tfpl blog

Business Information : Resources Free to All

by Anne Ashdown, Recruitment Consultant

Arriving at London’s Guildhall last night for the inaugural meeting of ASLIB’s Business Information Community of Practice launch, I could sense a frisson of interest amongst the crowd of information professionals who had gathered to learn more about this new networking group. I wish ASLIB every success in the uptake of interest in this new initiative.

It was a very convivial event, well organised and for me represented my first visit to the City Business Library. Goretti Considine, Head of the CBL had offered the use of the library for the event and gave the first talk of the evening which was an overview of how the CBL has been involved in marketing and engaging with the business community, particularly in these times of little or no budget.

Her talk was informative and once it hit home that they are a FREE resource to any member of the public it dawned on me just how much a valuable resource the CBL is, particularly for the self-employed and SMEs and of particular relevance to me as a Recruiter to the Business Information community, an essential resource for  those job seekers who are looking to gain or refresh their business information research skills.

With free access to a range of business research tools including Datamonitor, Mint, EIU etc. it is an ideal opportunity for jobseekers who are looking to upskill their online research skills or maybe those returning to work after a period of absence who need to refresh their skills. As a recruiter, I am often asked by candidates how they can gain experience using research tools when they don’t have a job and therefore access to a range of tools. I will now be pointing them in the direction of the library team at CBL. They also have a Facebook page which is proving a useful marketing tool for their events,  http://www.facebook.com/#!/CityBusinessLibrary  for anyone interested in exploring their facilities further.

Youth Employment Meeting with Students from John Ruskin College

by Matt Woods, Recruitment Consultant, Temporary and Contracts Team

Yesterday afternoon we had the pleasure of welcoming 13 students and two staff members from John Ruskin College in Croydon to TFPL to discuss job searching and employment for young people.

With youth employment very much in the news, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) keen to encourage Recruitment Companies to engage with schools and colleges to discuss the ways young people can make themselves more marketable in this the most challenging job market for many years.

Amidst the media gloom about the prospects for young people, it was great to meet such an enthusiastic and committed group, some of whom are looking forward to university, some to apprenticeships and others to getting straight into work.  It’s common to think about the barriers young people face when looking for work, but the students from John Ruskin College, being well-versed in the use of social media and having been well-guided by their tutors in the importance of networking, have many advantages and opportunities that other job-seekers won’t have.  We looked at CVs and interview skills, using the internet and social networks to find jobs and the importance of perseverance.

In the current job market, recruitment companies will need to play their part in helping schools and colleges to prepare young people for the job market.  It’s an area we’re expecting to hear a lot more about in the news and an area in which we expect to be working with the REC in future.

Library and Information Services Open Day at the House of Commons

House of Commons Department of Information Services Open Day for Librarians & Information Officers

by Helen Trudgeon, Recruitment Consultant

Last week saw the annual House of Commons Department of Information Services Open Day. Starting in the impressive Portcullis House, a group of around 60 librarians and information officers were  given a highly informative outline of the House of Commons’ library services by Bob Twigger, the Director of Information Services for Members, which was followed up by an interesting guide to the Reference Services Section by its head, Dora Clark. 

Employing a staggering 150 people made up of subject specialists, economists and IT experts as well as researchers, librarians and information specialists,  the department responds to around 30,000 enquiries annually - an average of around 56 a year for each of the 82% of MPs (and their aides) who use their services regularly.

Katharine Marke, Head of the Library Resources Section then gave us an overview of their services, which include acquisitions, LMS and catalogue management, conservation of parliamentary documents and disaster recovery planning. We were then given a brief overview of the Parliamentary Outreach Service by Matt Ringer, who outlined their work in encouraging greater public engagement with the House of Commons and the House of Lords across the country.

Following a demonstration of their online resources, he day was rounded off by a visit to the Members’ Library, which is situated very close to the chamber of the House of Commons itself. We heard it described as the only single quiet place in the whole of Parliament and enables members to avoid computers, phones and other noisy distractions for a few minutes’ peace and concentration.  Finally, we visited the floor of the House of Commons, although disappointingly, with Parliament in recess, we didn’t have the opportunity to listen to any debates.

Emerging Risks...

by Lee Barnes, Recruitment Consultant- Risk Sector

I attended the Emerging Risks conference held by Commercial Risk Europe on Wednesday 15th, found it to be extremely informative and helpful in identifying emerging markets within economically prosperous countries with china overtaking all countries in prosperity and growth second only to America and the German export of vehicles helping to boost their economy while the UK fall down the table struggling with its financial debt in most areas due to a reluctance to spend and invest by banks.

Key risk concerns for business at present being Supply Risk, Cyber Risk, and adequate and relevant Insurance Risk. Interesting also that Lloyds when asking their top 500 management professionals listed Talent and Skills shortages as their second biggest concern.
I found there to be an interesting thought that the role of the Risk Manager and the Insurance Manager seems to be merging, will they become one of the same. And that there are no new risks just old ones that are becoming more frequent over the past 10 or so years with the increased speed of the economy.

Recruitment Update: Agency Worker Regulations, by Tracey South, Recruitment Manager

The regulations came into force on 1 October 2011 and give agency workers the entitlement to:

-  the same basic employment and working conditions as if they had been recruited directly;
-  if and when they complete a qualifying period of 12 weeks in the same job.

We have taken immediate action to ensure compliance with this new legislation:

-  Updated all of our contracts and procedures in line with Recruitment and Employment Confederation guidelines;
-  Updated our recruitment system;
-  Worked closely with current contractors and clients to ensure that they are aware of these changes and how they will be affected;
-  Trained our team and have been out to various AWR conferences and events;
-  Ensured all new vacancies are dealt with in accordance with the AWR regulations.
It has been a challenging couple of months for the team but we're confident that we are well prepared and fully briefed.

For more information about AWR, you can go to the information page on our website. For information about contract opportunities, please contact Tracey South - tracey.south@tfpl.com.

Capitalising on Social Media – Recruitment in a Digital Era

by Luisa Jefford, Director, TFPL

The emergence of social and professional networking tools has had a profound effect on the way the world collaborates and shares knowledge and expertise.  TFPL, are more aware of this than most, we have daily contact with organisations and employees whose roles are to aid the transfer of knowledge, information, intelligence and insight within their domain. 

Having celebrated 20 years in recruitment this year I have seen the landscape change dramatically.  My introduction into recruitment was a folder full of CVs that got added to and searched on a daily basis by the Consultants, people were contacted, submitted and roles obtained. 

Working in a market where demand far outstripped supply there was little need to have a more pro-active approach when meeting your clients requirements, you matched people looking to recruit staff with people who were actively looking for work.  Fast forward 20 years and you are sitting in a market where there is a war for talent and the recruitment business is a competitive one.  People looking for work are and should continue to be prized assets for any employment business and having a strategy for attracting talent is vital for an organisation that wants to stay ahead of the competition. 

These days the competition comes in many guises and perhaps one of the largest impacts on the recruitment industry has been a sharp increase in people leveraging their own professional network to widen the opportunities available, combine this with astute organisations and their hiring managers effectively using a variety of tools and techniques as part of their talent management strategy and as the middle man you are in danger of being kept out of the loop. 

These tools include Linked In, Viadeo, Twitter, Monster, Facebook to name a few and reach an audience that perhaps aren’t always aware they are actively job seeking.   The power of a casual internet search for a new opportunity should not be underestimated by any recruiter.  These are the people we need to work hard to attract.  In addition they allow individuals to maintain contact with organisations and colleagues that perhaps would not have happened before the emergence of these tools. 

So in today’s world, with much talk about Recruitment 3.0, what should we be doing?  At TFPL we believe that the combination of our expertise, market knowledge and strongly developed professional relationships with our clients and a robust strategy for using social media tools and techniques is truly the winning combination. 

From a job hunters perspective these tools give you valuable market insight into roles that are being recruited and salaries being offered  but also offer organisational intelligence, who are the growing organisations and which industries do they operate in.  They should certainly be in your job hunting strategy.  However, it is worth remembering that a TFPL can and will offer you this and more.

At TFPL we use a variety of tools and techniques to manage existing relationships with our clients and candidates, sell our services, give distinct marketing and pr messages to a wider audience whilst remembering that doing all of this makes us more visible to our market place and also people sitting on the edges of current market.  In addition we also remember that doing this makes us more visible to the masses than a well developed website ever will, so quality assurance of our message is an important part of this. 

Implementation of the Agency Worker Regulations

The Agency Workers Regulations, approved by Parliament in January 2010 and scheduled for implementation in October 2011, implement the EU Agency Workers Directive 2008/104/EC, which grants to temporary workers finding employment through an agency, similar rights and entitlements to full-time workers within the same workplace, viz:

• From their first day, Temporary workers will gain the right to:
-  Equal use of collective workplace amenities
- Be notified of other vacancies at the hirer (client)
• After 12 weeks (which can only be broken by a six week break), Temporary workers become entitled to equal terms in relation to pay and holidays and working time rights.

There are several distinct exclusions and non-exclusions that will affect recruiters:

• Only genuine self-employed workers are not included in the scope of AWR
• “Self-employed” does not include candidates working through umbrella companies, who are explicitly included in the scope of the AWR.
• Managed service contracts are included

As such, some of our clients and candidates may need to be aware of their duties, obligations and expectations under the new rules.  All will have a role to play in ensuring the spirit and letter of the law are applied.  TFPL is working with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation to ensure that the way we apply the new rules is fair to clients and candidates alike, and that any changes take place with the minimum disruption.

Public Access to Information Conference- 14 April 2011, UCL

Author:  Matt Woods, Contract Recruiter, TFPL

Members of the International Society for Knowledge Organisation (ISKO) met at University College London to hear about the challenges facing people managing, using and requesting information in and from the public sector.

On the panel were the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, Prof Charles Oppenheim, Carol Tullo of the National Archives and Paul Davidson, Chief Information Officer for Sedgemoor District Council and Director of Standards for the Local e-Government Standards Body.

Previous events at the London Information and Knowledge Exchange and other discussions, have touched on the theme that the boundaries of information sharing and access are now less technological and more likely to be related to human ability and human-imposed legislation.  The ISKO forum developed this idea very well, in terms of the effects and future direction of Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation. 

While many recent headlines have focussed on the expectation that local councils publish their spending, the panel all took this idea to the next logical step by imagining the possibilities of “innovator” in communities using the released data to present it to others in a useful way.  This could be information on schools, extensions of current initiatives on crime mapping or variations on some of the spending trackers produced by newspapers.

Obstacles to the effective use of this slew of information identified by the panel ranged from Conflicts between Data Protection and Freedom of Information requirements (discussed with great insight by Christopher Graham), practical considerations of handling these requests (Carol Tullo), the pressures of legislation, particularly the Freedom Bill on government bodies to open up their information to the taxpaying public (Prof Oppenheim) and, probably most interestingly of all from a Data Management and Information Processing point of view, a theme developed by Paul Davidson that following an initial focus on releasing financial information, government will move towards not only publishing other information, but setting all information in a context.  Paul Davidson expanded on the potential for using linked data to greatly increase the potential for “innovators” (individuals, businesses, interest groups) to create a plethora of applications and arguments.

A lively panel discussion followed, with ISKO members and guests pressing the panel on issues from DPA/FoI conflicts to the potential uptake of information among different parts of the population.  These issues appear to be changing all the time, with all information and knowledge professionals now looking forward to keeping a keen eye on legislative and industry developments.