ACR is moving!

I’m delighted to announce that the ACR team will be moving offices in a few short months.

Work is now under-way at our new premises on the Peterborough Business Park at Lynch Wood.

It means leaving our city centre base on Park Road, however the move will be instrumental to our ongoing business development plans by bringing us closer to our existing and potential clients. And with all candidates now sending in their CVs digitally, a central location is no longer a necessity.

The accessibility of Lynch Wood was also a contributing factor to the move, as it is close to the A1 and boasts excellent public transport links. The new building has ample parking space and more interview rooms to make life easier for our meetings with clients and candidates.

Having launched the business 18 years ago, I have witnessed first-hand the many ways in which recruitment has changed and the adjustments that have had to be made in our day-to-day operation as a result.

Our latest move reflects our long-term commitment to remain fresh, modern and contemporary without losing the intrinsic business values which have helped us retain so many clients over the years.

We are hoping to make the move late spring/early summer, with business continuing as normal at our Park Road office in the meantime.

We will be making sure we keep everyone up-to-date with the latest news regarding the move but please do get in touch if you have any queries, either via email or by telephoning us on 01733 319 888.

With 2013 already off to an exciting start, I look forward to what the rest of the year will bring as we welcome clients and candidates to ACR’s new home very soon.

Latest research shows renewed confidence in UK jobs market

In my last blog post, I gave some predictions for the year ahead after a busy and insightful month working with both clients and candidates.

Now a recent survey conducted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has revealed some promising statistics regarding the growth of the UK jobs market on the whole, which I’m delighted to see reflects our experiences here in Peterborough.

600 employers contributed to the report, which showed that overall business confidence is steadily building, with 57% of employers looking to increase their permanent workforce in the next three months.

It’s this type of good news that needs shouting about, particularly when there has been so much negativity surrounding the job losses within a number of high street retailers over the past few months.

This latest research demonstrates the ongoing resilience of the jobs market, as well as highlighting the areas that have a need for more workers.

Skills shortages in the Technical & Engineering and the Professional & Managerial sectors have incited a race for talent, with a third of employers looking to increase their use of temporary workers – the benefit of which ACR has long been champions of.

All of this bodes extremely well for us locally, as many of the area’s prominent businesses belong to these sectors. Myself and the team at ACR continue to be engaged with and responsive to the hiring processes of a number of clients within these industries, working alongside HR managers and directors to find the right temporary or permanent candidate with the right skills and attributes for their company.

If any of the REC’s findings sounds familiar to you, do let us know. We make it our business to keep up-to-date with the latest news and issues affecting employers, regularly using our own polls to ask some of the most pertinent questions. Please see our dedicated hirers section on the website for more information.

What to expect in 2013

January is always a busy month for recruitment in general, and it’s no exception here in the ACR office.

For starters, we've been dealing with a number of instructions from clients who are starting to think about their recruitment needs for the year ahead. Our Recruitment Partners will be working closely with businesses over the next few months as they consider their staffing strategies and employment requirements for 2013.

The local job market also remains buoyant, with a surge in number of CV’s arriving in our inboxes over the past week. This is to be expected however, as many people adopt a ‘new year, new job’ mentality, with ACR staff on hand and ready to help.

As usual, we've been keeping up with the latest news from REC who have released some interesting thoughts on recruitment trends for the year ahead.

Encouragingly, we’ll continue to see a growth in the industry, albeit a slow and steady one. The growth in part-time and temporary work is set to be the most significant – something that the team and I are more than familiar with and will continue to dedicate time and energy to.

Meanwhile, our salary survey continues to go from strength to strength as more and more companies from a range of sectors take part each year.

For 2013, we’ll be teaming up with PAYDATA again to produce an additional interim report in January, with the focus being on pay reviews.

Designed to be a shorter study than the salary survey, it should take no longer than five minutes to feed in the relevant data. The results will give participants an extra insight into what is happening in the local market in order to prepare and plan their 2013 pay reviews more effectively.

If you would like information about taking part in the study, please let us know via email or alternatively call us on 01733 319 888.

Also on the agenda over the next few weeks will be discussions surrounding our Employment Law seminars, held twice a year in conjunction with Hegarty solicitors. If there are any topics you feel it would be particularly relevant to address this year, do let us know.

As we get into the full swing of the new year, I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all who worked with us in 2012 - we appreciate your custom greatly and look forward to working with you again in 2013.

Positive end to 2012 with record fall in unemployment

It might be clichéd to say, but figures released this week from the Office for National Statistics are sure to bring good tidings to job seekers this Christmas, with the greatest quarterly fall in jobless figures since 2001.

A promising piece of news at last; largely due to a steady improvement in the jobs market over the past three months, as well as an overall increase in employer confidence.

The data is certainly encouraging for businesses, reflected in a slow but sure narrowing of the gap between employer demand and supply both nationally and locally. Recent reports show that there are now more positions than candidates available in the IT sector, which is something that we have experienced first hand here at ACR. Last month, we launched a recruitment drive in response to record rises in the number of IT roles available locally, holding a dedicated open day at our offices to identify suitable candidates with the right skills.

Also relevant to our own work in Peterborough was the statement made by the REC’s chief executive Kevin Green, who stressed the importance of temporary and part-time workers in contributing to the recent economic development. To echo this, I - along with the rest of the team - have always recognised the need for flexible working hours for both clients and candidates. This is why we have staff dedicated solely to temporary and interim placements, with demand continuing to grow.

As 2013 approaches, we’ll be working harder than ever to support and contribute to this growth locally. We certainly believe the overall findings of the latest national figures are reflected here in Peterborough and hope the positivity generated helps push the local economy forward into the New Year and beyond.

Children in Need challenge!

We’re all still feeling slightly full here today!

For the third year running we held our Pudsey Bake Off challenge, in aid of Children in Need.

Every member of the team cooked up their signature dish and brought it into the office – unnamed!

They were all left in the kitchen and everyone who came into our Park Road office was offered the opportunity to sample as many dishes as they liked – in exchange for a donation.

Votes were then cast and, at the end of the day, the winner announced. 

I admit to being a rather proud previous winner of the title but the 2012 winner was Recruitment Partner Jo Copeland. Well done Jo!

Salary survey shows businesses are exercising caution

No news is good news, apparently, Certainly in the case of this year’s local Salary Survey that is the case.

Last year there was a levelling out of salary increments following two or three years of quite severe dips and troughs across different industries.

But this year’s Peterborough Local Market Survey, which we produce in partnership with specialist reward consultants PayData Ltd, shows a ‘cautious’ response to the economic conditions.

While a quarter of participants revealed they had frozen pay, the survey revealed an overall average 2.5 per cent rise in salaries over the past 12 months.

That suggests a plateau has been reached. Rather than companies trying to bring salary levels back in line or attract staff in certain areas, they now seem to be rewarding loyalty and hard work while keeping one eye on costs.

There are always the odd discrepancies in this type of survey. Advanced accounts clerks have notched up around 12 per cent extra in their pay packets while marketing assistants, IT assistants and production managers have noticed a small slip. But having studied the results, I suspect these blips could be more related to the shift in our sample. Some new businesses signed up to take part in this year’s salary which is always good news.

The survey is such a valuable benchmarking tool - one which has been part of the business landscape for 15 years – it is good to see the continuing involvement of some big names.

We are now working on the production of an interim report, concentrating on pay rises, to be produced in the new year. If you would like to take part do get in touch with us.

By participating in the full survey next year your company is entitled to see the entire results document. There is also the option to receive a comparison of your results against those of others.

ACR team offers help to future doctors and tattoo artists!

With so much talk about high levels of youth unemployment it was an absolute pleasure to see enthusiasm and ambition is still prevalent among young people.

Six of our team took part in an event organised by the Rotary Club of Peterborough, aimed at giving youngsters an opportunity to try out their interview skills in a formal environment.

The year 11 students from Kings School had to submit a CV with covering letter and then spend half an hour with one of our recruitment partners, talking about their chosen career path, answering questions and demonstrating their knowledge.

We gave them feedback at the end of the session and also provided written feedback to the school to give them a focus for future career discussion.

It was brilliant to hear of the diverse plans the 15 and 16 year olds had. Among the careers they are working towards were doctor, teacher, vet, figure skater, actor, pr and tattoo artist!

The standard overall was very high with the students presenting themselves well, communicating clearly and demonstrating a good level of background knowledge.

We were able to suggest tweaks to CVs and covering letters which, we hope, will give the students some valuable advice to call on in the future.

In total, around 150 students were given the benefit of professional advice. That’s 150 youngsters who have got that scary first interview out of the way and can now face job and university interviews with the benefit of experience!