Recruitment agencies as data collection hubs?
August 7th, 2018 | Industry News
In a major new development, MPs are thinking of asking recruitment agencies to take responsibility for collecting data about the exclusion of older people from the UK workforce. This is the result of a report from the Women and Equalities Committee which says that over a million fifty-plus people are unemployed and willing to work. Members of Parliament are hoping that using recruitment software UK wide, will show them were there are gaps in recruitment that could be addressed.
Not all recruiting software will be equal to the task, and the idea of ‘reporting age profiles for the work force’ would have to be handled sensitively. There are three areas of concern: prejudice, unconscious bias and ‘casual ageism’, all of which are not only unlawful but can limit the candidate pool for vacancies, depriving the employer of the most diverse range of candidates.
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Recruiting undercurrents – the things that aren’t being talked about… but should be
July 23rd, 2018 | Industry News
This time we’re focusing on two blog posts that highlight different aspects of the recruiting industry that often go undiscussed. First Pilita Clark writing in the Financial Times about the ‘ghost’ candidates appearing in every industry. Ghosting is the act of disappearing from somebody’s life without warning and without leaving contact details and while it used to be a behaviour related to romantic relationships and friendships, it’s turning up in the workplace too.
But let’s take a step back. Even with employers having the best applicant tracking system UK wide, candidates have often the experience of not hearing back about a job, sometimes even after they’ve been interviewed. Now employers are having facing the same response from candidates that they’ve given to them, it could be seen as poetic justice. But the why of it happening is interesting – there are two different forms of ghosting:
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Recruitment software as an aid to the economy
July 12th, 2018 | Industry News
Hard on the heels of the announcement that the UK Government is to set up a fee-free portal for teaching vacancies, research by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) reveals the pressure that recruiters are under to find supply teachers. Most recruitment firms are given less than two hours’ notice that a school needs a temporary teacher, the survey reveals. Given the speed with which recruitment agencies must find a qualified and vetted temp, online recruitment software makes a substantial contribution to this process.
This rapid and demanding recruitment turnaround is set against some DfE statistics showing that over a quarter of teachers left the profession between 2013-2016, the highest departure rate since records began in 1996 and further information from the REC stating that three quarters of recruitment agencies have had to persuade a teacher to remain in post in the past 12 months. To meet these needs, 92% of recruitment agencies say their consultants get to work between 6-8am.
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Recruitment tensions in the UK
June 29th, 2018 | Industry News
One good word to describe the current position of recruitment in the UK is prickly – here’s some evidence!
Teaching recruitment
When Secretary of State for Education Damian Hinds announced that he was going to cut down on schools using agencies to find staff, he described the agency fees as ‘unnecessary costs’. According to Mr Hinds, “… agencies charge schools costly finder’s fees if head teachers want to make supply staff permanent.”
His solution is to offer a new national deal for head teachers – a list of agencies that don’t charge fees if staff go from temp to perm after 12 weeks. These will be preferred suppliers. There is a degree of misunderstanding about how agencies work implicit in this approach. The best recruitment software for agencies actually does a lot of the work of sifting CVs and shortlisting candidates. It requires a couple of things though: online recruitment software needs to be regularly updated and recalibrated so that it remains contemporary and sensitive to the trends and requirements of the marketplace.
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How is the gig economy affecting the recruitment industry?
June 6th, 2018 | Industry News
Around five million people, either contractors or working as temps, are involved in the gig economy in the UK. The latest government white paper says that 4.4% of the UK population had undertaken some kind of work in the gig economy in 2017 and that for the first time, half of those undertaking gig work were under 35. It’s a fascinating snapshot of how this new way of working, which is entirely fuelled by digital technology, is affecting recruitment and the economy more generally.
Recruitment agencies have already discovered that the pattern of working has changed massively over the past decade, and at an accelerating rate in the past five years. The main changes being:
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The role of recruiting software in new industry sectors
May 21st, 2018 | Industry News
China’s executive recruitment
One of the most surprising areas of growth for recruitment agencies in the past 18 months has been headhunting executives for China.
The People’s Daily newspaper reports that the recruitment market in China has seen a 12.9% growth year on year and the shortage of high level candidates in the country has led to a number of sectors seeking help to find executive talent via recruitment consultancies around the world. Web based recruitment software has given headhunters and recruitment consultancies the scope to identify candidates who are willing to help China’s rapidly expanding industries and that same recruiting software is able to fast track ideal candidates whilst helping consultants educate their clients about what kind of package might best appeal to this external talent pool, persuading it to commit to a career that includes a spell in China.
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Rate your recruiter and how to choose recruitment software, Middle East style
May 7th, 2018 | Industry News
A ‘TripAdvisor’ for migrant workers has been set up by the International Trade Union Confederation, giving workers who’ve lacked a voice the chance to ‘rate’ their recruiters and inform others about potential pitfalls and abuses. It’s a global portal, currently available in English, Indonesian, Nepali and Tagalog. The International Labour Organisation claims round 25 million people were coerced into forced labour in 2016, and this portal is designed to help reduce the incidence of workers paying fees to a recruitment agency for a ‘good job abroad’ that turns out to be little more than slave labour. Recruitment software from reputable organisations can help stamp out this practice by registering legal migrant workers and thus moving up the ranking so that they rank highly meaning that the best recruitment software for agencies will inevitably help its users benefit from their good reputations and ensure they are the first choice for highly qualified workers seeking to travel abroad for work.
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Recruitment and data protection – the elephant in the room
April 24th, 2018 | Industry News
Cambridge Analytica might be today’s Bond villains, but data protection isn’t just an issue for Facebook users. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect in May 2018, will affect every UK business that stores data. Brexit has added an unwelcome level of uncertainty about UK legislation but for most organisations it’s wise to attempt GDPR compliance even if they are not selling goods or services to individuals in other EU countries. Why? Well because the UK government has already stated that it will implement ‘equivalent or alternative legal mechanisms’ which means that GDPR works as a good baseline whilst we wait to see what the UK actually does.
So… what has this to do with recruitment? Well, recruitment database software is likely to be seen as an ‘easy target’ when testing GDPR compliance, meaning that recruitment consultancies may find themselves in the front line when GDPR test cases are brought and when regulating bodies start inspections. For small and specialist recruiters this is a real headache. Making their files GDPR compliant has already led to many deciding that they will simply strip out much of their database information – this means that passive candidates will be removed, leaving only currently active candidates.
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As the UK recruitment industry expands, it struggles with diversity
April 9th, 2018 | Industry News
The news that more new recruitment consultancies were set up in January and February of this year than in 2017 suggests that the industry is faring well. The 1,777 new agencies demonstrate an increase of 9% over the previous year and each of these agencies will be looking for the competitive edge against both established rivals and other new entrants. Online recruitment software may provide the advantage that these new businesses are seeking for three reasons:
- Streamlined recruitment management software gives them the ability to focus on what distinguishes them from competitors rather than wasting time on mundane processes
- Personal engagement with both clients and candidates can be furthered through using software as a service to garner and store information that builds deeper relationships in both directions
- Rapid responses to changes in the marketplace are likely to be required of all successful recruitment agencies – those using recruitment database software that is flexible, intuitive and regularly upgraded by the provider are more likely to be able to make those responsive alterations that give the agency the edge.
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UK recruitment focus – March 2018
March 22nd, 2018 | Industry News
The next recruitment crisis – STEM
Most industries already know that recruiting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) candidates is getting tougher. Even the best recruitment CRM can struggle to identify more than a few available candidates for senior level positions in these fields. A recent survey of 186 chemists reveals that they believe their profession is in crisis. A third of those who responded said that low recruitment numbers were creating a serious problem. Why? Well, despite Breaking Bad, chemistry is not as exciting as some other science fields and lacks the big public awareness stories that physics (Large Hadron Collider) and biology (Human Genome Project) use to drive recruitment.
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