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Preventing Illegal Working

We have been busy in the office today with the team completing their RRT training on preventing illegal working, keeping up to date and to ensure we are at the top of our game with compliance.

It ensures we are fully up together with the correct right to work checks and ensuring we know how to spot fraudulent documentation as well as ensuring we know what routes workers can take, understating the EU settlement scheme and work permits.

If you are unsure and want to have a chat with us about responsible recruitment and ensuring you are doing the right checks on your employees, please give us a call for a chat.

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Labour Market Update

Job advertising tips in Wiltshire

Official figures released in February show that the unemployment rate has remained at a near record low of 4.4%, with the employment rate at a near-record high of 75.2%. The figures also show that groups across society are accessing new job opportunities:

• Every region across the UK has seen employment increase since 2010

 • Youth unemployment has fallen by over 40% since 2010

• There are a record-breaking number of workers aged 50 plus in work, reaching 10 million. The latest Labour Market Outlook report from the CIPD gives an overview of the current situation and predictions for how the market is likely to move forward. The data indicates:

 • The number of vacancies remains well about historical average levels at 823,000

 • Wage growth is projected to remain subdued in the year ahead at around the 2% level – despite signs that two thirds of employers have vacancies they are struggling to fill

 • The rate of growth in the number of EU nationals continues to slow (although the net migration figure is still rising)

• Further labour market expansion is being constrained by a lack of supply. Those who employ EU nationals are more likely to invest in training and recruitment from a wider range of underrepresented or disadvantaged groups than those that don’t.

 This appears to dispel the assumption that companies with high proportions of EU nationals are choosing not to recruit locally; the recruitment of EU nationals in many cases would appear to be a necessary strategy, rather than a choice.

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Competition Time!

We are pleased to announce we have released another competition just in time for Valentine’s day.

This time you have a chance to win some prosecco and some yummy chocolates for you to share with your loved ones or simply keep them all to yourself, the choice is yours.

All you need to so to enter is head over to the Direct Response Employment Services Facebook pages and tell us your cheesiest chat up lines.

A winner will be selected this Friday 12th of Feb, so be in it to win it.

We look forward to reading your comments.

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Team Success – Keeping up to date with Responsible Recruitment.

The team at Direct Response had a fantastic training session on responsible recruitment which drives ethical and professional recruitment services which are good for both clients and candidates.

This ensures the team are fully up to speed with all compliance, legislation and ethical working within the recruitment sector and ensures we are on hand to offer the best professional service and at the top of our game when it comes to supporting clients and candidates.

Well done team and here’s to our next upcoming training session.

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Skills Vs Attitude

Skills vs Attitude:

When searching for that perfect new hire to join your team you of course want to ensure you make the right decision but is recruiting on skills and experience more important than hiring on attitude?

So, what is the difference?

From a hiring perspective, skills reflect the expertise and knowledge of a candidate whether this be from an educational background or experience and skills they have gained through previous employment. Such as an engineering business may be looking for candidates who have qualified with a certain technical qualification or engineering experience with a niche field.

Attitude is all about the candidate, their personality, and their willingness to learn, develop and passion for the product or the company. For example, a candidate may not have the right skills and experience but offer commitment and the eagerness to learn.

Looking at the statistics:

So, on average latest statistics show that only 20% of new job hirers are successful in the long run and actually commit to the job role and company long term.

60% of the new hirers who do not last long term is down to personality and cultural fit within an organisation. 

Whereas 14% of candidates actually leave or lose their job due to lack of experience or skills.

So, what is best?

There is no straight answer here as it is very much dependable on the role that the hirer is looking to recruit in, for example health care professional such as nurses or those within a certain discipline it will be essential that they have relevant qualifications and experience to fulfil the role and duties.

However, there is a significant benefit for hiring on attitude, Employees with the right attitude, positive mindset and passion in their personality means a better culture fit for your organisation.

Skills can be taught and anyone with the right attitude who is willing to learn and potentially moulded often prove to be more successful and more long term.

Personality and culture fit is crucial in any business, someone may have the right skills and experience on paper but having a bad attitude can prove a negative impact on your business.

Organisations will have their own methods of recruitment with each organisation taking a different approach and like above there are some roles where skills and experience is crucial to the job role, but always bare in mind that stats suggest outing attitude above skills and experience is more successful in the longer term.

If you would like some assistance with recruiting or struggling to find the right candidate please give us a call for a general chat and we would be happy to share some of our experience, advice and tips.

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What to look for in a CV

Looking through CV’s and applications can be time consuming and a lengthy process which is why a lot of companies when recruiting opt to use a recruitment agency who can manage applications and handle the recruitment process for you, saving you a lot of time in the long run. 

However, if you are finding yourself having to spend time looking through application and CV’s it is important to ensure you do not rush as you would not want to miss any suitable candidates for the role. 

Take time to review candidate’s CV’s, focusing on grammar or spelling is not essential and I think we can all be guilty of the odd spelling mistake so try not to read to much into these minor errors but focus more on their experience and skill set for the role.  

Any candidates who are not suitable, make sure you go back to them politely to give feedback on why they are not successful to ensure a positive experience with candidates through your recruitment process. 

It is also to remember that CV’s are only a snip it of the candidate’s skills and experience and can not always tell you if that candidate is right or not, so bare this in mind when selecting CV’s and if you are unsure, having a brief telephone chat with the candidate may help.