ukrecruiter newsletter

ukrecruiter newsletter - issues 141 to 160

Issue 141	Issue 142	Issue 143	Issue 144	Issue 145
Issue 146	Issue 147	Issue 148	Issue 149	Issue 140
Issue 151	Issue 152	Issue 153	Issue 154	Issue 155
Issue 156	Issue 157	Issue 158	Issue 159	Issue 160

Issue 141

Welcome to issue 141 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS

* Apology to Enhance Media
* My Favourite route planning sites by (John Triance of New Media in Business)
* Article (Researcher's Tip Number Nine by Chris Malcolm)
* Opinion (How To Deal With Spam by Tom O'Donnell)
* Don't Miss This (Win A Copy Of The New Online Job Hunting Guide - Networking Event - Lawspeed Legal Update Seminar - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

APOLOGY Last week we published an article that was attributed to Raya Mamarbachi of Gold Jobs. Unknown to us this article was actually taken from a piece written by Tim Elkington of Enhance Media and originally used as Enhance Media's September online recruitment newsletter. The original newsletter can be viewed at http://www.enhancemedia.co.uk/newsletter/archive/2003-09.html. We'd like to apologise to Enhance Media for unknowingly attributing their original work to another author.

-----MY FAVOURITES ROUTE PLANNING SITES BY JOHN TRIANCE-----

http://www.rac.co.uk The RAC route planner provides a nice map and clear well laid out directions. The time estimates allow a margin for error (hold ups). This is my favourite.

http://www.theaa.com The AA Route Planner highlights traffic blackspots - and tells you what number to call from your mobile for an update.

http://www.viamichelin.com. I don't find the Michelin directions that clear - you really need to use them with a road atlas. It's strength is the additional data provided, such things as accommodation and eating places en route and the weather at the destination.

http://www.greenflag.co.uk. For completeness I have included this one. But I cannot recommend it. I find it unfriendly to use and I have had problems with accuracy.

John Triance is an internet specialist at www.nmib.com

Submit your 3 favourites web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

----ARTICLE-RESEARCHER'S TIP NUMBER NINE, BY CHRIS MALCOLM, DEANSA---

Once a month we give a quick tip on managing a successful research project.

Tip 9 How important is record keeping?

Everyone who starts a research project looking for that perfect candidate should always start with a plan of attack. That will, without a doubt, include a hit list of companies needing to be looked at. Before we know it we are into full swing and so focussed on each call that the little scrap of paper in front of us is fast filling with names, numbers and comments. This person said this and suggested that another may help, and on the chain of events goes until suddenly we realise that something has gone horribly wrong. How many years of experience did she say she had? And who worked at company "A" for three years?

After every call where good information is gleaned, stop and immediately make notes, on a fresh piece of paper. At least that way if a mistake is made you have a starting point to unravel the mess. In our office after every call, first notes are made, then referring to the notes a verbal report is made to another colleague, who not only enters the information on the computer but actually questions the caller as to the information and results. It sounds cumbersome but it is amazing how many errors are picked up at that stage, saving countless hours (and embarrassment) later. And let's face it. Reporting to a colleague tends to stop a lot of Friday laziness, and guessing at answers to unasked questions.

deAnsa is a research company for headhunters, executive search consultants and recruitment professionals who require target specific research to find the right candidates on a worldwide basis. They can be contacted on +44 (0) 7074 449 449 or by e-mail at enquiries@deansa.com.

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The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----OPINION-HOW TO DEAL WITH SPAM BY TOM O' DONNELL----

One word: Mailwasher. URL: http://www.mailwasher.net

This free utility uses boolean logic and anti-spammer list services to filter emails. The user sets up their own filters, blacklists, and 'friend' lists.

Spam is not arbitrary. It promotes a limited range of products. Certain words come up all the time. You set up Mailwasher to mark emails containing these words or phrases.

When you check your email account using Mailwasher, it downloads part of the emails. Depending on the cunning of your filters, most spam is highlighted as such. Clicking on an email allows you to read it all. An important feature is that images or HTML will not be loaded; spammers can use these to check if an email address is valid.

Viewed in Mailwasher, spam is very obvious. The key is its filters; you must add more by hand yourself. These filters can assign different colour tags to different types of emails; very handy if you're getting 500+ a day. You can see your 'friends' immediately. Mails can be ticked to be deleted, blacklisted or bounced. I do not recommend bouncing. Bouncing is sending an email back as undeliverable. Most spammer's return email addresses are fake; you're creating more junk, and when I used this feature it seemed the amount of spam I got increased.

It's best to lie low, and keep schtum.

Mailwasher then processes the emails. It deletes the junk on-server. One can then check any remaining suspicious looking emails by hand again.

Only then do you download them into your email client.

I then use Zone Alarm http://www.zonelabs.com. I set the 'stop all internet activity' feature. I then check any spammy-looking emails that might have slipped in, in the minute between my using MailWasher, and starting my regular email client; it happens! Most spam now 'calls' images from a server owned by the spammer. These images can be used to trigger a CGI scipt, marking your email address as valid. Using a firewall like Zone Alarm stops this.

This is not a program for internet newbies. It requires a bit of work, but that's its best feature. You filter emails according to how you want; the tools are there. The free version allows you to check one POP3 email account; enough for most single users, and some businesses.

The good news is the war against spam is being won. Have you noticed how full of gibberish they are lately? This is because they're trying to get 'round filters like the ones Mailwasher uses. You can now amuse yourself by obliterating emails with idiot subjects like 'Get beegg*r and f>rm<r njjkl00p'.

Tom O' Donnell of www.tigertom.com is a freelance web designer and internet marketing consultant.

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

*****WIN A COPY OF THE NEW ONLINE JOB HUNTING GUIDE***** We've got together with Online Job Hunting to offer 3 lucky readers the chance to win a copy of their new guide which retails at £9.99. It offers expert advice on how to search and apply for jobs online in the UK and Ireland. To win a copy of the guide email mike@web-based- recruitment.com with the subject line "ukrec Online Job Hunting Guide". On Friday 14 November the three winners will be "picked out of the hat" and we'll publish the names of the winners in the newsletter next week. For information about the guide visit www.onlinejobhunting.co.uk

27 NOVEMBER, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT - CHRISTMAS PARTY, LONDON Why not register for our November event? As with last year it's our early Christmas Party. It's free to attend - register at: http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk. It's a great opportunity to talk with suppliers, clients and recruitment peers.

27 NOVEMBER, LAWSPEED LEGAL UPDATE SEMINAR, MANCHESTER. Specialist legal consultancy Lawspeed is offering UK Recruiter readers 15% discount off the price of their latest update seminars on the key legal and commercial developments affecting recruitment companies. The seminars include a free legal surgery on recruitment issues. Normal cost is £195 with discounts for multiple bookings. The offer is open to the first four companies booking one or more places before November 12th and quoting "UKR1" . To book call 01273 236236 or, for more details, visit http://www.lawspeed.com/recruitment/seminar_Nov2003.htm

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Recruitex (why was it cancelled)", "Headhunting", and "Video- training". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 432,179 which is up 7,173 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 8 OCTOBER, HITWISE.CO.UK The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, WorkThing, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

"FAVORITE" RECRUITMENT SITES, OCTOBER, HITWISE.CO.UK These are the top 10 sites ranked by the percentage of people

Issue 142

Welcome to issue 142 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. The Recruiters Networking Christmas Party is on the 27th November - for information on how to attend see the "don't miss this" section.

CONTENTS

* My Favourites (by Robert Darwen of Advance IT Recruitment)
* Article (If you drive don't phone: the new law by Louise Triance)
* Article (Finding candidates on the web by Mike Stamp)
* Prize Winners (New Online Job Hunting Guide)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event Christmas Party - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum) * Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY Robert Darwen of Advance IT Recruitment-----

http://www.cvtrumpet.co.uk/ Used this for over a year. The site supplies a small, fresh supply of targeted CVs, via email. I have made three placements with managerial and executive level candidates sent to me by the site. And, my favourite part is, it's free!

http://www.jobfizz.com Found this two months ago. A neat site with free advertising for IT vacancies. No placements yet but some relevant candidates from ads placed.

http://www.dancingbush.com One of the funniest sites I've ever seen. Watch George W boogie on down; you even get to choose the dance moves he makes. A great site if you want the rest of the office crowding around your desk - make sure you turn the volume up.

Submit your 3 favourites web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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========================

-----ARTICLE-IF YOU DRIVE DON'T PHONE: THE NEW LAW BY LOUISE TRIANCE----

From the 1st December a new law comes into force banning drivers from using hand held mobile phones while at the wheel. Those breaking the law will face a £30 fixed penalty or up to £1000 on conviction in court.

The full details of the law can be found at http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_ rdsafety_025216.hcsp

Here is our summary and interpretation of the consequences of the law.

There may be some confusion about what exactly is covered by the new law and what use of mobile phones is acceptable. Basically the key is the use of the words "hand held". If you need to hold your mobile handset then you will be in breach of the new law. This means that using a hands-free headset will NOT mean you are within the law if you have to hold your handset to dial a number. Furthermore if the phone is resting on the seat beside you and you press a button to pick up when someone is ringing you then you will also be breaking the law.

However, you don't need to go as far as to get a factory fitted mobile. A cradle that holds your mobile and is fixed to the dashboard will ensure you fall within the regulations. Alternatively if your mobile has voice dialling and auto-answering, and is hands-free, that would suffice. Cradling the phone between your shoulder and chin, which you could logically argue is "hands-free", will be breaking the law.

The regulations apply when "driving". But you do not have to be moving in order to be considered to be "driving". The use of a hand held phone when stationary (i.e. in a traffic jam or at traffic lights) will remain an offence. Whilst stationery on the M25 you would need to turn your engine off to legally use your mobile (although I am not sure this is to be recommended!).

You should also resist the temptation to send text messages whilst driving, even when the phone is in a cradle. This should have been avoided prior to the new legislation as the law has always ruled you "must drive with due care and attention". Most people would agree that looking at your phone rather than the road is deemed careless!

Finally, there is an exemption for making 999 calls where it would be unsafe or impractical to stop before making the call.

Louise Triance is the editor of ukrecruiter newsletter and web site.

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----ARTICLE-FINDING CANDIDATES ON THE WEB BY MIKE STAMP----

The perfect CV - you have all heard about them, you've all probably tried to find them. Unfortunately you probably don't have the time to search through all the recruiter ads and articles to find them.

In this months article I am going to show you how to harness the power of the WWW, using search engines, so that the information you want comes back quickly and accurately.

The first thing you have to do is to choose the best Search Engine for the job. No two search engines are the same, so choosing the right ones to use is imperative. Remember though, to do a thorough search of the WWW, you must learn to use multiple search engines, as different engines will find you different results. The ones I recommend are: www.altavista.com, www.google.com and www.alltheweb.com

These three engines all have good sized web site indexes and all of them allow us to construct our searches using advance search techniques.

Before we start, lets take a quick look at the advanced features of the search engine that we need to use. These advanced features allow us to look for keywords in very specific areas of a web site. The two main ones are:

Title: Searches for our keyword(s) in the title of the web page (The blue bar that runs across the top of the browser)

url: Searches for the string we specify in the web address

The first thing we must consider are the words we could use to identify a CV on the web. Worlds like cv and vitae are normally a good starting point.

We will use www.altavista.com/web/adv for our search. This is the advanced search section for Altavista.

The first thing that we need to do is construct the basic search to find our CV's and typically it will look like this. (Feel free to copy and paste these searches directly into the 'search with' box)

(url:cv OR url:vitae OR url:resume)

If you enter these basic criteria and run the search you will see that you get in access of 27,000 UK based results. Some of the results are not exactly what we were looking for and this is common in this type of search until you add some additional search criteria.

Supposing we are looking for the CV's for Web Developers, typically you would look for a software developer or software engineer. Lets add these terms to our search.

(url:cv OR url:vitae OR url:resume) AND (developer OR designer OR programmer)

This gives almost 3,000 CV's for developers. Now we can start adding the skill sets we are looking for to give us a more manageable set of results.

(url:cv OR url:vitae OR url:resume) AND (developer OR designer OR programmer) AND java AND html AND "C++"

Now we have almost 500 CV's for UK based Web Developers with JAVA, HTML and C++ as their skill set.

Try experimenting with the skill sets and industry sectors. You will be amazed at the information that is freely available on the WWW if you are willing and patient enough to take a look.

Mike Stamp is Managing Director of www.recruitmate.com. Recruitmate is the online recruitment data mining tool for the global recruitment marketplace. If you have any questions regarding this article then you can contact him on mike@recruitmate.com

-----PRIZE WINNERS------

ONLINE JOB HUNTING GUIDE WINNERS The winners last week's draw for the Online Job Hunting Guide were Alex Jordan of Nigel Lynn Associates, Raynor Croll of Bond Accountancy, and Clare de Mowbray techjobscotland.com. Congratulations.

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

27 NOVEMBER, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT - CHRISTMAS PARTY, LONDON If you want to come along to the Recruiters Network Christmas Party you'll need to register soon. Whilst it's free to attend we will be limiting numbers due to venue size. Register right now at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Retainer - unfinished business!!", "Are recruiters tough to sell to?", and "Niche JobBoards + CV ". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 436,124 which is up 3,945 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 15 NOVEMBER The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, WorkThing, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 143

Welcome to issue 143 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. Last year in the newsletter we gave away Christmas gifts provided by suppliers to the industry. This year we're doing the same. If you want to be in with a chance of winning you need to pay special attend to the newsletter on the 10th December. For more information visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/gifts.htm.

CONTENTS
* My Favourite Phone Book Sites (By UK Recruiter Web sites editor)
* Recruitment Consultancy Web Site Review (Harvey Nash by Giles Guest)
* Opinion (Is HR Relevant? By David Jackson)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - Discount on Telecoaching - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITE PHONE BOOK SITES BY UKRECRUITER WEB SITES EDITOR-----

http://www.bt.com The web sites has a directory enquiries function, which is a lot more reliable then the new 118 numbers. You are restricted to 10 free searches a day, but you can get more if you register (which is free).

http://www.ukphonebook.com As easy to use as BT.com It also has a function that takes you into a multimap site to see a location of the address.

http://www.infobel.com This site takes you into international online telephone directories, so it’s a little longwinded to use (and it helps if you speak the language of the country you are looking within). But its as reliable as our own directory enquires or yellow pages sites.

Submit your 3 favourites web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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-----RECRUITMENT CONSULTANCY WEB SITE REVIEW - HARVEY NASH BY GILES GUEST-----

Company Name - Harvey Nash Web site Address - http://www.harveynash.com

Site description Harvey Nash's web site claims to have a 'reputation for quality through thousands of successful assignments and has grown, both organically and through acquisition, to become a leading recruitment consultancy.' Formed in 1988 and listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company boasts over 2000 employees and contractors working in 26 offices worldwide. Harvey Nash promotes four distinct business units; executive search and selection, an IT division, interim management and software development services. The company targets corporate clients and candidates mainly in the IT field.

Creative Design The design of the site is very clear and gives the impression of a company who is professional and serious about what they do.

Ease of use The web site is very logically designed making the wealth of information offered easy to find and read through. The emphasis of the layout seems to be in using content pages, each split into the relevant section. This is enhanced with many internal links that make navigation of the site even easier. The information is provided in bite size paragraphs allowing users to use the site without having to trawl through unnecessary information. The downfall of the site for me is the necessity to scroll down on some pages for the last few sentences of a paragraph -I hate this.

Relevant content The companies' services are fully explained throughout the site. There is a brief 'about us' section, which offers a list of links to all parts of the site as well as a pretty general description of the company. There is also a detailed 'investor' section, providing everything a prospective investor or journalist would need to know, including a regularly updated press release list. 'careers' and 'events' sections are also offered with the option of registering for a free newsletter to keep abreast of the companies' goings on.

Candidate and client functionality The candidate services are split into two main sectors - executive search and IT recruitment. Both sections are clearly defined and easy to navigate. The job search function and application form are easy to use and the jobs are nicely outlined with an adequate amount of detail. There is however a lack of helpful information for candidates, which I feel lets the site down.

The client services seem also to be split into two sections - an assignment tracking system and contract management system. I say 'seems' as the client sections are restricted to members only. There is a brief paragraph about what each system offers as well as there being a link on the home page that leads to a form, that can be filled in so that a Harvey Nash representative can contact you.

Candidate and client marketing and retention As mentioned, the site offers a log in feature for clients. However, there is nothing directed towards candidate loyalty and retention. The site therefore appears to put a higher value on its clients then candidates. In defence, Harvey Nash is tailored towards executives who are unlikely to need or want the bonus features, such as 'multiple application options', that a lot of recruitment web sites add to entice and retain candidates. An executive is more likely to target a specific position than a graduate who would apply for numerous jobs.

Online marketing The Harvey Nash web site is easy to find if you search for them directly. They are actually covered quite extensively on the web due to their size and market presence, however they do not have an online marketing campaign. Perhaps this type of advertising is deemed unnecessary due to the companies' coverage in other media types and the majority of clients searching for them by name.

Summary To conclude, I found the Harvey Nash web site to be a very professional and well-ordered recruitment site. I would not recommend it to general job hunters, however, to an executive it offers a number of excellent opportunities.

Giles Guest is Managing Director of 4mat.com, the UK's largest provider of recruitment web sites. You can reach him or his team at giles.guest@4mat.com or see their products at http://www.4mat.com

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----OPINION-IS HR RELEVANT? BY DAVID JACKSON----

David looks at what HR has to do to be taken seriously and some of the questions it should be answering:

If people are an organisation's greatest asset, as is so often heard, why is that so few HR Directors sit at the top table? Of the FTSE 100 companies, only seven have a Director of HR on the Board.

Research into the financial performance of companies listed in the FTSE 100 and in the 'Best Place to Work' list shows interesting findings. Over the three years of the study, the 'Best Place to Work' companies would have earned an investor a compound annual return of 12.1 compared with a 5.8% decline in the FTSE All-Share index. There are real and tangible financial benefits to be had.

So, faced with a sceptical and increasingly mobile workforce in a world where people's daily actions have a real and visible effect on the bottom line, the call for leadership in managing people has never been greater. But what has HR been doing and why is it perceived as irrelevant?

I believe that many of HR's shortcomings have been because they have shied away from business issues, preferring to stick with good old familiar administration. HR in many companies fails to break out of this administrative focus because it does not know how to remove the administrative workload. My research suggests that between 45% and 70% of HR resource is spent on administration, much of it to service HR policies that they have introduced. HR is often the greatest creator of bureaucracy in the organisation. Most of what HR spends it's time doing has little or no impact on the performance of the business. As a result, HR is seen as irrelevant.

If HR is to be taken seriously and make a real contribution to the business, here are some of the questions it should be answering: * What is the productivity difference between the best and average performers and what do they do better? * Which individuals get the highest ratings for customer satisfaction and what do customers value in what they do? * How does good management and leadership affect the financial performance of the business? * What policies and practices help us to attract and retain the talent we need? * Which practices and policies constrain performance? * What development programmes have the greatest impact on the performance of the business? * Have competitors got better people practices than we have?

These are all questions that have a direct effect on business performance. They are also questions that HR cannot answer alone; they need to work closely with managers across the business to find answers.

Finally we must remember that financial performance is the primary measure of performance of a business and it is important therefore that HR is able to show how it fits into the firm's financial cycle.

To see a full copy of the white paper on which this article is based please contact Lizzie Woolley at lizzie@westonpartnership.co.uk or call 020 8671 9031

David Jackson is the Managing Director of Clicktools Ltd. a company dedicated to providing clients with "measurement systems that drive results". Clicktools works with leading organisations around the world, including Amcor Flexibles, LogicaCMG, Nike Europe, Rockwell Automation and Unisys.

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENTS It's our Christmas Party tomorrow. If you've not registered yet you'd better move fast. UK Recruiter and RecruitmentJOBZ are sponsoring this event so you can have a champagne and nibbles on us. If you can't make this month there's information on our site ( http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk) of other upcoming events. It's a great opportunity to talk with suppliers, clients and recruitment peers.

WEDNESDAY 3RD DECEMBER FAST-TRACK TELECOACH Recruitment Training Productions are offering a special price for their telecoaching sessions. For £39.50 per person (usual price of £59) you can attend one of the following sessions 1. Earn More Money by Negotiating like a Champion, 4:30pm 2. Win any New Client by Overcoming the Toughest of Objections, 6pm For more information or to book your places please call 01727 37 00 41 stating the reference UKREC. Note that this offer is limited to one place per subscriber.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "I'm new (to research) and need some help", "Web plagiarism", and "Big Billers". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 22 November The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, WorkThing, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 144

Welcome to issue 144 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourite News Sites (by UK Recruiter Web sites editor)
* Article (Preparing A Tender Response by Gaynor Lowndes)
* Article (Niche Job Boards - where the future lies? by Russ Murch)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITE NEWS SITES BY UKRECRUITER WEB SITES EDITOR-----

http://www.sky.com/skynews/home Short and sweet news articles which are updated throughout the day. Easy to read, with different news topics along the side

http://www.bbc.co.uk In-depth news from around the world. There are more news articles here then you could ever hope to read. They are updated regularly

http://www.teletext.com/start/default.asp Teletext provides brief news headlines, which are useful if you only need a headline on what's happening. The pop up boxes do get a little frustrating though.

Why don't you send us your three favourite web sites. Just email them to louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk

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========================

-----ARTICLE- Preparing A Tender Response by Gaynor Lowndes----

When preparing a tender response, keep in mind that a number of individuals, all with differing needs will be reviewing your response. At a minimum, you need to be aware of a number of influences that are likely to make up the review panel.

Too many recruitment companies have a couple of great relationships within the organization for which they are tendering and write the document for those individuals. They leave out important differentiators because they assume their clients know what they are. You must prepare your response with all the buying influences in mind. Remember that it is likely that 50% of the panel members know nothing about you or the great relationship you have with someone else within the organization.

In addition, respondents need to remember that a proposal/tender response is the ultimate sales document; utilize the opportunity to really "sell" your organization. When mentioning features, add benefits to them and highlight your differentiators as often as you can. Remind the client why they should choose you.

Another tip, taking into account the different personalities evaluating your response, is to provide flowcharts in addition to words when describing processes within your organization. This assists those that are more "visual" to understand the flow within your organization.

The quality question is always one of the most difficult to answer if you do not have formal accreditation. Your client is normally looking for a description of some sort of system that you have in place to provide a consistent service to them. You may have an internal manual that sets out the process you follow when a client gives you a job brief or you may provide a week of induction to new staff when they join your organization and teach them the process you follow. These are all things that you should tell the client about in your response. Discuss how important quality is to your organization and how that philosophy benefits your clients.

In Summary: 1. Answer each question keeping in mind all the buying influences and what they may be looking for. 2. Use flowcharts as well as words when appropriate. 3. Your tender is a sales document - prepare your response accordingly. 4. Address the quality question from the client's perspective, not yours. Assure the client that you have policies and procedures in place to provide them with a consistent, high quality service.

Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director The Recruitment Training Company, has over 16 years recruitment experience, gained in Australia and the UK. The Recruitment Training Company provides training and consulting services to the recruitment industry in Australia and New Zealand. For more informatin visit http://www.trtc.com.au.

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WANT TO RUN PSYCHOMETRIC OR APTITUDE TESTS?

Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----ARTICLE-NICHE JOB BOARDS - WHERE THE FUTURE LIES? BY RUSS MURCH----

Starting this week Russ Murch will be investigating the world of niche job boards. This week he looks at the logic and momentum behind niche boards. In future months he will focus on individual specialist job boards.

Over 7 million people looked for a new job last year using the internet (NORAS '03). This equates to nearly a quarter of the UK's working population. Only 30% of this number visited single employer sites, the remainder visiting job boards. The reasons behind this on- line behaviour are diverse but in simple terms this split complies with normal job seeker behaviour. The minority of job seekers 'manage' their career to the extent which they identify particular employers and approach them. The majority use recruitment agencies and frankly monitor the press waiting to be inspired by a particular position.

The majority of on-line job seekers use search engines to search for vacancies which they either aspire to, or have done previously, and will typically type in skill or experience keywords - they have not identified a particular employer. When using search engines to look for work on-line you are always greeted with industry or skill based job boards.

Therefore on-line job seekers are pushed to job boards by their on- line behaviour. Job seekers are also pulled to job board by their content. Job boards offer services and content which single employer sites previously have not been able to offer. This appeals to the job seeker. They offer a one-stop shop; they offer overviews and comparisons and tend to be more interactive in terms of the user being notified of new positions etc.

Many of the niche job boards are recognising that the user experience, expectations and the level of interaction required to retain a job seeker is growing. This leads to the question "Is it a likelihood that niche job boards will become the main players of the future?

Each month I will be focusing on one particular niche job board giving an insight into the particular job board, whilst questioning what makes them stand out from the crowd and asking the MD the question "What makes your job board so special"?.

Next month I will start with wwww.bluelinecareers.co.uk. and will be delving deep into the mind of the founder Martin Jerold to see why it is he believes niche job boards are the way forward.

Russ Murch is a director of RPM Solutions (UK) Limited. RPM Solutions offer an extensive range of web services from design packages to full web site builds and management all year round. For more information visit http://www.rpm-solutions.co.uk/

If you want Russ to review your niche job board for future inclusion in the newsletter please email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk

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========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

JANUARY 29 THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON There is no event this month - we thought you might have other things on at the end of December! But why not register for our January 29 event? It's free to attend. It's a great opportunity to talk with suppliers, clients and recruiters. Register at: http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "CV databases", "Anyone know of a CV creation service?", and "Late Payers". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM DECEMBER 1. The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 457,191 which is up 6,188 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 29TH NOVEMBER,The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, WorkThing, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 145

Welcome to issue 145 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. Read on to see how to enter our free Christmas draw.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Laura Carter)
* Article (The Changing Face Of The EU Workforce by Keith Robinson)
* Article (Improving the recruiter's skills without loosing a day's revenue by Mike Walmsley)
* Don't Miss This (Free Christmas Draw - Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY LAURA CARTER-----

http://www.5minutesaway.co.uk/ A really useful site that lets you find out what facilities are within 5 mins drive of any junction on any motorway in the UK. It covers accommodation, food, pubs as well as service station. Beware that not all junctions are covered yet.

http://www.thetrainline.co.uk You need never be late for your train again, this gives accurate information on all train times across the UK. You can also buy train tickets on the site as well as booking a hotel.

http://www.scoot.co.uk A good alternative to Yell.com Its easy to use and gives addresses and telephone numbers. You can also use the site to find out what's on at your local cinema (not that you would use that function at work though!)

Laura Carter is a Freelance Researcher

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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========================

-----ARTICLE-THE CHANGING FACE OF THE EU WORKFORCE BY Keith Robinson----

The jobseeker talent pool for UK recruiters is set to alter dramatically as eight Eastern European countries join the EU in May 2004. Recent research by the totaljobs.com global network revealed that a staggering 69 per cent of jobseekers from Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia and Latvia will look to take advantage of new opportunities in Western Europe.

Following the accession of the eight Eastern European countries to the EU next year, a surge of additional, untapped talent will be available to UK recruiters. Employers need to realise that globalisation is a fact of life, and workforces are becoming increasingly multi-cultural. As a consequence, employee diversity is becoming of utmost importance and will help drive their businesses forward. Companies must realise the potential of this new candidate base, and the skills they offer, and actively find the best ways of attracting them.

The expansion of the EU and the resulting influx of workers into the UK is well timed. As we near the end of the recession, we will be left with a skills shortage in a variety of areas. Unlike the other EU countries, the UK has decided to grant the same full rights to work in the UK as enjoyed by existing EU citizens to the Eastern European countries that are joining in May 2004. This move is in the interests of UK businesses as it will attract workers into key sectors that are currently under-skilled. The science and technology sectors, in particular, could benefit, as workers from countries such as Latvia and Estonia that have many highly trained IT professionals look for work in the UK.

In the UK, there is an attitude that talented people create wealth. Attracting talented workers from Eastern European countries who possess skills that, at present, we are lacking as a nation, can only benefit our economy.

Workers from Eastern Europe will be especially valuable for our manual industries. A snobbery exists among companies in modern Britain where attending university is seen as the norm and manual jobs are often frowned upon. However, manual skills are an integral part of modern Britain and the manual skills that the Eastern European workers will bring with them are much needed to make Britain truly multi-skilled.

It is vital that employers take steps to acknowledge the importance of this untapped pool of jobseekers if they are to compete successfully in our multi-cultural country. The accession of Eastern European countries to the EU is the single biggest change to the European workforce in recent times. The UK government has taken the decision to open our gates fully in May 2004, and I urge businesses to capitalise on this opportunity to fill skills gaps and boost our economy creating new opportunities for British businesses and jobseekers in the long term.

Keith Robinson is the commercial director for totaljobs.com. totaljobs.com is one of the leading job boards in the UK recruitment marketplace. With over 3,000 customers placing between 30,000 and 40,000 vacancies at any one time, totaljobs is "unquestionably the UK's fastest-growing online recruitment business".

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

WANT TO RUN PSYCHOMETRIC OR APTITUDE TESTS?

Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm

========================

-----ARTICLE-IMPROVING THE RECRUITER'S SKILLS WITHOUT LOOSING A DAY'S REVENUE BY MIKE WALMSLEY ----

With many sectors of the industry becoming saturated with competition, the need for recruiters to continually improve their skills has never been greater but then so is the need for sales staff to maximise their return from every hour of the day. The training versus 'time out of the office' argument is older than recruitment. However are the repercussions of letting training slip much larger and potentially more dangerous for a business than the costs of a day's lost revenues? Over 80% of the UK recruitment industry is made up of companies with 10 or less members of staff. Imagine a top biller in one of these companies leaving as a result of poor investment into their personal development, the losses here obviously outweigh any cost incurred by being out of the office for a day.

Traditional live training methods like seminar training and bespoke in-house training have long been the only options available for recruiters who want to improve their skills. and therefore their earning potential - but with each of these methods there is a considerable amount of time away from their desk to be considered. This is a frustrating situation as management are keen to keep developing the skills of their fee earners and are aware that recent polls have shown that training and development was the number one reason that recruiters chose one potential company over another.

Other training methods include DVD/Video training and internet based solutions. These are undoubtedly valuable methods and should form part of any training regime, but are not a complete replacement for live training. What is needed is a cost-effective training method that increases a recruiter's profits whilst not taking up too much time during the core sales hours of the day.

I believe the solution to this particular problem lies in teleconference training. Companies have been using teleconference services in other ways for some time now - to brief staff on corporate changes, to make financial announcements to analysts or to motivate staff but its application as a training tool has been limited. With teleconference training you can have shorter sessions of training delivered over the phone directly to a recruiters desk. Provided the sessions are held at the end or beginning of the day the training can be achieved with minimal impact on the day's revenue earning.

Mike Walmsley is the co-founder of Recruitment Training Productions, creators of TeleCoach and home to "FAST-TRACK", the world's only recruitment-specific learning & development programme giving staff access to 17 revenue generating DVDs, 14 Live Seminars, 18 Teleconference Training sessions, Audio and Online Training. For more information please call Recruitment Training Productions for free on 0800 052 0003 or email barry@recvids.com."

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You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

*****FREE CHRISTMAS DRAW*****

We've got a selection of Christmas gifts that you can win including champagne, a hamper, vouchers and a designer tie. To see the full list of gifts visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/gifts.htm

It's completely free to enter the competition. All you need do is send an email to louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk, subject "Christmas Draw", giving your name, postal address and a daytime telephone number. Also indicate if there are any of the gifts that you are not interested in.

Rules: Emails must be received by midnight on Thursday 11th December. After this deadline gifts will be allocated on the basis of first "out of the hat". The offer is only open to newsletter readers based in the UK. The judge's decision (that's mine!) is final.

Good Luck!

JANUARY 29 THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON There is no event this month, but why not register for our January 29 event? It's free to attend. It's a great opportunity to talk with suppliers, clients and recruiters. Register at: http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Employment Law ", "Retainer - unfinished business!!", and "Headhunters". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM DECEMBER 8. The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 440,618 which is down by 16,573 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 5 OCTOBER. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4Jobs, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, WorkThing, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 146

Welcome to issue 146 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. This is our last issue this year, so have a great Christmas and New Year. We will be back again on January 14th, 2004.

CONTENTS
* My Christmas Favourites (by Louise Triance of ukrecruiter)
* Networking Event - new format * Christmas Gifts Giveaway - The Winners
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY CHRISTMAS FAVOURITES BY LOUISE TRIANCE-----

http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html. Google provide an analysis of search queries where you can see which search terms have been used most overall as well as by category. Look down the page to view analyses for many countries on such categories as images, celebrities, movies and athletes. It's an interesting and comprehensive site - a good way to see what has been happening in the world, as internet users see it. By the way the most common query at present (week ending 8th December) is "snow".

http://www.deliaonline.com/. Of a completely different nature is the Delia Online site. The site has lots of Christmas recipes for those of you who haven't yet decided what to feed the inlaws, or yourselves, over the festive season. The best bit is that most of the content of the site is free to view.

Why not submit your favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

------NETWORKING EVENT - NEW FORMAT----------

For the new year we are making a couple of changes to the networking events.

Firstly the events will be scheduled every two or three months starting on Thursday, January 29th.

Secondly we are going to run a trial period in which you are not required to register in advance. We will publish the time and place and all you have to do is turn up.

All you you need to know about networking events will be published in the newsletter each week.

------CHRISTMAS GIFTS GIVEAWAY - THE WINNERS--------

Here are the winners of the Christmas Draw as publicised in last weeks newsletter and at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/gifts.htm

Simon Miller of Abraxus won the bottle of Champagne, courtesy of Financial Jobs Online (GAAPweb)

Ann Ferry of RK Group won the Christmas hamper, courtesy of officerecruit.com

Lee Henderson-Williams of The Willis Partnership won a £50 Marks & Spencer vouchers, courtesy of MIT Recruitment

Stewart Humphries of Eden Recruitment also won a £50 Marks & Spencer vouchers, courtesy of MIT Recruitment

Jeff Dale of C.D Sales Recruitment won "The Coaching Parent CD", courtesy of Directors Coach

Claire Feeney of Seren won "The Coaching Parent Card Pack", courtesy of Directors Coach

Natalie Brown of Xceli won the £15 Book Voucher, courtesy of Henley Research

Andrew Graham of Redline Group won the half case of white wine, courtesy of Eteach UK Ltd

Christopher Brandt of BankCV won the designer tie (to the value of £50), courtesy of accjobs and www.BoardroomTies.com.

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

JANUARY 29 THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON There is no event this month, but why not come to our January 29 event? It's free to attend. It's a great opportunity to talk with suppliers, clients and recruiters. No need to register, just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. We'll remind you of these details in the newsletter next year.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Recruitment Industry New Year's Resolutions ", "Recruitment Software Systems", and "Executive Search industry statistics". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 13 DECEMBER. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, Guardian Unlimited Jobs, WorkThing and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 147

Welcome to issue 147 of the ukrecruiter newsletter and a Happy New Year.

CONTENTS
* New Year Resolutions
* My Favourites (Call for submissions)
* Job Board Review (Guardian Unlimited by Armen Lloyd)
* Article (Discrimination on Sexual Orientation by Ali Dewji)
* Don't Miss This (Win a Power Canvassing CD - Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS------

On our discussion forum (www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum), before Christmas, we asked for recruitment industry new year resolutions. Here are the suggestions (maybe some tongue in cheek!) we received:

From justinthyme: To make a lot more money and to overthrow the boss.

From ClaireF: To think less about making money and more about building longer term, more valued, partnerships with clients. A service- oriented rather than sales-driven industry would do us the power of good.

From RecMill1: To dream an impossible dream that all recruiters come together and lay the law down to companies and stop working for and ripping the bottom out of the industry by working for 10% - 12% fees!

From Bullit: To work harder, buy my competitors, grow the client base deliver the best service to my market and then sell my business to the highest bidder and grow fat on a paradise island with my numerous wives.

Form Blink_lu: To put those out of business who use the "pray and spray" approach with CVs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY YOU?-----

Do you like this feature where newsletter readers submit there three favourite web sites and say a few words about why they are so good.

If so please act NOW. Send your favourites to louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk without delay!

See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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-----JOB BOARD REVIEW - GUARDIAN UNLIMITED BY ARMEN LLOYD----

URL: http://Guardianunlimited.co.uk/jobs Unique Users: 368,000 (Apr 03) Page impressions: 6.1 million (Apr 03)

Most advertised industry sectors: Graduate, Media, Education, Government (local & central), Marketing/PR, IT & Telecommunications, Health & Social Care, Charities, Arts & Heritage and Financial.

What the site says: Guardian Unlimited Jobs, part of the Guardian unlimited network, is the Guardian's premium internet job site. Recently redesigned, Guardian Unlimited Jobs features new state of the art search engine technology, navigation and design offering a high level of user interaction and better searching results

First impressions: You can see the influence of Workthing's technology in the redesign. Generally the pages look good, navigation is clear and the pages are clean. There's a lot of information on each page and you need to scroll a fair bit to find everything. But the site is easy to navigate and there's a lot for the user to access. On the home page you'll find various job search options, access points for candidate tools, a Career Centre, editorial for office staff and graduates. There are banner and button advertising opportunities. You can also link to the main newspaper site to catch up on the sport.

Tools on offer: The site has a wide range of search options available. You can search by sector, job type, job title, and employer - there's something for everyone. The site gives the candidate control over job hunting, with customisation of job searches, save searches options, application tracking, email alert registration, CV storage and a whole lot more. Fortunately there are user help pages.

The search process is pretty standard - each job has an overview box with a summary of the job, salary details, employers name etc. Click on it and you get a more detailed précis with application details.

For advertisers there are the usual options. Place an ad in the newspaper and you get a text listing on the internet, which can be enhanced. The options are varied from buttons to category page sponsorship. Helpfully, there is a rate card on line as well as user statistics. Interestingly for a press publisher, they've allowed some categories of recruitment advertising to appear online only, so you don't have to cough up for an ad in the paper.

Strengths and Weaknesses: The owners have the cash to invest and it shows with some very slick back end technology, which makes the site quick and easy to use. For the candidate, there are tools to keep them happy. For the advertiser, there are opportunities for client branding.

Pages are a bit long with too much scrolling for my liking and for certain recruitment categories you can't buy 'online only'.

The majority of the statistics quoted are from GU logs. I would prefer to see eABC and NORAS data.

Summary: It's a neat site with a lot going for it but it's the Guardian online so don't expect anything radically different from the newspaper (although they point out that 59% of users do not regularly read the Guardian in print). If you want to recruit in the Public sector etc. you're sorted. If you're looking for something else they've also got Workthing in the stable.

Armen Lloyd is a Director of Drum Resourcing Communications - recruitment advertising and communications specialists. See www.drumrc.co.uk

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Visit http://www.londonjobs.co.uk?tijito=1574 today.

========================

-----ARTICLE - DISCRIMINATION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION BY ALI DEWJI----

This article follows the article in issue #139 published on 29 October 2003, which outlined the new religious discrimination legislation. In line with provisions for religious discrimination, it became unlawful in December 2003 to discriminate against workers or job applicants because of their sexual orientation. This new development applies throughout the employment relationship and the recruitment process (and also includes the giving of references).

The new provisions will protect homosexuals, heterosexuals and bisexuals from discrimination, harassment or victimisation on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Sexual preferences and practices (such as sadomasochism) are not covered by the definition of sexual orientation. Perceived sexual orientation will be covered, so an assumption, whether correct or incorrect, about a person's sexual orientation will fall under the ambit of the new law.

Recruitment processes will need to incorporate the provisions of the new legislation. Recruiters who refuse to interview an individual for a position, on the grounds that she has, or they think she has, a same sex partner, irrespective of her qualifications for the role, would be guilty of unlawful discrimination. Recruiting a couple to, for example, run a pub, and excluding lesbian or gay couples from the recruitment process, would also be potentially discriminatory. Equally, an advertisement for a position published in a paper aimed only at the gay and lesbian workforce may be discriminatory if there is no strict requirement for a gay or lesbian employee, and a heterosexual person would be just as capable of undertaking the role.

Social events in the workplace also need to be considered carefully. Unmarried partners are often invited to work functions but if the invitation is extended only to heterosexual partners this will be discriminatory.

It is also unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation in certain circumstances after the working relationship has ended. If a manager mentions in a reference that a person was not popular with other workers, then states in a follow-up phone call that she was "left alone" because she is lesbian, this, and any other similar statements or assumptions based on sexual orientation would be discriminatory.

There are exceptions to these general rules but defences will only be available in limited circumstances. One thing is for certain - a new generation of discrimination legislation has arrived, and both recruiters and employers should ensure they are aware of the pitfalls.

Ali Dewji is a trainee solicitor in the Employment Department and Louise Fernandes is an employment specialist at City law firm, Fox Williams. You can contact them for further information at adewji@foxwilliams.com and lfernandes@foxwilliams.com.

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-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

*****WIN A POWER CANVASSING CD***** We've got together with Koach to offer 3 lucky readers the chance to win a copy of their new "Power Canvassing CD". This CD, normally costing £49, "will empower you with new knowledge and understandings of how peak performers have mastered their cold calling attitude and exploded their sales performance". The CD is completely free to the first 3 people who are "picked out of the hat" on Friday 16th January. To win a copy of the CD please email david@koach.info with the subject line "ukrec CD". We'll publish the names of the winners in the newsletter. For more information about the CD go to http://www.koach.info

JANUARY 29, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON This is a great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre-register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm on Thursday 29th January. If you can't make that event there are details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Teacher recruitment", "Start up Requirements", and "6 figure average fee". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM, 12 JANUARY 2004. The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 421,745 which is up 47,274 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 9 JANUARY 2004. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, Workthing, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and TESJobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 148

Welcome to issue 148 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. Can I ask for a little subscriber participation?.... We want to hear from you about your favourite web sites. It will only take five minutes of your time to submit something to us and will, hopefully, help other recruiters. The "rules" for favourites are at www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm. So go on, email me (louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk) now!

CONTENTS
* Legal Articles - Suggest a Topic
* Niche Job Board Interview (Blue Line Careers by Russell Murch)
* Article (Finding Information on the Web by Michael Stamp)
* Don't Miss This (TeleSeminar from Recruitment Coach - Networking Event - The Human Resources Forum UK - New Vacancy Alert Software - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----LEGAL ARTICLES - SUGGEST A TOPIC-----

Are there any legal topics (relating to recruiting) that you would like Louise Fernandes to cover in upcoming newsletters.

Over the past months Louise has provided articles on restrictive covenants, age, religious and sexual orientation discrimination and web site content.

Do let me (louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk) know what you would like to hear about.

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You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

========================

-----NICHE JOB BOARD INTERVIEW-BLUE LINE CAREERS BY RUSSELL MURCH----

Following on from the introduction to niche job boards, this month sees Russell talking in depth with Martin Jerrold the mastermind behind www.bluelinecareers.co.uk a new job board specialising in police and criminal justice sector jobs.

RM: what made you feel the market needed another job board?

MJ: The UK police and criminal justice sector employs over 400,000 people and therefore is a significant sector in its own right.

The sector only passively promotes itself to the on-line job seeker by using in house web sites and has therefore only enjoyed applications from the minority of on-line job seekers. Their use of commercial generalist boards have been limited as they have presumed they would not compete well on such boards as the terms of competition tended to be price or, in other words, salary levels.

Therefore the police and criminal justice sector is nowhere to be seen when conducting general skills searches on the web. Blue Line Careers has changed this. Now the sector can promote itself to the generalist 0n line job seeker within a soft context of a site selling the sector as an employer of first choice. The job board promotes its employers on terms it competes well on, training, terms of employment, benefits etc".

RM: How does this job board differ from others in the police and criminal justice sector?

MJ: Other job boards in the sector specialise in one job type i.e. the police officer, the youth offender practitioner etc. Therefore the recruiter is not offered a one-stop-shop for their on-line recruitment needs. In addition these skills/job type job boards produce rather narrow results. A criminal justice job board, encompassing all roles within the sector, promotes a cross pollination of skills and experience between job types and criminal justice employers.

RM: What share of the market do you expect to gain within the next 12 months?

MJ: We believe we will have at least half of the new media criminal justice recruitment market by the end of the year. Our order book is strong and getting stronger by the day. It already represents at least a quarter of the market.

RM: What areas does the criminal justice sector cover?

MJ: The police, the probation service, the courts, the prison service, youth offending teams, trading standards, benefit fraud and the internal security agencies such as MI5.

RM: What plans do you have for the future for Blue Line?

MJ: It is our goal to integrate the Blue Line with all of our client's sites with the view to rolling out extensive on-line candidate management systems. Offering response management and filtering systems to free the time of our recruiting clients.

RM summary: The Blue Line Careers web site is a much needed step forward for the police and criminal justice sector. They are still very much traditionalists. But with a site like this, that is simple to use and so full of helpful information, it will not be long before this job board takes over as the standard job posting mechanism for the police and criminal justice sector.

Russell Murch is a director of RPM Solutions (UK) Limited. RPM Solutions offer an extensive range of web services from design packages to full web site builds and management all year round. For more information visit http://www.rpm-solutions.co.uk/

Next month Russell will feature officerecruit.com

For more information visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/cvdatabase or contact us directly on 01252 810992 or sales@cv-library.co.uk ========================

-----ARTICLE--FINDING INFORMATION ON THE WEB BY MICHAEL STAMP ----

In his last article, Michael looked at ways of identifying candidates by finding their CV's on the Web. Now he will look at ways of identifying both candidates and business contacts by finding their information within an organisation's web site.

Once again, the first thing you have to do is to choose the best Search Engine for the job. No two search engines are the same, so choosing the right ones to use is imperative. Remember though, to do a thorough search of the WWW, you must learn to use multiple search engines, as different engines will find you different results. The ones I recommend are:

www.altavista.com www.google.com www.alltheweb.com

In my previous article (issue 142) we looked at the advanced 'field search' options available on the major search engines and again we will be utilizing these skills to maximize the accuracy of our results.

The first thing we must consider is where we are likely to find the information that we are looking for. The best places to start are staff directories and Press Releases.

We will use www.altavista.com/web/adv for our search. This is the advanced search section for Altavista.

Finding Staff Directories

There are certain keywords that would identify an online staff directory; these words include staff, team and people. Where we find these words in our results page is also of some importance to ensure that irrelevant results are kept to a minimum.

Lets say we are looking for qualified accountants that are ACA, FCA or ACCA affiliated. Our search string would look like this:

(title:staff OR url:staff) AND accountant AND (aca OR fca OR acca)

Also, try experimenting with a variety of possible directory descriptions when constructing your search; each variation of phrase used will bring back new results.

(title:"staff directory" OR title:"management team" OR title:"staff list")

Finding Press Releases

Press Releases, Success Stories and Case Studies give an organization the opportunity to say 'look at us, look at what we have done'. They often contain a great deal more information than you would at first imagine and can prove an invaluable source of information.

There are certain keywords that will help us identify press releases, these would include "press release", "case study" and "success stories"

Lets say, we are looking to find information about SAP implementations and we are looking to find the contacts to call. Our search string would look like this:

(url:success OR title:"press release") AND sap

What you will find, is that we start finding SAP implementation stories that are not restricted to official releases from SAP. We will start to find information from many different implementation partners.

Alternatively, you can use this technique to find specific individuals within an organisation.

Lets say you are looking to find the HR Director for Babtie Engineering and we cannot find them in an online Staff Directory. Our search string would look like this:

(url:press OR title:press) AND "hr director" AND "babtie engineering"

Michael Stamp is Managing Director of www.recruitmate.com, The online recruitment data mining tool for the global recruitment marketplace. If you have any questions regarding this article then you can contact him on mike@recruitmate.com

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-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

JANUARY 29,9.30AM (REPEATED AT 5.00PM) "HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR BILLINGS IN 2004". The new TeleSeminar from Recruitment Coach. COST: Special price of £39 per person for UK Recruiter subscribers (usually £47). LOCATION: Your desk! Just dial into this telephone coaching session. BENEFITS: "Low-cost, high-impact training without loosing a day’s revenue. In just 60 minutes, you’ll learn dozens of tips and tactics for growing your desk." Money Back Guarantee: If you don’t like the session, you’ll get a full refund. For a FREE course outline call Lisa on 0870 011 8805 or email: ukrecruiter@recruitmentcoach.com. To get the discount be sure to mention UK Recruiter

MAY 6-9, THE HUMAN RESOURCES FORUM UK. The Human Resources Forum, due to sail from Southampton on 6 May onboard the Aurora, has only limited space left on board for delegates and exhibitors alike. This annual gathering for all those involved in the HR industry will bring together around 400 delegates (senior HR professionals from the UK's top organisations) and nearly 150 exhibitors (suppliers of products or services to the HR industry). If you are interested in attending either as an exhibitor or delegate (HR professionals of sufficient seniority may attend for free) visit www.hrforum.co.uk or call Alison Bee on 020 8487 2262.

NEW VACANCY ALERT SOFTWARE - FREE TRIAL. InternetSight is a new software product that automatically monitors web pages and alerts you by email whenever a change occurs. It is used by recruiters to generate leads through monitoring client and competitor web sites and sending email alerts as soon as new vacancies are added. As they say "Why spend hours checking web sites for requirements when you can let InternetSight do the hard work and leave you free to concentrate on making placements?" They are currently offering a FREE 14 day trial exclusively to ukrecruiter newsletter readers, just click on the following link to register: http://www.internetsight.net/cp_register.asp?offercode=ukr0104 UK

RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "How long to learn the game?", "Teacher Recruitment", and "E Marketing Legislation". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 17 JANUARY. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Fish4 Jobs, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TESJobs, WorkThing, Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 149

Welcome to issue 149 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Helen Burns of rec2REC Asia-Pacific Limited)
* Article (The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey by Tim Elkington)
* Article (The benefit of formalizing your client relationships by Gaynor Lowndes)
* Bonus Article (How American Employment Law Affects You by John Howard Nesbitt)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - Office Space in Altrincham - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum - Power Canvassing CD Prize Winners)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY HELEN BURNS-----

See if you can work out which country Helen lives in!

www.timeanddate.com - not the most glamorous looking site but invaluable for recruiters who need to schedule any kind of international activities such as phone interviews or reference checks. A quick search option tells you what time it is anywhere in the world. A meeting planner allows you to plan across 4 different time zones

www.wotif.com - the ONLY way to book hotel accommodation at reasonable rates. Great bargains to be found around the world, as long as you're willing to wait and book 2 weeks out. Just make sure you don't hit Brisbane the night the Broncos are playing!

www.immigration.govt.nz - this is the official Government web site covering all you ever wanted to know about travelling to or living in beautiful New Zealand. We're worth the trip!

Submitted by Helen Burns, Managing Director, rec2REC Asia-Pacific Limited www.rec2rec.co.nz

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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========================

-----ARTICLE-THE NATIONAL ONLINE RECRUITMENT AUDIENCE SURVEY BY TIM ELKINGTON----

It's easy to get lots of responses to your online recruitment advertisements. It's more difficult to get the right response. One of the fundamental elements in attracting the right candidates online is choosing the right job board.

We believe that the right job board for you isn't necessarily the biggest or the cheapest but the one with the most candidates that match your recruitment requirements. After all if you're trying to recruit marketing professionals in Scotland then surely it makes sense to advertise on the site that has access to the greatest number of marketing professionals in Scotland?

So how can you tell which site can provide you with the highest number of relevant candidates? The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) is the UK's largest online recruitment survey, interviewing 12,500 online job seekers and providing information on 17 of the UK's leading job boards. NORAS includes two pieces of information - a comprehensive demographic profile of each site's audience (gathered via a pop up questionnaire) and the size of each site's audience (provided by audited ABC E Unique User figures).

Combining these two pieces of information means that you can assess how many relevant candidates each site can deliver. So for example if you are targeting retail staff in the Manchester area or finance professionals living within the M25 and earning over £50,000 you can use NORAS to establish how many relevant candidates each site delivers and based on that calculation choose the site that's right for your specific recruitment needs.

For example NORAS shows you that the top five sites for candidates working in a marketing role are Total Jobs with 44,000, Workthing PeopleBank 34,000, Fish4Jobs 17,000, Prospects.ac.uk 12,000 and Brand Republic 12,000.

NORAS also gives you an insight into the geographical strengths of the participating job boards. For example Fish4Jobs has the most candidates in the Granada TV region with 151,000 and Total Jobs delivers the most candidates in the London TV region with 224,000. Geographical specialist sites London Jobs and s1Jobs deliver 99,000 candidates in London and 129,000 candidates in Scotland respectively.

In addition to data regarding candidate's job role and location NORAS also includes information on candidate's experience and earnings. Jobs.telegraph delivers the most experienced candidates with an average of 17.6 years work experience and eFinancialCareers users have the highest average earnings with £65,000.

The latest wave of NORAS features information on more sites representing more industry sectors than ever before and includes data on AndersElite, Brand Republic Jobs, CW Jobs, eFinancialCareers, Fish4Jobs, GAAPweb, InPharm Jobs, JimFinder, Jobs.ac.uk, jobsgopublic, London Jobs, Prospects.ac.uk, s1Jobs, Secs in the City, jobs.telegraph, Total Jobs and Workthing PeopleBank.

The results of NORAS are available free of charge to everyone and can be downloaded by visiting www.noras.co.uk.

Tim Elkington is the Managing Director of Enhance Media Limited. In addition to running NORAS, Enhance Media provide a variety of services to help recruitment professionals get more from the internet as a recruitment tool (www.enhancemedia.co.uk)

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) results out now.

NORAS is the UK's leading source of independent and audited information on the users of online recruitment sites.

NORAS will help you choose the right job board and get more response from the right candidates and cut down on response from irrelevant candidates.

Visit www.noras.co.uk to download your free results booklet now ========================

-----ARTICLE-THE BENEFIT OF FORMALIZING YOUR CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS BY GAYNOR LOWNDES----

The industry in which we work is extremely competitive with little to differentiate us from our competitors. Sometimes you can loose a client merely because you haven't kept in touch as vigilantly as your competitor has. Many times you may not be the only recruitment company working with your client and s/he has no real reason for not spreading the work around.

The beauty of the service level agreement is that it formalizes your relationship with your client. Approached from the increased service/reduced fee perspective it is very hard for your client to say no. So what's in it for you? Exclusivity of course!

That means that although you may have to reduce your fees slightly if you do not already work exclusively with the client, it will shut your competitors out and allow you the opportunity of developing a value added relationship with your client for the future.

If you are lucky enough to work exclusively already with your client, the agreement can be sold as a value added tool whereby commitments are made to specific service levels such as time to short list or time to fill (temporary orders).

The service level agreements I have been involved with contain the following elements:

1. Background to agreement (details of your relationship to date) 2. Definition of relationship (sole supply of X & Y staff) 3. Service delivery obligations - you 4. Service delivery obligations - client 5. Administration - rates, guarantees etc 6. Duration of agreement (normally 12 months) 7. Escape (termination) clause

I tend to leave a draft copy with my client and then go back with the final for signature a week or so later. I then record 3 month review dates on the client record to ensure that I review the account formally. These agreements work just as well with small clients as with large ones.

Like any new skill, it takes practice and persistence to increase your success. Remember though, that it is a great way to protect your existing client base and ensure exclusivity on the jobs you work on.

Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company, has over 16 years recruitment experience, gained in Australia and the UK. The Recruitment Training Company provides training and consulting services to the recruitment industry in Australia and New Zealand. For more information visit http://www.trtc.com.au.

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WANT TO RUN PSYCHOMETRIC OR APTITUDE TESTS? We can: * Determine which psychometric and aptitude tests are most appropriate for your needs * Conduct the tests either via the internet or face to face at your premises * Give full written and verbal feedback

Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----BONUS ARTICLE-HOW AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT LAW AFFECTS YOU BY JOHN HOWARD NESBITT----

The experiences of an American citizen seeking employment in the UK . This is an interesting insight into how the UK recruitment industry will need to change as the various anti-discrimination laws take effect. John also explains how American Laws apply to American citizens when they seek employment with American companies and subsidiaries in the UK.

You will find the article at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/uslaw.htm

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

THURSDAY,JANUARY 29 (TOMORROW),LONDON -THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT A great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre- register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. Details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

OFFICE SPACE IN ALTINCHAM, CHESHIRE Recruitment to recruitment company,Futura are offering a free bottle of champagne to any ukrecruiter newsletter reader who views their new offices with a view to using the vacant space. Bernie Wilcox of Futura tells us that " The offices are perfect for recruitment companies. Furthermore, not only will Futura agree not to accept applications from their tenant's staff, you will also have first choice of all the very best candidates." Details are available from Bernie Wilcox on 07866 736965.

RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "What boards, etc., deserve this budget?", "Risks With Appointing Partner", and "No fee's quoted!! ". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

POWER CANVASSING CD PRIZE WINNERS Two weeks ago Koach offered readers the chance to win a copy of their new "Power Canvassing CD". The three lucky winners are Jonathan Powell of Millar Brunswick Ltd, Robert Baker of Techcentria, Tammy Pitman of londoncareers.net For more information about the CD go to http://www.koach.info

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM 20th JANUARY The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 471,304 which is up 49,559 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 26 JANUARY. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Fish4 Jobs, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TESJobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 150

Welcome to issue 150 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Anna Brock of JHA Ltd)
* Article (Learning To Love Making Sales Calls by Peter Freeth)
* Article (How to Avoid Spam by Richard Lowe) * New Newsletter Feature (Job Boards Clinic)
* Don't Miss This (Free Job Postings - Free Trial of New Vacancy Alert Software - Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY Anna Brock-----

http://www.infobel.com This is an excellent way of ascertaining where exactly your European candidates live, in order to easily arrange interviews. Not only does infobel provide you with a full address and telephone number, it also gives you a zoom in and out map of the location!

http://www.5minutesaway.co.uk A must for anyone organising interviews at motorway hotels and restaurants. If you know what motorway your client/candidate will be travelling on, you can find out the nearest junction and what hotels there are in the vicinity.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi This is an easy and up to date way to ensure you don't approach candidates abroad with jobs that would under pay them!

Anna Brock at JHA Ltd

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) results out now.

NORAS is the UK's leading source of independent and audited information on the users of online recruitment sites.

NORAS will help you choose the right job board and get more response from the right candidates and cut down on response from irrelevant candidates.

Visit www.noras.co.uk to download your free results booklet now ========================

-----ARTICLE-LEARNING TO LOVE MAKING SALES CALLS BY PETER FREETH----

This is the first of a series of articles by leading business coach Peter Freeth. He has successfully converted salespeople who "hate the phone" so that they say "I wish I was on the phone more!" Over the next few months Peter will share some of the tips that can make you more effective and make your sales calls more enjoyable

Now, I'm not telling you the basics here. I'm presuming you already do make calls, but maybe you tidy your desk, answer your emails and make a cup of coffee before you get into the right mood. Maybe you stop after ten calls instead of carrying on. Maybe you make it harder for yourself than it could be.

Maybe you already love sales calls and you're already getting great results, in which case - why are you reading this article? Get on the phone!

So how do you do this? Well, the exact process varies because every person I've worked with creates this situation in a slightly different, unique way - and so will you. Having said that, there are still some common principles that you can use right away to improve your approach and therefore your results.

Firstly, stop cold calling. It's difficult, time consuming and produces poor results. Instead, spend some time each day calling people you haven't spoken to before and finding out how you can help them.

Secondly, At the moment you pick up the phone to dial, what picture pops into your head? Just work through these simple steps, giving yourself time to think this through very carefully:

Imagine sitting at your desk as you begin making sales calls. As you start to dial, what picture pops into your head? If you find sales calls consistently difficult, I'm guessing the picture is of someone you don't have much in common with and who doesn't look pleased to hear from you. If you find calls randomly difficult, I'm guessing there's no coherent picture. Either is fine, because it's easy for you to change.

Next, imagine you're about to call someone you like very, very much. You know exactly what I mean. As you dial, what picture pops into your mind? Are you smiling? Are you sitting upright? Are you dialling eagerly? When you speak, does your tone of voice reflect this?

So, if you imagine someone who doesn't want to talk to you, imagine reaching out and grabbing the picture, screwing it into a ball and throwing it over your shoulder. Make a new picture of someone who looks like you, who you have something in common with and who looks pleased to hear from you. Imagine calling that person and notice how your voice tone changes.

Practice this a few times, just repeating the process over and over. Imagine starting to dial, see the face of someone you want to talk to, hear your positive voice tone, notice how that feels nice to talk to someone who enjoys talking to you.

Next time, I'll be talking to myself. Or to be more precise, I'll be talking about the impact of the way that you talk to yourself - before, during and after a call.

Peter Freeth is Director of Communications In Action. As a leading business coach, Peter helps people, teams and organisations get better results, faster. For more information - web:www.ciauk.com, email:peter@ciauk.com or phone:0870 1620802

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----ARTICLE-HOW TO AVOID SPAM BY RICHARD LOWE----

Definition Spam (noun): Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

The Marvels Of E-Mail

In the 21st Century, E-Mail is one of the most efficient and rapid forms of communication. Unfortunately, it's not much use if you are buried under a pile of spam each day.

Things To Avoid

Here are some of the things to avoid doing unless you want your E- Mail address available to Spammers: * Adding an entry into a public guest book * Putting your E-Mail address on a page on your web site * Posting on Internet newsgroups * Replying to a Spam (hence confirming that your E-Mail address is active)

* Posting a message to a public forum if your email address is displayed * Subscribing to an mailing list from a dubious source * Receive free E-Cards from friends

There are dubious software creatures known as 'Spambots' (a little like search engine crawlers in terms of the technology used). These trawl the Web looking for E-Mail addresses on web sites and news groups. When the bot finds an E-Mail address it adds it to a database.

This data is then of course used by that company and potentially sold to other Spammers once enough data has been collected. To be fair although the details might have been obtained unethically they might be sold to a marketing company who think they are getting a database of E-Mail addresses willingly given.

It is very difficult to trace the origin of spam . When it is traced and an Internet Service Provider bans a particular spammer due to volume of received complaints they spring up somewhere else via a different (often hijacked) connection.

Spammers use every trick in the book to mask their identity exploring potential security flaws in mail servers (known as 'open relays') through to operating their own temporary mail server on a 'pay as you go' dial-up connection.

What else can I do?

Look at having multiple E-Mail addresses. Many Internet Service Providers will offer you this facility if you have your own domain name, and typically you will be able to have as many as you want for no extra charge.

Have one primary E-Mail address and keep this private - just give it out to known contacts that you trust. Don't let anybody send you free E-Cards. Although many free E-Card companies are reputable, they may be unknowingly giving out your primary address to spammers!

Use the other 'secondary' E-Mail addresses for when you need to fill out a guest book or register with web sites/mailing lists. - anything where you are divulging the E-mail address to an unknown party.

You can always change these secondary ones if you start receiving spam to these addresses. If you have enough secondary addresses, you'll even know where the spammers obtained you address from.

Along with the above, obviously make sure that you have all the latest operating system patches on your computer, and keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Hopefully one day we will live in a spam-free world.

Richard Lowe is Managing Director of http://www.webcogs.com

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For more information visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/cvdatabase or contact us directly on 01252 810992 or sales@cv-library.co.uk ========================

------NEW NEWSLETTER FEATURE-------

JOB BOARDS CLINIC. We're starting a "Job Boards Clinic" in the ukrecruiter newsletter. Tim Elkington, Managing Director, of Enhance will be using his knowledge and the data contained within the new NORAS report to help you decide which are the best job boards for your needs. Maybe you'd like advice on the best site for a Marketing Director role at £70,000 or have 20 Programmers you are trying to recruit. Simply email me (louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk) your question relating to job board. We'll feature questions and responses in upcoming newsletters.

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

FREE JOB POSTINGS Buzzjobs.co.uk are offering 5 free job posting credits to ukrecruiter newsletter readers. To get your free credits simply visit http://www.buzzjobs.co.uk and open a free employers account. Then email mail@buzzjobs.co.uk with your new username quoting the reference: UKRECRUITER. Five free credits will be credited to your account. The offer applies to Employers and Recruitment Agencies"

NEW VAVACANCY ALERT SOFTWARE - FREE TRIAL InternetSight is a new software product that automatically monitors web pages and alerts you by email whenever a change occurs. It is used by recruiters to generate leads through monitoring client and competitor web sites and sending email alerts as soon as new vacancies are added. As they say "Why spend hours checking web sites for requirements when you can let InternetSight do the hard work and leave you free to concentrate on making placements?" They are currently offering a FREE 14 day trial exclusively to ukrecruiter newsletter readers, just click on the following link to register: http://www.internetsight.net/cp_register.asp?offercode=ukr0104

25 MARCH 2004, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON A great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre- register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. Details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Quarterly Bonus scheme for consultants", "Freelance researchers", and "Search & Selection". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM 26 JANUARY The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 495,012 which is up 23,708 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING 31 JANUARY. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Fish4 Jobs, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TESJobs, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and WorkThing. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 151

Welcome to issue 151 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Peter Freeth of Communications In Action)
* Job Board Review (TotalJobs by David Jenkins)
* Article (Understanding Today's Career Mercenaries by Jeff Grout)
* Don't Miss This (CV Database Reviewer Sought - Networking Event - The Human Resources Forum UK - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY PETER FREETH-----

http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html Send a fax by email! Not something you would want to use every day but perfect if you're out of the office and you just have to fax a confirmation to someone.

http://www.tucows.com/ Wish your PC or Mac had a utility for something? Wish you had a piece of software to convert something, or open a strange file, or maybe you're just looking for a game to fill those long lunchtimes? Download from a massive selection of shareware and freeware, ranging from the fun to the professional business application. Just make sure your IT people will let you first though!

http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/ I, rearrangement servant - also known as the Internet Anagram Server. Put in any sequence of letters and it will generate lists of anagrams. Great fun - try it out with people's names!

Peter Freeth is Director of Communications In Action ( http://www.ciauk.com)

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

The system that grows with your business

For more information, or to book a demo Contact Nik at Beacon Tel: 01582 478 888, Mobile: 0740 169 779 or email info@recruitment-software.net ========================

-----JOB BOARD REVIEW - TOTALJOBS BY DAVID JENKINS----

URL: http://www.totaljobs.com

Key stats (for November 2003) Unique users: 824,656 Visits: 1,648,567 Page impressions: 11,754,595

Most advertised roles/industry sectors: 1. IT and internet 2. Sales 3. Secretarial, PA's and administration 4. Banking, insurance and finance 5. Engineering, manufacturing and utilities 6. Human Resources 7. Marketing, advertising and PR 8. Accountancy 9. Customer services and call centres 10. Retail, wholesale

What the site says "Totaljobs.com is now three years old, and in that time has become one of the UK's leading recruitment web sites, with over 2,500 customers placing more than 30,000 vacancies at any one time. Clients range from large multinationals to small regionally based businesses. With this volume of jobs and high quality brands it is unsurprising that totaljobs is delivering the quality of traffic that recruiters demand, with more than 536,000* individual job seekers visiting the site each month." (* This figure is the average number of unique visitors measured between Dec 2001 to Nov 2002.)

First impressions As with any home page, the balance of information is vital. Too much and the page becomes complicated and confusing, too little requires numerous clicks to access the required pages. TotalJobs manages this well, providing instant access to a variety of industry sectors. By making up over half the screen this is impossible to miss, and candidates can quickly identify with the site. There is also a quick search in the top right hand corner available. This means that viewing vacancies is only 1 click away.

Candidate tools on offer There is a wealth of tools available to candidates, such as CV register and advice, interview advice, company information, a fabulous CV checker and also an interesting section where you can choose the latest employment books.

Recruiter tools on offer As well as the obvious loading of jobs, recruiters also have a number of tools available to them: * Recruiters can purchase keyword banners to target specific candidates (i.e. banners are display when a candidate enters a search term, such as Java or French). * Company information in an online recruitment brochure style. * Access to CV database * Email Sponsorship and advertising (increasingly popular) The advertising can be managed from a comprehensive and easy-to-use back office.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Candidate Strengths * Wealth of information available. * Quick and easy to find jobs. * Candidates can receive jobs by email and tailor to match their requirements. * Wide and high number of jobs advertised.

Candidate Weaknesses * With so much information available, it's possible to get lost on the site. * Some useful information will not be found. * With several ways to search for jobs gets confusing.

RecuiterStrengths * High traffic gives high exposure to vacancies. * Variety of advertising methods. * Excellent brand and marketing with backing from Reed Elsevier Group plc

Recruiter Weaknesses * Candidates can conduct a very detailed search, this is not matched by how detailed positions can be loaded.

Summary TotalJobs is one of the leading online recruitment sites. It has excellent information for candidates providing a variety of good advice and tools. Recruiters benefit from high traffic, several advertising methods and well informed candidates.

David Jenkins is the Account Director of Wave Advertising, specialising in online recruitment solutions. 'Wave Advertising provide Efficient and Effective Recruitment Solutions' . David can be contacted on 01189 589 200 or david@waveadvertising.co.uk if you have any queries with regards to online recruitment.

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========================

-----ARTICLE-UNDERSTANDING TODAY'S CAREER MERCENARIES BY JEFF GROUT ----

A major shift in the nature of the employment market has been the disappearance of the 'job for life'. Even up until the 1990s there was a widespread acceptance that, so long as employees worked hard and kept their noses clean, their employers would look after them. That all changed with the early 1990s recession.

For employees, the umbilical cord of trust between them and their employer had suddenly been broken. Their sense of job security was destroyed. If the employer would no longer guarantee work for them, so employees began realising that they owed no long-term loyalty to the employer.

Today's new generation of recruits have become 'free agents' or 'career mercenaries' with short-term horizons. They stay with an employer only for as long as that working environment meets their needs. Even pay structures no longer value loyalty. Research over the last ten years or so shows that employees who stayed with their employer could expect an annual pay rise of around 3-4%, an amount just ahead of inflation. However, people who changed jobs enjoyed a pay rise of around 10% on average. The message is clear: employees who move around between employers are rewarded more than people who stay put.

The day they sign a job contract they may only be anticipating two years, perhaps three at most, with that employer. When considering whether to take a job, it is the immediate challenges and opportunities that will be of interest and not promises for the future.

This marks a major shift, which employers must understand and to which they must adapt. Job applicants are no longer satisfied with the expectation that in 10, perhaps 20, years time they could have an interesting, respected job at the top of the company. Employers felt that new recruits would put up with a treadmill of uninspiring, backroom jobs because they knew that one day they would be promoted into a high profile role. Such employers no longer win or retain the talent they need.

Research into why young people leave employers often comes up with the same response: the leavers felt they were on a "slow-moving escalator". Al right, they might get a good job with the organisation one day, but that promotional escalator just wasn't moving fast enough for them. Employers have to understand that we now live in a culture where people expect immediate gratification. Our patience has shrunk. Why wait ten years for promotion into an exciting role when you can move to another firm and get those challenges now?

Research suggests that younger generations of employees are no longer prepared to put up with a working life that dominates their private life. 'Career Mercenaries' want to have time and energy to spend on out of office activities. Employers who fail to recognise this could find that employees leave them even sooner, or that they simply cannot recruit enough of the quality expertise they need. Employers need to understand what their current and prospective employees really want from them. Only with this knowledge can recruiters tailor their advertising appropriately, as well as their career development and reward offerings, in ways that will attract the quality employees they need.

Jeff Grout and co-author Sarah Perrin consider these issues in more depth, including employment strategies and recruitment tactics, in their book 'Recruiting Excellence', published by McGraw-Hill. Jeff can be contacted at JG Consulting on 07970 084300 or jeff_grout@yahoo.co.uk or through his speaker agency, Speakers Corner at 01753 651700 or Email jan@speakerscorner-pinewood.co.uk

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

CV DATABASE REVIEWER SOUGHT We're looking for new contributors for the ukrecruiter newsletter who are "experts" on CV Databases or are willing to become expert! You'll need to be able to: * produce well written articles which are 400-500 words long * commit to one article each month * be impartial If you're interested you can read our article guidelines at www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm or call me on 01635 254881.

6TH - 9TH MAY, THE HUMAN RESOURCES FORUM UK The Human Resources Forum, due to sail from Southampton on 6 May, onboard the Aurora has only limited space left on board for delegates and exhibitors alike. This annual gathering for all those involved in the HR industry will bring together around 400 delegates (senior HR professionals from the UK's top organisations) and nearly 150 exhibitors (suppliers of products or services to the HR industry). If you are interested in attending either as an exhibitor or delegate (HR professionals of sufficient seniority may attend for free) visit www.hrforum.co.uk or call Alison Bee on 020 8487 2262.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Immoral Terms of Business ", "Unfairly sued - Where to get legal advice?", and "CV Databases". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM FEBRUARY 2. The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 490,275 which is down 4,737 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 7. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4Jobs, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 152

Welcome to issue 152 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Claire Williams and Adam Brooks)
* Article (Finding Candidates and Contacts on the Web by Mike Stamp)
* Niche Job Board Interview (OfficeRecruit.com By Russell Murch)
* Don't Miss This ("How to Cold Call Like a Champion" - "Targeting Online Jobseekers for Recruitment Consultancies" - Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum - The Recruitment Conference - Free Job Postings at StaffNurse.Com)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY CLAIRE WILLIAMS AND ADAM BROOKS-----

http://www.google.co.uk - Essential for researching companies, gaining contacts etc

http://informatics.open.ac.uk/post/ - Excellent site for filling in missing parts of addresses etc

http://www.bbc.co.uk - Jam packed full of news, gossip, games, info and anything else you need to keep you entertained during the down periods!

Claire Williams of NCW Consulting

----Since Claire is so succinct we also have room for one more:

http://www.pmlifeline.com. A site for 'real world' project management. If you have any project admin, right through to senior programme roles then advertise them on here - you will get many relevant hits. What's more after a nominal set-up fee (£50) the placing of adverts is free and your logo is added to every advert. If you want a larger profile it will cost more, but for ads it is pretty cost effective!

Adam Brooks of Project IT Resource Ltd

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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HotLizard is the premier supplier to the recruitment industry for online recruitment software and excellence in recruitment web site design, development and marketing.

For more information, please contact Adele Poole, on 01635 527900 or email adele.poole@hotlizard.net.

You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

========================

-----ARTICLE-FINDING CANDIDATES AND CONTACTS ON THE WEB BY MIKE STAMP----

Last month, we looked at ways of identifying contacts from company web sites. This month we will continue this theme by looking at more creative ways of identifying both passive candidates and business contacts by finding their information outside the boundaries of their own corporate web site.

Once again, the first thing you have to do is to choose the best Search Engine for the job For the following searches we will be using Altavista (http://www.altavista.com/web/adv)

Peer searching When we peer search, we are looking for people that work together in a particular company. There are several ways of doing this but the two easiest are by using either a company's email format or the company's name.

As an example, let's look for individuals from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals that are involved in Clinical Trials. We start with their email format: @sandwich.pfizer.com using the following search string

"@sandwich.pfizer.com" AND "clinical trials"

This type of search works particularly well because this is a location specific email address; i.e. Pfizers manufacturing facility in Sandwich, Kent. If an organization has an email format that is .com, then we need to add some country specific information.

@peoplesoft.com AND (uk OR "united kingdom" OR "+44") AND NOT "www.peoplesoft.com"

Although this is not an exact science, it does start to give us UK based employees of Peoplesoft. By excluding the phrase "www.peoplesoft.com", we ensure that almost all of the spurious results are removed.

It is also possible to use a company's business name instead of their email format, although this can have a tendency to broaden your search too much.

"BP Amoco" AND "logistics manager"

You will have to sift through some irrelevant results but you will often find exactly what you are looking for. With this particular example you will find the name of BP Amoco's UK Logistics Manager.

Finding information about Candidates or Contacts The Web can provide a valuable resource for finding background information on people you currently deal with or that you want to deal with. One of the intriguing aspects of the Web, that most users fail to realise, is that when you submit something to a public web site, that information stays there until the host decides otherwise. Therefore you can frequently find information about an individual with them having no idea that the information still exists.

An important point to remember, especially when using relatively common names, is to target your search by adding some terms specific to the individual your are searching for. As an example, we could look for a contact named "Bob Booth" who we think works for British Telecom.

"Bob Booth" AND bt

This is a very simple search but gets us exactly the information that we are looking for, including office location, email address and direct telephone number (although in the example above I've used a substitute for the real name)

If you are looking to find information on a candidate you have lost contact with and you are not sure where they are currently working then try adding a skill or a hobby. Try searching for yourself, you may be amazed at what you discover.

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----NICHE JOB BOARD INTERVIEW: OFFICERECRUIT.COM BY RUSSELL MURCH----

February sees me talking to Lucien Sullivan of www.officerecruit.com. A job board specifically aimed at the recruitment needs for office personnel in and around London

RM: What is unique about OfficeRecruit.com? LS: There are many job boards that offer opportunities in the area that we concentrate on, however because we are both skill set and geographically specific, we offer a concentration of candidates and vacancies which benefits our clients and candidates alike. One of the major ways that we differ from other job boards is by personalising our services to specific client needs. For example our CV Filtering and CV Finder services - These services effectively mean we can take out much of the work for the client and facilitate the selection of the most suitable candidates for the position.

RM: How effective has the OfficeRecruit.com approach been in this very specific arena? LS: Since we introduced OfficeRecruit.com in May of 2002 the growth rate has been almost exponential. Currently there are in excess of 23,000 registered candidates and many of the major employers utilise our services. The candidate base is growing at an average of 1,000 new registrants per week, with an average of 90,000 unique visitors to the site monthly.

RM: What share of the market do you expect to gain within the next 12 months? LS: Although an exact "market share" is hard to determine, due to the fact that most clients will use more than one source of candidates, we have over 140 agencies subscribing to our services in London and the surrounding counties including many of the big names in the market. Over the last year we have grown our agency numbers by approximately 15% month on month.

RM: What are the main areas of recruitment that are covered on the OfficeRecruit.com job board? LS: We focus on Office/Commercial requirements that include roles for Secretarial/Administration, Receptionist, HR, Accounts, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing positions with all the vacancies being based in London or the surrounding counties. Our main goal is to match the career, candidate location and skill set as accurately as possible to cater for the clients needs.

RM: What plans do you have for the future for OfficeRecruit.com? LS: We are keen to build on the recent success we have enjoyed with 'Blue Chip' employers who are looking for a cost effective alternative to newsprint and other forms of recruitment advertising. Although in the short term our aim is to continue to grow and consolidate our position within London and the Home Counties, our medium term plans include expanding our offering to clients on a national basis, but only when we can guarantee to provide the same local, personalised service and quality of delivery.

RM summary: The OfficeRecruit.com job board has been very well thought out. Having had the privilege of a demonstration of the 'Back Office' facilities, it is clear that the vast majority of client and candidate needs have been met. The philosophy of 'Not too big to care' is very transparent not only in the way that the job board operates, but also with the service level applied. On the downside when you visit the home page for the first time, there is an abundance of information to take in with all the advertising, giving the page a 'busy look'. This gives the impression that the site is more client focused, however, if you take the time to delve deeper it is apparent that client and candidate are catered for on equal terms. Minor points I know, and I would not let that detract from what is otherwise an excellent job board with everything you need for office staff recruitment in and around the London area.

Next month Russell will feature http://www.supplychainrecruit.com

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

FEBRUARY 24TH, 9.30AM (REPEATED AT 5PM) "HOW TO COLD CALL LIKE A CHAMPION" Would you like to make canvassing more fun and productive? Then tune into the new TeleSeminar from Recruitment Coach. Cost: special price of £39 per person for UK Recruiter subscribers (usually £47). Location: Your desk! Just dial into this telephone coaching session. For more info call Lisa on 0870 011 8805 or email ukrecruiter@recruitmentcoach.com. For a no-obligation preview, download your FREE report now: www.recruitmentcoach.com/ukrecruiter/

FEBRUARY 26TH - "TARGETING ONLINE JOBSEEKERS FOR RECRUITMENT CONSULTANCIES" - CENTRAL LONDON. Enhance Media are offering newsletter readers 10% discount on this one day course (normal price £350 + vat). The course includes tips on online marketing, online copywriting and choosing job boards. More information is available at http://www.enhancemedia.co.uk/training/opencourses/professionals.html Call 020 7801 6266 to book your place. Don't forget to mention "ukrecruiter" to get your discount.

THURSDAY MARCH 25, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON. A great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre-register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. Details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Unethical recruiters" and "Voice Mail". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

APRIL 21, THE RECRUITMENT CONFERENCE, LANDMARK HOTEL - MARYLEBONE, LONDON. "Brought to you by the publishers of The Recruitment Consultant and supported by The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). A day long Conference with key speakers Marcia Roberts, Deputy Chief Executive of the REC, David McHattie, recruitment expert from Barclays Bank, Brett Walsh, Head of Human Capital at consultants Deloitte and Touche and Bill Shipton, Chairman of the Association of Online Recruiters." For further details please contact Paul Harwood on 01923 897900

FREE JOB POSTINGS AT STAFFNURSE.COM StaffNurse.com UK's leading career site for nursing professionals are offering 5 free job posting credits to ukrecruiter newsletter readers. To get your free credits simply email sales@staffnurse.com or call 01332 265555 quoting the reference: UKRECRUITER. The offer applies to UK based Nursing Recruitment Agencies.

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM FEBRUARY 9. The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 482,467 which is down 7,808 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 14. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, TES Jobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 153

Welcome to issue 153 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Peter Freeth of Communications In Action)
* Article (How to Handle Candidates by Gaynor Lowndes)
* Job Board Review (Job Board Review of JobsGoPublic.com by Paul Harrison)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY PETER FREETH-----

http://www.prweb.com/ Sending out a press release usually costs hundreds of pounds - with this site you can do it for free, although a small contribution raises the level of service.

http://www.venuefinder.com/ Looking for a meeting or conference menu? This service has them all - worldwide.

http://www.cert.org/ Worried about the latest virus? Want to know how to remove it yourself without your IT people charging you a fortune? CERT is the Internet's most respected centre for information on viruses and, whilst often quite technical, always has the most up to date news and info on security and virus removal.

Peter Freeth is Director of Communications In Action (www.ciauk.com)

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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For client testimonials or information please contact Mike Smith on 01273 736200, email mike@os2i.co.uk, www.os2i.co.uk. ========================

-----HOW TO HANDLE CANDIDATES BY GAYNOR LOWNDES-----

Always remember that without your candidates, you wouldn't have a job! In addition to "keeping your job" there are a number of good reasons for treating your candidates properly - whether you place them or not. This article looks at how you should handle your candidates.

It starts with acknowledging receipt of the candidate's resume. If you have a central e-mail address that resumes get sent to, then no doubt you will also have an automatic response set up. I am not against this per se, as long as you follow up in person if at all possible within 24-48 hours of receipt. I have heard from many candidates on many occasions about their resumes being lost in the system, and about how many times they have submitted their details to agencies and heard nothing back - no response whatsoever. I believe that relationships start now. Do the right thing and follow up as soon as possible after receipt.

I recently heard this story from a recruiter of 7 years. "The other day I ran into a candidate who I had interviewed when I first started recruiting in Australia. He was very average in terms of skill base at that time and so I was not able to place him. He had gone to the UK and lived and worked over there for a number of years and was now a well respected manager. I obviously made an impression on him for him to remember me after all this time" I love stories like this one because it demonstrates that some recruiters really do care about their candidates and understand the importance of treating them properly.

Regular follow up is very important, whether your candidates are active or not. It may be that you don't necessarily telephone them; maybe you follow up with a regular e-newsletter or personalized e- mail. Technology has made it much easier to keep in touch with your candidates so use technology wherever appropriate. The key to success with your candidate base is to keep in mind to treat others as you would wish to be treated.

Long before we had the benefits of e-mail, during my years as a permanent accounting recruiter, my regular routine included taking 3-5 candidate files home a day and calling the candidates between 7.30-8.30pm for a catch up. This helped my time management immensely. It was also on the whole a positive experience for the candidates as it was not expected and added to the service that I provided. They gave mountains of useful information like where they had been on interview; what other agencies (my competitors) were saying and how they generally felt about the process of looking for a job. It enabled me to build a rapport with them that I don't believe I could have built given the incredible time pressures we are under in our job during the day.

Top tips for candidate care: * Treat every candidate with respect (candidates remember good service) * Leave your personal prejudices at home - try and treat candidates objectively * Don't leave candidates waiting in reception for too long - they are busy people too * Always return calls within 24 hours - if you can't you have a time management problem * Manage candidate expectations - if you can't help, tell them and consider referring them to someone who can * Ask for referrals - your candidates are a great source of more candidates * Follow up with them after placement and even after guarantee from time to time - really take an interest in their career

Think about your candidate base and ask yourself: * How many of these people are referrals? * How many of these people have I placed before? * How many of these people have given me job briefs?

If the answer is not many, then take a serious look at your candidate care!

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----JOB BOARD REVIEW OF JOBSGOPUBLIC.COM BY PAUL HARRISON-----

URL: www.JobsGoPublic.com * Unique Users: 106,222 for JobsGoPublic.com & 237,000 for the JobsGoPublic network * Page impressions: 1.51 million for JobsGoPublic.com & 2.5 million for the JobsGoPublic network JobsGoPublic network includes the official Local Government job site LGjobs.com and MJjobs.com. Figures are ABCe audited. JobsGoPublic also participates in NORAS (www.noras.co.uk).

Key industry sectors: JobsGoPublic carries advertising from across the public sector: Local Government, Central Government, Health, Social Housing, Emergency Services, Police & Probation, Regional Development Agencies, the NHS and the Charity & Voluntary Sectors. There are vacancies advertised from across the board including HR, IT, administration, senior management, Health and Social Care.

What the site says: "Launched in 1999, JobsGoPublic is the market-leading on-line destination site for Public Sector job seekers, with more than 350,000 visitors to the site every month. Over 60% of English Local Authorities have used the service and we list more public sector jobs than any other UK website. We listed over 55,000 jobs in 2003 - twice the number carried by Guardian Society. We are also endorsed by the Employers Organisation"

First impressions: The first thing you notice on JobsGoPublic.com - apart from the chatty tone of the randomised home page welcome message - is that they have placed an advanced job search engine at the very front-end of the site. This says everything about JobsGoPublic in terms of its audience and purpose. This is not a "careers portal" in the sense of having 'industry snapshots' and 'Top 10 CV Tips' and such like, but a site geared to giving candidates the means to search the largest online database of public sector jobs. And in achieving this aim, it has been singularly successful.

Candidate Tools on offer: One of the main challenges facing horizontal websites covering large numbers of sectors/markets is allowing candidates to meaningfully query the large number of jobs that they carry. Whilst there is a quick keyword search facility, JobsGoPublic approach is to encourage users to use the advanced search as a default, which brings into play the Sector and Occupational Groups search fields.

These provide an intuitive way of searching and - when coupled with keyword, salary, term, region and county search fields - provide a flexible and powerful search methodology that yields mostly accurate results. The quality of the search engine is augmented by a coherent jobs-by-email service and personalised jobs areas, both reached through the My JobsGoPublic area.

The quality of the candidate experience is ensured by a clean design throughout, and the inclusion of download links for MS Word and Acrobat readers on every page they might be required to access application forms. There is also a text version of the site compatible with audio-browsers.

Advertiser Options From a recruiter / advertising perspective there are a number of options, including buttons + banners, single job postings, subscriptions, lease of the JGP job search technology, plus solus email targeting. A job listing costs £395. Advertising Agency commission is offered.

One of the key advantages of JGP to advertisers is their affiliations and additional channels. Subscribers to JobsGoPublic.com for example can pay an additional (discounted) amount for access to ClickWalla.com, BlackBritain.com and Youreable.com Also, depending on the nature of the role, JGP vacancies also appear on free of charge LGjobs.com, MJjobs.com , socpojobs.org , computing.co.uk, accountancyage.com , publicsector.org, publicnet.co.uk and i+ kiosks (where candidates can search for and print job details on the high street).

Summary In terms of downsides, some of the page access times to download application packs as word documents can be a little slow on a dial-up connection. Also one feels there is a missed opportunity in not creating dedicated content for workers in the commercial sector who are considering the 'crossover' to the public sector for the first time. They may not be necessarily au fait with some of the terminology used, the reliance upon applications forms and so forth.

However, these are minor criticisms. Intelligent search engine design and the large number and variety of jobs on offer have ensured that JobsGoPublic.com has built a large, loyal and active candidate base, making it therefore easy to recommend.

Paul Harrison is Head of Interactive with GMBM Communications, part of the PW Group. He can be contacted on paul@gmbmcomms.com

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

HotLizard is the premier supplier to the recruitment industry for online recruitment software and excellence in recruitment web site design, development and marketing.

For more information, please contact Adele Poole, on 01635 527900 or email adele.poole@hotlizard.net.

You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Multiple roles", "Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Act 1973 and 2003", and "Training!!". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM FEBRUARY 18 The number of live vacancies posted on the top 10 UK job boards last week is 492,314 which is up 9,847 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 21. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, WorkThing and s1jobs.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 154

Welcome to issue 154 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Caroline Mills of A.T. Kearney Executive Search)
* Article (Learning to love making sales calls Part II by Peter Freeth)
* Article (Getting the Best from Online Assessment by Dunstan Arthur)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - The Recruitment Conference - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY CAROLINE MILLS-----

http://www.fasttrack100.co.uk Ranks UK unquoted companies by fastest growth, profit growth, largest and top technology. Useful as a backup to all the FTSE lists as it gives you the private companies. The tables are also published in the Sunday Times.

http://www.freepint.com A networking site for information researchers. If you have a tricky question you can post it at "the bar" and somebody is bound to help you out. You can also sign up for their newsletter. Not as good as UK Recruiter of course, but a close second!

http://www.cantos.com A site for business; loads of interviews, profiles, annual results etc. The difference is that they are all available in video, audio or text. You need to register but it is free. They will send you a weekly email to prompt you to look at the new additions.

Caroline Mills of A.T. Kearney Executive Search

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

The system that grows with your business

For more information, or to book a demo Contact Nik at Beacon Tel: 01582 478 888, Mobile: 0740 169 779 or email info@recruitment-software.net ========================

-----ARTICLE-LEARNING TO LOVE MAKING SALES CALLS PART II BY PETER FREETH----

This is the second of a series of articles by leading business coach Peter Freeth. Peter continues to share some of the tips that can make you more effective and make your sales calls more enjoyable.

We all talk to ourselves - it's not a sign of madness but an important part of the way our brains process information. People who achieve results easily and enjoyably tend to talk to themselves in a certain way whilst people who feel they have to work hard and who are affected by making mistakes tend to talk to themselves differently. But then, I'm sure you tell yourself this all the time!

What do you say to yourself before, during and after the call? If it's in any way critical, that's not helping. Often, the voice in your head has really valuable feedback but you don't hear it because it just sounds like nagging or criticism. Think again about sitting down to make your calls and this time pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. Change the voice tone to something more neutral, like a news reader, or to a voice that you like - even something sexy! Now, listen to what the voice tells you - is the information more useful? You can also ask questions back. If the voice is critical, say "Thankyou! Now, how does that information help me?" or "Thankyou! Now, what do you suggest I do differently?" Oddly enough, you'll find the same approach works very well with that person in the office who always offers you helpful criticism.

One of the most powerful things you can do with the voice inside your head is ask yourself questions. Questions of a certain type are incredibly powerful, both for yourself and for other people. For example, ask yourself "Will I hit my target?" and wait for an answer. Notice the feeling you get, too. Now ask yourself "How will I hit my target?" and notice the answer and the feeling. Different?

So, before you make your calls, ask yourself how well you're going to do it. During the calls, ask yourself how you can improve what you're doing. After the calls, ask yourself how well you did.

Of course, alter the questions so that they feel right to you but remember that the most important thing is to ask "how you did well", not "did you do OK?" These are questions that leave no room for doubt.

After you have practiced all this for a day and then slept on it, your brain will build it into an unconscious calling routine for you so you won't even have to think in order to get good results. What's this based on? The principle that you are already following an unconscious process which is working perfectly for you. The process is fine but the results need a little tweak. By taking conscious control over the process and making some slight adjustments, you'll find that you can get surprising results, very quickly. How quickly? You'll only find out by finding out!

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----ARTICLE-GETTING THE BEST FROM ONLINE ASSESSMENT BY DUNSTAN ARTHUR----

There has been extensive debate in the HR and testing press about the pros and cons of the internet for test delivery, but the only thing we can be sure about is that online testing is here to stay. Dunstan shares some of guidelines on online assessment based on experience gained from working with clients at Psychometric Services Ltd .

Have a clear strategy for online testing and define your expected benefits * How you want to assess people? Do you want to screen a large number of candidates, or assess a shortlist of candidates in more detail? * Do you need a fully integrated and automated end-to-end system, or a simple stand-alone testing site? * What do you want to gain from an online testing process - Reduced costs? Faster hiring? Greater convenience? This will form the basis of your business case for online testing.

Choose your online tests with care * What do you want to achieve? Screening or in-depth assessment? * Is the test reliable and valid? * Is the test suitable for online delivery? If the test contains a lot of small text or complex graphics it may be difficult for candidates to read on a computer screen.

Make sure your technology is up to the job There is no excuse these days for using unreliable internet technology. Poor test delivery software can ruin your whole process. Pick a supplier who can give you confidence in their systems.

Consider the following:- * What happens if everyone tries to complete the test at the same time? * Is the data secure? * What happens if the supplier's server fails? * Are there recovery and back up plans in place? * Does the system comply with data protection legislation? * Does the software support different internet browsers? * Do you need to download software in order to run the test?

Practical considerations Consider the average test taker, who when at home will be using a PC that is 2-3 years old with a 56k modem. Timed tests in particular need to be quick to download. In a traditional test session you can supervise the person and make sure that nothing goes wrong. You cannot do this with online testing. Instructions should be clear and unambiguous, there should be 'help' buttons if possible.

The issue of cheating Online tests can be completed remotely in an unsupervised environment. The first issue is test exposure. If a test is in the public domain, then sooner or later it will be copied. Candidates can copy a test and work out the answers at their leisure. In practice this means that online tests have a much shorter 'shelf life' than paper tests, and will need changing more frequently. The most sophisticated method of reducing the effects of exposure and cheating is by using item- banked tests.

Item-banking and randomised tests An item-banked test will deliver a random series of test questions from a bank of available questions. Because the test is randomised there is no advantage in trying to learn the answers.

By re-testing candidates under controlled conditions you can identify cheating candidates. A clear statement that all candidates will be re-tested establishes an 'honesty contract' with the test taker and removes much of the incentive to cheat.

In summary, the internet does offer significant benefits over traditional methods of test delivery, but this does not mean that the principles of best practice in testing should be abandoned.

Dunstan Arthur is a Consultant at Psychometric Services Ltd, one of the companies at the forefront of developments in online testing, Telephone: 020 8585 2345; Website: http://www.psl.com

For more information visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/cvdatabase or contact us directly on 01252 810992 or sales@cv-library.co.uk ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

APRIL 21, THE RECRUITMENT CONFERENCE, LANDMARK HOTEL - MARYLEBONE, LONDON. "Brought to you by the publishers of The Recruitment Consultant and supported by The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). A day long Conference with key speakers Marcia Roberts, Deputy Chief Executive of the REC, David McHattie, recruitment expert from Barcalys Bank, Brett Walsh, Head of Human Capital at consultants Deloitte and Touche and Bill Shipton, Chairman of the Association of Online Recruiters." For further details please contact Paul Harwood on 01923 897900

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Automatic CV Registering Software", "TOP100 (online recruitment sites)", and "Direct Mail". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM MARCH 1 The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 507,497 which is up by an enormous 22,855 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 28. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4Jobs, Jobserve, Monster.co.uk, TES Jobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 155

Welcome to issue 155 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. Don't forget the next networking event is on the 25th March at Tiger Tiger. More details in the "don't miss this section" below.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Tony Restell of Top-Consultant.com)
* Job Board Review (Reed Recruitment by Amanda Payne)
* Article (Executive Assessment Should Be Mandatory by Kevin Kerrigan)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY TONY RESTELL-----

http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ - You've invested a lot of money in your website, but how good is your online presence in comparison to that of other recruiters? Marketleap's link popularity tool provides a useful benchmarking report to quickly show where you stand in comparison to competitors and highlights the search engines where you currently have tremendous presence... or no presence!

http://www.jopit.com - A "Google for job-seekers" is probably the best way of describing this site. Great for researching potential client leads - i.e. who is recruiting in your area - and also a good source of free candidate traffic for anyone with online job listings to promote.

http://www.netiq.com/products/wrs/trial.asp - At this location you will find "Webtrends". This is a fantastic resource for recruiters wanting to have a better understanding of visitor behaviour on their careers pages. The free trial will provide you with lots of real-time stats (which companies are visiting your website, where your traffic is coming from, which pages are most popular, how often visitors return, etc). You just insert a bit of code on your web pages and then Webtrends does all the tracking and generates real-time graphs for you on demand.

Tony Restell is a Director at www.Top-Consultant.com

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Just released: the 2004 Recruitment Channel Report

How can you maximise the success of your next recruitment campaign? We surveyed 1,600 professionals to reveal the latest candidate trends and the steps you can quickly take to generate the strongest shortlist possible...

Available now for all UK Recruiter readers: http://www.top-consultant.com/recruitment_report.asp

========================

-----JOB BOARD REVIEW-REED RECRUITMENT BY AMANDA PAYNE----

URL - http://www.reed.co.uk Unique Users - over 500,000 a month (Freecruitment - http://www.reed.co.uk/freecruitment - Feb 2004) Page Impressions - 6.5m a month (Freecruitment - http://www.reed.co.uk/freecruitment - Feb 2004) Most Advertised Vacancies - Sales, Accountancy, Admin & Secretarial, Information Technology, Engineering, Temporary Work

What the site says "Where the right job looks for you"

First Impressions Reed claims to be the largest independent job site in the UK, and with over 150,000 jobs (Feb 2004), you can see why. Upon entering the site the user is presented with a simple and clean design. Although, on initial impression, it may seem that there is a lot of information to digest, it becomes apparent that the site is very functional and informative. The user is able to navigate around much of the site from the home page alone.

The site provides extensive ways to search the available vacancies - this includes a quick search box available on all pages. Alternatively, each sector is listed broadly - if the appropriate sector is clicked, the sub-sectors are then listed, narrowing the search each time. And if that isn't enough, there is an advanced search function or a job reference search (if you have a reference from a press ad).

There is no banner or pop-up advertising on the site, which adds to the overall usability, as there are no interruptions to the visit.

Tools on Offer If there is something that reed.co.uk has plenty of, it's tools! As with all the larger job boards nowadays, the user can calculate what average salary they should be expecting and create their CV online using Reed's CV builder or upload an existing CV through the browse and submit option.

Other tools include a market index tool providing analysis of thousands of jobs and recruiters each month, career advice, self- assessment questionnaires and an ANYJOB application function. This facility enables Reed users to apply for any job they have seen online anywhere!

Recruiters are able to use the branch locator and Reed's Freecruitment service - a completely free vacancy posting service. Reed also offer HR & recruitment services such as online time sheets and, if requested, can provide a Reed consultant to manage the recruitment process.

The site also offers results from various recruitment surveys and information on training courses available to both the employee and recruiter. And, for those interested in seeing who is currently recruiting, the site offers profiles on featured clients in the relevant sector.

Strengths and Weaknesses It may already be apparent that this site has more strengths than weaknesses. The site is clear, functional and has plenty to offer. Each job has a 'mail job to a friend' link that will encourage more visitors to the site and the user can add relevant jobs to their short list. The site tracks each search making it easy to navigate back to previous searches and the user can 'save the search'.

Each vacancy displays how many applications have been made - the employee can therefore see how popular each vacancy is, or if they are first to apply for a particular position. On application of a vacancy, Reed offers a helpful, timesaving facility. Employers can pre-qualify potential applicants through a simple screening process - therefore filtering out those candidates without the relevant skills and requirements.

The main weakness is in the registration process - at times it can be cumbersome. In particular, the user can only choose one sector during the initial stages of the process and, although you can add one more sector later, the search and update criteria has been limited.

Summary Reed has successfully converted its high street brand into a fully functional and impressive example of how a job board should operate. It is efficient and easy to navigate with new vacancies posted to the site regularly. Moreover, the site is 'sticky' providing users plenty of reasons to return. Is Reed the place 'where the right job looks for you'? Whether you agree or not, reed.co.uk is certainly worth a second look for both recruiters and employees.

Amanda Payne is eBusiness Manager at JobPositive. "JobPositive Ltd specialises in delivering sophisticated online recruitment solutions". For more information, amanda.payne@jobpositive.com

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Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----ARTICLE-EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE MANDATORY BY KEVIN KERRIGAN----

Accountability and human error have changed the corporate landscape in recent history. The actions of Enron and Worldcom lead to a legislative shake-up, the effects of which are now really starting to hit businesses. The bottom line is king, and those who fall foul of investors or other stakeholders are paying a high price. Organisations are finding that their outspoken CEO could be more of a liability than an asset, and the executive board is under close scrutiny - not just from the city, but increasingly from shareholders and consumers alike.

Demands for corporate openness, accountability, responsibility and transparency are putting pressure on traditional business behaviour and forcing companies to question the way they operate. To thrive in this environment new skills and behaviours are required from companies, and in particular their top-teams and leaders.

Now, more than ever, senior level appointments are perhaps the most critical decisions an organisation makes. The cost of hire can be high and getting it wrong could prove disastrous. Our own research reveals that 66 per cent of UK businesses need to improve their leadership efficiency or risk commercial failure.

Objective assessment techniques are widely used by businesses for recruitment and ongoing assessment of employees across the board - from graduates to middle managers. But, until now, objective assessment has not had the same penetration amongst the Board of Directors. However, in the current climate companies can no longer rely on the traditional methods of recruitment via word of mouth or the 'old boys network' at this level.

The recent appointment of James Murdoch as CEO of BSkyB brought psychometric assessment at the highest level under the spotlight - BSkyB had to show stakeholders that it had a credible selection process - even if some would say the end result was a foregone conclusion.

Our research shows that HR professionals worldwide are now demanding that psychometric assessment is mandatory at the highest levels, with a staggering 68 per cent believing that CEOs should go through objective assessment as a matter of course. Interestingly, more people believe that company leaders should be tested than country leaders - 60 per cent of respondents think that their President or Prime Minister should undergo the same level of scrutiny.

Three in five of those questioned believe that finance directors and non-exec directors should also face mandatory objective assessments. Unsurprisingly, close to 70 per cent of HR professionals believe that HR directors should undergo assessment. Sixty four per cent also think that Marketing and Sales Directors should be tested, whereas IT Directors and Operations Directors are thought to be least in need, with just over half believing that objective assessment should be compulsory for these roles.

At SHL, we believe the only way to get the right person for the right job is by analysing what is required and then objectively assessing the candidates in light of that. This is not only scientific and accountable, but it reduces the kind of selection bias that companies must be seen to avoid.

Kevin Kerrigan is UK MD of SHL, "the world leader in objective assessment". Operating in 30 countries, SHL supports organisations in the selection, recruitment, promotion, succession planning and development of talented people at all levels and across all sectors. For more information call 020 7419 7000 or visit www.shlgroup.com

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

THURSDAY 25TH MARCH 2004, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON We're only running networking events once every two months this year so make sure you do your best to come along this month. It's a great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre-register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger, 29 Haymarket, London on Thursday 25th March at 6.30pm. We'll be in the Lounge Bar. You can find directions to Tiger Tiger at http://www.tigertiger-london.co.uk/location.asp. Look forward to seeing you there!

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Working from home on commission only", "Brochure Design & Print", and "Debtor Help & Info Needed". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING JUNE 6. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 156

Welcome to issue 156 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (Robin Sheardown of renardinternational.com)
* Niche Job Board Interview (www.supplychainrecruit.com by Russell Murch)
* Article (Internet Groups by John Triance)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - The Human Resources Forum UK - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES - ROBIN SHEARDOWN-----

http://babelfish.altavista.com/ This is an exception web tool that will give you a fair but not accurate translation of the written word in many languages around the world. Its easy to use and I have found it very useful in translating written references and other documents from applicants from one language to another. Great fun, try it out. Type in some sentences and see what you come up with.

http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ For individuals that are making numerous international calls around the world, this is a life saver in contacting people during proper business hours. It is invaluable for recruiters who need to schedule and set up applicants telephone interviews with clients. It is well worth having this on your desk top for easy access before making your call.

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html This is an excellent wed site programme for furnishing you with current and up to date information on all currencies around the world. It is very user friendly when requesting all kinds of different currencies mixes and exchange rates. A great site for recruiter to keep them abreast of world currency changes and it is updated regularly.

Robin Sheardown is Senior Vice President at renardinternational.com

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

HotLizard is the premier supplier to the recruitment industry for online recruitment software and excellence in recruitment web site design, development and marketing.

For more information, please contact Adele Poole, on 01635 527900 or email adele.poole@hotlizard.net.

You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

========================

-----NICHE JOB BOARD INTERVIEW-WWW.SUPPLYCHAINRECRUIT.COM BY RUSSELL MURCH-----

March sees me talking to Vicky Chapman, Business Manager of Supplychainrecruit.com

RM: Where does supplychainrecruit sit in the market (statistically)? And what identifies it from other job boards?

VC: Supplychainrecruit.com is a niche job board dedicated to purchasing, logistics and supply chain management. Currently it carries over 1,000 live vacancies and hosts about 11,000 job searches by candidates each month.

RM: What was/is the driving force behind supplychainrecruit?

VC: Supplychainrecruit.com was set up, in the early part of 2000, as a niche job board. We recognised that supply chain management was an important and large function in industry and that there were a number of specialist recruiters operating in the niche already. It was the height of the dotcom boom and we felt that the market for niche job boards would be large and that there was a real opportunity for a site that brought together supply chain professionals looking for a career development move and the recruiters / employers that we were looking for them.

Today we continue to work hard to ensure that supplychainrecruit.com is well known in the supply chain world, working to be recognised as the number one job board in our niche. Our aim is simply to make it easier for our clients to find the supply chain talent that they need through supplychainrecruit.com than by any other route.

RM: What are the geographic/sector boundaries for supplychainrecruit?

VC: Most of our client base is in the UK but we also have large clients in the US and France. Our candidate database is more widespread; about 50% of our candidates are UK based, 25% are based in other European countries, 20% are in the US and 5% are in other countries. Our UK and European candidate database is growing fastest.

RM: Are there any plans to improve the service supplychainrecruit provides?

VC: Yes, we are planning a major re launch to improve the functionality for our clients - offering Word format resumes for example - and to improve the database search functionality of the site. Additionally we will be combining supplychainrecruit.com with our supply chain ezine www.supplychainplanet.com supporting our overall aim to help our clients find the right supply chain candidate through supplychainrecruit.com more quickly than by any other method.

Our aim is to give complete coverage for recruitment in the supply chain management niche.

RM summary: My first impression of the site was that it looked a little aged, but the content and layout of the site is intuitive, it could benefit from additional sub-navigation, but on the whole it works for me. Job seekers and Clients have a wealth of information at their fingertips covering the whole supply chain spectrum and with the planned integration of their ezine, this job site will I feel be the major force in the supply chain sector. My only criticism would be the use of pop-ups for the job specs, where job seekers have to scroll down through a small window to find all the information. In fitting with the rest of the site, it would be much better to have the details take over the main page with backwards navigation to the jobs summary.

Otherwise a great site providing a great service to its niche market.

Next month Russell will feature http://www.thelawyer.com

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----ARTICLE-INTERNET GROUPS BY JOHN TRIANCE----

This is the first of a short series of articles about internet groups.

We all use the internet for getting information from web sites and for sending emails. However there is another great facility on the internet that only a minority use - internet groups.

Internet Groups allow you to get together with a group of people with a common interest. On the one hand they can be a means of swapping gossip and views about your favourite television or radio program. On the other hand they can be an invaluable source of expert information and advice. For the recruiter they can also be a means for advertising vacancies, obtaining CV's, identifying sources and generally have access to a wider group of colleagues than you have in your office.

There are four major types of internet group: 1. Chat Rooms 2. Web Forums 3. Newsgroups 4. Mailing Lists

Chat rooms are a mechanism for a group of people to have a "conversation" in real time via typed messages. The participants, who normally come and go as they please, use pseudonyms. Here is a sample of a conversation in a "programming chat room"

Hunter: Does anyone now about ASP programming? Spike: I have done a bit Flashman: I have done masses Hunter: What about accessing Oracle databases from ASP? ....

You can see how, if you can find the right chat room, that you could, with a bit of luck, track down candidates for a vacancy. Most chat rooms support private communication with anyone in the room which would allow you to discretely set up a telephone call to follow up any likely leads. I know recruiters who have found candidates by this mechanism but it is not for everyone. It would work best for those who frequent chat rooms in their spare time.

In the main chat rooms such as www.talkcity.com and chat.yahoo.co.uk most of the groups are not business related and do not offer much for the recruiter. However if you search for say

"chat room" finance

in Google you will find a host of finance related chat rooms.

You can set up chat rooms for your own private use. These could be used in special circumstances to conduct remote interviews - e.g. if the candidate is deaf or dumb.

However the other internet groups are much more valuable to the recruiter in general. Although they, like chat rooms, have some frivolous content, but they also have a large number of serious business users. * The Web Forums provide a mechanism for communication on some of the industry specialist web sites. * Newsgroups support tens of thousands of topics that are easy to locate and browse and join in. * Mailing lists exist for almost any subject you can imagine - there are thousands of them.

Unlike the chat rooms they are not real time. This means that you might have to wait a matter of hours or sometime days for a reply to any issue you raise. But it is likely to be worth waiting for. Furthermore, you don't miss vital information just because you weren't in the right chat room at the right time. The content from the chat room is normally lost after a few minutes while the other mechanisms typically save the information for weeks or months.

We will look at Web Forums, Newsgroups and Mailing Lists in future articles and investigate how they can be used for recruitment.

John Triance is UK Recruiters Internet Expert. He can be contacted at jmt@nmib.com

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "REC Membership... ", "Recruiting from EU countries into UK", and "Statutory Registration Of Employment Agencies And Employment Businesses". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM MARCH 9. The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 528,185 which is up 20,688 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING MARCH 13. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, WorkThing and Guardian Unlimited Jobs. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 157

Welcome to issue 157 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. A final reminder of the networking event, 6:30pm tomorrow in central London. There is no advance registration - just pop in. For details see "Don't Miss This" below.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (UK Recruiter)
* Job Board Review (Monster by David Jenkins)
* Article (Becoming motivated to take on new challenges by Gaynor Lowndes)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - Free Report: The 10 Characteristics of a Qualified Vacancy - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum) * Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY UK RECRUITER-----

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk This week we are using this slot to highlight some significant enhancements to the ukrecruiter web site.

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/suppliers/vacboard.htm. This page lists the 25 specialisations into which the job boards have recently been categorised. When you view this page you will see that the categories are mostly industry sectors such as "Banking & Finance" and "IT & telecoms". But there are also categories for "sales" and "part time, contract and freelance". Furthermore all the information is current as of the last couple of weeks. We have had updates, or confirmation that nothing has changed, from all the sites listed. Anyone who did not reply to our emails (after 2 reminders) has been deleted - I am sure you are not interested in non-responsive job boards.

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/suppliers/cvdbase.htm. The list of CV databases have also been updated in the last few weeks with the same level of rigour.

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/agencies.htm. This page is in response to the many requests from agencies and consultancies to add a link pointing to their web sites. This can now be done via the new link swap scheme.

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/contact.htm now contains a list of forms that can be used by anyone who wants to add their organisation to the ukrecruiter directory. There are four forms: for CV databases, Job Boards, other suppliers and for the link swap scheme.

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-----JOB BOARD REVIEW-MONSTER BY DAVID JENKINS-----

http://www.monster.co.uk/

Key stats. (From January 04) * Unique users: 927,824 * Visits: 1,651,272 * Page impressions: 18,043,390

Most advertised roles/industry sectors: * Information Technology: 294,159 * Administrative and Support Services: 247,348 * Sales: 191,419 * Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations: 188,710 * Computers, Software: 170,178 * Engineering: 141,302 * Internet/E-Commerce: 116,502 * Customer Service and Call Centre: 114,954 * Computers, Hardware: 112,879 * Manufacturing and Production: 110,653

What the site says Monster.co.uk is the leading UK online recruitment site for employers and job seekers, connecting the most progressive companies with the most qualified candidates. Monster.co.uk is committed to leading the UK market by offering innovative technology and superior services, including the industry's most advanced privacy technology, which give consumers and businesses more control over the recruiting process.

First impressions As one of the older and more established recruitment sites the first impressions are good. With graphics and little monster designs the site's home page is inviting and quirky. Some quirkiness is lost however due to the vast amount of boxes, polls, links and menus and gives a clue of what is to follow. Monster is possibly the most comprehensive recruitment web site around and from the home page, there are numerous options available to both active and passive job seekers. Disappointingly there is not a jobs quick search which would suit the more impatient job seeker.

Tools for Candidates Total CV Management! Everything for the job seeker is catered for! The site encourages candidates to register. This will put off the casual job seeker but, once registered, the job seeker can expect a total wealth of advice, CV management and help in finding that dream job.

Tools for Recruiters As you would expect, if the candidate tools are vast, the recruiter side is even bigger! (The Products available document is 12 pages long!) All the usual options are available - job loading, banners, company profiles etc.

There is a comprehensive back-office management system, which provides assistance in response handling and Monster can build a whole mini- recruitment site for clients if required.

Candidates Strengths * Massive Wealth of job information available * High number of vacancies posted * Back office management provides all the tools required to find a perfect match

Candidates Weaknesses * The site is so big. Some candidates will be daunted and leave for simpler sites. A training manual for candidates might be helpful! * The large number of recruitment agency vacancies isn't great for those who prefer to liaise directly with clients.

Recruiters Strengths * Total campaign management - superb back office can provide all the tools required to handle high volume campaigns. * Well established and internationally recognised brand * Wide variety of products available to cater for most requirements.

Recruiters Weaknesses * Expensive when buying anything other than job listings (eg, CV access, banners, display jobs, traffic drivers, etc) compared to other sites. * Applicant response doesn't always reflect amount paid * Although training is provided, the back office can sometimes be a bit confusing.

Summary Monster is arguably the largest and most comprehensive site on the Internet. With a high number of jobs and a variety of services for recruiters and job seekers, both can achieve their objectives through the site. The downside is that some recruiters and job seekers may opt for a simpler recruitment site as Monster can become very complicated and time consuming at times.

David Jenkins is the Account Director of Wave Advertising, specialising in online recruitment solutions. 'Wave Advertising provide Efficient and Effective Recruitment Solutions' David can be contacted on 01189 589 200 or david@waveadvertising.co.uk if you have any queries with regards to online recruitment.

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Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----ARTICLE-BECOMING MOTIVATED TO TAKE ON NEW CHALLENGES BY GAYNOR LOWNDES----

We recently met a young entrepreneurial individual who had left a large multi-national to set up a niche IT recruitment company. Many successful recruiters follow the same path and unfortunately don't realize the pitfalls.

He had been an extremely successful recruiter and sought the opportunity to start his own agency. He had found on reflection the transition from a large, well structured and tightly managed environment to one where he was completely free to do what he liked had been difficult. He admitted that he hadn't pushed himself as hard in the last 12 months and he was not motivated to push himself harder. He asked us if there was some way we could help him.

Challenge: To motivate an experienced recruiter to push through his plateau and build a successful business.

Process: After gaining an understanding of his business (past and present) and his goals for the future, we set up some key performance indicators. He worked with these and then reviewed them on a weekly basis. We believed our underlying role was to keep him focused on the activities he needed to complete in order to be successful - a "back to basics" approach if you like. The activities required for him to build his business are no different to building a desk from scratch in an existing agency.

Here are our tips for those recruiters starting out on their own or building a desk:

1. Work standard hours (8.00am to 6.00pm) to avoid burnout * Structure your day 10.00-12.00 & 2.00 - 4.00pm are core selling times, use them as such. 2. Set yourself key performance indicators and fill out the reports as if you were reporting to a manager (be honest when recording activities) 3. Measure core statistics * Calls to visits or calls to briefs * Visits to briefs * Interviews to short lists * Short list to fills * Floats/reverse marketing to fills And review them each week against your budget. Are you on target to meet your revenue budgets? 4. Adjust Key Performance Indicators if required 5. Reward yourself for small successes 6. Work "in the business" for 40 hours per week and "on the business" for at least 5. 7. Review your business plan regularly 8. Network, Network, Network 9. Have workable systems (even if manual) and keep a tidy desk 10.HAVE FUN

For those who may need extra help, consider hiring a coach or do some additional training (even if you are being reminded of what you already know) to provide some additional motivation. Challenge yourself by setting goals and reaching them. I know there have been times in my career when I became too comfortable - an established desk, loyal candidates, healthy commission cheques. The last thing I wanted to do was to start cold calling and canvassing for more business! Like our client, recognize when you have become too comfortable and seek ways to stretch yourself.

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

FREE REPORT: THE 10 CHARACTERISTICS OF A QUALIFIED VACANCY by Mark Whitby, the Recruitment Coach MESSAGE FROM MARK: Stop wasting time on dead-end vacancies! Tune into the new TeleSeminar from Recruitment Coach" TOPIC: How to Take an Effective Job Order DATE: Tuesday, 30 March at 9.30am, repeated at 5.00pm COST: Special price of £39 per person for UK Recruiter subscribers (usually £47) LOCATION: Your desk! Just dial into this telephone coaching session For more info call Lisa on 0870 011 8805 or email ukrecruiter@recruitmentcoach.com For a no-obligation preview, download your FREE report now: www.RecruitmentCoach.com/ukrecruiter

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Ageism", "Can employment agencies use job boards after April 6th?", and "How personal is a work email?". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM MARCH 22 The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 506,973 which is up 4,451 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING MARCH 20. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, TES Jobs, Jobserve, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and WorkThing. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 158

Welcome to issue 158 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. We could really do with some more favourites. So please send in your top three sites, each with a one or two sentences saying why you like them, to louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Adam Gretton of www.exec-appointments.com)
* Article (New Agency Regulations - Do They Really Make Life Simpler? By Louise Fernandes)
* Job Board Clinic (Tim Elkington)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY ADAM GRETTON-----

http://www.rcisurvey.co.uk/index.php - This is a useful survey/report which would be of interest to anyone within the Recruitment Industry. I am particularly interested in the online advertising side of things, but it covers all areas. The report can be ordered free of charge.

http://www.fpsonline.org.uk - You can register your fax number here to stop those pesky junk faxes. You can also register your telephone number and address to stop unsolicited calls/post. No more junk mail!

http://www.bt.com/directory-enquiries - Get hold of the numbers you need for free without having to worry about which 118 service to use, or which aging athlete you’re going to offend.

Adam Gretton is Customer Service Manager at www.exec-appointments.com

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Just released: the 2004 Recruitment Channel Report

Available now for all UK Recruiter readers: http://www.top-consultant.com/recruitment_report.asp

========================

-----ARTICLE-NEW AGENCY REGULATIONS - DO THEY REALLY MAKE LIFE SIMPLER? BY LOUISE FERNANDES----

The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003 ("the Regulations") come into force in a couple of weeks' time. The purpose of the Regulations is to update and streamline the new requirements. Recruiters may face both civil and criminal sanctions if they breach the Regulations and therefore need to act quickly to ensure that they are fully informed about the increased obligations.

Set out below are a few of the key Do's and Don'ts for recruitment agencies and businesses under the new legislative framework:

* DO actively increase your knowledge of the hirer and its requirements. Make sure you are aware of the nature of its business and obtain information on any health and safety risks known to the hirer, together with the steps taken to prevent or control those risks.

* DO confirm the identity of the work-seekers and ensure that they have the requisite experience, training and qualifications expected by the hirer or which the worker will need to have by law. Retain evidence of any checks carried out and inform the hirer without delay if you receive or obtain information which may affect the suitability of a worker for the relevant position.

* DO agree in writing terms with work-seekers and hirers before you provide services to either, including a statement as to whether the services will be provided as an employment agency (that is, on the basis of direct employment with the hirer) or as an employment business (that is, on the basis of supplying temporary work).

* DO NOT withhold, or threaten to withhold, all or part of any wages due to a temporary worker because he cannot produce an authenticated time sheet. Payment may be reasonably delayed whilst the matter is investigated but any delay must be kept to a minimum.

* DO NOT impose transfer fees unreasonably. The Regulations contain complex provisions addressing transfer fees and you will need to ensure that you do not impose fees where they are now restricted.

* DO NOT threaten work-seekers with any detriment for terminating their contract or for taking up employment elsewhere or make the provision of work conditional on the use of additional services, such as CV writing, which may be charged for.

The new Regulations provide a myriad of do's and don'ts and have been the subject of some controversy. Many of the new requirements introduce an express obligation to avoid acting to the detriment of both the hirer and worker and will have a significant impact on day to day business. Both agencies and businesses therefore need to get to grips with the extent of their obligations under the Regulations and ensure they take all necessary steps to limit their exposure under the new legislation.

The full regulations can be found at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2003/20033319.htm.

Louise Fernandes specialises in employment law at City firm, Fox Williams. You can contact her for further information at lfernandes@foxwilliams.com

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----JOB BOARD CLINIC BY TIM ELKINGTON----

This is the first of a new series in which Tim Elkington uses the NORAS data and his knowledge ofthe market to answers questions from readers about the use of Job Boards.

QUESTION. As a specialist in recruiting engineers I have a tentative enquiry from a company wishing to recruit a Direct Market Manager for beauty and health products - not my field of expertise. Can you suggest any job boards / web sites that specialise in this type of vacancy?

ANSWER. NORAS shows that Brand Republic has the highest percentage of users that match your target audience. 33% of the site's users work in a marketing role at manager or senior manager level. Workthing- PeopleBank is also worth considering as, although a lower percentage of their candidates meet your requirements, they deliver a higher number of matching users with 16,000 in a marketing role at manager or senior manager level.

QUESTION. We have numerous vacancies for Statisticians with a pharmaceutical background and have tried many different boards without huge success. Does Tim Elkington have any ideas?

ANSWER. This is quite a tricky one as you're looking for candidates with specific skills from a particular background. NORAS doesn't categorise statisticians as an individual job role and of the roles we do list they probably equate best to the role of strategy / consulting. Based on this assumption InPharm would be the best site; 5% of their users are in a strategy / consulting role and work for a Pharmaceutical employer. If you were willing to look at statisticians from any background then Total Jobs would be your best bet as they can deliver 21,000 candidates in this role.

QUESTIONS. Where is the best place to advertise for oracle developer (8i with forms and reports 6) contractors in Scotland? Where is the best place to advertise for Citrix certified / metaframe 1.8 in Scotland? Where is best place for Teradata people UK wide? Where is the best place for systems testers with oracle and UNIX experience?

ANSWER. Unfortunately NORAS can't go into as much detail as you need in this example. We're limited by the number of questions we can expect people to complete using an online questionnaire, so we're unable to look at specific qualifications within the IT industry.

However NORAS does tell you that s1Jobs has 12,000 and CWJobs 6,000 users in an IT role living in Scotland. If you expand your search for IT professionals across the UK then CWJobs has 144,000 candidates, Workthing 71,000 and Total Jobs 63,000.

If you want to go further and look at all IT professionals within the UK with a vocational qualification then 19% of CWJobs' users match these criteria. CWJobs will deliver twice as many matching candidates (44,000) as the site with the second highest number of candidates (Total Jobs - 22,000).

Tim Elkington is the Managing Director of Enhance Media Limited, the company behind NORAS, for more information visit www.noras.co.uk

If you have any questions for Tim please send them to louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

Do you want to advertise here?

The ukrecruiter newsletter goes out to over 15,000 recruitment professionals in the UK. What better place could you advertise?

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or call 01635 254881

========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

MAY 27, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON. A great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre-register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. Details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Rebates", "TOP100", and "Data Protection Policy". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM MARCH 29. The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 490,409 which is down 16,564 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING MARCH 27. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, TES Jobs, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and Work Train. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Please forward this newsletter on to any colleagues or recruitment friends who you think might like to receive the newsletter. It's free for them to sign up - all they need do is send an email to subscribe@ukrecruiter.co.uk.

Regards Louise Triance _______________________________________________________________________ UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk - 01635 254881 (UK)

Issue 159

Welcome to issue 159 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. Don't forget we love to hear your feedback on the newsletter. If you've any suggestions for article topics or features please let us know. We've also always on the look out for new contributors (especially a CV Database expert!)

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Peter Mayes of www.trainerbase.co.uk)
* Article (Learning to love making sales calls by Peter Freeth)
* Job Board Review (Fish4jobs by Paul Harrison)
* Don't Miss This (Accelerated Recruitment Skills Course - Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY PETER MAYES-----

http://www.multimaps.com - I don't go anywhere new without checking this first.

http://www.hotelconnect.co.uk - Great deals both home and abroad. Excellent service.

http://www.silicon.com - If you need any news about the IT industry, it will be on this site.

Peter Mayes AKA Ed. is the editor of http://www.trainerbase.co.uk

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

The system that grows with your business

For more information, or to book a demo Contact Nik at Beacon Tel: 01582 478 888, Mobile: 0740 169 779 or email info@recruitment-software.net ========================

-----ARTICLE-LEARNING TO LOVE MAKING SALES CALLS BY PETER FREETH----

This is the third and final of a series of articles by leading business coach Peter Freeth. He has successfully converted salespeople who "hate the phone" so that they say "I wish I was on the phone more!" He shares some of the tips that can make you more effective and make your sales calls more enjoyable.

What are you in control of? Can you make your clients buy from you? Can you make candidates go to an interview? Ultimately, you are in control of one thing only - yourself.

You can't really control what happens during each call as you are not in control of the person at the other end. They might be busy or tired and you know the importance of respecting their state. So, no matter how each call goes, it's important to treat each call as if it's your first.

There are many ways that you can quickly control your state, and the simplest for our purposes here is through your focus of attention. Think of a time in the past when you felt really confident and in control of yourself. Remember that time in all the detail you can, recalling what you saw, heard and felt. Maybe you even remember some smells and tastes. When you have all that, think of a word, colour or piece of music that seems to represent it. Repeat this a few times so that the trigger becomes associated with the feeling. Now, in between calls simply replay the trigger and your state will switch to the confident, in control state.

Some people like to associate this feeling with a colour that they imagine in a circle on the floor. As they sit down to begin making calls, they step into the circle and are enveloped by the colour. Other people like to think of a piece of music as they pick up the phone. You'll easily find what works most effectively for you just by trying out some different triggers.

Another powerful trigger, which we talked about last time, is what you say to yourself as you begin. I know people who begin by saying "Let's go!" or "Come on!" Other people have something on their desk that they look at or pick up to trigger their most resourceful state. You can use anything that works for you, and as you practice, it will become second nature to you.

Thank you for reading through this series of tips, and I hope they bring you pleasure and success. If I can answer any questions for you or give you any more tips, get in touch any time. Good luck!

Peter Freeth is Director of Communications In Action. As a leading business coach, Peter helps people, teams and organisations get better results, faster. For more information - web:http://www.ciauk.com, email:peter@ciauk.com or phone:0870 1620802

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----ARTICLE-FISH4JOBS BY PAUL HARRISON----

URL: http://www.fish4jobs.co.uk Unique Users: 1,217,481 (ABCe, January 2004) Page impressions: 20,633,408 (ABCe, January 2004) Figures are ABCe audited. fish4 is also a participant in NORAS (www.noras.co.uk).

Key industry sectors: fish4jobs is a horizontal job board covering the majority of key industry sectors. NORAS figures for fish4jobs (January 2004) show the majority of users are in the £10,000 to £35,000 salary bracket and from all major industry sectors. The site is very strong regionally and performs particularly well in Wales, the Midlands and the North. The latest figures also reveal particular industry strengths, with the site ranking number one in both the engineering & manufacturing and retail sectors.

What the site says: "With over 1.2 million unique users every month, fish4jobs attracts almost all types of candidates. However, our real strength lies in our ability to recruit candidates from throughout the UK who are interested in jobs up to £35,000 per year - principally the backbone of the British workforce. Every month fish4jobs advertises over 100,000 vacancies from recruiters up and down the country, encompassing a diverse range of sectors, job titles and locations - from engineers and mechanics in Leeds, to sales managers and civil servants in London."

First impressions A Quick Search facility (asking only for job title and location) is the first thing that catches your eye on accessing the site. In theory, this is the ideal search method for the fish4 audience: put in where you live, what you want and you're away. However, in practice there are a couple of issues with this. Firstly, as soon as you move outside of using simple job titles like "nurse", results can be pretty mixed, principally because the job titles used by advertisers are often designed for press ads, and not "genericised" for the internet as they should be. The second problem with this method of searching is that it can be s-l-o-o-o-o-w to deliver results; indeed fish4 is the reluctant home to the almost legendary onscreen message "We're running your search and will show your results shortly." Frustrationsville Arizona.

However, this is hopefully set to change in the very near future. fish4 says that a new locations model is on its way, along with a new technical platform, which will be up and running by April 2004.

Candidate Tools on offer fish4jobs addresses the main challenge facing horizontal websites - managing the sheer quantity of available positions - by encouraging candidates to use its 'advanced search' facility. This means searches that combine sector, detailed location, salary and type of role (e.g. part-time temporary or full-time). Using the advanced search generates results that are generally high on accuracy and consistency.

The Jobs by Email function is simple to use and it takes only a few moments to register. The overall look and feel of the site rightly gives the impression of a site that 'does exactly what it says on the tin'. There are no fussy graphics or gimmicks, which is refreshing. It means the site is quick to load, even on a relatively slow computer.

Advertiser options For vacancies advertised nationally, posting a job onto fish4 means it is automatically posted onto some 135 local newspaper websites, which forms an impressive additional network, especially when combined with Sky interactive TV exposure which is part of the fish4 offering.

The site offers the usual mixture of advertising options - banners, homepage micro banners, keyword targeted banners etc - as well as homepage text links, featured recruiter logos and various types of pop-ups. As an agency that uses the site regularly, we find that there is genuine flexibility and creativity afforded to campaign planning.

Summary fish4jobs delivers high numbers of candidates across all key industry sectors and across all regions in the country. It will be interesting to see how the new search platform continues to improve the candidate experience when it comes online in April 2004. For nationwide integrated campaigns for jobs within the £10-30k bracket, fish4 must be seriously considered.

Paul Harrison is Head of Interactive with PW Group / GMBM Communications. For an informal chat about your online strategy or an argument about anything else, he can be contacted on 020 7489 1900 / paul@gmbmcomms.com

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-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

20-21 APRIL and 18-19 MAY, ACCELERATED RECRUITMENT SKILLS COURSE, Lander Associates are presenting a spring offer exclusively to ukrecruiter subscribers for the dynamic two-day programme. "This renowned course enables new recruits to quickly become highly productive." Normally costing £575 per person, ukrecruiter subscribers can book for just £495 per person. Book 2 or more places in April or May and get a further 10% reduction on your investment. Call now as places are limited on 01582 791838 or email info@landerassociates.co.uk quoting reference ukrec.

MAY 27TH 2004, THE RECRUITERS NETWORKING EVENT, LONDON. A great opportunity to meet and talk with other suppliers, clients and recruiters. It's free to attend and you do not have to pre-register. Just turn up at Tiger Tiger. 29 Haymarket. London. at 6.30pm. Details of future events at http://www.recruitmentnetworking.co.uk.

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Can employment agencies use job boards after April 6th?", "Rec to Rec firms ", and "A career in recruitment". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM 5TH APRIL 2004. The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 503,189 which is up 12,780 on the previous week. For more information visit www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING APRIL 3. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Fish4 Jobs, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, Prospects Web UK and WorkThing. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Issue 160

Welcome to issue 160 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. We have changed our policy about carrying recruitment job adverts and the first one appears in this issue.

CONTENTS
* My Favourites (by Cameron Mitchell of www.executivesontheweb.com)
* Article (Minimising Stress Risk in Recruitment by Alan Bradshaw)
* Article (Internet Groups Part 2 by John Triance)
* Don't Miss This (Networking Event - UK Recruiter Discussion Forum)
* Statistics (Online Job Index - Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
* Subscription Form - Advertising Information - Unsubscribe Instructions

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

-----MY FAVOURITES BY CAMERON MITCHELL-----

http://www.xe.com - This website is great if your business deals with foreign money transactions and also includes a handy currency converter, ideal for those that conduct foreign business travel.

http://www.britishcompanies.co.uk - A superb website full of information about anything you need to know about UK companies.

http://www.midway.com - Here is one for your leisure time. A real classic amongst websites, if you can remember, and enjoyed, playing all those classic arcade games like Defender and Joust this one is just for you. At this site you can play them online.

Cameron Mitchell is SEO Marketing Manager for www.executivesontheweb.com

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

=====ADVERTISEMENT=====

OPTIMISING RECRUITMENT & RETENTION STRATEGIES IN 2004 >> London, 27th May 2004

If hiring smarter and more cost-effectively is high on your agenda then this is a must-attend event.

For full details & to reserve your place go to: http://www.top-consultant.com/UK/events/Article_display.asp?ID=10

========================

-----ARTICLE - MINIMISING STRESS RISK IN RECRUITMENT BY ALAN BRADSHAW----

Recruiters can strongly influence stress risk at work. If they get it right, recruiters can play a key role in minimising risk, by finding a round peg for a round hole. However, if recruiters get it badly wrong and someone develops a severe stress-related illness, the spectre looms of personal injury cases, or worse, disability discrimination cases. In order to minimise risk, we must take into account the vulnerability of the individual and person-job fit. The question is, how?

We need to recognise that vulnerability to stress and person-job fit are linked. That is, if you recruit into a job someone who's hopelessly unsuited to it, it will inevitably cause chronic stress. Recruiters have used psychometric profiling for years to try and get the right 'person', and that can only be good. But often, too little notice is taken of the pressures of the job when recruiting people.

'Pressure profiling' can help as part of an overall stress risk assessment and management system that companies can implement internally. 'Pressure profiling' is not designed just to help recruiters, it enables managers and their teams to prevent stress at work. Because all jobs/roles are different, all jobs/roles will inevitably have a different 'pressure profile'. The aim of the profiling process is not to decide how 'stressful' a job/role is. Rather it is to provide a realistic profile of the pressures of each job/role. These pressures do not necessarily cause stress. The aim is to agree through a consultative process what the main pressures are so that a manager and team can take account of them when seeking to prevent stress.

To identify the specific job-related pressures, the Health and Safety Executive management standards are used as separate categories (demands, control, support, relationships, role, change). Once job- specific pressures have been identified by employees, they rank them in order of importance with regard to which causes the most stress. A finalised 'pressure profile' is agreed at a facilitated meeting by consensus.

Pressure profiling can be hugely valuable to recruiters in seeking to minimise stress risk. Prospective candidates can be made aware of the main pressures of the job (reducing legal risk), and recruiters can be more aware of the kind of person who is likely to be resilient or hardy in light of this profile. Testing and assessment could then be used to identify candidates who are less likely to be stressed by a job/role with this profile. The profile could also be used to develop good interview questions. Using the profile in these ways helps to minimise stress risk by ensuring a good person-job fit.

Alan Bradshaw is a director of In Equilibrium ( http://www.in-equilibrium.co.uk), a stress management consultancy specialising in training and the assessment and management of stress risk. Amongst other approaches, their organisational psychologists offer the 'I- STRAM' risk management system, an ongoing management 'system' that eliminates the need for surveys in assessing stress risk.

=====VACANCY ADVERTISEMENT - 2X RECRUITMENT CONSULTANTS=====

Initiate are looking for two key hires to join their thriving sales recruitment business (technology sector) - based in London.

Due to growth Initiate are presently looking for recruiters with a minimum of six months experience. On offer are competitive salaries / commission rates and for the right people equity within the business.

To apply please email info@initiategroup.com or telephone Daniel Flach or Adam Hardman on 0870 870 8800 for an initial informal discussion.

========================

-----ARTICLE - INTERNET GROUPS PART 2 BY JOHN TRIANCE----

In my article last month, I introduced Internet Groups and examined Chat Rooms in more detail. This week I am looking at Web Forums

As the name suggests they are part of the World Wide Web and as such require no more software than a web browser - you find your way to a forum by following appropriate links. There you will typically find a list of topics that you can browse. Each topic consists of an issue that someone has submitted followed by all the replies from other users of the forum.

If you have never visited the no 1 recruiters forum I would recommend going to http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum to see all the topics that are currently of interest to the recruitment industry.

If you are lucky a forum will allow you to view all the contents without any "red tape" but usually requires you to register before you participate. As part of the registration process you often have the chance to specify a "handle" - the name by which you will be known within the forum. For example in the ukrecruiter forum we have regular participants known as ClaireF, Recmill1 and Horseface. Once registered you make any contributions you like by replying to existing topics or raising a new issue.

So what value are these forums to you? They allow you to obtain answers to questions, obtain advice and obtain ideas from others in your field of interest. In a nutshell forums are full of people with enthusiasm for and knowledge in the subject area of the forum. Industry specific forums can also be used to find candidates (although some prohibit explicit job adverts).

To get access to this mine of information all you have to do is find the right forum. So how do you do that? Well you can, of course, use a search engine. I typed the following into www.altavista.com

HR "discussion forum" domain:co.uk

Amongst the results was a link to hrzone, though I had to look around to find the current forum at http://www.hrzone.co.uk/anyanswers/. This had topics on such things as "Company car users", "Part time workers and Bank Holidays" and "Relocation Policies". However to join in this forum you have to go through a somewhat lengthy registration process.

One thing to look out for before you bother investing too much time in a forum is how active it is. If there isn't much activity you might have to wait a long time before getting any feedback. The two I have mentioned so far are both active: the hrzone forum had a dozen threads that were started this month, and on ukrecruiter there are 14 topics that were active last week.

Another source for groups is http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/. Yahoo host thousands of groups on every topic under the sun. For example there are forums for all the major football clubs and 455 groups on various aspects of "Employment and Work". Some of the groups have restricted membership (for example, I belong to a group for ex-employees of Micro Focus) . Those which are "open" require a reasonably straightforward registration process. With the Yahoo groups, in addition to viewing them on the web you can also have the individual postings emailed to you as they occur, or have them all consolidated into a daily email.

Whichever route you take it might take a while to track down the forum for the area in which you need help. But the effort can be repaid many times over by the quality of the help that can be obtained. In the next couple of months I will cover the other two mechanisms for communicating with experts on the internet: news groups and mailing lists.

In the meantime if there are any web forums that you have found useful, please send the URL to me and I will make them available to the other newsletter readers.

John Triance is UK Recruiters Internet Expert. He can be contacted at jmt@ukrecruiter.co.uk

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Call Louise on 01635 254881 or email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk or visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/tests.htm ========================

-----DON'T MISS THIS-----

UK RECRUITER DISCUSSION FORUM - ARE YOU USING IT? Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site include "Can employment agencies use job boards after April 6th?", "5% Placement Fees (How low will you go?)", and "CV Databases - who's the best?". Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

-----STATISTICS-----

ONLINE JOB INDEX, ALLJOBSUK.COM APRIL 13TH. The number of live vacancies posted on 10 top UK job boards last week is 474,787 which is down a massive 28,402 on the previous week. For more information visit http://www.alljobsuk.com/jobsites.shtml.

HITWISE TOP 10 RECRUITMENT SITES, WEEK ENDING APRIL 10TH. The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentre Plus, Jobsite, Total Jobs, Fish4 Jobs, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Jobserve, TES Jobs, Guardian Unlimited Jobs and WorkThing. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

HITWISE NEWSLETTER:To keep abreast of other trends within the industry, sign up to the http://www.hitwise.co.uk/ss/contact.html?INT_smo=2