£3.6 Million Increased Spending does not stem the tide of Uk soldiers quitting.
Interestingly after my last post on Army recruiting, I came across this article on the MOD Oracle site. Where they they have quoted that the UK Government has increased its spend on recruitment by £3.6 Million, proved not to stem the tide of soldiers quitting.
May be we could learn something from our US counterpart here.
below is the full extract
The Government increased spending on Army recruitment by £3.6 million last year but failed to increase the number of soldiers.
Despite record amounts of money being spent on trying to attract new recruits, fewer people signed up than quit.
Figures revealed in a written parliamentary answer by defence minister Derek Twigg show that recruitment spending rose from £85.4 million in 2004/5 to £89 million in 2005/6.
The number of new recruits rose from 11,720 in 2005 to 12,730 in 2006.
But separate figures from the Defence Analytical Support Agency show that 14,460 people quit the Army in the year to June 2006.
Shadow Defence secretary Liam Fox said: "The Government is throwing money at recruitment in a desperate attempt to keep up numbers.
"They should be focusing on the retention crisis which sees some of the most skilled and experienced soldiers quitting the Army.
"Shorter gaps between tours of duty, concerns over kit, pay and allowances, are starting to hit morale and are adding further pressure on service families."
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Czech Republican Army Video
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I have not posted a video for a while but this seemed a little relevant. It is another Military Recruitment video, this time from the Czech Republican Army.
I suppose it begs the question why the big recruitment drive from the Military powers at present. One can obviously speculate particularly with the well publicized campaign from the US Marines, none the less it is still frustrating that we need an Army at all, things just do not seem to be getting any better.
With Xmas just gone this post did make me reflect on a Xmas record of mine by John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance".
Still who am I to have any influence on the political climate, I am just a recruitment Blogger!
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Now the Xmas turkey has been eaten
Now the Xmas turkey has been eaten, and I have a few minutes to contemplate the future of this here blog, I almost do not know where to start.
Saying that a logical place would be to make a few New Years resolutions, albeit early as I will have no chance after the 1st of January.
1) Not to sit on those hard cold calls (I think I say that every year, one day it will stick)
2) Post quality content, when I have something to say!
3) Find and Motivate other UK Blogger’s, surely there must be more of us.
4) I need to find more humor and maybe put a little more of me here too.
5) Network more, can you believe I am really shy in this industry!
6) Have fun
7) This is for my Boss, Drive Arithon to its full potential.
9) and 10) Well I think I shall and add those later after some reflection, in fact for 8 while I think of it should be to comment more on other blogs, a must for a true blogger.
Other than that I wish 2007 the best recruitment blogging year for all.
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“A Split-Fee Is Better Than No Fee!”
I was contacted yesterday by Lee McCoy of Agency Central in regards to their launch of SplitFeeJobs and their press release is below. Having had a quick look at the site and read the press release I do hope they do well, although I know many agencies will be a little nervous certainly those in the UK. Saying that my experience has been positive over the years with split fees, but it will depend on the consultancies that you work with.
Now if I was a new recruitment consultancy or recruitment consultant just starting out, I believe this site would be a great way to get going, it will also give an opportunity for the more established companies to fill some of their outstanding vacancies.
My only negative so far is the lack of info on the front page as you need to register first, but if this helps with the policing of the split fees then that is has to be a plus point.
Agency Central ("the UK’s leading dedicated recruitment agency directory") is pleased to announce the launch of the first major split fee service for recruitment organisations worldwide.
Born out of the requirements of our clients, Agency Central has developed an online service where recruiters worldwide can post, free of charge, the vacancies they feel they are unlikely to be able to fill and candidates they are unable to place. This will then attract other agencies that believe they have suitable candidates. Therefore the recruitment fee can be split rather than lost altogether.
The SplitFeeJobs.com site has been developed in-house with the sole aim of making recruiting more profitable for all recruitment companies. Acting as a networking tool, the site allows individual recruiters to offer vacancies they don’t feel they can fill and the opportunity for others to fill them for a fee. SplitFeeJobs.com acts as an introduction, communication and negotiation tool, whilst keeping your details safe, secure and hidden until you wish to conclude a split fee arrangement.
Kevin Drinkwater, Managing Director commented “Agency Central has been at the forefront of delivering job specs to recruitment agencies for the past seven years. However, far too many vacancies go unfilled, perhaps because the recruiter doesn’t have the time or candidates to fill them. Splitfeejobs.com allows recruiters to partner with other recruitment organisations to fill these vacancies, thus meeting their clients’ expectations.!
New recruitment organisations who may not have the networking contacts of larger or more established agencies can also benefit by having immediate access to vacancies within their target industries. Kevin continued, “We talk to many agencies, often with one or two staff who find it difficult to divide their time between filling vacancies and finding new clients.”Matt Trott, MD of The Spencer Group commented: "We turn away approximately 30 jobs per month as they do not match our core competencies. If we filled all of these roles at our average fee it would equate to £2.9M of additional revenue. It would be great to get some income from these wasted opportunities." Using SplitFeeJobs.com offers all recruitment agencies an opportunity to grow their bottom line by making the most of all their vacancies.
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Merry Christmas
Well there is now a definite slow down in activity, and in some recruitment markets this week is almost dead, except for a few clients wanting to fill their position at all cost by Christmas, which will generally fall out in the New Year!
But while I write this it has given me a moment to reflect on the fantastic benefits of writing this blog, in particular my career change but most of all it is has been the opportunity to linkup with new and old friends, not only in the UK but across the world. Most of whom you will find on my Blogroll.
So I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and to say thank you for the support and comments over the year.
And I wish you all a prosperous New Year
Regards
Stephen Fowler
Recruitment Views
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Is This the answer to Recruitment a lie detector on skype
This has got to be the most interesting piece of software I have seen for some time, as spotted by Steven of the Asian Pacific Headhunter. Its a lie detector for skype called the "Kishkish lie detector."
Unfortunately and for legal reasons the application tells the caller that a lie detector is being used, but what a cool tool if with every telephone interview you knew whether the candidate was lying or not. And what about candidates not turning up for interviews and the excuses for not coming into work, oh where will it all end.
Thank heavens for Civil Rights!
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Recruitment Views at Growth in Recruitment, Dublin
As you know I was little nervous in regards to my first guest speaking engagement, but hey we all have to start somewhere.
Still apart from the nerves I did enjoy the experience and benefited hugely from the research, I needed to do. The attendees where kind and appreciative and the wine after helped, it was just a pity I needed to catch a flight at 6 am in the morning.
I was also in accompaniment with guest speakers Enterprise Ireland’s Mr. Seán Faulkner, and Thomas International’s Mr. John Lynam, their expert knowledge was very informative. I was in awe of the support that Enterprise Ireland give to help Irish companies succeed, not only nationally but internationally, where as in the UK I have found the support to be very poor indeed. John opened my eyes once again to psychometric testing, as a tool to give recruitment consultants added value, but for me his description of a a Recruitment Consultant was on the nail!
Above is a photo of Action Recruitment’s Helena Moir and Michelle Conaghan with Arithon’s Marketing Manager, Catherine Manley and of course yours truly before the wine kicked in.
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Prison Sentence for Recruitment Consultant
Well after the the last post on a tough legal action with another consultant, this has to be the most sever with legal action culminating in a prison sentence.
Fortunately the judge has agreed to suspend the prison sentence on James Parks for 6 months, but non the less I am sure this is a huge warning to other recruitment consultants within Hays and will certainly make other consultants think twice.
Mind you faxing the candidates database to a competitor company (Specialists on Site), is asking for trouble. Still the other issue maybe more complicated ie was the consultant offered another role at this company and therefore felt obliged or was it part of the deal of acceptance!
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Recruiting Revolution will they succeed where others have failed!
The other day I was talking to Jamie of the Recruiting Revolution a new means of recruiting without recruitment consultants, their USP below is taken from their PR
September 2006 – sees the launch of RecruitmentRevolution.com, the UK’s first fully functional
online recruitment agency. The concept, which aims to abolish exorbitant recruitment agency fees
so that more money from the client can be directed towards the candidates, was devised by
recent graduates Jamie Mistlin (27) and Anna Taylor (24) after their poor experience of
recruitment agencies.
I am disappointed with the dig at recruitment consultants, as I think graduates have no idea what goes on it isn’t the recruitment consultant that are the bad guy’s it is often the client companies. This may shock you but what most graduates are not aware of is recruitment consultants try our hardest to fix you up with our client companies. Unfortunately some of our clients will not even listen, no matter how much we believe in you so we have to let you down. Secondly there are just so many of you and as a result the clients can pick and choose.
Still there is no excuse from our part, in not treating you as professionals, but it is worth to note that recruitment consultancies recruit a huge number of graduates as their first job, so the phrase "don’t bite off the hand that feeds you" comes to mind.
After that bit of a moan I do like your site, it has potential and certainly will fill a gap with companies that cannot afford the typical recruitment fees and if you market your site correctly you can succeed.
I suppose a word of warning www.no-recruitment-consultants.com didn’t last long, so best of luck
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My First Recruitment Guest Speaker Experience
One of the reasons for not writing as regularly as I should, mind you who can keep up with Dave Mendoza I don’t even have the time to read them, let alone react. Is because next Tuesday I will be in Dublin at The Berkeley Court Hotel as one of the guest speakers.
Fortunately I will be covering a pet subject of mine Recruitment and Technology, which should calm the nerves with around 50 attendees.
Although I am apprehensive I am looking forward to it for a number of reason. Firstly you have to move out of your own comfort zone to develop, which this surely will be and secondly I will be joining some of the more experienced presenters, of whom most are listed on my blog. In fact I watched a Joel Cheesman presentation yesterday. Thanks for the inspiration Joel, I just cannot decide whether I should wear a loud T-shirt or Suit! Luckily there is no video to keep a record.
So fingers crossed the flight is canceled!
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