Communication: the secret to recruitment success

Does your hiring process actually lose you candidates? How do you manage something that is effectively intangible and immeasurable? From an executive recruitment consultant’s perspective, how organisations deal with those quiet times while waiting for an internal decision or response about a prospective hire can be just as important to the relationship as how the […]

CEO Video Insight: NetApp UK’s Dave Allen on staff engagement

At the end of October, data storage firm NetApp was named number three in Fortune magazine’s list of top 25 multinational companies to work at. The firm, which employs 500 people in the UK and Ireland, is headed by managing director Dave Allen. He speaks to us here about how the organisation has tried to […]

Jobs market to suffer “slow, painful contraction”, warns CIPD

Private sector hiring plans are being overshadowed by public sector job losses and will lead to the employment market continuing to suffer a “slow, painful” contraction. This was the key message to come out of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s quarterly survey of 1,000 employers, which found that the extent of public sector […]

Ask the Expert: What is the legal situation around medicals?

The question How useful, in practice, are medicals undertaken as part of the recruitment process?   If it is standard to make a job offer subject to a satisfactory medical, how do you decide what an unsatisfactory one is?   And when would a medical condition be considered a disability? If the medical reveals a […]

Security certification introduced to help public sector hire right skills

The British Computer Society has introduced a pilot certification scheme for government information assurance professionals in order to help public sector employers choose the right specialist with the right skills and expertise for the job. The full Information Assurance Specialist Certification scheme, developed for the Communications Electronics Security Group, GCHQ‘s information assurance agency, will be […]

Case Study: Lancaster Landmark Hotels focuses on attitude to boost retention

 The Lancaster Landmark Hotel Group has boosted both staff retention and customer service levels by focusing on recruiting and developing personnel who it believes have the right attitude and behaviour. The organisation operates three high-end London hotels, each of which is managed independently and caters to different types of customers, which made it difficult to […]

Half of public sector workers fail to recommend it as career choice

Nearly half of all public sector workers would not recommend working in the area to either those just embarking on their career or people fancying a career change. According to a study of more than 1,000 staff by recruiter Badenoch & Clark, disillusionment was particularly high  among central and local government staff, with 63.3% and […]

IT recruitment slows drastically after nine quarters of growth

Although overall activity in the IT recruitment sector had been increasing for nine consecutive quarters, growth over the last three months slowed to a grim 1%. Moreover, an increase in outsourcing by both public and private sector organisations as they attempted to cut costs led to both consultancies and software houses being the most active […]

How to guard against corporate social media discrimination

Corporate social media discrimination is becoming an increasingly tricky issue to deal with and HR is finding itself at the forefront of the struggle – often without having the necessary defences in place. Corporate social media discrimination refers to situations where employers use social networking sites such as Facebook to undertake research about a candidate’s […]

A question of ethics: Candidate profile-building using social media

The internet has, and will continue to, change the way we do things. ‘Business web sites’ such as LinkedIn and other social media web sites such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used to meet people and sustain friendships and business relationships online.   More and more organisations are also using social media to […]

News Analysis: Jobs market shows mixed picture

The state of the labour market appeared mixed this week, with the number of City and retail jobs plummeting amid predictions of increasing numbers of opportunities elsewhere. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a huge 30,000 jobs will have been lost in London’s Square Mile by the end of the year – […]

Blog: High-performance HR – it’s about technology AND social media

“I only have 90 connections, I know but I was only connected to LinkedIn about a year ago.” “Yes, I did look her up on LinkedIn and I thought: ‘how you could be the head of HR and only have 32 connections?’”   These statements came from people I spoke with last week concerning the […]

The pros and cons of social recruitment

Employers are starting to recognise the benefits of using social media to source and engage talent.  Facebook has opened up recruiters’ doors to just under 20% of the global population. LinkedIn is providing access to more than 125 million workers throughout the world and Google’s Google+ social networking site is gaining traction at a breath-taking […]

Brain drain from 50p tax rate underestimated, warns Diageo chief

The 50 pence income tax rate is resulting in a trickle of high earners starting to leave the UK, while inhibiting others from coming here, Diageo boss Paul Walsh has claimed. Walsh, who has run one of the world’s largest drinks manufacturers for the last 11 years, told the Sunday Telegraph that the impact of […]

Tesco temp agencies ask workers to waive EU employment rights

Thousands of temps working for Tesco have been asked to sign contracts waiving their new employment rights under the Agency Worker Regulations in a scenario that is becoming increasingly widespread across the UK. According to the Sunday Telegraph, many of the recruitment agencies for the country’s largest supermarket chain have introduced a get-out clause, which […]

Blog: Developing a customer-service mindset in HR

“We hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches.” ”To maintain a connection between the front lines and the back office, every manager is required to spend four days a year on the shop floor.” (Pret a Manager). “We hire ‘customer service people’ and teach them all about coffee.” (Starbucks).   This week, I ordered […]

Blog: On-boarding as a first step to cutting staff attrition rates

Companies work so hard at recruiting the best talent, rolling out the red carpet, increasing original offers, offering bonuses and other perks to attract the right candidates. But once you’ve signed on the dotted line kiss the best behaviors goodbye. The process is similar to dating where the early stages of the chase and initial […]

SAP appoints new head of HR for UK and Ireland

SAP UK and Ireland has appointed a new HR director in order to help the application software provider achieve its global aim of doubling the size of its business. Laura Burton replaces former head of HR, Terri Ellison, and has been brought in to manage a team that looks after recruitment, contracts, training, rewards and […]

Outlook improving but still uncertain for interim HR managers

If you’ve been an HR interim manager for more than three years, congratulations are in order. It’s been a tough period, but you’ve survived it. The good news is that there are credible indicators that the tough times could finally be over.   At the macro level, the industry’s barometer is the annual Institute of […]

Lessons from across the pond: could regional talent hubs create a ‘Big Society’?

The Government is missing out on a powerful online tool for regenerating communities. Since his famous ‘Big Society’ speech in July 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron and the Coalition government have both been looking for ways to deliver on the vision outlined.   With the Cabinet Office tasked with transforming this relatively abstract idea into […]