Recruitment in a tough market

Whether you are an employer or job seeker, everyone agrees that it is a tough employment market at the moment.  For job seekers and those looking to change jobs, there are fewer vacancies around than there have been in the recent past, so how do you make the best of a challenging situation ?

David Thompson, Director of Atlas Recruitment, says “We have been in business in Guernsey for over 10 years.  This may be a tough market, but we have seen and come through challenging times before, and I am sure we will do so again both now and in the future”.  So, what are the strategies for success in a difficult market?

David says “Firstly, you need to ensure your CV looks as good as possible, and this is where a professionally presented CV will often score highly over a home produced version”.  It may be several years since you were last looking for a new job, and the CV that looked pretty good then may be looking a bit dated now.  Professional recruitment consultants are reviewing and preparing CVs on a daily basis, and know what their clients are looking for.

David goes on to say “It is important to be realistic about your expectations, not just in terms of salary, but also in terms of other parts of the employment package such as training.”  Many organisations have had to make savings in these areas, so it will be helpful if you can show a commitment to keeping costs down, for example by studying locally or via distance learning.

Qualifications are very important in a challenging climate, and additional qualifications (or a willingness to study for them) may make you stand out from less well qualified applicants.  David says “It can be helpful to add to your CV not just qualifications, but also examples of CPD that you have recently undertaken.”   Similarly membership / student membership of local groups and societies and such as the GSCCA is likely to be favorably regarded.

David says “It is important to remember that the world has not stood still.  Some business are still growing and hiring, and this is where using a professional recruitment consultant with a wide range of contacts can be very helpful.”  It is important to remain positive.  Guernsey still enjoys very full employment, and even if may take longer to find, there should still be a job out there somewhere.

Guernsey Timelapse 2012 - High And Low Tides

We really like this amazing three minute video of Guernsey. If you want to see what Guernsey looks like, this is a really good introduction: website.

Population Consultation

The States of Guernsey Population Policy Group have published their proposals for a new population management regime. This follows on from the extensive consultation exercise that was undertaken in 2011. If the proposals are approved new legislation will be drafted which will replace the existing Housing Control and Right to Work laws. A system of employment permits will be introduced to replace existing housing licences. A helpful summary of the proposals is available on the AO Hall Website.

The full proposals can be viewed here.

End of internal email ?

Atos, a leading international IT services company is planning to ban internal email. Having conducted detailed research amongst their 80,000 international employees, they found that on average they were each receiving an average of 100+ emails per day.

Of these 15% were useful, but the other 85% were read anyway because people were afraid they would miss something! People are spending an average of 15-20 hours a week checking and answering internal emails, which represents a huge loss of potential productive time.

In place of internal email Atos are using new tools such as the cloud computing environment, social networks, instant messaging, micro blogging, document sharing, and knowledge communities. Atos intend to have completely eliminated internal email by 2014. For more on this story please see BBC website.

Pensions Survey commissioned by States of Guernsey Policy Council

The Policy Council have appointed research firm Island Analysis to conduct a survey about pension provision in the private sector. Our experience is that nearly all our clients have stopped offering defined benefit pension schemes to new members of staff, and many organisations have replaced their defined benefit schemes with lower cost "money purchase" schemes. It will be interesting to see what the survey finds, and hopefully it will help focus attention on this increasingly important issue.

For more information see website.

Employment Law changes in the UK

The qualifying limit for unfair dismissal claims in Guernsey is 12 months, so will be interesting to see if Guernsey follows UK lead on this.

For more information on changes to the UK legislation follow this link.

Atlas Recruitment supports Hope for Guernsey Swimmer

We were pleased to be able to support Guernsey swimmer Roger Allsopp on his World Record Channel Swim. All money raised goes to Hope for Guernsey. See a video about the swim at website.