Article 1 – Say ‘hello’ to Samantha Tipton!
Asset Resourcing is growing! At the start of December, Samantha Tipton joined the team as European HR Consultant. Here she is in her own words (mostly…) –
AR: What does an average day look like for you?
ST: In a word – busy. In some more words, I am involved in the full 360° recruitment service and that includes business development. Building my own desk involves lots of emails, phone calls and working my way through LinkedIn. I’m monitoring who’s recruiting and I’m also building ethical, lasting relationships with candidates and clients.
AR: What do you like about working for AR?
ST: The close-knit family atmosphere and the support I got from the directors was immediately obvious and I have a certain freedom and flexibility to create, generate and build my own business with the ability to structure my day in a way that will be most beneficial to the business and my clients.
AR: How has your career progressed in the recruitment industry?
ST: I started my recruitment career inAustralia as an internal recruiter for a multinational infrastructure company inSydney. When I graduated I joined a city-based recruitment company heading up the German HR desk. I worked there for six months before I was approached with the suggestion of relocation toGermany. I then applied for the role at Asset Resourcing….
AR: What areas of recruitment are you looking after and what do the prospects like for candidates coming into your space over the next 12-18 months?
ST: I look after the HR recruitment for Central Europe and theUK. With a large and growing market at my disposal I hope to generate lots of roles, both permanent and interim across Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and of course the UK.
AR: Where do you see the future of recruitment going in the next 3-5 years?
ST: With the advent of social media, recruitment is now global with interviews being conducted via video conferencing and Skype as opposed to just the traditional ways. Candidates will become more mobile which will in turn open up markets where recruitment is not necessarily as big as it is here in theUK.
AR: What traits do you consider useful when working in recruitment?
ST: Organisation – you must have the ability to prioritise. Motivation – it’s not about the money, rather having the desire to build and grow a business. Communication – in order to build relationships with candidates and clients. Confidence – to be able to speak to people you have never met and be able to sell them a person or a position.
AR: What are your favourite sports team, band, book and film?
ST: In order – Everton (football) and Worcester Warriors (rugby), Bloc Party and Florence and the Machine, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and anything directed by Guy Ritchie!
AR: Lastly, can we have three ‘out of the office’ facts about yourself?
ST: I watch rugby in winter and sailing in the summer, I love being pampered, going shopping and eating out and I’m a proper gym junkie!
Thanks Samantha!
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Article 2 – December Jobs Report
November was a month of growth across all the metrics relevant to the UK Labour Report prepared every month by auditors KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).
Asset Resourcing’s own Ben Sweeting is a regular contributor to the report and the headline facts are as follows –
- Permanent and temp appointments rose at strong rates
- Vacancies have increased at their fastest rate since July 1998
- Permsalaries are at a six-year high while candidate availability declines
- Internet-based recruitment spending rose by 4.6% in Q2 2013
Staff Appointments
Following October’s theme, recruiters are reporting a continued increase in the numbers of perm staff placed although as is the norm, the numbers ease in the run-up to Christmas. The increases were as a result of the number of available vacancies. As for temp placements, billings were up and the rate of growth is still strong but has moderated to a five-month low, again, due in part to the general slowdown in the run up to the Christmas holidays.
Vacancies
Demand for high-quality, talented staff remains high with the rate of growth accelerating to a 15-year high. Demand for perm staff is higher than for temp staff but nevertheless, both have risen. Where perm roles are concerned, the private sector showed the strongest growth and while public sector roles showed growth, the levels were slight.
Sector-Specific Staff
The Engineering and Nursing/Medical/Care sectors showed the strongest rate of expansion, closely followed by IT & Computing, Executive roles and Accounting/Financial. A return to buoyancy in the property markets has also seen increases in the Construction industry but overall, Q1 2014 looks to continue the upward trend.
Staff Availability
Temp and perm staff availability continued to fall in November (the fall in availability of temp staff was the sharpest for nine years). Part of the issue resulting in the lack of available (and appropriately qualified) candidates is the school of thought which says ‘I have a job, let’s not rock the boat right now’ and starting salaries are rising at the fastest rate for six years because of higher demand as well as the shortage of skilled candidates.
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Article 3 – Jobseekers – How Mobile Are You?
2013 has seen a staggering 48% year-on-year increase in jobseekers searching available roles from their mobile devices. Totaljobs.com suggest that 34% (up from 23% y-o-y) of their incoming traffic comes from smartphones or tablets.
The same company also report that people completing and submitting applications via mobile device has risen by 68% thanks in part to Google Drive, the search behemoth’s online storage facility. There has been growing demand for greater mobile functionality when it comes to job searching and Google have said that by the second half of 2014, around half of all recruitment-related searches will be done on mobile devices. There is also an increasing trend for jobseekers to react to searches they find on their devices by sending them to themselves to complete at home on desktop computers.
How are you searching for jobs? What would make your searching experience easier? Let us know!
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Article 4 – The Asset Resourcing Christmas Party
On wet and windy Wednesday 18th, we had the Asset Resourcing Christmas Party. It was a great end to another successful year.
We went to Party at the Pyramids at AldenhamCountryPark. They had a giant Sphinx, pyramids, acrobats, dodgems and a casino (we don’t remember seeing bumper cars in Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra but hey-ho).
We were spoilt for entertainment and enjoyed a little friendly inter-company competition on the bucking camel. The evening began with a four-course dinner, during which we were entertained with fire dancing and aero-acrobatics performed by a harem of dancing girls – they chaps couldn’t take their eyes off them!
This years’ chosen charity was Peace Hospice Care, a fantastic organisation providing invaluable services to patients and families across South West Hertfordshire.
They raised even more money through a silent auction where Ben’s Jägerbomb-fuelled generosity was rewarded with a new piece of ‘regal’ art for our office wall – amongst other “wins”. The night got better as the drinks flowed, the DJ played cheesy classics and, ignoring ‘the no drink-driving rule’ we bashed around on the dodgems. What did we learn? Drinking on a school night is always a bad idea and Ed’s a surprisingly good body popper!
Happy New Year everyone!