One in five tech employers reject candidates due to their social media profile
Almost one in five technology firms have actively chosen not to hire someone because of their social media profile, research has revealed. In previous runs of the study, around 40% or so respondents’ checked out candidates’ profiles on social media sites. But this is the first time that they have admitted to rejecting candidates because […]
Salesforce.com to make HR “a weapon for transformation”
Salesforce.com has proclaimed that it wants to make HR “a weapon for transformation” by enabling practitioners to interact with workers in a more social way. The Software-as-a-Service vendor made the statement as it launched the first fruit of its Rypple acquisition in the shape of a performance management application. The offering dubbed ‘Salesforce Rypple’ […]
Best Practice: Four tips to help HR become more business savvy
If HR professionals want to gain in credibility, they must evolve from simply being deep subject matter experts to becoming business leaders with a people specialism, the CIPD has warned. Although three out of five HR practitioners questioned for the organisation’s latest report agreed that the profession needed to increase its understanding of business issues, […]
Video Interview: RWE npower’s Adam Templeman on social recruitment
Mike Taylor, director of www.web-based-recruitment.com, talks to Adam Templeman, head of resourcing at RWE npower, about incorporating social media as a regular part of the utility provider's online recruitment strategy. He also offers advice on how to ensure that you don't waste too much time on social media attraction efforts. Templeman is a speaker at […]
Blog: Two reasons why psychometric tests suck…
Here are two biiiig reasons why I think personality or psychometric tests suck… You know the drill. Once in a while the boss decides you’ve all got to get together and find out about each other. What makes you tick, and all that jazz. So how’re ya gonna do that? Lucky you – it’s MBTI time (other tests are available). […]
Legal Insight: Employee or consultant? Lessons from the Student Loans Co
Taxation has never been a more contentious issue. Political arguments have been raging for months now over everything from the 50p rate and tax evasion among high earners to the reintroduction of a £10,000 threshold for people on low incomes. Also to hit the headlines recently, however, was the case of Ed Lester, chief […]
Four years of redundancies cost UK employers £28.6bn
Nearly 2.7 million people, or one in 10 workers, have been made redundant in the last four years, costing UK employers a huge £28.6 billion. According to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the manufacturing and construction sectors accounted for about a third of the job losses, while public administration, education […]
Case Study: Herts Council’s ‘Transformation’ programme slashes sickness absence
Hertfordshire County Council provides local services to more than a million people in the area and employs around 34,000 staff, of whom about 24,000 work in schools. Last year, it introduced a ‘Transformation’ programme – a new and radically different wellbeing strategy, aimed at reducing sickness absence and improving organisational performance. And, while it […]
National Science and Engineering Week: UK to be 2m engineers short by 2015
Guess how many engineers and scientists we’ll need to remain competitive in the next five years? Some 2.2 million. How many kids are going into engineering at the moment as a career? More like 125,000. That sobering statistic is one of the prompts behind ‘The Big Bang Fair,’ a jobs fair that hopes to […]
Blog: What makes you happy in your work?
We All Want Happiness! Today the sun is shining and the hope of a beautiful spring and lovely summer are in the air. Most of us know the feeling of happiness and wellbeing that comes with a lovely sunny day. The day made me think about happy days at work, and the happy […]
Talking Point: Will the Beecroft proposals really encourage employers to hire more staff?
It is clear that the government is trying to support employers and take steps to encourage them to take on more staff. What is a continuing mystery, however, is why ministers repeatedly ignore the areas of greatest concern to business. Such areas of concern range from the extremely high costs of employment and the […]
Talent Spot: Vikki Sly, global recruitment director at QlikTech
The old cliche that people decide whether or not to hire someone within the first few seconds of an interview horrifies Vikki Sly, global recruitment director at business intelligence software provider, QlikTech. “I don’t believe that, and if that’s the way you treat your recruitment, then you’re doing people a huge disservice,” she asserts. For […]
EU Parliament votes in favour of binding female boardroom quotas
The EU Parliament voted in favour of introducing binding quotas for women at the top table at the same time as a report revealed that UK progress on appointing females to executive board-level positions had been slow. The vote by the EU Parliament followed a consultation that was launched last week by EU Justice Commissioner, […]
‘Pop-Up Shop’ provides unemployed youth with retail work experience
A ‘Pop-Up Shop’ has opened in London in a bid to help prepare unemployed young people for a career in retail. The move came as work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, wrote to Simon Cowell also asking him to offer work experience to out-of-work 16 to 24 year olds, following a war of words […]
Blog: Yes, you can really grow your brain!
“I’m just off to the gym to give my brain a workout”. That’s not something that you hear people say very often! No one would doubt the link between exercise and muscle development, it’s a well understood fact; if I want to grow my muscles I need to work them. Unsurprisingly the same fact is […]
Diplomat and influencer: The emerging ‘head of talent’ role
A perfect storm is brewing in the talent management arena due to the cumulative impact of demographics and global mobility challenges. The problem is that, despite record levels of unemployment and ongoing economic difficulties, there is still a shortage of leaders, and specifically, people with the skills required to help large companies meet the demands […]
Ministers in legal battle to stop Christians wearing crosses at work
Christians do not have the right to wear crosses openly at work, ministers are set to argue in a landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights. But the move will set the coalition government on a collision course with its own equality quango, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which plans to put […]
‘Extreme interviewing’ migrates to UK from Silicon Valley
A technique known as ‘extreme interviewing’ is starting to migrate from Silicon Valley to the UK, with the aim of helping employers distinguish the exceptional candidates from the mundane. The idea behind the approach is to see how quickly job-seekers are able to think on their feet and, according to the Daily Mail, the late […]
Blog: Is ‘fire at will’ dismissal legislation a good idea?
Chancellor George Osborne has just proposed the introduction of “fire at will” dismissal law that will enable small employers to dismiss staff more easily. Under-secretary of state for employment relations, Norman Lamb, is unveiling plans during March which would remove restrictions on laying off staff at businesses with fewer than ten employees. It is […]
National Science and Engineering Week: Plugging the specialist skills gap
It is unsurprising that the ongoing spectre of a double-dip recession and sovereign debt crisis continue to spook world markets. As such, one could be forgiven for thinking that Europe is something of a black hole when it comes to employment opportunities these days. To make matters worse, the European Union’s controversial Agency Worker […]