Article 1 – 2014’s ‘’Must-Have’ Tech for Recruiters
Every week there seems to be an 18-month old tech business with three employees and no balance sheet being bought by Google or Facebook for three billion dollars making the business-boy CEO richer than Australia. The trouble is most appear to rely on teenagers taking pictures of each other.
Thankfully for the more cerebral, there are a host of applications, tools and software out there that are incredibly useful for recruiters, candidates and clients alike. Here are the best ones to look out for in 2014 –
360Social 360Social is a toolbar for the Google Chrome browser (Firefox, IE and Safari are in development) that allows recruiters to research individual candidates by browsing through their various social media profiles. It tracks the social media footprint of candidates and will tell you whether they are squeaky clean or prone to trolling Stan Collymore…
Sonru Every recruiter in the world has at one point or another had issues with good candidates not being able to attend interviews because they’re not in the same city or even the same time zone. Sonru is a video interviewing solution that allows recruiters to record interview questions, set a deadline and invite candidates to email their responses back.
TalentQ This is a very useful tool that offers psychometric testing (competencies, personality, motivation, skills and behaviours) to candidates so you can quickly sift through the metaphorical wheat from the chaff.
What tools, software or websites do you use to simplify, streamline and generally made your life easier? Let us know on Twitter @AssetResourcing.
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Article 2 – Did You Meet Your Partner at Work?
In honour of Valentine’s Day this month, it’s time to celebrate those lucky souls who meet at work, lock eyes over the printer and after a few flirty post-work beers and some surreptitious emails proclaim undying love for each other.
When you look at it objectively, there’s no real surprise that so many coupes meet at work. You’re essentially in the same room with the same people for 8-9 hours a day, you collaborate on projects and you eat and socialise together. It’s inevitable that friendships will form and attraction often follows.
A recent survey conducted on behalf of the Daily Mail has suggested that 14% of couples who met at (or through) work end up down the aisle compared to 11% who were introduced through friends.
There are some real benefits to meeting at work –
- You have at least one thing in common
- You can essentially ‘test-drive’ your potential partner, studying them in a professional environment (and they’ll probably look better in smart work attire rather than a weekend tracksuit)
- It’s convenient to work together, travel together and socialise together
It’s not all plain-sailing however. It’s risky to make a pass at a colleague because a) you’re not sure how they will respond, b) if they respond negatively, it could make things awkward, c) will embarking on a workplace relationship affect the team dynamic and d) what will the company reaction be?
Here at Asset Resourcing, we’re traditionalists. If you fancy someone at work and it’s appropriate, ask them out on a date!
Have you met your life partner at work? How did it manifest itself? Were there any issues or stumbling blocks? Let us know!
Happy Valentine’s Day all!
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Article 3 – January Jobs Report
Asset Resourcing MD Ben Sweeting is a regular contributor to the monthly UK Jobs Report compiled and published by KPMG and the REC and he feels there is a real sense of optimism creeping back into the jobs market.
Ben’s optimism is valiated by Bernard Brown, Head of Business Services at KPMG. ‘Business confidence has reached a new high and it’s easy to share the renewed sense of optimism amongst employers. Permanent placements alone have hit a four-year peak and with temporary hires accelerating to a 15-year high there is clearly room for corporate investment and, with it, job creation.’
The headlines from January’s report include –
- Demand for staff continued to increase while…
- Staff availability is on a sharp downward curve
- Permanent salaries are at their highest growth rate since October 2007
- Hourly pay rates for temp/contract staff also rose, but not as sharply as for perms
While there are certainly plenty of reasons to be cheerful about the latest news, we proceed with a certain level of caution. Employees who are considering a new job are still being hesitant about moving companies or industries in favour of keeping the status quo for now. There is still a case for ‘it’s still an uncertain market and I have a job so I’m going to ride out the storm and see what’s out there later in the year’ but we genuinely believe that the green shoots of recovery are starting to flower.
There is still a risk that employers who are desperate to fill talent gaps will pay artificially high salaries to secure (and retain) the best employees and couple that with the steep fall in staff availability, you can see why we’re not quite ready to put the bunting out but we do feel that 2014 will be a year to look forward to.
What do you think about the state of the market? Are you optimistic? Are we in the midst of a recovery back to pre-2008 levels? Let’s hope so!
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Article 4 – Funny Ha Ha
How many offices have you been into where the walls are covered in posters with ‘inspirational’ messages, one step on from ‘you don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps?’
Here’s what they should really say…
‘If you can stay calm while all around you is in chaos…it’s likely you haven’t completely understood the severity of the situation’
‘Whatever you do, do it properly and to the best of your ability. Doing it wrong and blaming others makes you perfect for middle management’
‘Never put off until tomorrow what you can confidently avoid altogether’
‘Plagiarism saves an awful lot of time and effort’