November 2011 Archives

Many graduate recruiters are setting out to build relationships with students earlier in their education due to the pressures of finding the best graduate talent.

According to a recent survey of 100 employers by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), more employers are targeting freshers and school leavers, despite higher levels of graduate unemployment.

Claire Adams, AGR's business operations manager, told a TARGETJobs Breakfast News audience that around 14% of employers seek potential candidates before university and 25% try to reach students in their first year of university.

Steve James, head of editorial at TARGETjobs says: 'targetjobs.co.uk is getting more new enquiries from students who are keen to make an early start with their career and who want to find out about employers as soon as possible. That's where the land lies, and employers who build up trust at these early stages have a distinct advantage.'

Work Group's Tom Chesterton backed up the findings. He spoke of a movement towards a 'Recruitment 4.0' situation, with word-of-mouth and push-marketing strategies falling out of favour. Employers are building communities of potential graduate recruits - but still need to take the final step and take advantage of those communities. By focusing on those audiences, organisations can become employers of choice, argued Chesterton, who said the key is to enable candidates to know exactly what they want to do and who they want to work for. 

The economic landscape is looking spectacularly bleak at the moment. The finances of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain have all been examined by the financial markets and found wanting.

What is more, the leaders of the EU, most notably the Germans, have failed to respond to the growing crisis with anything like enough political unity. The breakup of the Euro, a few months ago a distant nightmare, is now a very real possibility with incalculable consequences for the global economy.

The outlook for the UK is also distinctly worse than it was just a couple of months ago. While the UK benefits from not being in the Euro, the Eurozone is still the UK's largest trading partner. The coalition economic strategy of stringent cutbacks in order to balance the books is wholly dependent on private sector growth and rising incomes generating enough tax revenue to match the cuts in public expenditure.

The growth in the third quarter, at 0.5%, was much better than many had feared but the outlook for the fourth quarter and indeed for 2012 as a whole is for low flat growth at best with a very real chance of another recession. Unemployment is set to continue to rise and recruitment markets set to fall well into 2012.

The one bright aspect of the global economy at the moment is the continued growth in China and indeed many of the other emerging nations, particularly in Asia. Europe's crisis is just another indication of the changing balance of power on the world stage.

 

There was a great presentation this morning  at the CERN Recruitment & Sourcing Seminar from Tom Chesterton and Marcus Body from Work all about how your candidate is your customer. The full slidedeck is here but I wanted to share this video which was used to illustrate how you can't control your employer brand. 

You don't see this kind of recruitment campaign every day - NASA has announced it is hiring its next wave of astronauts.

NASA is reportedly aiming to recruit some fresh blood to replace the veteran astronauts who are leaving the agency, and wants to attract people to vacancies on its "2013 astronaut candidate class" (see - even the name of the training programme sounds cool).

And even though NASA isn't the type of organisation that needs to try hard when it comes to employer branding, there's even a Michael Bay-style recruitment video that shows just how exciting it is to be part of the organisation. I never fancied being an astronaut, but after watching the video, I do now.

There is one catch that the video doesn't mention - specifically the fact that NASA no longer has its own spacecraft and has no immediate plans to send anybody into space - but it is hoping that suitable candidates think a NASA career will be worth the wait. And let's face it, just being able to tell people you're an astronaut will be reward enough, until you're finally allowed to head beyond the clouds.

With recruitment campaigns like this, how can other employers compete?


(NB - a bonus point for anybody who recognises the music reference in the headline...)

HR departments are making use of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) amid continuing economic uncertainty, according to a report released today.
 
The 'Are you ready for RPO?' report was produced by the RPO Alliance Special Interest Group within the Human Resources Outsourcing Association (HROA) and Alexander Mann Solutions. It looked at businesses' use of recruitment outsourcing based on the experiences of  brands including Santander, Siemens, Citi, PPG and M&G.

It found that HR departments are turning to RPO to deal with the pressures of business change in the current climate, such as new business structures, growth, expansion into emerging markets, absorption of acquisitions and alignment between HR and the wider business.

Tom Marsden, director of professional services at Alexander Mann Solutions, said: "With volatile hiring numbers recruitment can sometimes become a challenge for HR departments and companies may be reluctant to rebuild their in-house recruitment capability while the economic outlook remains uncertain. This is understandable, but many companies still have a critical requirement to fill skills gaps and grow their business in new growth markets. RPO can support companies flex to meet these demands and in time, can grow to provide a direct link between business strategy and the acquisition and deployment of talent, helping the HR function to focus on core activities like workforce management and talent retention."

Faye Holland, managing director, European & Asia Pacific Operations, at SharedXpertise and global executive director at the HROA, said: "The choice of RPO is strongly associated with growth, change and an increasing need for flexibility. Once a successful partnership is established, the range of recruitment activities and services it includes often extends in new, and often unexpected, directions as the RPO model  can quickly adapt to the changing needs of the business, leaving your HR team to focus on its core activities and supporting the business's overall objectives."

The report can be downloaded from the Alexander Mann Solutions website.

Monster UK & Ireland has today launched a cross-platform advertising campaign across outdoor, radio and online platforms.

The campaign makes tongue-in-cheek use of corporate workplace jargon and can be seen on outdoor sites targeting road and rail commuters, as well as utilising drive time radio advertising and online banners.

Monster says the campaign aims to connect with jobseekers, encouraging them to think about their employment status and consider using Monster if they want to make a change. The outdoor and radio ads can be seen and heard in locations including London, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Dublin.

David Henry, Marketing Director for Monster UK & Ireland says: "This campaign takes a slightly esoteric and wry approach using eye-catching and often ridiculous workplace phrases and metaphors to grab the attention of job seekers.

"Creating a moment for people to reflect on their personal circumstances, encouraging them to take control, the campaign is bold and attention grabbing and at its heart very empathetic, Monster can then act as a guide to help connect potential job seekers with a new direction."

People with birthmarks, scars and other facial disfigurements are more likely to be poorly rated in job interviews, according to a US study.

Researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston found that interviewers recalled less information about candidates with facial blemishes and disfigurements, which negatively impacted their evaluations of them.

Rice University professor of psychology Mikki Hebl said: "When evaluating applicants in an interview setting, it's important to remember what they are saying. Our research shows if you recall less information about competent candidates because you are distracted by characteristics on their face, it decreases your overall evaluations of them."

Part of the study involved face-to-face interviews between candidates who had a facial birthmark and 38 full-time managers enrolled in a part-time MBA and/or a Master of Science in a hospitality management program, all of whom had experience in interviewing applicants for their current or past staff positions.

Despite the increase in age, experience and education, these interviewers struggled to manage their reactions to the disfigurements. In fact, the effects of the stigma were actually stronger with this group, which he attributed to the face-to-face interview setting.

"The bottom line is that how your face looks can significantly influence the success of an interview," Hebl said. "There have been many studies showing that specific groups of people are discriminated against in the workplace, but this study takes it a step further, showing why it happens. The allocation of attention away from memory for the interview content explains this."

Despite an increase in graduate employment, many university leavers are still struggling to find jobs as the graduate market continues its post-recession recovery, according to research published today.

The figures, from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) point to a steady improvement in graduate employment figures - a 7.9% year-on-year rise in the number of employed graduates who left university in 2010 against 2009.

However, Charlie Ball, deputy research director at HECSU suggested it wasn't a totally positive picture. He said: "While graduate unemployment has fallen, it remains high in comparison to levels reported at the beginning of the recession and graduates still face stiff competition - not just from their peers but also from more recent graduates. Slow but sustained economic recovery should be mirrored in the graduate labour market but developments over the next few months will need to be closely monitored.

"Many parts of the graduate employment market remain fragile, and recovery has not spread to all sectors or regions of the country. The jobs market for graduates is still vulnerable to bad economic weather and a continued recovery cannot be guaranteed in the current climate."

HECSU's figures highlight a recovery in sectors including business and financial services, while marketing, sales and advertising saw the largest percentage increase. 31% more graduates entered these roles in 2010 compared to the previous year, fuelled by an upturn in graduate recruitment in advertising and digital media.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, public sector spending cuts are deterring many graduates from seeking public sector roles HECSU says while there has been no major decline in graduates working as nurses, doctors, and primary and secondary school teachers, clerical and secretarial posts in local government and the public administration and defence sector have dropped from 7.9% to 6.8% of graduates employed.

The report also found that graduate salaries have remained flat, reflecting salaries across the wider economy.

Despite ongoing redundancies in the City, the third quarter of 2011 saw only a slight decrease (2%) in the number of job opportunities on offer in the UK financial sector, according to the latest Jobs Barometer from eFinancialCareers.

And when comparing year on year, the total number of UK jobs posted on the site during the quarter increased by 17%.

According to eFinancialCareers, solid quarter-on-quarter growth was recorded in private equity/venture capital (up 34%), investment banking/M&A (up 12%), sales & marketing (also up 12%), and corporate banking (up 10%). However, these figures mask a drop-off in these sectors during September compared to August.

James Bennett, managing director of EMEA and APAC, said: "Reflecting the challenging market conditions, City hiring managers and recruiters are anticipating slower hiring ahead.  The next few quarters will likely be a defining moment for the City - and in turn its employment levels - with much riding on the Eurozone's ability to put is sovereign debt issues in order and the impact any agreed rescue packages may have on the balance sheets of the major investment banks."  

More than a quarter (27%) of job seekers don't expect to find a job in the next 12 months and almost a fifth (17%) have already been looking for a job for 12 months, according to a Totaljobs.com survey of job seeker confidence.

Some 41% of the 6,000 job seekers surveyed said they believe government cuts pose the biggest problem, followed by a quarter  (26%) who blame the private sector's inability to offset the jobs lost in the public sector.   

Jobseekers in Scotland were the least positive about their future employment prospects, with only 35% confident about finding a job within a year; followed by jobseekers in the North East (37%) and North West (41%). Londoners have the most confidence, with 46% of jobseekers positive about finding a job in 12 months

John Salt, Totaljobs.com website director, Totaljobs.com says of the findings: "The collapse in jobseeker confidence is hardly surprising given the current disaster of the labour market. The young, the old, as well as women in particular are all facing tough times as unemployment continues to rise as a result of turgid growth and devastating cuts, which are hitting those areas most beset by depressed confidence and least likely to create private sector jobs."

Around 300 people attended the the National Online Recruitment Awards - the NORAs - last night in Covent Garden, London.

Devised to recognise the best in online recruitment, from the perspective of jobseekers, the event is now in its eleventh year.

Here, we list the winners:

 

Best Generalist Job Board
Monster

Best Specialist Job Board
Only Marketing Jobs 

Best Regional Job Board
STV Jobs

Best National Recruitment Agency
Spencer Ogden

Best Small Recruitment Agency
Dylan

Best Major Employer
British Army 

Best Small Employer
Innocent Drinks 

Best Consumer Publication
Guardian 

Best Trade Publication
TES 

Best Employment Advice Website
Career Player 

Best Newcomer
G4S 

Best Innovation
G4S 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Here's a clip that might offer some inspiration for employers who are growing desperate as they struggle to find the right staff.

In the clip, from the BBC site, a Japanese restaurant is shown employing monkeys to serve customers. Judging by the clip, it's working out quite well. The macaque monkeys are quick at their work, don't badmouth the customers, are happy to wear a frankly embarrassing uniform, and are paid with soya bean 'tips'.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/7654267.stm

If only all employees were this easy to deal with.

Are there any other industries that might benefit from this approach?!

BT has today announced the next stage of its fibre broadband rollout programme, and has confirmed that in order to help it shave a year off its 2015 deadline to provide access for two-thirds of UK premises, it will be recruiting 520 new engineers - the majority of whom will be ex-armed forces personnel.

BT is bringing forward approximately £300 million of investment over the next few years to fund the accelerated roll-out.

Ian Livingston, CEO of BT Group said: "Our roll-out of fibre broadband is one of the fastest in the world and so it is great to be ahead of what was an already challenging schedule. The acceleration reflects the success of the programme to date and is testament to the hard work and innovation of our people. We are investing when others are merely talking about it.

"Thousands of our engineers are busy installing fibre broadband across the UK at an astonishing pace. The recruitment of an additional five hundred engineers will help us go even faster and ensure we are ready to help supply other areas.

"We are proud that most of these jobs will be filled by ex-armed forces personnel."

Totaljobs.com is celebrating a significant in audience reach and response to jobs, after a year in which a number of improvements were made to the site.

According to Totaljobs.com, traffic in September saw a 45% year-on-year increase, with job applications exceeding 2.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 41%.

Totaljobs.com also recently topped ABC's audited job board list in areas such as monthly and daily unique users, while Harris Interactive's NetObserver survey, put Totaljobs.com as the second most popular careers website behind Direct.gov but ahead of its private sector competitors.

The figures follow the development of targeted mobile technology for the site that enables job seekers to attach a pre-loaded CV and apply for a job by mobile device as well as accessing jobs by email via their mobiles.

As well as further improvements made in 2011, including transport links and job-mapping functions for job seekers and a more advanced back-office system and self-serve featured job templates, Totaljobs.com is also planning a series of developments in 2012, including:

• A simple 'Add' field to a job seeker profile for jobseekers to enter their social network profile URL and link button
• Extracting data from job seekers' social media profiles to populate their totaljobs.com profile
• Enabling recruiters to share jobs they have just posted within their social networks
• Enabling job seekers to share job details and search results pages with their social networks

Website director John Salt said: "As a result of our mobile enhancements and consumer preference we have seen our mobile traffic more than double. Now one in nine visits is from a mobile device and over 4% of applications are made via mobiles.

"This is expected to grow extensively over the next few years. By offering jobseekers the ability to access job adverts on the go, they can be more targeted in their approach to applying for jobs. As a result, we anticipate our recruiter clients will be able to source even better matched candidates for their jobs."