CONTENTS

• My Favourites (Seasonal choice)
• Recruitment Industry Predictions for 2008
• Article (Employment and the Law - Recent Developments by Louise Fernandes)
• Don't Miss This (REC News Roundup -  PR: Lawspeed comments on MSC audit scheme  - PR: GAAPWeb – Your future in finance and accountancy)
• Online Recruitment Update (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites - Louise's UK Recruiter Blog - Discussion Board Summary - ITJobsPost.Com offer to ukrecruiter Readers - PR: AllTheTopBananas.com Christmas video - PR: Voyager urges UK recruitment agencies to spot the difference)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

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

My Favourites

http://www.links2love.com/christmas_songs.htm - If you want to get yourself and your colleagues into the Christmas spirit visit this site and turn up your speakers.  You can also view the lyrics and a little video of most of them. 

http://www.freerice.com - Give to charity AND improve your vocabulary.  Click on the answer that best defines the word and if you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word. For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. 

For the New Year we suggest http://www.ebay.co.uk/ - For getting rid of those unwanted Christmas presents (you could sell for charity) and http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/loseweight.htm for getting rid of that unwanted weight you will have gained.

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

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Recruitment Industry Predictions for 2008

As per last year we've asked half a dozen experts within the world of recruitment to share with us their predictions for next year.  

Tim Elkington, Managing Director, Enhance Media Limited

Mobile e-recruitment will get bigger and bigger
With companies monitoring employees’ internet use and blocking popular sites like Facebook etc, more people will turn to their mobiles to conduct confidential stuff online and job seeking will be a big part of this. Improved mobile internet services and the personal / secure characteristics will be key in this growth.

There will be huge online security issues
The government will lose more personal details, more job board users will be targeted with fraud / phishing emails and keeping your details secure online will become a massive issue for all internet users. There will be a cultural change from being free and easy with your details online to being more guarded and secure.

Online advertising will go ‘back to basics’
Employers will back away from the more progressive online ideas and concentrate on the basics – it’s important to measure your job board and search engine advertising activities effectively and establish your ROI before getting carried away with too many new ideas. Talk of web 3.0 etc will stall as the economic climate puts pressure on businesses to prove the worth of all advertising spend. The ability to offer reliable measurement of campaigns will become even more central to online advertising solutions.

Kevin Drinkwater, Director, Agency Central Ltd

Online Recruitment the 'slave' in troubled times? 
If all the gloomy predictions about the economy prove to be accurate then businesses will naturally once again look at their recruitment policies with a more negative perspective.  However, we've all been this way before and the evidence suggests that the personnel dynamic continues with people still moving around, career progression still an aspiration, business development still a factor and the need to recruit the right people becoming evermore paramount. Since the last downturn in the economy we have seen the burgeoning of online recruitment which this time around is the clear solution, enabling employers to find relevant, professional recruitment consultancies and recruiters to source good candidates.

Don Leslie, Director, BLT 

A year of growth
2008 should be another year of growth for the recruitment industry, although I think the first six months will be uncertain. It depends how well all our clients do, particularly those in the financial services sector. If the sub-prime credit crunch does affect that part of the UK economy, the recruiters heavily reliant on that sector will suffer. But I don’t believe there will be a recession: the US is no longer the only influence on the world economy. 

Sport and Politics
I confidently predict a sensational summer of sport as the Olympic Games in Beijing and Euro 2008 finally arrive. And for those who like their sport a bit more red-blooded, the US presidential election in November won’t disappoint. Enjoy!

Mike Taylor, Web-Based-Recruitment

More confusion from the saturated online recruitment market
Job seekers will give up using the internet as it is too confusing to find a job! Not really, but there are so many different ways to find a job online now (job sites, blogs, social networking sites, podcasts, video sites etc) that it makes you wonder if anyone new to online job hunting would know where to start to look for a job?

Increasing role of online video and blogs
As predicted last year online video will again play an increasing part in online recruitment advertising with some recruitment adverts going viral.  The use of Recruitment Blogs will increase again as companies wake up to the benefits in terms of the additional traffic they can bring. 

Ann Swain, Chief Executive, Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo)

Year of growth for recruitment industry
Barring further shocks from the credit crunch, 2008 should turn out to be a year of fairly strong growth for the recruitment industry. Most of the growth markets like IT, engineering and professional services are suffering from a shortage of staff so some recruiters should have the opportunity to further rebuild margins.

Consolidation of the industry
Recruitment is still a very fragmented sector so more consolidation could be on the cards as long as the bank financing is still there

Tony Restell, Director, Top-Consultant.com

The rise of Virtual Recruiting
A recruiting presence on Second Life and attendance at Virtual Careers Fairs will become a mainstream candidate attraction strategy. A few UK firms have dabbled with this approach in the past year – 2008 will be the year Virtual makes a big impact.

Pay-for-results adopted by leading niche job boards
The two biggest obstacles preventing recruiters from securing better online advertising results are i) corporate online application systems and ii) poor advertising copy/multi-posting. Niche job boards will increasingly offer pay-for-results campaigns where their involvement can overcome these two obstacles, increase response and ultimately improve the yield on advertising.

The economy takes centre stage
For recruitment consultancies and jobs boards alike, the perceived state of the economy will be the biggest single influencer on the business success we enjoy in 2008. Will we all start the New Year reading a flood of reports about staff shortages and renewed economic vigour? Or will the press have us fearing there’s an impending recession until we’re well into 2008?

Peter Gold, Hire Strategies Limited

New Face on Dragons Den
Dan ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ McGuire will join the Dragon’s Den in recognition of his fantastic achievement.  He will replace James Caan who keeps spending all of his money.

Recruitment Blog Repositioning
Guru, who is clearly fading to grey, will see his traffic plummet as Green Dog takes what little traffic he still has. (apparently the meaning of this will become obvious of the coming weeks/months)

Gabby Parry, Managing Director, Saville Consulting

Internet Testing
Candidates are becoming increasingly sophisticated. There will be a stronger emphasis on follow up and supervised testing, following the two stage, “screen out, select in” philosophy

The Decline of Lengthy Assessment Centres
Assessment Centres will increasingly be replaced by high technology front end screening, followed by, shorter and more focussed employer branded interactive selection experiences

If you want to see what was predicted at the end of 2006 you can view the predictions in our newsletter archive. I would like to award the '2007 soothsayer award to Tim Elkington (also mirrored by Mike Taylor): "Blogs, podcasts and social networking sites will become important tools for online recruiters as the online space becomes more competitive. Employers that can tap into the mood of web 2.0 will have a competitive advantage – especially in the graduate market."

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Article: Employment and the Law - Recent Developments by Louise Fernandes

Louise Fernandes of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP rounds up the last of the employment law developments of 2007.

Employment Bill published

The Government has published the Employment Bill (previously referred to as the Employment Simplification Bill). The Bill is aimed at:
- repealing the current statutory dispute resolution procedures. This forms part of a wider programme of work following the Gibbons review, which aims to help resolve disputes at an earlier stage and improve the way employment tribunals work. 
- providing a fairer method for dealing with national minimum wage arrears, calculated so that workers do not lose out as a result of underpayment. 
- “toughening up” penalties for those who break the law, increasing the maximum penalty for underpayment of the national minimum wage or employment agency offences. 
- amending the employment agency standards enforcement regime by strengthening the investigative powers of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, allowing them greater scope to access financial information to help them check whether a worker's complaint is an isolated instance, or an example of widespread abuse. 

EU ministers fail to reach an agreement on Temporary Agency Workers Directive and Working Time Directive

The EU Council of Ministers recently sought to reach agreement on the Working Time Directive (in particular, the existing right to opt out of the 48 hour week) and the proposed Temporary Agency Workers Directive. 

Compromise proposals were presented by the Portuguese Presidency for both Directives. Due to the previous difficulties in finding solutions for each issue, the Presidency decided that there would be added value in working on a “simultaneous and integrated solution” for the two issues. 

However, as this “linked” approach is still very recent and due to the sensitive nature of both Directives for some member states, it was agreed that the best option was to postpone a decision in order to pursue further dialogue. It remains to be seen what progress will be made on both Directives.

Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill laid before Parliament

Despite the failure to reach agreement at EU level (see above), the Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill has been laid before Parliament to provide for the protection of temporary and agency workers. 

If passed, this legislation would require the principle of equal treatment to be applied to temporary and agency workers and would make provision about the enforcement of rights of those workers. The Bill will be read for a second time on 22 February 2008. 

Agency workers claims stayed by President of the Employment Tribunals

The President of the Employment Tribunals has issued a Practice Direction that all agency workers claims must be stayed until the outcome of the Court of Appeal judgment in James v Greenwich Council (The Employment Appeal Tribunal decision was covered in issue 297).

In particular, the Practice Direction states that: 
- cases where there is a written contract of employment between the Claimant and a Respondent who accepts that they were the employer should proceed to be considered on their merits in the regions where those claims are registered.
- cases where the Civil Service Order in Council apply should be stayed pending the outcome of two test cases, Mustafa v HM Prison Service and Kruck v Home Office (BIA).
- as noted above, cases where the Civil Service Order in Council does not apply should be stayed pending the judgment of the Court of Appeal in James v Greenwich Council.

9-to-5 in decline - more workers embrace flexible options 

95 percent of workplaces offer some form of flexible working for staff, according to the latest main findings of the Work-Life Balance Employer Survey, commissioned by BERR.

The survey found that: 
- part time working is available in 92 per cent of workplaces, up from 81 per cent in 2003
- employers offering reduced hours working has increased (74 per cent, up from 40 per cent in 2003) 
- 92 per cent of employers said they would consider a request to change working patterns from any employee 

Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said the survey was an endorsement for the Government's staged approach to introducing flexible working, commenting that “as part of our new review of flexible working, we'll now be discussing the best way to extend the right to request to parents of older children - so that businesses, parents, carers and families can all benefit”. 

Louise Fernandes is the Professional Support Lawyer in the Employment Department at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP and can be contacted at louise.fernandes@ffw.com. 

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Don't Miss This (sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal")

Happy Christmas from our Advertisers
Seasons greetings from: Beacon, Top Consultant, Agency Central, CV-Library, Innovantage, Bond International Software, The Job Search Group, ConsultingTools, Heywood Associates, JumpToJobs.co.uk, Lawspeed, CURA Recruitment software, Lander Associates SJD Accountancy, evolve and Broadbean

Press Release: Lawspeed comments on MSC audit scheme 
Following representations put forward by Lawspeed on behalf of the newly formed Association of Employment Management Companies (“AEMC”), HMRC and the Treasury has abandoned the idea of introducing an audit scheme in the foreseeable future. HMRC had previously announced it was considering such a scheme to allow for certain third parties to assess whether a provider organisation is compliant with the MSC (Managed Service Company) legislation. The AEMC is a membership trade body recently set up to represent the interests of umbrella companies and to operate as a flag for quality umbrella providers. For more information or to join please call Adrian Marlowe on 01273 236236 or Jonathan Hughes on 0845 045 1021.

Press Release: GAAPWeb – Your future in finance and accountancy 
"GAAPweb is pleased to announce the winner of its competition to find a new slogan for the website. Glenn Risdale of MyTravel fought off all competition with his slogan ‘GAAPweb – Your future in finance and accountancy’. The competition was launched in November to replace the previous strapline - ‘GAAPweb – Accounting and Finance’. The prize for the winner was £150 to spend in a restaurant of the winner’s choice. Glenn very generously decided to donate his prize money to Changing Faces, a charity supporting and representing people who have a disfigurement of the face or body. www.gaapweb.com"

This section is sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal"

Online Recruitment Update (sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk for "the UK's favourite job posting system")

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 15th December 2007
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.monster.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk, jobs.tes.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.linkedin.com, jobs.guardian.co.uk and www.s1jobs.com. Hitwise don't aggregate data from sites who form part of a network such as fish4.co.uk For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Louise's UK Recruiter blog
Since the last newsletter I've posted the following: 
- Etiquette for Recruiters using LinkedIn requests
- Online Recruitment 2008 - The Year Ahead Conference
- Do Recruiter's have a built in dislike of beards?
- Helping Candidates Change Careers
- Free recruitment training from MikeWalmsley.com
You can read Louise's UK Recruiter blog at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com  You can keep up to date with other recruitment blogs from the UK via the UK Recruiter blog watch page at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/blogs.htm.  

Discussion Board Summary
Don't forget to visit The Discussion Board. Current topics on the site include:
- Reed no longer free
- Recruitment Software
- Stock Broker - Recruitment
- Invoice discounting - RBS or Lloyds TSB?
- Jobs Boards - Who's got the best deal?
Any postings you or anyone else makes will be included in the weekly digest. Sign up for the free digest here or hit reply to ask me to include your email address.  It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to register to view messages. Visit the site, ask questions and share your knowledge.

ITJobsPost.Com offer to ukrecruiter Readers
ITJobsPost.Com are offering ukrecruiter readers a reduced fee for the IT Job Board's "Annual Recruiter Plan".   The reduced rate is £999 for a years access for all your companies consultants (saving over £400 on the normal cost) . Available to the first 50 recruiters to sign up. Includes unlimited advertising of your companies IT vacancies for a whole year, and free access to the new CV Database. Please email sales@itjobspost.com with 'UKRecruiter Offer' in the subject line to qualify. 

Press Release: AllTheTopBananas.com Christmas video
"In the latest fun video from AllTheTopBananas.com, Santa uploads his CV and gets headhunted by a recruitment agency. The Christmas message, called Santa’s Jolly Job Hunt, was filmed by the jobs search engine using Lego figures. You can see it at http://www.allthetopbananas.com/video/santasjollyjobhunt.aspx."

Press Release: Voyager urges UK recruitment agencies to spot the difference
"Voyager Software, the SME recruitment agency software specialist, today launches a spot the difference competition offering recruitment agencies a prize of a free ipod as well as £200 off their next Voyager license. The company, whose products are used by hundreds of small and medium sized recruitment agencies throughout the world, hope to encourage agencies to have some fun and take part in this competition to win great prizes for themselves and their company. The lighthearted cartoon images (IPOD Competition link found at www.voyage.co.uk) can be played interactively online – Don’t be tempted to press the cheat button" 

This section is sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk; "the UK's favourite job posting system".

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Copyright (c) 2007, UK Recruiter Ltd