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Redditch Branch Bake Off
Here at eResponse we love our food so last Friday the team had the food feast of ALL food feasts, the ultimate bake off! The diets went out the window and down the drain and it was calorie galore in the office.
The menu consisted of the following:
Lissa – Moroccan lamb hotpot
Tina – Chili con carne with Nachos
Deano – Home made pizza
Amy – Chicken drumsticks
James – “Home baked bread” (more like popping to Morrison’s and buying a loaf of tiger bread! We know your game Jim)
Trudy – Home made biscuits
Joe & Paul - Traditional Alekna cake
Dave – Home made Scones with Jam & Butter
It was a truly fattening day and although it wasn’t a competition, Dan from the Worcester Branch (who just happened to be there on the day there was so much food) was overheard saying that Dave’s scones were “simply the best food there”.
Good Work Guys and we look forward to the next one!
Over half of jobseekers apply for unsuitable roles
Three-fifths of jobseekers have applied for jobs they were knowingly unsuitable for, with the majority citing ‘desperation’ as the main reason why, according to a new study.
The study, conducted for the newly launched compliance software service for recruiters, www.NowWeComply.com, found that 63% of respondents said they had knowingly applied for roles for which they were unqualified.
The most common reason, among 47% of the respondents, was ‘desperation to find a job’, while a third (32%) simply explained that they were ‘aiming high’ with their application.
Respondents were also asked if they had ever exaggerated or fabricated aspects of their CV, such as experience, qualifications or interests, with more than half (58%) agreeing they had, with the most commonly exaggerated aspect being ‘experience’.
Ben Stoneham of NowWeComply.com says: “We all know that some people have a tendency to stretch the truth when it comes to their CV, especially in a tougher jobs market where competition is fierce.
“As a recruiter it’s one of the things you have to deal with day to day, but with the volume of candidates increasing, the problems that filtering through the fibs can cause are endless.”
Posted in Job News
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Employers offered wage subsidy for hiring young people
‘Take a chance on hiring a young person’ urges Grayling.
Ministers have urged employers to claim their share of a £1billion government wage subsidy to recruit up to 160,000 young people.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and employment minister Chris Grayling announced today that the wage subsidy will be available through the government’s ‘Youth Contract’ for firms taking on young unemployed people from April this year.
Employers can collect up to £2,275 for every person aged 18-24 years old that they hire from the government’s Work Programme, to cover costs such as National Insurance.
Payments will be made once the young person has been employed for 26 weeks.
To help smaller businesses with their cash flow and make the jobs viable, the subsidy will be paid in two instalments, with the first payment after eight weeks and the rest after 26 weeks.
Part-time roles are also eligible for the incentive with the government offering £1,137.50 for someone employed for between 16 and 29 hours.
Clegg said: “This is a long-term boost to help business get young people into jobs before long-term damage is done. Employers have a huge part to play in this and the subsidy we’re announcing today benefits business and young people.”
The Deputy Prime Minister is writing to thousands of employers – from global corporations to small local firms – to urge them to look at what’s available through the scheme. He said that it aims to promote long-term opportunities for out of work young people.
Grayling said: “With the wage incentive we are encouraging employers to take a chance on a young person who otherwise may have been over looked for a lack of experience or skills.
“Over the three months since we announced the Youth Contract we have consulted with businesses large and small to develop a system that works for them.”
In addition, the Youth Contract which launched last November, plans to offer at least 20,000 incentive payments worth £1,500 each for employers to take on young people as apprentices.
Meanwhile, 250,000 work experience places will be created through the Department for Work and Pension’s work experience and sector-based work academies programmes.
Support for young jobseekers will also be provided by Jobcentre Plus in the form of weekly, rather than fortnightly, signing-on meetings, giving more time to talk to an adviser and take up a National Careers Service interview.
Rise in perm hires January
There was a modest rise in permanent staff appointments for the first time in four months during January, the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs published today has revealed.
However, agencies’ temporary/contract staff billings fell slightly for the second month running.
The key points of the Report were:
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Modest increase in permanent appointments recorded
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Temp billings down slightly
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Candidate availability rises, but at slower rate
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Subdued pay pressures
Recruitment consultants reported a slower increase in job vacancies during January. Growth of overall demand for staff eased to the weakest for 27 months. Data suggested that Engineering/ Construction workers were the most sought-after in the latest survey period, in contrast to declines in demand signalled for Hotel & Catering staff.
The availability of staff to fill job vacancies continued to rise in January. However, growth of both permanent and temporary/contract staff availability eased from the strong rates recorded in December
Permanent staff salaries rose only marginally in January and at a much slower pace than the long-run series average. Hourly rates of pay for temporary/contract staff increased modestly following a slight decline in December.
Kevin Green, the REC’s Chief Executive,, says:
“This month’s Report on Jobs highlights that there are glimmers of hope for the UK jobs market with permanent placements increasing for the first time in four months. This is the first positive indicator for some time that employers are looking to hire staff despite the ongoing weakness of the economy. It is particularly encouraging that six out of eight sectors surveyed show growth in demand, including engineering, IT and office professionals. The Report on Jobs also follows better than expected services data from the Purchasing Managers’ Index last Friday, which suggests that confidence is growing amongst consumers as well as businesses.
“Although temporary billings have contracted slightly over recent months, the latest figures show an improvement on December. This confirms that there is still little evidence that the Agency Workers Regulations have had a significant impact on hiring and employers are still making considerable use of flexible working arrangements.
“A major challenge in the jobs market is the disconnect between what employers are looking for and what jobseekers can offer. Better careers guidance is part of the solution, as is increased use of apprenticeships to get young people into employment with vocational skills development.”
Paul Alekna, Managing Director of Worcestershire based recruiter eResponse comments:
“As a whole there are people gaining more confidence in the jobs market all the time and we are seeing more and more people prepared to make a move to a new employer. Whilst this can feel as though it’s adding to short term candidate availability the reality is this leaves many highly skilled and hard to fill vacancies behind that can sometimes have a negative impact on team moral and business productivity.”
“As recent skills survey conducted across Redditch shows that 38% of businesses hired last Year to back fill roles created through people exiting their business.”
Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG comments:
“Given the continued impasse surrounding the Eurozone and the knock on effect this has on business confidence, it is a welcome surprise to see a modest increase in the number of permanent job placements across the UK. Perhaps employers are beginning to accept that they need to have the right people in place to kick start the economy?
“Sadly, though, the number of people hoping to fill these vacancies continues to rise and with unemployment benefit claimants up for the tenth month in succession, the competition to be the right candidate in the right place is tougher than ever.
“At least there are signs within some industries that things are looking up. Amongst the engineering, construction and IT sectors demand for permanent staff has increased since the turn of the year. With so much attention being paid to these sectors at the moment, close attention should be paid to see if this is a trend set to continue as the year progresses.”
Posted in Blog, Job News, Stats & Facts
Tagged Good News, Job Stats, Permanent, REC, Skills Shortages
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Services sector sees positive start to 2012
The UK services sector saw the largest one-month gain in business confidence since the Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) started in 1996, up nearly seven points to 70.3 in January’s data.
Employment leaped by 2.1 points to 52.2, where scores over 50 indicate an increase in the levels of employment month-on-month, with the survey having been in sub-50 territory, with such scores indicating receding employment, for seven of the 12 months of 2012.
.Business activity rose by two points to 56, a level not seen since March 2011, and prior to this not since March of the previous year.
David Noble, chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS): “Compared to the volatility seen through most of last year, sustained and accelerated growth in the service sector is welcome news. A record improvement in the degree of optimism and the highest increase of employment in nearly four years represents a tentative vote of confidence for the year ahead.”
“Lower energy bills and overall weaker input cost inflation are also helping to ease the squeeze on margins and improve profitability across the sector as a whole.”
Chris Williamson, chief economist at survey compilers Markit: “The surprisingly strong upturn in the service sector follows a similar improvement in manufacturing and ongoing growth in construction, which all points to a resounding revival of UK economic growth in January.
“As to how sustainable this upturn is, it is particularly encouraging to see the upturn in business confidence. Much uncertainty persists, but this is nevertheless a far better start to 2012 than almost all were expecting to see.”
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REC Response to Immigration Policy
Following Immigration Minister Damian Green’s speech on increased ‘selectivity’ for immigration policy this morning in the House of Commons, the REC has expressed concerns about the impact on economic growth.
Gillian Econopouly Head of Public Policy, who attended the speech, comments:
“The Government keeps saying that the UK is open for business, yet some of the sectors targeted by the Government as high growth and with huge export potential are struggling to bring in the talented people they need.
“Our members in sectors such as IT and Life Sciences report that international clients are seeing how cumbersome the Points Based System can be, and are locating their offices outside Britain in order to access the global talent pool. Raising ‘selectivity’ in an already highly selective system will mean more businesses moving employment and growth overseas.
“Fundamentally, the system needs flexibility in order to be agile enough to quickly respond to changing market conditions. At the same time, it is imperative that we equip our resident workforce with the skills and attitude employers need.”
New Team Member for eResponse Worcester Branch
Another Appointment for Worcester…
….Our Worcester team has grown again this month with a new Senior Consultant joining the Industrial and Shopfloor services department.
James Cronin has several years experience across industry and commerce and boasts an in-depth understanding of our industry and the current challenges posed by employers with an expanding and ever changing workforce.
The appointment coincides with our continued business investment and expansion across the region and will support new and existing client accounts managed by the Worcester office.
Commenting on the appointment Paul Alekna said ”As a regionally biased consultancy much of the value in our solution comes from our understanding of Worcestershire marketplace, the changes in the labour market and how business needs to shape recruitment methods to keep up and beat the competition to the talent available. James brings all of this and more and will be very successful in his new role with us.”
To contact James and the Worcester Team call 01905 330111 or email jcronin@e-responserecruitment.co.uk
Posted in At the Office, Team
Tagged Good News, Job Stats, New Appointments, Office Stuff
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Employers show more caution but many still plan to hire in 2012
This month’s REC JobsOutlook shows more employer caution with regards to hiring new staff. However, a significant number of businesses still plan to increase their workforce in 2012 and finding the right candidates remains a major challenge in some sectors. This underlines the need to address the ‘skills dislocation’ within the UK jobs market.
January’s JobsOutlook survey, which tracks future hiring intentions rather than actual placements, confirms that many employers are now waiting for an upturn in economic prospects before they commit to growing their workforce. This month’s report shows that:
Employers are showing increasing caution although many still plan to hire: A marked dip in the short-term prospects for permanent staff was reflected in a two point drop over the month with 63 per cent expecting to increase their workforce and another 31 per cent planning to retain their present headcount. With regards to the longer term outlook, 59 per cent expect to take on more permanent staff over the next twelve months and another 39 per cent intending to maintain staffing at existing levels, an eight point decrease on the previous month. Despite the dip in business confidence, it is interesting to note that a significant number of businesses plan to increase or maintain staffing levels in the short and medium term.
Skills shortages in 2012: Employers identified a number of key sectors where skills shortages were likely to be encountered over the coming year. On the permanent side, shortages were expected in professional and managerial roles; nursing, medical and healthcare; and Education and Training. For temporary staff, skills shortages were likely to occur in Driving and Distribution (21 per cent), Catering and Accommodation (21 per cent) and Accounting/Financial (16 per cent).
Demand for temporary staffing remains firm: Despite the first 12 week qualifying period for agency workers to receive equal treatment having been reached in December, expectations over short term demand for agency staff have remained stable.
Twenty seven per cent of employers plan to increase their use of agency workers during this period, with another 57 per cent saying theirs would remain at the same level – a total of 84 per cent. The long term forecast is for most employers – 65 per cent – to keep their usage at existing levels while 22 per cent said they planned an increase.
Commenting on the latest statistics, Roger Tweedy, the REC’s Director of Research said:
“Last November’s figures showed that many employers were hoping to slightly increase their permanent workforces early in the New Year. However, there has been a significant dip in employer optimism that is likely to be linked to continuing economic concerns over the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone.
“Most employers have retrenched to a much more cautious ‘wait and see’ approach, which is starting to be reflected in the REC’s Employer Confidence Barometer index which fell back one point from the month before. However it is important to note that this confidence index is still five points above its lowest mark last September and that a significant number of businesses still plan to take on new staff during the course of year, despite the slight change in mood.
“The outlook for temporary staff remains encouraging despite the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) now being in force. Since October, 65 per cent of employers have not made any changes to their use of agency workers following AWR implementation. This suggests that the impact of the Regulations is mainly being felt in certain specific sectors. The data also shows that the vast majority of businesses plan to maintain or increase their use of temporary staff which indicates that flexible working options will continue to provide an important outlet for employers and job-seekers.”
