Credit Risk Analyst

SAS-based Credit Risk Consultant required for a global consultancy firm partnering with world leading banking clients. Working with teams of experts on varied and challenging projects, the company offers a dynamic and exciting career opportunity. The company prides itself on internal growth and training and is unrivalled by other consultancies.

Applicants will be able to explain Credit Risk models clearly and accessibly. Produce comprehensive and well-structured analytical reports, preferably within Retail Banking and proven development of Risk Rating Models for PD, LGD and EAD estimations.

This role will also require applicants to hold knowledge of IFRS9 & Regulatory frameworks (Basel III).

We require:

• A minimum 2 years’ experience in financial risk management
• Strong knowledge of SAS & SQL
• Strong statistical skills, including track record of using logistic regression to build propensity models
• Experience of developing, calibrating or validating and monitoring Risk Rating Models for PD, LGD and EAD estimation as per risk regulation
• Good knowledge of financial products, including retail, wholesale & insurance.
• Be able to adapt models to be compliant with IFRS9.
• An understanding of the credit risk regulatory environment
• Ability to present complex analytical concepts to all levels of the business
• Ability to determine, develop and document data requirements, modelling assumptions and model results
• Able to provide advice on risk management approaches Presentation skills

Skills:

• Consultative approach
• Stakeholder engagement
• A good team player that can also work independently
• A self-starter who is proactive in nature
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Abilities to build cross functional and external relationships
• Able to deliver project objectives within deadlines

On offer is the opportunity to work for a European leader in digital transformation. The role comes with a competitive salary, the opportunity for further development and the potential for a wide and diverse career.

Article 1 – Samantha Tipton is the King…
Be honest, are you one of the 46m people a month playing King.com’s Candy Crush Saga? If you thought that number was high, here are some more facts and figures about the game we all get invited to ten times a day on Facebook –

• 61m ‘likes’ on Facebook

• One in seven people in Hong Kong are regular players

• In the US Apple iStore, daily revenues are around $630,000

• It’s the third most popular free app as well as the highest grossing app on Google Play

• It has been installed half a billion times across Facebook, iOS and Android devices

It’s massive. It’s Angry Birds all over again and those who play it appear to love it.

This is a recruitment newsletter though, so why are we talking about games that have been specifically designed to detract you from working hard and furthering your career?

It’s because our colleague, Sam, has just signed up King.com as a client of Asset Resourcing. Not only are we immensely proud to have such an influential business on board, it is a testament to building, nurturing and maintaining solid business relationships that last.

She always takes the ‘friend approach’ to recruitment and always finds that by not badgering people on the phone and letting them contact her in their own time, the resulting relationship is one of mutual respect and subsequently more successful.

The hiring manager at King.com was aware of Samantha’s recruitment techniques and the standard of candidate she represents because she operates a European recruitment community on LinkedIn of which a number of King.com executives are members. As well as posts about specific roles, Samantha posts interesting and relevant articles and incites debate about the European job market, HR, business development as well as links to key speakers throughout Europe. It’s a method of client engagement that adds value to the Asset Resourcing service offering.

At the moment, she is looking after King.com’s senior recruitment and recruiter roles for London, Germany and Stockholm. There is also a Learning and Development business partner position in London and a HR Business Partner in Barcelona with other positions within the HR space in the future.

Article 2 – News in Brief

We thought we’d give you a selection of some of the jobs and recruitment stories making the rounds in the last week or so. Have you read anything interesting, funny or newsworthy? Drop us an email at enquiries@assetresourcing.com or follow us on Twitter @AssetResourcing and tell us. If it’s befitting our esteemed newsletter, we might include it next month!

How Much Overtime Do You Do?
Alan Jones writing in last week’s London Evening Standard has suggested that according to the TUC, 5.4m people worked more than their contracted hours for no additional pay in 2013, amounting to £640m of unpaid or ‘free’ work. The article goes on to say that one in five workers do almost eight unpaid hours a week with the highest proportion of workers, an estimated 900,000 coming from London. Breaking it down further, it seems that workers in their early 40s are most likely to do unpaid overtime, and the most common jobs where employees go over and above are, unsurprisingly, in education, professional, scientific and technical jobs.

Do you work overtime without being paid? What are your thoughts? Do you mind putting the hours in or do you resent not being paid for the work you do? Tell us at the details above.

Student Pessimism
In the same paper, Alison Kershaw reported that in an NUS poll where the student body questioned almost 4,000 students and recent graduates about their views on the jobs market. It turns out that pessimism is still rife amongst arguably our most vital demographic. Some say it’s the responsibility of big business to improve the job market and some say that it’s unfair to make students and recent graduates work for free for weeks or months in order to get experience. It’s that vicious circle again. Just over 40% said they were pessimistic about their chances of finding a good job in the next 12 months but 28% were optimistic…

What do you think? Are you a recent graduate with good or bad experiences of the job market? Tell us using the contact information above.

Mobile Friendly? No? Why Not?
On www.recruiter.co.uk, Sue Weekes writes that despite one in three jobseekers searching on a mobile device, it appears that employers still don’t get it and are driving away potential talent as a result of poor and non-responsive websites that aren’t optimised for tablet and smartphone.  Mobile browsing is a case of ‘search, find, act’ and if the estimated 88% of people searching for jobs on mobile can’t find what they’re looking for on poorly formatted corporate websites, they will very quickly go elsewhere. As a corporate employer, if your website isn’t optimised for mobile and tablet, you may be missing out on the best talent in the market.

What are the best and worst sites for mobile browsing? Let us know!

Article 3 – March Jobs Report

Asset Resourcing MD Ben Sweeting is a regular contributor to the monthly UK Jobs Report compiled and published by KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and he has pinpointed two very interesting elements that have emerged, including a paradigm shift in the balance of power from employer to employee –

• Employer confidence is growing strongly as we move deeper into 2014 and their thirst for new staff is at a 15½ year high. The UK construction industry is showing improving growth figures (as is manufacturing across the Eurozone) and as is common, when construction grows, other sectors will follow.

• Bernard Brown, Head of Business Services at KPMG (and one of the key compilers of the monthly report) essentially said that even though jobs are being created, there has been a decline in the number of people entering the jobs market. What appears to be happening more and more is that the preference for talented employees seems to be a ‘try before you buy’ mentality before committing to long-term or permanent roles. This shifts the balance of power back into the hands of the employee who can pick and choose where they want to work and for how long. This is most common in the TMT (telecoms, media and technology) industry but it seems other industries will follow.

With the escalating crisis in Russia and the Ukraine, global markets are ‘cautious’ so we’ll always suggest treading carefully and remain vigilant to business threats.

Carrying on the vacancy theme, ONS data states that vacancies were up over 15% on an annual basis in the three months to December 2013 and importantly, internet-based recruitment spending rose by 9.0% in the third quarter of 2013, the sharpest increase for almost two years.

As part of February’s report, all contributors (including Ben) were asked to specify areas in which they have encountered a skill shortage in the preceding month and the usual suspects are all represented – accountancy & financial, IT & tech, secretarial & clerical and blue collar & engineering.

Perhaps the most notable inclusion in this list is ‘social media’. Businesses are now understanding the importance of social media and engaging with their clients and customers (as is evident by this newsletter, Asset Resourcing are embracing the world of social media) and we are confident in saying ‘watch this space’. Social media and content marketing is a vital component of any business’s marketing strategy and we think that niche industry sector is about to explode with more and more dedicated social media roles coming to the fore.

We certainly are, but are you seeing more in-house social media or content marketing roles coming up? Let us know on Twitter @AssetResourcing.

Article 4 – Say what?

People really do say the funniest things, especially when it comes to jobs and work, but some of these quotes really are quite profound –

‘Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life’. Confucius

‘I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’ Michael Jordan

‘The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week.’ Robert Frost

‘My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general, if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.’
Pablo Picasso

‘A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately they don’t have a J.O.B.’
Fats Domino

 

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’

Article 1 – Jobseekers – How Mobile Are You?

2013 saw 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.

A fully mobile optimised Asset Resourcing website will be launched by the end of the month and as always we’d love to know your thoughts so please keep an eye out.

How are you searching for jobs? What would make your searching experience easier? Let us know!
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Article 2 – December Jobs Report

December 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
• Perm salaries are at a six-year high while candidate availability declines
• Internet-based recruitment spending rose by 4.6% in Q2 2013

Staff Appointments

Following November’s theme, recruiters are reporting a continued increase in the numbers of perm staff placed although as is the norm, the numbers eased 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 – The Asset Resourcing Christmas Party

On wet and windy Wednesday 18^th, 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.

Article 4 – Say ‘hello’ to Samantha Tipton!

Asset Resourcing is growing! Samantha Tipton joined the team in December 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. 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!

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 18^th, 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!

Asset Resourcing – November Newsletter
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Article 1 – November Jobs Report

Every month, Asset Resourcing’s MD Ben Sweeting contributes to a report detailing the current state of the UKs recruitment, jobs and staffing market. It’s put together by the REC (Recruitment & Employment Confederation) and auditors KPMG and this month the numbers are as positive as they have been for a while…

Overview

• Highest increase in permanent salaries and overall vacancies in six years
• Candidate availability is slowing
• Growth in permanent and temporary appointments

Staff Appointments

43% of respondents noted that the number of candidates placed in permanent positions rose in October. While 23% saw a decline, it’s suggested that client confidence is returning in Q4 and that confidence is expected to be maintained into Q1 2014.

Where temp contracts are concerned, agency billings increased for a sixth successive month.

Vacancies

Naturally, private sector vacancies rose at a quicker rate than the public sector, the fastest rate of growth for six years. In the private sector, permanent staff saw stronger demand growth that temps but interestingly, in the private sector, the reverse was true.

Staff Availability

Permanent candidate availability has declined, but it’s the rate of decline that’s most alarming. It’s the sharpest decline since 2007 and the reason, as strange as it may seem, isn’t money.

Average starting salaries are increasing at the fastest rate since December 2007 (a matter of basic economics – there are fewer available candidates yet an increased demand for staff) but Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG says ‘a question that must be addressed revolves around whether increasing salaries are enough to entice job hunters to move between organisations. All the evidence suggests not, with permanent and temp staff availability falling in recent months. It means employers cannot rely on wages alone as a hook to attract top talent. The time has come for them to develop a raft of offers as part of the overall remuneration package. If they fail to do so, they will struggle to recruit’.

As well as the Jobs Report for November, the Office of National Statistics has published their annual Graduates in the Labour Market report for 2013. The full report is available here but the key points make for some interesting (and in some cases blindingly obvious) reading –

• In 2013, there were 12m graduates in the UK and the numbers have steadily increased over the last 10 years
• In April to June 2013 graduates were more likely to be employed than those who left education with qualifications of a lower standard
• Non-graduates aged 21 to 30 have consistently higher unemployment rates than all other groups
• Non-graduates aged 21 to 30 have much higher inactivity rates than recent graduates
• Over 40% of graduates worked in the public administration, education and health industry
• Graduates were more likely to work in high skilled posts than non-graduates
• Annual earnings for graduates reach a higher peak at a later age than the annual earnings for non-graduates
• In 2013 those graduates that had an undergraduate degree in medicine or dentistry were the most likely to be employed and had the highest gross annual pay
• Graduates from the top UK universities earned more than graduates from other UK universities
• Male graduates were more likely to have a high skill job than female graduates
• Six in every ten people living in Inner London were graduates

As we said, some are interesting and informative and some are as obvious as night following day but the full report is worth reading. It’s not all text, there are some really nice, colourful graphs too.
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Christmas at Asset Resourcing

It’s that time of year again. Some people love it, some don’t but here at AR Towers, we love it, if only to find out what our guys love about Christmas, their fantasy five-person Christmas dinner guests and their choice of any gift to receive this year.

Ben Sweeting

What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? M&S Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry sandwiches.
Who’s sitting around the table at your fantasy five-guest Christmas lunch? Me, and any four of The Saturdays.
If you could choose any gift to receive this year, what would it be? I’m not a complicated man – a year’s supply of the aforementioned sandwiches served by any four of The Saturdays.

Michelle Scott

What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? Sparkly lights and excited children!
Who’s sitting around the table at your fantasy five-guest Christmas lunch? Obviously me, plus Michael McIntyre, Will Ferrell, Graham Norton and Eddie Redmayne.
If you could choose any gift to receive this year, what would it be? I’d like a huge plot of land to build my dream house on.

Sam Davison

What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? There are lots of things I love, including the build-up to the day, putting up the decorations, writing cards, the tree and even buying the food!
Who’s sitting around the table at your fantasy five-guest Christmas lunch? David Beckham, Muhammad Ali, Scarlett Johansson, Micky Flanagan and Jennifer Aniston!
If you could choose any gift to receive this year, what would it be? I’d like the new Audi S3 please Santa…!

Ryan Hearne

What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? The whole build-up, the John Lewis advert, the cheesy music in the shops and decorations everywhere!
Who’s sitting around the table at your fantasy five-guest Christmas lunch? My five guests would be Sir Alex Ferguson, James Corden, Will Ferrell, Nicole Scherzinger and Holly Willoughby.
If you could choose any gift to receive this year, what would it be? A new BMW 1 Series in black.

So cars, sandwiches and land – isn’t Christmas all about the giving? Of course it is, but who among us doesn’t dream about the perfect gift?

This is the last newsletter of the year, so from all of us at Asset Resourcing, we wish you a very happy Christmas and a healthy New Year and we’ll look forward to working with you all in 2014 and beyond.

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***BREAKING NEWS*** SAMANTHA TIPTON JOINS ASSET RESOURCING!

Say hello to Samantha Tipton. She’s just joined as a Recruitment Consultant and you’ll hear more from and about her in coming editions of the Asset Resourcing newsletter but for now, here are some quirky answers to some quirky questions by way of an introduction!

AR: What is your favourite fictional animal, and why?
ST: After careful deliberation, I’ve settled on Abu, the monkey from Aladdin. He’s mischievous and funny but also really, really cute!

AR: What’s your favourite app?
ST: Gig Finder. It’s an Android app with over 600,000 music venues up and down the country. Awesome if you’re a music lover!

AR: If you were on Death Row, what would your final meal be?
ST: Again, after a long process of elimination, I’ve decided on a medium-rare steak, criss-cross fries and mushy peas. Not that I’m ever likely to be on Death Row, you understand…

AR: Tea or coffee?
ST: I know most of the guys in the office are ‘white with one’ types, but I’m going leftfield by choosing a pumpkin-spiced latte.

Thanks Sarah!
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CVs Are Important, Really…

It’s 2013. Is there really any need for a CV anymore? Most everything is done online these days, including interviews, but if it wasn’t for CVs, we’d not have brilliantly funny stuff like this to keep us amused (and to despair about some people’s ability to survive in the real world…)

These pearls have been taken from ‘actual’ CVs. It’s not clear how far into the process any of them got but honestly, who cares!

What are your vocational plans? We went to Florida this year. We’ll probably go back again at Christmas.

What are your key personal achievements? I successfully managed to play ‘Chopsticks’ on a children’s piano with my toes.

What were your reasons for leaving your last role? I left because they stopped paying me, changed the locks and let my stuff in boxes by the front entrance with a note saying ‘James, you don’t work here anymore’. Plus, the Vice-President’s girlfriend stole my job. And she was a bitch about it too.

I have never willingly left any job.

I am married with eight children (five mothers). If there is a role which includes frequent travel, I am your man.

I saw your job advertised on the information highway and I came to a screeching halt!

Please disregard the attached CV because it’s terribly out of date.
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