee’s first year salary. The professional and highly skilled workforce at Pick Everard means this is a very expensive option.”

“As a HR team we have also tried recruiting directly in order to cut out the fee we pay to recruitment agencies. This has also proven difficult due to the depth of specialist knowledge needed to recruit for a specific position, for example, knowing exactly what publication a structural engineer with over nine years experience reads. There are also the associated costs such as the advertisement design which can add up.”

Issues:

The architectural and engineering industry is a competitive market and Pick Everard competes for talented staff with a number of multi-disciplinary construction consultancies and smaller independent practices. Due to the specialist skills and experiences needed within the business Pick Everard has traditionally recruited pro-actively due to the long lead times taken to fill vacancies.

“Long lead times are one of the most difficult issues we face in the HR team. Potential employees will often be on three-to-six month notice periods which mean the HR team has to plan well in advance.” Princz commented.

With a total of ten offices, located from Somerset to Glasgow, the geographic spread of the Pick Everard offices is also an important factor within the companies HR planning, as HR is centrally managed and co-ordinated from the company’s head office in Leicestershire.

“Recruiting for regional vacancies outside of the traditional big cities throws up its own challenges. As a HR team we have to think about potential candidates living locally to the office, and how to reach them, as well as recruiting nationally in order to attract the level of talent we need within the business. Helping relocate new employees is common but has an obvious time/cost implication as candidates may decide mid-way through the recruitment process they do not want to relocate. As a result, getting a good short list of potential candidates for any position is crucial, otherwise the HR team can waste a lot of time and effort” he says.

Solution:

In 2008 Pick Everard approached eRecruit Solutions, an innovative new flat-fee online recruitment business which helps organisations gain optimal exposure for their vacancies across a broad range of online recruitment resources. At the time Pick Everard was recruiting for a specialist Graduate Engineering role and needed a quick response.

Dave Morgan, Managing Director of eRecruit Solutions comments, “Pick Everard needed to source candidates for the position quickly and effectively. They needed to reach as wide an audience as possible due to the specialist nature of the vacancy and so needed national exposure. eRecruit Solutions were able to take a brief from Pick Everard and write and tailor a web-enhanced advertisement.”

Morgan continues, “The vacancy was on-line within hours and was featured on a range of leading web based recruitment sites including Jobsite, TotalJobs and Fish4Jobs, as well as numerous other generalist and ‘niche’ job sites. Pick Everard were soon sent over 15 relevant, pre-screened applicants and were quickly able to select the top candidates to interview.”

Csaba Princz comments, “The ability to tap into eRecruit Solutions’ specialist on-line recruitment knowledge has saved the business a lot of valuable time. The vacancy was on-line quickly and effective and allowed us to begin receiving applications immediately, rather than waiting for specific publications to be printed and distributed. The number of on-line recruitment sites that our vacancy was advertised on meant we received a fantastic response rate from job hunters who otherwise would not have seen our own advertisement.”

Princz continues, “The time the HR department has saved, and the speed of the responses we have received has been excellent, however the eRecruit Solutions fee structure is the cherry on the cake. For a flat fee of £499 eRecruit Solutions wrote and designed the advert, placed the vacancy on numerous recruitment web sites, managed and screened all of the applications and liaised with us throughout the entire process to make sure the candidates we were receiving were appropriate, offering to amend the process if not.”

Dave Morgan, Managing Director of eRecruit Solutions comments, “Since we first began working with Pick Everard we have filled numerous other positions for the business. We are delighted to have helped such an interesting business and look forward to a healthy ongoing relationship.

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Give young people the tools they need to get into work rather than focusing on A-level pass rates, says British Chamber of Commerce

As more than a quarter of a million students receive A-level results this morning, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) claims too much attention is focused on the annual ritual of exam results and too little on the skills young people need to succeed at work.

Adam Marshall, director of policy at the BCC, said: "Companies up and down the country tell us too many young people are still leaving school, college or university without the tools needed to get into work. So rather than focus on A-level pass rates, councils, colleges and local businesses need to form a closer partnership - ensuring employers can recruit locally and young people get the training they need to get ahead."

This year more than one in four A-level entrants (26.7%) achieved the top grade and the overall pass rate rose to 97.5%, an increase of 0.3% from last year. There are also 60,000 more applications for university places than last year - putting pressure on the graduate recruitment market.

And, regardless of results, thousands of school leavers will begin their hunt for job vacancies while the country is in the grip of recession.

The Forum of Private Business is encouraging small firms to implement apprenticeship schemes, internships and work experience programmes to help "creative and driven" young recruits learn what employers need from their staff.

Phil Orford, the Forum of Private Business's chief executive, said: "Our members value young people who can bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the workplace. It is important that young people leave school, college of university with the skills and confidence they need to enter their first job and do well."

But research from jobsite.co.uk shows 53% of firms are still hiring and, of these, 80% are looking for full-time permanent staff. Jobsite also reports 15% companies are also recruiting full-time junior HR roles.

eRecruit Solutions are online recruitment specialists that allow companies to recruit their next employee for £499.

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Vocational qualifications are highly rated by employers - but staff forget to include them on CVs

Although 71% of employers rate staff with vocational qualifications as essential in improving the competitiveness of their business, only 29% of adults declare their training on CVs.

Research from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) found 37% of employees with vocational qualifications were being awarded a higher salary than those without who were doing a similar job. And 71% of the workforce thought those with vocational qualifications were better suited to the workplace than degree graduates.

In recession, 72% of employees with vocational training think it is of more benefit to them now than ever before. But 18% of them do not remember which certificates they own.

Des Hancox, a director of the CIEH, comments: "Jobseekers who can see the value of vocational qualifications are one step ahead in today's employment market. The research demonstrates that businesses are placing more value in vocational qualifications, particularly in the current climate and are already recognising that this sort of investment will be a key facet in helping the UK economy in the long-term. We have therefore launched this initiative to help the UK unemployed add value to their jobseeking prospects and realise their full potential."

eRecruit Solutions are helping companies to continue recruiting by offering online recruitment campaigns for a single flat fee of £499.

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Totaljobs research is a global first

Totaljobs.com is gearing up for the largest piece of international labour market research ever conducted, it was announced last week.

More than 50,000 jobseekers are expected to participate in a global research project which will explore what motivates people to choose specific countries and cities to live and work, and why they choose to pursue international careers in general.

The project is a joint venture between Totaljobs.com, market researchers Intelligence Group and The Network - an alliance of 36 leading recruitment job boards from in more than 100 countries. The study will be conducted across 40 participating Network countries, representing every continent on the globe.

Full results are expected towards the end of the year answering questions like “How can employers reach and move labour market potential in one country to apply, work and move to another country?” The study could prove invaluable to employers who are considering expanding or relocating to another county, helping them to adapt their recruitment strategy for maximum effect.

“The insights derived from 55,000 plus respondents will enable Totaljobs to become the authority in this area for the benefit of its global clients,” said Steven Lewis, managing director of The Network and international sales director of Totaljobs.com.

“Will Germans relocate? What do Canadians want in an employer? Do you need the salary in a UK job posting? The Totaljobs/Network Survey will provide the answers!"

This is the second collaboration between Totaljobs.com, The Network and Intelligence Group; in 2006 the same trio produced a very influential piece of European research which revealed how different occupational groups had different motives in choosing specific international employers or countries. Five times more countries will be participating in the latest piece of research.

eRecruit Solutions run recruitment campaigns on Totaljobs and up to 800 other job boards for a single flat fee of £499.

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Online Recruitment - Pros and Cons

Online Recruitment is a new phenomenon, but as with most new age technologies, it is rapidly growing. Hundreds of businesses across the UK are taking full advantage of the gold mine of potential employees that the internet offers. However, as with any form of recruitment, there are issues to contemplate. There are two main issues where online recruitment is concerned. The first issue is how do you attract the passive job seekers: that is, the job seeker who is not actively using job boards to look for jobs? In order to dominate the online recruitment market and gain the best employees, companies need to have an edge over their competition when it comes to attracting employees.

The second issue is the secrecy offered by the internet. Through the internet, people have a much easier time of embellishing certain character traits, and hiding others. Essentially, there is an increased chance of recruiting someone who does not fit your criteria for the job than there is if s/he were to be recruited through traditional methods. To avoid this, companies should make sure they interview every potential employee before proceeding to hire.

The advantages of using online recruitment far outweigh the disadvantages, and online recruitment is increasingly becoming the industry leader for recruitment. The online recruitment services provided by recruiters give companies the ability to cover a much larger number of job seekers. An online recruitment service also guarantees that graduates have an increased chance of securing suitable roles. With around 80% of job seekers now using the online job boards, can companies really afford to miss out on this form of recruitment???

eRecruit Solutions are online recruitment specialists that allow companies to recruit their next employee for £499.

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The recruitment road: looking ahead in 2009 and staying positive

Large scale redundancies, high numbers of job applications for scarce vacancies and pressure to recruit at the lowest possible cost are all challenges our industry faces over the next 12 months. How the human resources industry reacts to these pressures and what it will look like after the recession remains uncertain. Yet despite the lack of clarity there are some things we can count on, argues Dave Morgan (Managing Director, eRecruit Solutions, UK).

Challenges: internal verses external

The human resources industry is currently facing a testing time. The past six months have seen thousands of redundancies, reduced wages, new working practices and shorter working weeks, in almost every industry throughout the UK economy. These changes have dramatically affected the HR function and have had a lasting effect on the industry.

The current internal challenges faced by HR professionals are monumental, and a glance into the future shows the external issues facing us all during the next six months will not be any easier.

The current economic crisis has had a number of external affects; the two most direct are:

  1. fewer employment opportunities for job seekers to apply for, and,
  2. an increased number of high quality jobseekers on the market applying for vacancies.

These two issues are accompanied by internal pressure to use low cost recruitment methods in order to keep to ever-tightening budgets, and have resulted in large numbers of HR teams seeking a more time- and cost-effective recruitment source.

Although direct advertising appears to immediately reduce costs, the indirect cost is often much higher with companies paying higher advertisement fees due to one-off placements and HR teams struggling to cope with the volume of applications in terms of CV acknowledgement, CV sifting and screening, while other internal HR challenges remain.

The' traditional' recruitment agency model is, and always will, offer a time-saving alternative, although the high costs remain the same. This has meant that many organisations are cleverly switching to cutting-edge alternative recruitment companies and RPO.

2009: The Road Ahead

The next 12 months will have a profound effect upon the human resources industry. Research carried out with corporate human resources managers has shown a number of trends that point towards significant medium/long term changes in how the industry operates.

The most significant changes facing the industry during the next 12 months include:

  • Cost-cutting recruitment methods: this is likely to be one of the major 2009 trends as organisations are forced to tighten their belts in all areas
  • Overwhelming candidate choice: is an issue that will face almost every human resources department in the UK as high numbers of redundancies has flooded the market with jobseekers
  • Communicating changes in internal corporate strategy: implementing and communicating internal changes within organisations will become a key task as corporate strategy continues to adapt and respond to market conditions
  • Low levels of staff motivation: are likely to be another issue caused by dealing with the traditional repercussions following corporate redundancies
  • Increasing speculative approaches from recruitment agencies: all of which are searching for scarce new business opportunities, and keen to obtain placement fees

HR departments are facing a greater range of internal and external challenges than ever before. While the next 12 months looks set to offer little optimism, organisations who are looking forwards and are beginning to recruit must consider where and how they do so. Organisations recruiting may believe that direct advertising is easier than ever, however, the quantity and quality of job hunters on the market provides human resources professionals with a double edged sword.

Despite the obstacles the industry faces, the positive side is to look at the quality of HR professionals within the industry. Our discipline is not immune from redundancy and a recession that reduces the number of employees within a sector can often leave the market with the best professionals in the business.

Source: Online Recruitment Magazine

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Online Solutions: Outsourcing Recruitment

The role of outsourcing within HR continues to evolve. As some outsourced services diminish, such as recruitment agencies, another one rises: the flat-fee recruitment model.

Dave Morgan, Managing Director, eRecruit Solutions

The rise of outsourcing

The UK human resources industry began outsourcing HR systems and processes in the mid 1980’s and since then outsourcing, as an industry in its own right, has developed at a steady pace.

Outsourcing within HR has traditionally been associated with recruitment agencies. However the development of the industry has lead to a number of new services being offered, such as online advertising and CV sifting, training and development, redundancy planning and numerous others.
 

The development of the internet has played a large part in the progress of the HR industry throughout the past few years and has helped develop the outsourcing industry. Online access has allowed many previously time consuming HR tasks, such as recruitment advertising and candidate response management, to be completed either automatically, or outsourced.

HR and the internet

Developments in technology continue to save human resources managers a great deal of time as many HR tasks can be completed more efficiently.

Efficiency within HR departments has also improved as the speed of delivery of HR services increases.

Arguably one of the most interesting areas of the HR outsourcing industry to develop has been recruitment. Up until recently, many recruitment agencies would charge a fee of around 20% of a candidate’s salary for successfully filling a vacancy.

With the development of the internet the recruitment agency market is quickly declining. With several well known recruitment agencies having gone out of business within the past six-to-twelve months, many experts predict that others will follow as the industry looks for lower cost and higher returns, in order to fill vacancies.

The pros and cons of outsourcing

Despite the time and cost savings associated with outsourcing, the industry does have its critics. Research has shown that the primary concern raised by HR managers against outsourcing is ‘a lack of control’.

While in some respects this argument carries a significant amount of weight, many outsourcing experts counter this with a belief that human resources managers should focus on the areas they add greatest value to within an organisation, such as training and mentoring staff, focusing on employee retention and internal communications, and by releasing control of non-essential tasks, will increase departmental productivity.

By focusing on non-essential tasks, such as recruitment advertising and first stage CV sifting, many HR professionals are using valuable time carrying out tasks that could be outsourced to a specialist, saving overstretched HR teams’ valuable time and effort.

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Outsourcing recruitment advertising

Although numerous other areas of human resources management have also been outsourced, the development of a ‘flat fee recruitment’ model whereby the recruiter will advertise an employer’s role on a number of online job boards, filter the response through and provide a selection of suitable candidates to choose from for a low-cost fixed fee, has been by far the most popular and successful.

The popularity of the ‘flat fee recruitment’ model has proven popular due to a number of reasons, such as the removal of highly administrative tasks from HR departments.

Countering the ‘lack of control’ argument is the fact that the employer retains control of the process, i.e. they still look after the interview/start process for all new staff. This allows the employer to gain many of the benefits of using a traditional agency, whilst facing only a fraction of the typical cost.

Outsourcing as a valuable solution

Outsourcing is deeply engrained within the UK human resources market. As the industry has grown and new media technology has developed, innovative and modern outsourcing solutions have emerged and older business models have faded.

Current market conditions have left many HR departments facing unprecedented challenges, such as dealing with the quantity of applications for vacancies, while struggling to meet the internal challenges their own organisations face.

As the UK economy heads further into recession and many companies halt investment in new services, outsourcing must continue to prove itself as a valuable solution capable of delivering a return-on-investment as well as adding specialist skills/experience to HR departments during times of need.

Source: Changeboard.com

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eRecruit Solutions launches

Innovative new recruitment service creates new market niche

eRecruit Solutions, an innovative new flat-fee online recruitment business helping companies slash their recruitment costs, has been launched by leading UK employment specialists Dave Morgan, Jon Druitt and Sean Curtis.

eRecruit Solutions will work with a variety of industries throughout the UK to offer a cost effective alternative to traditional recruitment models. The new service will source candidates for clients’ roles by advertising vacancies across a wide range of job boards such as Monster, Jobsite, TotalJobs and fish4jobs. Each application received will be managed and will provide the client with the maximum exposure for each vacancy and the widest choice of applicants.

Dave Morgan, UK Managing Director of eRecruit Solutions comments,

  The launch of eRecruit Solutions is not only the launch of a new business, but an exciting new niche within the UK recruitment industry. Over 80% of jobseekers now look online when searching for a new job, so eRecruit Solutions reach an optimum target audience. This allows our clients to gain the maximum exposure for their vacancy and provides the widest selection of relevant candidates for them to choose from. The days of having to use a traditional agency and pay extortionate fees are gone.  

Also commenting on the launch of eRecruit Solutions, Jon Druitt, Sales Director, says,

  With such a broad range of online job boards, all working in very different ways and requiring a lot of administration, HR teams face a daunting challenge of knowing where and how to advertise each vacancy to get the maximum effect. By managing this process and blending in our vast recruitment industry knowledge, eRecruit Solutions are saving HR departments colossal amounts of time as well as money.  

Source: Online Recruitment Magazine

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Be a jack of all trades rather than a master of one, urge HR recruiters

HR professionals should look to build their careers across as many industries as possible rather than ride out the downturn in a recession-proof industry, according to HR recruiters.

Alison Hughes, director at Higher Talent, told Recruiter that candidates with a varied background would benefit from having broader options later on in their career.

  I think it is important for HR professionals to operate across more than one sector. It is more interesting and it gives you broader options later on in your career. I think the are more sectors you have exposure to, the better it will be to get that ultimate HRD (HR Development) job at the end.  

From our perspective, we would still value an HR professional to have as broad an experience as possible. It illustrates that they are able to survive and add value across different environments. You can get type cast. It is all about timing. Somebody in the first half of this year could have found it difficult to get out of the sector but now it is reverting and going the other way around.  

Hugo Tucker, director at Bullet Search

Source: www.recruiter.co.uk

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eRecruit Solutions partners the Business Startup Community Jobs Board (Press release, October 2008)

Business Startup Community, one of the largest online networks of start-ups and small business owners in the UK, today launches a new Jobs Board that enables its members to advertise their job vacancies for free.

Business Startup Community is the first business community to offer its members support by advertising their job vacancies for free. It encourages its members to succeed in business by building strong relationships with organisations that add value to the members. Their recent partnership with eRecruit Solutions, a business who specialise in using online channels and CV databases to help clients to fill their vacancies, will help members by saving them money and finding them great new people to help their business become a success.

  eRecruit are really motivated and enthusiastic; they are experienced in the field of online recruitment and we are pleased they are Partnering us with the new Jobs Board on the Business Startup Community website, because they will be able to offer a wealth of knowledge to our members and support them in their quest for new staff.  

The business community is only two years old and boasts almost 30,000 members in the UK.

Katie Moore, Managing Director,Business Startup Community

  We are always looking for new and innovative ways in which to support our members and although the economic climate is difficult, this is a very good time to recruit because now small businesses have access to some very experienced and talented people who are deciding to move away from big business careers either through choice or redundancy.  

  There are hundreds of websites advertising job vacancies on the internet, but we aim to make our Jobs Board the one that not only small business owners will use to advertise their vacancies, but the one that people who are looking to work for small businesses will visit first and foremost to look for their preferred employers………  

Katie Moore, Managing Director,Business Startup Community

  We are truly proud to be Partners with the Business Startup Community. As a company with fond memories of the trials and tribulations of starting up, we are in a strong position to help, and fully understand, any new business to recruit successfully... without breaking the bank  ;

  Our team of consultants will help you through the recruitment process, one which is often not as simple as it may sound, offering step by step professional advice. A triumphant business is built on the people within it, so we are here to guide you all of the way  

Dave Morgan, Managing Director, eRecruit Solutions

For further information about the Business Startup Community go to www.startupcommunity.co.uk or call Katie Moore on 0117 930 4927.

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E-recruitment could slash public-sector hiring costs (01 May 08)

The public sector is being urged to make use of e-recruitment as new research shows how it can be used to attract high-quality job seekers cost-effectively.

It says that, with the demands placed upon public-sector organisations to make cost savings and adhere to targets, employers in this arena would benefit greatly from a cost-effective solution such as e-recruitment.

Such practices would slash costs by reducing organisations reliance on agencies and suppliers, as well as removing the need for paper and administration, according to the report.

It also claims e-recruitment can reduce the time it takes to hire; provide fair and consistent processes for all candidates; improve the candidate experience when applying; and increase the reach of the recruitment advert while engaging with a more diverse group of potential candidates.

  Recruitment has become more problematic and expensive in the UK due to increasing skills shortages and demand for labour,  

Emma Parry, Research Fellow, Cranfield School of Management.

  These issues are exacerbated within the public sector because of the demands to be cost-effective, efficient and transparent in its spend. Our research shows that it’s possible for public-sector organisations to find success with e-recruitment, providing that they approach it in the right way in terms of candidate engagement.  

Source: Human Resources

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