Amanda, Author at Certes

Today at 9.30am we will see a total solar eclipse. And we will not see another eclipse of this magnitude until 2026, a full 11 years.

What can change in IT in 11 years? Well from 2004 to 2015 we have seen drastic changes in IT from companies using contract employees more often for projects and a constant shift in new skills being acquired due to the exponential speed of technology development and that is just a tiny fraction of the improvements that IT have seen in a decade. The skills that were desired 11 years ago will be completed different to the skills that needed for today’s fast paced age and the same will be true 11 years in the future.

So what changes could we hope to see in IT for the next solar eclipse? Can we predict the nature of technology to determine the direction of IT?

We would like to hear your thoughts?

Remember to be safe for the eclipse and do not stare directly at the sun without proper eye protection.

A visual look at some of the statistics, themes and responses from the 2015 CIO 100

Source: CIO UK

In the next few weeks the exam season will start to slow down, hassled teachers will lift their heads seeing the long holidays approaching and many schools will start locking their doors and shutting up shop until mid August. Before we know it we will have the annual news stories hitting the headlines as the exam results for both GCSE and A Levels are released. Will standards this year have risen? fallen? who knows. Then the schools start to crank back up to full speed; new pupils, new parents, new timetables, new courses, new staff and lots and lots of new data.

The education industry is the third highest industry sector to suffer a reported cyber breach, according to figures from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), behind only health and local government.

What could schools do over the forthcoming long summer holiday? How about getting their cyber house in order?

For more information visit the National Cyber Skills Centre: Cyber Insights

Certes specialise in IT staffing for all sectors and industries. We are now working with the National Cyber Skills Centre in order to provide staffing to companies in need of cyber security. For cyber security jobs search our site.

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was not only an amazing martial artist and movie star but he was highly intelligent. His famous quote told people that we need to adapt for the situations to survive. This way of thinking even travels to the animal kingdom. Animals need to adapt to their surrounding in order to ensure the continuation of their species.

So holds true for Recruiters as the job market is changing and recruiters need to adapt to these changes.

According to HR Grapevine “UK unemployment is down to 5.7% and the number of people working is now at an all-time high. In addition, the latest unemployment forecast suggests that the level of joblessness will go down to 5.3% this year”.

With the further increase in employment and changes in how we communicate, recruiters need to rethink their strategies to acquire candidates.

David Lahey, VP of International at Jobvite spoke with HR Grapevine “… we can see a shift from an employers' market to one that belongs to the candidate. The savviest recruiters today are using new recruiting tactics. They are creating strong employer brands – giving real personality to their firm as an employer – and promoting this through social – and mobile-friendly campaigns. These tactics are invaluable, especially if you have a small recruiting team, as they empower individuals to reach the company’s overall objectives of hiring.”

Taking advantage of new communication techniques will be vital for the recruitment industry. As millennial’s (born between early 1980- early 2000’s a.k.a Generation Y) are the generation that are using social media more than other generations and are the ages that tend to be career minded.

Embracing change in technology helps recruiters bridge the gap between where they can find suitable candidates as well as where candidates go to look for job roles.

Certes have become like water and adapted to the growing change in the environment. You can contact us via numberous ways.

LinkedIn – Certes LinkedIn

Twitter – @CertesNews

Google+ – plus.google.com/+CertesITrecruitment

The UK has seen major declines in employment due to a long lasting recession. Now the UK job market looks to be bouncing back with a robust Q2 in 2015. Not only is the UK job market seeing an increase in employment, it has amazingly been recorded as an all time high.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive at APSCO explains “It is heartening to see that employment is continuing to rise and at 73.4% is the highest since comparable records began – and higher than the pre-downturn peak in early 2008. This mirrors our own findings which saw a 25% rise in professional level vacancies year on year – although there was a slight cooling month on month mainly due to election uncertainty.”

A survey from CBI/Accenture employment trends 2014 explains that “50% of British businesses are planning to take on extra workers in 2015” due to the economic recovery. The recovery of the UK job market has also permitted pay increases for employees, where many companies have had to carry out pay freezes.

The drastically improved employment rate has not only affecting those finding jobs as new jobs are being created, but those who were already in jobs. The survey continues to say “UK workers are finally benefitting from a rise in real wages – where pay growth outstrips inflation – after six years of decline”. As a result more permanent job roles are likely to be created.

Dr John Philpott has said in his Jobs Economist consultancy report “Although the pace of job creation in 2015 is likely to be slower than in 2014, a combination of strong employment growth and a return to solid real wage growth will make the coming year the best overall for the UK labour market since 2007.

On the downside Ann Swain explains the UK job market is seeing “… a 6000 quarter on quarter decrease in staff employed by the public sector – the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1999 – with the increased pressure on our public services this is a worrying trend.” However Dr John Philpott explains that although the employment in the public is declining “around half a million new roles will be created by private companies.”

Employers are trying to fill new vacancy that are appearing due to the economic up turn. Certes have a huge database of companies who are looking to fill new IT positions and in both public and private sectors.

Source: Apsco

Certes’ own Craig Oates is taking part in the 10K Shenstone Fun Run 2015 on 21 June 2015 to raise money for Violets in Bloom.

Kerry and Ivan Mornington founded the charity Violets in Bloom when they sadly lost their 5 year old daughter Violet in 2013 due to contracting a very rare condition called Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) a potentially fatal disease of the blood if not diagnosed and treated in time. They started Violets in Bloom to help bereaved parents and their families to honour the children they have lost. For more information about Violets in Bloom click here.

Craig hopes to raise £200 for Violets in Bloom and everyone at Certes wish him the best of look for his big day. Let’s help Craig reach and surpass his goal and help families in their time of need.

Please donate to Craig just giving page and help other families.

Good luck Craig.

Another 12 months has come and gone and the recruitment industry has seen many changes, some expected and some that came out of nowhere.

Global Recruitment Trends

The quality of candidates seems to be a factor that is valuable for employers, with 39% saying candidate quality is important. Employee retention isn’t far behind with 32% of employers making employee retention a top priority in the next 12 months. Employee referrals are considered by 26% to be an integral part of recruitment and this area will be seeing a continued growth over the next year.

Another trend that has occurred in recruitment is branding. More and more employers are seeing the effectiveness of branding and 59% are increasing investments into this area to improve their brand compared to the previous year.

Biggest challenges

As with everything, there are challenges. The challenges that employers perceive to be difficult is finding the right candidate in areas with high demand (46%). 43% believe compensation is their biggest challenge while 39% feel that competition is a challenging factor.

Trends to keep in mind

There are trends that have clearly shown how significant they are compared to others and these trends do not show any signs of being neglected. Social media/Professional networks, employer branding, focusing on passive candidates and employee referral programs are all being adopted and being taken very seriously by employers in the years to come.

Trends that will continue to remain dominant are:

39% utilising social media and professional networks
38% employer branding
28% finding better ways to source passive candidates
26% employee referral programs

Social media and professional networks

Social media and professional networks is being seen as the best route in connecting with people, giving employers the tools to target the right audience at lightening fast speeds. Social media use has grown in abundance and employers/recruiters have taken note.

Employer branding

Companies are realising the value of branding.

Even after a dip last year, employer branding is re-emerging as a top priority (38%)

Employers are also using social media and professional networks for their branding strategies, while using company websites took a sharp decline. Reasons may be that it is easier to convey a message using social media and professional networks as hash tags (#), demographic and interest targeting enables messages to be seen by potential clients and candidates. Websites will not disappear as employers still need a central hub for information. Time may be another factor. Editing the website may take time as information of what is needed will have to be discussed with a web designer while social media needs only a few words, a link and an image for a message to be put across.

The budget for branding has improved and with the increase in budget there has been an increase in hiring volume.

Passive candidates

Passive and Active candidates both have attributes that recruiters look for. Although active candidates are seen to be the more sought after of the two as they are ‘actively’ looking for their next role, passive may maybe happy with their current position but when offered, may be interested in new employment. To attract passive candidates, employers will need to offer them an incentive; passive candidates have to be persuaded. Recruiters are noticing the importance and recruitment of passive candidates have increased by 4% from last year.

Employee referral programs

Employee referrals have seen a dramatic increase from the previous year and will continuing to grow during 2016.

Retention emerges as a top priority

Employee retention is a growing trend but contradictory to the results, internal referrals appears to be low priority. Hiring internally is a big key in retaining current employees but less than a third of employers think that internal hiring is a priority.

Looking closer into the results, employers and recruiters are making interaction more of a priority. Social media is being use to interact, build relationships and to inform candidates and clients. Passive candidate are not actively looking for jobs but employers are realising that they must not abandon them.

UK Recruitment Trends

For UK trends we will be mainly focusing on the IT industry but we will touch upon other industries.

Placement

IT placements in the UK are in favour of temporary staffing. Temp staffing has seen an increase of 0.6% while permanent staffing underwent a decline of 8%.

Demand

The demand in IT follows the same path as IT placements. Demand for permanent IT professionals decreased by 0.7 while temporary IT placements see a 2% increase.

We can see a correlation between Temporary IT placements and Temporary IT demand. Due to skills shortages affecting the IT sector, companies are in need of skills that they do not currently possess. To access these skills, they turn to temporary staffing.

The drop in permanent staffing does not have to be a negative but a result attributed to companies focusing on employee retention. If less IT staff are being placed in roles it may mean that employees are in need of permanent placement.

Salaries

The average salaries for those in the IT industry tend to be the highest compared to other industries in the UK.

The salaries IT employees receive have also increased by 2.2%, which can be a consequence to the increase in demand of temporary employees who are requesting higher premiums.

What can we expect in 2016?

In 2016, as the skills gap continues to grow we will see a higher demand for certain skills (Cyber Security being a big focus). This will give contract worker the opportunity to further increase their premiums, increasing the overall salary of the IT sector.

With social media being firmly cemented in company’s communications strategy, we can also expect companies/recruiters to continue to use social media for branding, job posting and building a community.

Sources from

APSco – Professional Recruitment Trends Nov 2015

LinkedIn – Global Recruiting Trends 2016

LinkedIn UK Staffing trends 2016?

Cystic Fibrosis is a life-shortening inherited disease caused by a faulty gene. This gene controls the movement of salt and water in and out of your cells, so the lungs and digestive system become clogged with mucus, making it hard to breathe and digest food. It affects over 10,000 people in the UK and more than 2.5 million people in the UK carry the faulty gene, thats around one in 25 people. There is currently no cure.

Gemma Bowron, Certes resource consultant has been affected by Cystic Fibrosis “The need to raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis is something very personal to me, having 2 nephews with the condition. Joshua, who sadly passed away in July 2014 at just 10 years of age after losing his fight with the disease and Dylan who is 9 years old and currently doing well with daily treatment to manage it, I also have a friend with CF who has just recently undergone a double lung transplant from which he is currently recovering in hospital; I know he would like me to thank the family of the donor".

Today, Certes are helping to raise awarness for Cystic Fibrosis. Look out for our Selfies (#CFYelfie) on our Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on Cystic Fibrosis and how you can help spread awareness visit the Cystic Fibrosis Trust

Putting off thinking about the GDPR? We really recommend you start now. Whether you like it or not, the GDPR is well on its way and if your business operates in the EU, you have clients that operate in the EU, or process data of EU citizens then you will need to comply with the new regulations by 25 May 2018.

Statistics from a recent survey conducted by Invenias show that 85% of recruitment agencies are not yet actively planning for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In addition, the survey illustrates that:

30% of agencies have not yet taken steps to prepare for the GDPR.
55% have started to think about how they might prepare for the GDPR
Only 15% are actively planning for the GDPR

The changes that are coming will have a massive effect on recruitment agencies, and those who demonstrate an effort of making changes and making their agency compliant will be a lot better off than those who do not do anything.

Don’t forget, if you breach the new regulations then it could result in fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover or €20million (whichever is greater).

How to comply with the GDPR?

To start with, you will need to complete a data audit. What data do you currently hold? Where of you hold it? Why? You will also need to assess how often you review your data for accuracy, how long you keep it, and whether you can easily and efficiently react to requests from your candidates. An example of this is that individuals will have “the right to be forgotten” and the “right to object”, allowing them to object from their details being used, shared or held.

You are obligated to only contact using the channel they have opted in to. Therefore, you must ensure that you are only using the contact details that your clients and candidates provided you with.

If a candidate has requested to unsubscribe, you cannot contact them again.

Make sure GDPR is understood across your agency, especially those who have access to your data. If you do not do this, you will be held directly responsible if your employees are still emailing or phoning candidates when they should not.

Review your relationship with your clients and any suppliers or jobs boards you use. They will also be affected by the GDPR and it may affect how you work with them.

Ask candidates if they would like to remain on your database. You can also use this as an opportunity to ask if they would like to be kept up to date with other forms of communication.

You must appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPOs) if you:
       – are a public authority
       – carry out large-scale systematic monitoring of individuals
       – carry out large-scale processing of special categories

If you are not required to appoint a DPO you should document and keep records of everything you do to prepare for the GDPR.

• As data protection is getting stricter, your internal processes should follow suit. Be extra cautious to ensure that data is safeguarded, and make sure regular tests take place. We also suggest that you have a breach response plan in place.

• Establish retention periods. Over the course of time, some users will become inactive or unresponsive. Establish retention periods so you can keep candidate information accurate and your database responsive.

• Put in place privacy notices. Once you have assessed all of the above, make sure you clearly communicate to your clients and candidates what data you are capturing and why.

At Certes, we advise that by May 2018 you ensure your agency can demonstrate that you are abiding by the new regulations and can show a process/ plan you have put in place to make your agency compliant.

IT is seeing a growth in contractual recruitment as opposed to permanent employment. Contract-based employment allows for more flexibility with work life and time at home while permanent employment gives the employee a sense of security. Are those the only things worth considering? We explore more of the pros and cons of Contract and Permanent employment.

Permanent Employment

Permanent work is pretty self-explanatory and is the way of working we tend to be most familiar with. You go to work to fulfil your contractual duties during office hours, get paid by your employer at the end of the month or by some other arrangement, and carry on for as long as you are good at what you do, the company can afford or wishes to keep you, or until you want to leave. Be good at your job, eventually receive management duties, climb the ladder, watch your pay gradually increase – and so on. It is the most predictable way of working. Nothing is recession proof, and there are other variables that can affect the longevity of your permanent job, but on the whole – it is seen as the safe and reliable option.

pros of permanent employment

Despite these advantages, nothing is perfect and permanent employment comes with its own drawbacks, as outlined below.

cons of permanent employment

Contract Employment

Contracting, particularly within IT, is often the end goal of many professionals. The cumulative of day rates often exceed permanent salaries and coupled with the excitement of working on new projects rather than staying with the same company for years, this is a dream for many. And it does come with very distinct advantages and features that are not found in permanent employment.

pros of contracting

In many ways, the benefits enjoyed by contractors act as a reward for the risk they take by forgoing permanent job security and benefits that only permanent employees are eligible for. This is the area in which the disadvantages of contract work come to light. IR35 is the latest spanner in the contracting world, read more about it here. For more traditional drawbacks of contracting, see below:

cons of contracting

Should you choose permanent or contract employment?

There is no right or wrong answer to this! It all depends on you as a person, your circumstances, preferences and even personality. If you thrive on stability, predictability and are excited by the prospect of working your way up the ladder with a solid track record of growth in well-established roles – permanent work is for you! If you find the prospect of this dull and are someone that thrives on trying new things, working with new people and frequently changing your environment (and if you fancy some risk and unpredictability!) then contracting is for you.

The great thing is that you don't necessarily have to pick one or the other. The skillsets overlap and you may find that doing a bit of both will put you in a stronger position as you will have acquired a wide variety of skills. Beware, however, that a track record of contracting may put some permanent employers off as they may perceive you as someone that will get bored quickly and leave not too long after starting. And often that is true about contractors, so make sure that you know yourself well and choose the best path for you.

And if you would like some help with finding your next role or if you're a company looking to hire IT, professionals, let us know – we are all about creating the perfect client+candidate matches.