UK limps in last

I didn’t bother to watch the entries in the Eurovision Song Contest last night but the voting always makes for an interesting half hour; if only to remind me where the UK stands within the European ‘Family’ of Nations.

Most of us have no idea how legislation in Europe is drawn up or voted upon. Well, having spent a considerable amount of time in discussion with the European Commission and Parliament over the last few years, I can confirm your worst fears are true and that the Song Contest is a very close and real analogy. And it equally offers no short term hope of success for the UK.

In summing up the Song Contest you might conclude that the truly talented people always steer well clear, leaving the music, lyrics and performance to a group of talentless ‘D-listers’ who struggle to produce a decent delivery. They get stacks of airtime ahead of the competition and look and seem genuinely hopeful throughout and everyone nods their acceptance and support. But when it comes to a decision the judges, who might not even be in attendance, cast their votes according to some historical prejudice or political allegiance to ensure that friends or allies win the day.

Well sadly the EU is much the same and until we put forward our ‘A-list’ performers we will never win the day; at anything.

This is particularly true in recruitment where European staffing practice is quite different to our own and we need to argue the case that we do have the best, most flexible and most sustainable model within the community (at the very least, the best for our own marketplace) and it is being destroyed by endless, unnecessary legislation. There are three things that will destroy the recruitment industry and all are gaining in strength, these are; 1) the mediocrity of Europe, 2) the rebirth of the Unions, and 3) the apathy of UK agencies.

Its time we made the last legislative imposition the final assault on the industry.

Gareth

PS. Apologies to all those who think that winning is a Neanderthal ambition and believe it is better to run with the mediocre masses in a modern caring society; I certainly don’t.

PPS. Sorry to Andy Abrahams for inferring he is a talentless ‘D-lister’.

No Deal for Recruiters

This week’s announcement that agency workers will be given the same employment rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks was a desperate blow for the UK Recruitment Industry; which has been fighting for a 12 month derogation period (or a worst case scenario of six months) for the last seven years. The Trade Unions, in a similarly arrogant position, demanded equality from Day One and secretly eluded to a more realistic expectation of 12 weeks. So who’s the winner here I ask myself?

In a week where the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, was given a public dressing down by Jan Berry, the passionate Chair of the Police Federation, for betraying the honest Copper, I hope the Chair of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation will take a similarly forthright stance and remind John Hutton and Pat McFadden at BERR that they have equally failed the UK’s 1.3 million temporary workers, the 11,000 agencies that place them and the 3.2 million businesses that are dependant upon them to manage their constantly fluctuating staffing needs. And not just leave it to the staff at the REC. Watch this space!

At a time when the Government needs to hold its nerve if the economy is to remain stable (or at least stable-ish), I am not comforted by this apparent appeasement of the Unions and worse, the French! (My earlier pieces refer).

This has been a bad week for recruitment. Not because we can’t accept this new imposition, not because we won’t again have to pick up the tab and not even because it will directly cause the loss of temporary assignments but principally because it will bring even more red tape, bureaucracy and process to an already over regulated and under policed industry and one that is being driven into the ground by a lack of appreciation.

Sometimes I feel like the last Giant Panda saying “They’ll miss me when I’ve gone.”

RIP Recruitment.

Gareth

The power of a PA

It’s a simple mathematical calculation but if new research by the Association of Personal Assistants (APA) is right then every senior manager, leader and principal must employ a PA if they want to achieve and exceed corporate targets. In a report published today the APA details the results of its survey of over 5,000 business leaders and suggests that their effectiveness is hugely enhanced by having an Aid and most report an improvement in excess of 30%.

If the average salary of a CEO for the Top 500 listed companies in the UK is over £750,000 per year then a 30% increase in their effectiveness is sufficient to fund an entire department. And that level of return on investment makes real economic sense says the APA. In a small business, where the owner director fulfils every major management role, a PA is doubly essential to ensure all the competing plates are kept spinning and none of the business critical ones are dropped; in this size business MDs also suggested that their PA is the sole guardian of their corporate quality of life and director of their work life balance.

Gone are the days when a PA was a glorified secretary (a ‘Miss Jones’) and even less true is the stereotype portraying the PA as a flunky who runs errands, makes coffee and looks attractive in the outer office. Modern PAs are highly business savvy, using every technological means at their disposal and are increasingly well educated, trained and qualified to maximise their boss’s time. They plan meetings and diaries, co-ordinate travel plans and accommodation and process all of the day-to-day issues of an executive office

A PA has to be a great communicator and even better negotiator; managing people’s expectations when they hope to access the boss, and making sure that all priority tasks are processed quickly. If you ask the modern boss what takes the most time in their busy working life most will say meetings and emails and their PA is of fundamental importance in managing the problems associated with both. As our research suggests, a good PA is worth a fortune and every business leader should have one.

I have been blessed by having three of the very best supporting me over the years (Johanne Hawes, Faye Jennings and Carly Beales), each different but each possessing an abudence of skill, good humour and patience and playing no small part in the successes along the way. Faye still calls me now and reminds me about birthdays I definitely should not forget and we haven't actually worked together for 5 years!

Gareth

The Image shows me with my two wonderful PAs, Carly Beales (left) and Faye Crisp (right)

REC goes Green

Congratulations to the REC for finally completing its process to appoint a new CEO; Kevin Green - announced today. I will resist offering advice to my successor but the obvious and immediate problem he needs to overcome is the likely claim from industry cynics that he will be a Gamekeeper turned Poacher; coming, as he does, from the world of HR – the natural prey of the recruitment industry. With the talented and highly experienced Helen Reynolds as his Number Two and Anita Holbrow as Marketing Director I am sure he will quickly grasp the realities of the job and win over the Beaters.

I certainly wish him every success in a job I adored and at a time when Agencies need strong leadership and understanding if they are collectively to overcome the revitalised TUC and a weakened Government likely to jump quickly to win influential friends.

Gareth

The height of incompetence

Are the Banks getting more incompetent or is it just me (jokers beware here)?

Yes, I know they are an easy target but why is it that their administration can be so abysmal and yet their arrogance (and profit) remains at such an award winningly high level; it’s the way they talk down to you as though you simply don’t understand how complex banking must be.

In the last twelve months Barclays have completely lost a wire transfer of £267 from one business account to a supplier in India and then completely given up on me because I dared to suggest that they try and locate it! And then today Nat West has lost the papers that Colin and I filed to open a new business account – and that after going to the branch with passports and water bills in hand for "money laundering purposes" (I tried to explain we didn’t want to launder money but I think it must be compulsory these days).

If the recruitment industry acted this badly with paperwork and identity verification the Government would bring out another swathe of legislation to keep us in our place. Its time the Customer regained their throne – let the Banker beware.

Gareth

All a matter of balance

As a former RAF pilot I learned at a very early age that keeping the various forces on your aircraft in balance was the fundamental skill required to ensure you have happy passengers and a safe flight.

Now, 30 years on, the balance may be totally different (and sadly far less exciting) but it is no less important and I have suddenly mastered the art of working from home and getting a far better work life balance than I ever have had before.

To all those who struggle into the office (especially in London) only to sit on their computer for ten hours before joining ‘the great unwashed’ on their journey home, I would say “Think about it.” I now only go into the office for meetings, cleverly arrange to coincide, and on the writing, thinking and doing days I work from my own desk, overlooking my own trees and breath a far less polluted combination of gases and feel much healthier for it. And on a sunny day (like today) the world seems a much happier place.

Working in London, especially in this weather, does have certain perks but, on balance, I think I’m far more effective in the Suburbs. I usually start at 6 am, work through to breakfast, work until lunch and again until I break for ‘Deal or No Deal’ and then do a bit more if I feel inclined or need to contact the far flung parts of the Empire. I can do three days work in one and regularly take a long weekend.

So to all my small business friends out there I would say “For once, you should do as I do not just as I say and work on your balance.”

Gareth

It's time for a change at the top in Recruitment

I believe this is possibly my most important statement about the industry and one that could change the fortunes of many within it. Please read on.

For years, and especially whilst at the helm of the REC, I tried to get Clients to believe that Recruiters are professionals. I also tried to convince Recruiters themselves by introducing better structured qualifications and even a Recruitment Degree and opened the door for the organisation to become Chartered – still, sadly, a long way off.

However I missed the key point, you can’t create a Profession overnight, but you can watch what Professionals do and learn from their experience and successes.

I want all readers to stop and think for a moment and answer the following question; What is the fundamental difference between a Lawyer and a Recruiter?

I will avoid the obvious one-liners but most will eventually agree that a Lawyers charges far more per hour for his/her time than does a Recruiter. It’s true and if you follow that logic through to its final conclusion you will also find that Senior Lawyers charge more than Junior Lawyers and Practice Principals charge heaps more than the rest.

In short; "Your Top People should be your Top Billers!" I’ll say it again; "Your Top People should be your Top Billers!" Definitely not true in most recruitment firms.

I have had the rare privilege of visiting over 2,000 recruitment agencies during my time and since leaving REC have worked with some of the best and most entrepreneurial of them (now about 40 in total) and one thing has become glaringly obvious to me; the owners are, or were, the businesses best Recruiters and they have all ‘promoted’ themselves away from recruiting to a wholly spurious role (usually titled Managing Director) which they don’t understand, have no talent or empathy for and from where they look down on lesser mortals struggling to achieve targets they themselves once realised without breaking into a sweat (and wanting more and more money for doing it)..

So why, I ask myself, don’t Recruiters learn from Lawyers and Accountants and Architects et al and create a career progression where Junior Consultants become Senior Consultants become Principals; all still doing what they are good at and all staying as fee earners.

OK, I accept that Top Lawyers don’t do the grunt work, they have juniors to do that for them, but they work with the Client (and more particularly with the Client’s CEO) and establish the relationship and lead on the important cases. And so should we.

But what about the management of the business I hear you shout, who’s going to do that? Well hire a business manager, a general manager or even an MBA. They are ten-a-penny and they can do what most recruiters can’t; they can plan, they can budget, they can administer and they can market the business and use the businesses greatest assets, its Recruiters, to maximum effect and profit.

I call this the ‘Osborne Model', or the Professionals Approach, and as the holder of a Doctorate in Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation I am told that I have the right to postulate the odd theory, so please allow or excuse me my Newtonic moment. I believe this could work for many in the industry and add significant value to their business as it grows.

Think about it. And trust me, I’m a Doctor!

Gareth