The Association Of Professional Staffing Companies says “nimble” recruiters can make big wins in 2018. In a study of Australian recruiters, APSCo found that a reliable pool of talented candidates was the key recruiter agility. But how can recruiters remain agile in a competitive market? And which strategies are UK employers using to retain their most skilled staff?

Top talent is the key to winning, says APSCo Australia

APSCo, The Association Of Professional Staffing Companies in Australia, has reported on a strong year for recruitment in 2017. The Professional Staffing Trends December 2017 report found that growth played a significant part of recruitment in 2017. Both new and repeated business were equally dominant within the sector. Looking ahead to 2018, APSCo sees talent pools as the defining characteristic of successful recruitment agencies over the next twelve months.

Julie Mills, managing director of APSCo Australia described the country as a “rapidly evolving skills market”. She said that successful agencies were ones who were “ready to respond”, and “nimble enough to meet market changes”.

The study demonstrates that, in recruitment, it is still crucial to get the fundamentals right. Your agency may source its talent from social media, or it may nurture highly skilled individuals in a more traditional way. What the data makes clear is that recruitment is, above all, still an industry built on relationships.

A New Deal for Britain’s workforce?

The Bank of England has forecast the largest wage increase for UK workers in a decade, it was revealed this week.

The organisation used market data from across Britain to inform its figures. The investigation found that private enterprises expect to increase their wage bills by 3.1 per cent over the next twelve months.

The report also identified a deeply entrenched problem with recruiting in Britain. Hiring difficulties in the private sector were now “at an elevated level”, according to the research. As we reported last week, the perception of a skills gap is growing across virtually every industry.

The new data takes into account the 4.4 per cent increase in the national minimum wage (from £7.50 to £7.83). The increase may also explain why the retail and consumer service sector expected to be the industry most impacted by the wage growth. In 2017, wage bills grew by an average of 2.6 per cent.

The nationwide study of 368 private sector employers represents more than 845,000 members of the UK workforce.

Leeds firm reveals fairer structure for happier work

An ethical company image is now recognised as one of the most valuable factors in employee recruitment and retention. But the way to project that positive identity through your branding is perhaps less understood. But one Leeds-based recruitment agency has possibly found an answer: by making all of its staff shareholders in its enterprise.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/recruitment-firm-csg-plan-to-make-all-staff-shareholders-1-9015291

Ben Riley and Wayne Underwood, founders of CSG decided to make all of their employees shareholders as one part of “making CSG a great place to work”. The initiative will release ten per cent of the company’s shares to staff ownership, in an Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme running until July 2019. Other happiness drives have included two hour lunch breaks for exercise, and flexible working agreements.

Mr Underwood said “This is incredibly important to us, and is part of CSG’s DNA”.

Army recruitment puts forces in peril, says MP

Falling returns on investment in army recruitment have been discussed here previously. This week, a Conservative politician has restated the problems facing army chiefs, as intake numbers fell once again in 2017.

The army attracted just 3,270 for its April to September intake in 2017. The data exposes both a fall over previous years, and an increase in the rate of decline.

Mark Francois, the former Minister of State for the Armed Forces, who obtained the figures said “while applications may be rising, the number of actual enlistments is continuing to fall”.

Recruitment: what’s in a name?

Finally, Thursday’s Independent newspaper found the oddest job titles listed on Glassdoor.

Featuring a mix of corporate newspeak (“developer evangelist”) and poor attempts at overselling (“Sandwich artist”), the list is a useful guide for showing recruiters how not to advertise a position.

But some fairly common tech terms, like “Python developer”, “Cloud Chief Architect”, and “Ethical Hacker” also made the list. It perhaps demonstrates how the tech sector remains largely misunderstood by many sections of the wider professional world. The full list of odd job titles is as follows:

1. “Developer evangelist”
2. “Brow expert”
3. “Cloud chief architect”
4. “Telemedicine assistant”
5. “Sandwich artist”
6. “Graduate brainbox”
7. “Listening lead”
8. “Beverage application technologist”
9. “Python developer”
10. “Ethical hacker”