Recruitment Advice

Finding a new job can be tough. The thought of spending nearly every hour of the day on a job site looking through jobs that aren’t that much of an interest to you can seem really depressing, but, if you need a job it needs to be done! Like I have mentioned before, there are jobs out there and organisations are still recruiting despite the recession.

If you are looking to keep costs to a minimum whilst your out of work then try using websites that offer promotional codes and promotional vouchers. They can be used online and printed off and used in store which means you will be saving your money as your buy either way. Discounts of 20-30% are being offered in a number of stores and buy one get one free offers too. If money is tight, vouchers are a great way of keeping the amount you spend, low.

Like I have mentioned previously keep your eyes peeled for jobs on the Internet, in the paper, at the Job Centre and get friends and family to let you know of any vacancies they come across. Most businesses will be using free methods of recruitment and although Recruitment Agencies may be the easy option you may have a better chance if you look for yourself.

For all those Job hunters out there beware that perspective employers are increasingly checking out networking sites such as Facebook, My-space and Twitter to get information on prospective employees and what they are like outside of work?

The recruitment market is highly competitive at the moment and employers are looking at personal profiles, drunken nights out, pictures, getting a better idea of what you are like outside of the work.

These techniques are useful to check out an employees public persona, personality and of course reputation.

I personally think that i wouldn’t put anything on my Facebook that i wouldn’t want my parents to see, therefore the information available about me is limited.

With the number of unemployed reaching 2.1 million it seems that for many, finding a job is proving difficult. Although a large proportion of industries are struggling because of the recession, it hasn’t massively affected each and every one of them. There are still jobs available, maybe not in the industry you have previously worked in but a change may have to be the next move. This could just be temporary or part time job just to make sure that you can pay the bills, you may even end up enjoying it and wanting to take it up full time!

Make sure that you have a look at the popular employment websites such as Monster and Total Jobs, they have hundreds of job opportunities available in a number of different industries, from jobs for writers to jobs for financial controllers and customer service advisers.

If you are unemployed then try not to worry too much, you just need to make sure that you have a well written CV, submitted on a wide variety of job boards. Make sure that you keep your eyes peeled for jobs being advertised in papers and ask friends and families to let you know if any vacancies come up in their work place.

The job centre teams are looking to recruit more advisers to help the thousands of people who have left their jobs. The centres that are recruiting are Kidsgrove, Newcastle, Longton, Hanley and Cheshire. They are being recruited thanks to a £1.3 billion Government investment to better support the unemployed.

The recruitment drive comes as the number of individual cases of unemployment in Stoke- on-Trent has jumped 41% and in Newcastle 50% in the last year.

Jane Gratton, policy manager at North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, today backed the recruitment.

She said: “It is important that people who have lost their jobs have access to good quality advice and information about their options. This includes the potential for improving their skills or learning new ones, so they are ready to take advantage of job opportunities when the economy picks up.” Most of the recruits will act as caseworkers for individual clients, on a starting salary of £19,650.

Fast food chain KFC plan to create 9000 new jobs as customers try to eat out for less and save there pennies. The fried chicken chain is to invest £150 million in a scheme which will see it open as many as 300 new restaurant over the next three to five years.

Martin Shuker,CEO of KFC in the UK and Ireland, said: “Last year, we opened 36 restaurants and in 2009 we will open 44 more. We are seeing really strong growth.

“Two weeks ago, we opened a new drive-through in Worcester and it brought in £100,531 in the first week, which smashed our previous record of £88,000. We have grown UK sales in all but one of the past 15 years

KFC currently has 22,000 UK staff, with the lowest-band recruits starting at the UK minimum wage, which is £5.73 an hour for people over the age of 21.

Watching this weeks Dispatches programme Too Old To Work it made me think how hard it must be, to be out of work for the rest of your life regardless of whether you want to work or not. As a recruiter it made me think about the fairly new legistlation in a new light.

As the amount of unemployed people in the UK is about to reach £2 million the programme shows how bad age discrimination in the UK actually is, despite the law.

The investigation shows that being older is being classed as a risk in the workplace, older people are more likely to lose there job and fail to secure another position. With the current job market being flooded with candidates it has become a very competitive market, this is leaving older people to look less attractive as a new employee.

The programme reveals that the commonly-held prejudices against older people may be entirely misplaced because many have as active, if not more active brains than their younger counterparts.

In the current job market, employers are finding it increasingly harder to attract and retain qualified job candidates that suit the needs of the business. The official figures also showed in the UK there were 530,000 job vacancies in the last three months of 2008, down 69,000 from the previous quarter and the lowest figure since records began in 2001.

The total number of people unemployed is widely expected to have passed two million in the last three months of 2008 - those figures will be released in February. With jobs available and even more people trying to fill them, how can your company stand out from the competition and attract top applicants?

Promotional products can help draw attention to your company at any job fair or recruitment event will help candidates to remember your branded message.

At job fairs, recruitment events and seminars are all good recruitment opportunities to reach out to potential candidates. Custom promotional gifts can go a long way toward getting a candidate’s attention and encouraging them to consider your company. Just make sure your promotional gifts send the right message about your company and the kind of employee you’re looking for.

Promotional mugs and pens are amongst the traditional giveaways that you can find at these events.

New plans have been put in place by the government to safeguard jobs during the recession. It has recently been announced that the government are planning to pay employers up the amount of £2,500 for every unemployed person they recruit.

It was during the government’s job summit that the plans were announced and advice and guidance on how to deal with the increasing unemployment was offered.

Unemployment now stands at 1.8 million and it looks like this figure is set to rise with Marks and Spencer’s and Dell making redundancies.

Help does seem to be at hand though, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department of Work and Pensions are investing £500million over two years to help the people who have been out of work for over 6 months.

A spokesman for Work and Pensions has said:

“There are still over half a million jobs available, and employers are still recruiting - we will do everything we can to get people into those jobs. Our message is simple, the longer a person is out of work the harder we will work for them”.

More and more organisations are now opting for Employee Assistance Programs, to support their staff and increase productivity in the workplace.

Employee Assistance Programs are offered to employees as a benefit, normally in conjunction with a Health Insurance Plan and are intended to help employees deal with problems that could consequently impact their performance, well-being and health.

Having this service is a massive benefit for any company and helps your employees deal with personal and work related issues 24 hours a day. The service can improve business performance by reducing stress and absence, and increasing efficiency and commitment.

An EAP can offer a number of different services including absence management, stress management and a counselling service. The counselling service can also help with problems such as bullying and harassment in the workplace and can be done either over the phone or face to face.

Research has shown that a massive 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, anxiety and depression during 2004-2005.

Offering this service will also give you an advantage in recruiting new staff members, as it will be an additional benefit to other organisations.

Having this service to offer your employees is not only an investment in your people but an investment in your business!

The estimated cost for recruiting the wrong candidate into a role can range between one and three times the individuals salary. This fact alone makes pre-employment screening not only cost effective, but necessary for the financial health of the company.

Education and credential history are exaggerations or lies more than 10 per cent of the time. often candidates can even supply official looking documentation.

C.V’s are an excellent way for candidates to sell themselves, however because there is no set format the quality and accuracy of information is hit and miss.

One solution is to ask all candidates to complete a standardised application form and telling the candidate you will verify all the information given as part of the recruitment process. Ideally the application form should be done by surprise just before the interview is due to take place. It is a excellent tool to measure accuracy against the C.V information.

Unless your are able to check with the Criminal Records Bureau information on convictions is difficult to obtain. Under regulations you can ask for this information on any convictions that are not spent. Checks should not only be made on employment history but on education and professional qualifications.

The more checks you do on previous history the more robust your recruitment process will become.