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Mike Sowerbutts is the Head of Engineering at White Springs, a technology provider dedicated to improving sales performance. They employ approximately 20 employees across offices in London, Banbury, Oxfordshire and San Diego. After ten years of progressing through the ranks at White Springs, Mike took on the Head of Engineering role with the challenge of recruiting a permanent team of highly skilled software development professionals to be based out of the Banbury office. I wanted to interview Mike and find out how he did it and what advice he would give others who face similar challenges in this talent short market. JM: Hi Mike, thanks for taking the time out to speak to me. MS: No problem James. Background JM: First off Mike tell me about yourself. MS: I studied IT & Media at Lancaster University and was based in Oxford before I joined White Springs in March 2009. I then moved to Banbury in order to be able to walk to work, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to jump in the car and commute to work! I now live just outside of York. JM: But that’s quite a commute isn’t it? MS: It’s a good drive yes – but pales in insignificance to a daily commute, given that for the majority of those years, I have been 100% remote! The Challenge MS: Moving into the Head of Engineering role and realising the CEO’s ambitions it was quite clear we had to scale up our team and that two developers wouldn’t be sufficient to deliver on the projects we had lined up. JM: So, what was the plan? MS: I needed to hire six people including a Technical Lead to be based out of our Banbury office. JM: And how did you start to go about doing that? MS: Well, I went out to some recruitment agencies and I managed to make one hire inside the first couple of months. JM: That was good then... MS: Well yes and no. From looking at the candidates and interviews we conducted to make just one hire I wasn’t convinced that I could find another six hires of sufficient quality in the right location within the timescale required. I was ideally looking for experience of microservices, Entity Framework and .NET Core 2.0. I needed to change something… The Solution JM: So, what did you do? MS: I decided to expand the criteria to include the hiring of remote developers who didn’t need to be within a commuting distance of Banbury. JM: Ah okay. What experience, if any, have you had of remote workers previously? MS: I’m one! When I moved to Yorkshire from Banbury I asked to work remotely and while there was initially some hesitation and resistance, the company did have some people in other departments doing it as well as some employees working out of the US so the decision was made to allow me to do it. JM: I’ll come onto what some of that initial reluctance was down to later but for the moment, tell me what your experience was from a recruitment perspective after relaxing the location criteria. MS: I hired the six further people I needed within the timescales I had! I also hired a new recruitment agency to help me as well. JM: What made you choose the recruiter you did? MS: I liked the recruiter, he came across as trustworthy and not too pushy and thankfully he turned out to be able to find the calibre of people I needed. JM: And what did you find with regards to the new candidates that you saw? MS: I started seeing a larger pool of high-quality candidates than I had done previously. It allowed me to be more selective and certain about who I selected as I knew I had more people to choose from. If you are not careful you can hire people for the wrong reasons, i.e. they live locally even if they are not the best for the job. JM: Okay, great, that makes sense. While it seems an obvious positive that you get more candidates to choose from, what about the negatives you hear about employing remote developers? For example, I’ve heard that productivity slumps? Remote working MS: That hasn’t been an issue. I’ve found that by being more flexible and by hiring the right people they don’t take the mick. JM: Trust people until they give you a reason not to then. What about still being able to foster that team culture and effective communication when everyone isn’t in the same location? MS: I’ve been the sole remote working employee in a team previously and that is difficult, especially when your line manager isn’t the biggest fan of remote working. However, when everyone in the team is remote it becomes easier. We use Microsoft Teams (allows multiple communication channels, syncs through Outlook…) to foster collaboration while also having an open chat where we can have some non-work communication and share our love of Star Wars etc! That may become more difficult with bigger teams but for the size we have it works. We also get together at least once every 2 months and go to developer conferences etc. JM: Sounds great! I’ve also heard that companies are concerned about sensitive data becoming unsafe through the use of remote workers – what do you do to mitigate this? MS: We use BitLocker (a full volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows) and Microsoft Intune (a device management solution) to handle this. Hiring JM: How would you summarise the impact that offering remote work has played in your hiring efforts? MS: It’s definitely been advantageous. I always ask our current developers for any negatives / improvements but there hasn’t been anything up to now. Given that all of them were 100% office based in prior positions, this is telling JM: And what about the interview process Mike, has that had to change? MS: Not too much, I do a telephone interview first (anything from 20-60 mins), then invite them in to Banbury for a face to face interview including technical tests). Though sometimes it makes more sense to interview at a location closer to both of us. Fortunately the recruiter I worked with was able to provide a space for this. And finally... JM: Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this Mike, finally, for anyone reading this who is considering hiring remote developers what tips would you give them? MS: Okay, first one – look for more than just skillset. If someone’s personal skills are poor then working remotely doesn’t mitigate this, don’t change your team & cultural fit requirements just because they aren’t going to be in the same office. It’s still really important to get the right fit for the team. Secondly, ask the candidate where they plan to work from. You don’t want someone who says the sofa! Someone who can separate themselves from family distractions when needed and ideally has a separate work space is better. It shows they are taking it seriously as well. And finally you need the candidate to have fibre broadband so it’s worth checking their location, connection and speeds. JM: Mike that’s great and I’m sure people reading this will find it really useful to help overcome any hiring challenges they have at the moment. MS: No problem James, speak soon. For more information about White Springs and what they can do for your sales performance click here or contact them on 020 7754 5924. If you wish to discuss your tech recruitment strategy and how to overcome any current hiring challenges you have then please contact myself, James Mills, on 01727 809 074, james@understandingrecruitment.co.uk or www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmrecruits

Codility is a leading online technical testing platform for Developers similar to HackerRank, CoderPad etc - they have recently released their 2018 Developer Report. If you are a company looking to hire technical staff (and even more importantly, looking to retain them!) you should download the PDF without hesitation. 'Companies that just rely on how ground-breaking their tech/platform is to sell to candidates is simple arrogance' So many companies make mistakes when it comes to recruiting. Slow candidate offers, not very relevant technical testing and poor communication of the role within interviews are examples which I see happen all the time. One thing is clear, the companies that are hiring the best candidates are the companies with the best processes in place. These processes give a candidate insight into how a company works, what their culture is, how they can progress their career there. Companies that just rely on how ground-breaking their tech/platform is to sell to candidates is simple arrogance. Key insights from the report include: Female Developers are not involved in recruiting Personal Development is more appealing than salary How you should be marketing yourself differently to junior Developers to Senior Developers Majority of Developers jobs are not what they expected. Within the report, there also is a key point on the importance of giving candidate feedback. Many companies miss out on such an easy point-scorer with candidates by not delivering interview feedback, both positive and negative. Plain and simple, the companies giving feedback are beating you at recruitment (real-world example below) 'Many companies miss out on such an easy point-scorer with candidates by not delivering interview feedback, both positive and negative.' It was only yesterday that I was having a chat with one of my candidates, informing him that he had progressed from his initial tech test to a phone interview. Usually, I work with many companies who would just email me around the lines of 'Hi Mat, Phone interview please - send availability'. However on this occasion they had given him detailed feedback on his assessment, listing what they liked about it and what they would have improved about it. I delivered the candidate the feedback. The candidate remarked that he was very impressed that they had taken the time to give him detailed feedback, compared to other companies, and how that has shown him what kind of company they are. The candidate was pretty enthused about the opportunity, though now through a couple of lines of feedback it has heightened his experience one more notch. From doing something seemingly as small as giving candidate feedback, you will be able to positively differentiate yourself from a huge amount of companies in the tech industry. 'From doing something seemingly as small as giving candidate feedback, you will be able to positively differentiate yourself from a huge amount of companies in the tech industry.' When a candidate receives an offer, you have to imagine that they will cast their mind back through the process with your company. What were the positives? What were the negatives? To hire the best people, you must be covering all the bases in terms of candidate experience, many of which are highlighted in the codility report. The best companies already are. Are you? I have helped to scale successful tech companies that have got recruitment right. If you'd like to talk about refining and creating recruitment processes, candidate attraction, the mindset of candidates or the market - let's have a chat. Click here to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Most of you have been there. You’ve felt excited and geared up about a new job opportunity, maybe gone to an interview or two or at least applied, but then - silence. Nothing; no calls, no emails and especially no feedback to let you know where it went pear shaped or if the recruiter is still thinking about you. Unfortunately, mutual “ghosting” and the bad habit of not giving candidates feedback hasn’t helped people’s negative perceptions and experiences of the recruitment industry. And who can blame the critics? The issue of feedback has been a constant conversation within our industry for as long as I’ve been in recruitment (which is a pretty long time). Interestingly, the whole candidate experience was the main discussion topic at Understanding Recruitment’s Strategy Day earlier this year and is an area that we’re keen to improve in our “year of the candidate”. My personal ethos is an aspiration to provide feedback (positive & negative) to all candidates at all stages of the process. I think it’s the only way to provide the best service to those looking to take the next step in their career. Despite this ethos I'm not naive enough to think that we provide feedback to the satisfaction of everyone all of the time, despite having won multiple awards and been recognised for our approach to customer service. There can be a number of reasons behind this: lack of care from the recruiter’s side, lack of feedback from clients, recruiters chasing the short term £ rather than the caring about long term reputation, recruitment companies who advocate the wrong behaviours amongst their employees, recruiters focusing on people who they’ll place now rather than people who could be of interest in the future, human forgetfulness, candidate behaviour and many more. To recruiters who aspire to be better, reputation is key, and we want to exceed expectations. Why then, is giving feedback still an issue? It’s a tricky situation with most recruiters juggling multiple roles, clients and candidates all the time and there only being so many hours in a day. So how can we still give people the personal experience they’ve come to expect without burning ourselves out? I don’t have the perfect solution and we’re still working on what that solution might look like for us as a business. I suspect we’ll end up with a combination of the use of smart recruitment & AI tech for a certain amount of automated feedback while also continuing to provide the vital human and personal contact in order to build long lasting relationships. Like a lot of traditional industries recruitment is experiencing a lot of disruption that will raise standards, put candidates at the centre of the business and give you, the customer a better experience. I hope so anyway! I would love to hear your opinions and suggestions on how we can make the feedback issue a thing of the past. Connect with me on LinkedIn to start a conversation.

We all know how important branding is for companies but what about us personally? A personal brand exists whether or not you create it for yourself. Not purposefully building it just means you don’t have control over it. The concept of cultivating a personal brand can seem daunting to most of us. But it doesn’t have to be complex or time intensive and can really help people remember you. Two of our consultants experienced this first hand after recently enrolling in The Recruitment Network Trailblazers programme that aims to develop the next generation of recruitment leaders and runs for a year. As part of the programme’s series of regular London based meetups Hannah and Ben enjoyed a workshop that was all about the importance of personal branding for recruiters. We caught up with Hishem Azzouz from the inbound marketing and creative agency, Hoxo Media, who presented the keynote on the day and shared some of his key takeaways with us: “You can only reach a certain amount of people by calling and meeting them. The amazing part about creating content is that you can reach thousands of people with one post. Recruiters historically just share their new jobs everywhere online, but we all know this isn't successful and quite frankly doesn't work. Recruiters are in a really unique position. They listen to candidates’ challenges and aspirations within their industry along with the businesses in that industry. If you have the courage to start sharing your opinion on candidates/clients’ challenges/aspirations then you can work yourself into an amazing position as a recruiter where you won't just be perceived as someone who helps people get new jobs, but someone who is an expert within their industry. Start sharing your opinion online as a recruiter and take a step closer to becoming a thought leader within your space, which in turn will make you stand out amongst your competitors.” Personal branding isn’t just important for recruiters though. No matter what role or industry you’re in; the more successful you want to be, the more important your personal brand becomes. Whether you just want to improve engagement with your network or you’re aiming for personal branding to open doors to public speaking gigs, you decide how far you take it. As a rule of thumb, the more you put into it the more you’ll get out of it. How to get started Your personality is probably the most unique thing about yourself and being your authentic self is the basis of building your personal brand. Don’t be afraid to let your personality and opinions show in the way you communicate online and the types of stories you tell. It’s all about communicating and creating emotional connections with your audience. Being honest about what you know and don’t know will also help you build credibility in your industry. Ever Googled yourself? We suggest you do! Google automatically gives priority to your social channels and will list the channel you’re most active on above the others. Know what search results are attached to your name by auditing them and get rid of anything that doesn’t fit your vision for your personal brand and could even damage your reputation. Next up, take some time to determine your personality traits and amplify them to make your personal brand stronger. Here are some questions to ask yourself: What makes you unique? What do you stand for? What are your values and beliefs? What are you passionate about? What do you want to be known for? Who are you? What makes you unique? What is your vision for your personal brand? What is your goal with personal branding? What are your professional goals? Who is your audience? Who can you help? How can you help them? What makes you different? Including images in your updates is best practice but make sure they are copyright free. There are multiple sites that offer free images without copyright such as unsplash.com, pixabay.com and pexels.com. You’re now ready to start sharing your personal brand with the world! Start by posting regularly, experiment with short videos and write content online and offline. Ben and Hannah’s top 10 personal branding takeaways: Do a little, often. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Have an opinion and share it online. Connect with relevant people and follow influencers for inspiration. Engage regularly with other people’s content and posts. Pick your channels and post regularly instead of posting sporadically on lots of channels. Include relevant hashtags. LinkedIn is increasingly becoming the tool to search and find high calibre candidates, it has never been more important to have your own personal LinkedIn brand. It’s key you build your influence within your sector by posting articles on your niche, having an opinion on topics related to that industry and asking peoples’ thoughts on current developments. A new feature to LinkedIn that is predicted to take off more and more, is the production of video content. When producing content and engaging with your audience it’s crucial to persist. Initially traction will be slow, but as you continue posting regularly your following and audience will grow and reach more people. Finally, be patient and don’t expect overnight success. Everyone expects a flurry of engagement but how often do you engage with other people’s posts? Simply posting an update is not enough, so make sure to respond to comments and questions from your audience and engage with other people’s post too. As you see, it doesn’t have to as complex as building a whole personal branding strategy and your own website. With tools like LinkedIn publishing at your fingertips, writing short blogs and sharing your take on a topic in your industry has never been easier. Why not challenge yourself to make a start today?

Euan McGonagle, who specialises in the field of Python FinTech at Understanding Recruitment, recently attended the Unthink Tank event in London. This edition explored the concept of 'unthinking', inviting leaders and innovators from the tech, disruptor, and creative communities to discuss the issues that impassion and empower them. Technologist, author, applied Artificial Intelligence designer, technologist, accidental polymath, mental health campaigner, and co-founder of 'Us Ai', Pete Trainor, explored the growing role that Artificial Intelligence plays in our every-day lives, from our mental health to our money. Over the last three years, Pete has helped to pioneer an entirely new approach to AI focused products, one that looks at ‘self-evolving systems’ and ‘minimum viable personality’ to help solve societal and human issues. He was recently voted, by the industry, as one of the 5 most influential people in the British digital industry in Econsultancys 2017 industry report. Here's Euan's take on his evening spent at the Unthink Tank: I thoroughly enjoyed Pete Trainor’s talk on the Future of AI in FinTech. The talk focussed on the use of AI as a tool within Financial applications to identify risks to the user’s mental health. In effect, indicators like credit card debt or unusual spending habits are identified and as a result, help is offered to hopefully prevent any harm coming to the user, with a real emphasis being placed on reducing suicide rates. Firstly, I think the idea is absolutely brilliant and the use of technology to possibly save lives can only be applauded. I also think the tech involved is really cool! The ability of AI to learn what is and isn’t normal behaviour, using the data created by the individual and then tailoring its response based on this is a brilliant idea. In my last post I wrote about the use of Open Banking and The FinTech Revolution. This is a brilliant example of that revolution, the use of technology to bring Financial services into the 21st century. Traditionally from an outside perspective at least, the finance sector has looked to make as much money as possible and not think about the customer. I think it’s brilliant that it is moving completely in the other direction with a far more customer centric approach. I think the revolution of the “Disruptive FinTech” has really driven this. The biggest challenge to this kind of technology is to decide where you draw the line between support and surveillance? Ethically, Artificial Intelligence has always thrown up a number of conundrums (although if you believed the media, sometimes you’d think the robots are taking over!). As AI advances, these kinds of issues are going to become more and more prevalent. How we are going to deal with that? I’m not sure… Pete highlighted this issue and put forward a really interesting question on the topic: "Is one person’s life worth more than the privacy of 99 others?" ​ If you're looking for you next tech role in Fintech get in touch with Euan emcgonagle@understandingrecruitment.co.uk 01727 225 551 or check out our latest roles.

With 750,000 new digital jobs by 2020 the UK is facing a huge tech skills shortage. Brexit could help fill this gap. “Could” being the most important word in that sentence. Before my recruitment days I spent a summer working in parliament between my Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Studies. In my time there I witnessed a vote to leave the EU, a change of Prime Minister, and an unprecedented amount of shadow cabinet resignations. It was a crazy time. Almost 3 years on I have left parliament, finished my studies, started my recruitment career finding top talent for the UK tech market and then switched to doing the same for the Berlin Tech scene. Being English and recruiting into an international Berlin naturally the topic of Brexit will come up in conversation whilst I’m on the phone, and sometimes people are interested to hear my opinion. If anything, I was expecting to become much more Europe-centric in my stance whilst recruiting into Berlin. But this has not been the case. Why? Well, one thing that stands out about Berlin tech is its truly international nature. Each day I speak to tech professionals from all corners of the globe: Egypt, Brazil, China, the Lebanon, and I could literally list the countries all day. The relative ease of obtaining a visa goes some way to addressing the huge skills shortages in Berlin. Something I think maybe the UK can learn from as they look to attract talent in a time where a good Software Developer has a large list of vacancies to choose from; or should I say a large list of recruiter’s emails to choose to reply to. In Recruiting into the Berlin market what I’ve realised is that, yes! Europe is a big place and something that should definitely be treasured. But, the rest of the world is even bigger, and in each corner of the globe is an immense amount of talent that can, not only address the skills shortage, but also add some real value to the UK’s tech industry. Of course, Brexit has the potential to make the UK look inwards which would be catastrophic. Conversely, it could actually give the UK Tech market an opportunity to look at the wider world for strong tech talent, and it is this that can make the UK realise how big the world actually is.

We caught up with Understanding Recruitment's Founding Director, Dale Swords, to talk about the latest issue affecting the hiring process. We all have biases we aren’t aware of. It’s a human trait, to be more attracted and form stronger bonds with people who act and look similar to ourselves. After all, familiarity is comfortable. But this is exactly the bias that’s breaking your hiring process one interview at a time. Would you say most hiring processes are broken? In my experience, companies that are growing quickly sometimes haven’t been deliberate enough about their hiring process and end up allowing unconscious biases to creep into their decision making. Although a lot of companies are already aware of this issue and claim they are trying to make their hiring processes less bias, it is easy to fall into the trap. In many cases, people don’t even realise they’re doing it. How do people know if they have biases and what do these biases look like? We all have our own biases but aren’t necessarily aware of it. It’s an almost hardwired trait and isn’t necessarily malicious or prejudice. Most CEOs understand the concept of unconscious bias but don’t believe it’s happening at their company. And that’s the problem. If the bias comes from the top down it can easily get embedded into an organisation. Some examples of unconscious bias are judging people on their name, gender, origin, the University they attended, and the titles they’ve held. It can also be the initial feeling they give you based on their looks or even what they’re wearing. Whichever it is, the outcome is that people are discounting the candidate from the hiring process or making them first choice for the wrong reasons. Why is unconscious bias a hazard in the workplace? Encouraging certain hiring processes means they become the norm. Because of the biases, a lot of talent is missed out on because they “didn’t fit” the profile the hiring manager was looking for. When people involved in the hiring process are encouraged to look for a certain profile or behaviours, that negatively impacts business performance. You could be losing out on talent without knowing it. There can also be legal implications around discrimination. Why is it so important for the hiring process to eliminate unconscious bias? It’s all really about fairness and inclusiveness. Companies that embrace diversity are proven to be much better positioned for innovation and perform better. It also creates a more diverse and inclusive company which research proves makes for a far more productive and successful business. Can a broken hiring process be fixed? The good news is that the easiest place to remove unconscious bias is in recruitment. Taking the time to make biases visible will help companies address them and improve the diversity of their teams. We advise our clients to work with standardised competency-based questions, making sure questions don’t vary between candidates so they are interviewed objectively. Letting interviewers pick their own questions means that their experience of the candidate can vary. While some people might just have a friendly chat based on common interests, others interrogate the candidate. This means that candidates often end up being recommended for the role based on a personal connection rather than their ability to do the job, a fact often supported by the company’s staff retention rate, a statistic often ignored. Having different people with multiple perspectives involved can also help check the unconscious bias of any individual during the interview process. Who is responsible for it? I think it’s the job of everyone involved in the hiring process, from the hiring manager to the person writing the job description, to be mindful of diversity every step of the way. What role will artificial intelligence play in the future of recruitment? AI is everywhere. Lots of companies use chat bots to run initial job interviews. For example, Nike and Intel use intelligent video software to analyse 25,000 data points from video interviews. AI can see around our biases and is a great tool to extract human emotion, but at the same time that’s what works against it. While it means people are getting the same chance regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, or University attended, I don’t think AI will take our jobs away any time soon. Technology just doesn’t have the human traits needed to make a well-rounded hiring decision, but it helps make it fairer. ​ How is Understanding Recruitment dealing with the issue? We recently launched an App we’ve called i-Q that offers users a combination of advanced technology and cutting-edge methodology. It helps businesses of all sizes get more in-depth candidate assessment and streamlines the recruitment process, eliminating unconscious bias by using a scientific approach to the process. Using the App’s features, clients determine what factors are most important to them in the hiring process which helps minimise unconscious bias and means candidates are selected on both their suitability for the role as well as their behaviours being in line with the organisation. It also assists in writing job applications, includes psychometric testing and candidate videos. We can also help clients calculate the cost of a bad hire with our cost calculator tool which has really helped to illustrate to our customers the significance of getting this right. In the long-term, we aim to help clients gradually shift away from contingency based recruitment towards a more dependable and focused search approach which supports them in reducing their staff retention, improving their hiring process and enhancing the recruitment process for everyone.

The tech industry is booming. While that is good news, it means that the war for talent is raging on with no sign of subsiding. Highly skilled IT professionals are finding that they have their pick of jobs, and no matter how great the perks found across the tech industry are, tech organisations (even the giants of the industry) can’t totally avoid the job-hopping nature of today’s workforce. While talent shortage is set to be the single biggest hurdle faced by recruiters across almost all industries, a recent PayScale report shows that the employee turnover rate among Fortune 500 companies in the IT industry is the highest among industries surveyed. Chances are that employee retention is an issue in your business. And you’re not alone. Nearly half of all employees across the UK are worried they won’t be able to find the talent they need with over three quarters saying they are struggling to find relevant candidates. With employers so keen to fill tech roles quickly, there is a temptation to just hire on instinct (or in some cases, desperation), making bad hires a growing issue across the industry. What is a bad hire? We define a bad hire as somebody who leaves your business within the first year of their employment. But it is also someone who just doesn’t have the skills to fulfil their role, who underperforms and doesn’t fit seamlessly into the rest of the team. According to the REC’s latest report, 85% of HR decision-makers admit their business has made a bad hire. 1 in 3 HR decision-makers also think it didn’t cost the business anything when they hired the wrong person, while 1 in 5 stated that they don’t know what the cost of a bad hire is. What is the true cost of a bad hire? Everyone knows that hiring is expensive. But so is re-recruiting to replace people who turned out to be bad hires. There’s the cost of creating job descriptions, advertising roles, reading through CVs, and carrying out interviews all over again. And it doesn’t stop there. After a new hire joins the business, you need to facture in onboarding costs and training. In most cases, the true cost works out to be roughly 3.5 x their annual salary which, clearly has a negative impact on business. What are the consequences of a bad hire? Apart from the substantial monetary cost, a bad hire can affect team morale and lead to low productivity. They also have a detrimental effect on your brand reputation over time as they are likely to interact with your customers. Poor performers lower the bar for other employees and bad habits spread like a virus. If an employee is not working to their full capacity, there is bound to be a knock-on effect on the rest of the team. According to Agency Central, 39% of hiring managers said poor hires had cost them productivity. When a team is struggling with lost productivity they may be urged to start assuming additional duties that aren’t really part of their role. In addition to impacting their own performance, it will also affect their ability to meet deadlines and targets. The negative change in the team’s morale will almost always be one of the first indicators of a bad hire. Disengagement is contagious, and the resulting toxic atmosphere puts your remaining employees at risk of leaving also. In the long run, it’s more difficult for managers and their teams to accommodate a poor performer than it is to invest in recruiting quality candidates. It’s clear that the cost of not firing a bad employee far outweighs the cost of keeping a bad hire in your business. How to avoid bad hires While there’s no obvious formula to avoid making bad hires, there are ways to retain employees for longer and conquer the battle of talent. Businesses can start with promoting a flexible and inclusive workforce, implementing soft skills assessment tools and properly inducting new recruits. Low pay, lack of clear career progression opportunities and no flexible working solutions are the main reasons why employees leave. By boosting these, businesses can increase engagement, productivity and teamwork, while also retaining talent for longer. Investing in learning opportunities and innovative training provides a better and more immersive experience to employees while also developing the next generation of leaders. A recent study by Udemy uncovered that 46% of employees cite limited opportunities to learn new skills as the top reason why they’re bored in their current roles and looking for a change. For more tips on how to fix your recruitment process check out this blog. Tools you can use Using a specialist recruitment agency can dramatically reduce the risk involved in taking on a new employee. Consultants are experienced in matching the right candidates to the right employer daily and are skilled to spot the tell-tale signs of a bad fit from the get go. Dale Swords, Managing Director Understanding Recruitment, recently told the Global Recruiter: “We have a responsibility to our clients to make sure that we offer the solution to an industry wide problem. Ultimately, finding the talent others can’t is what separates the good from the great recruiters.” “To help clients, tackle the issue of employee retention, we've also launched i-Q, a unique candidate assessment App. It offers a new recruitment experience for both clients and candidates that is much more user friendly and intuitive than the usual process. The app makes all the information about candidates accessible on the go, including candidate video profiles. i-Q also combines methodology and technology and assesses candidates using recognised tools, such as McQuaig behavioural profiling. Overall the app is designed to reduce the recruitment costs and we guarantee a 96% retention rate over 12 months.”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are set to be game changers for the recruitment industry and are already changing the jobs of recruiters. The recruitment industry has come a long way from reviewing printed CVs spread out across the floor in the 80s, to today’s modern era of digital databases and AI powered search, enabling recruiters to go through thousands of CVs in seconds. AI is here to stay and has already become a big part of recruiter’s day to day with the likes of LinkedIn Recruiter, that uses algorithms to sift through its database of 7m candidates looking for jobs. Early adopters of this new technology are sure to gain an advantage over competition in a crowded market. A new world of work With this rapidly evolving technology it’s hard to predict exactly where things are heading but according to Forbes, the use of artificial intelligence will play a key part in reducing human racial and gender-based biases. Using machine learning algorithms also makes it possible to screen CVs and applications for keywords and skills that indicate a candidate’s suitability for a role. It’s worth mentioning here that most successful hires are made based on behaviours and softer skills, which AI is not great at identifying yet. This is down to humans not knowing which behaviours to tell AI to look for in candidates but also because AI still lacks human interpersonal skills. According to LinkedIn, there are several ways AI will change the way we recruit: Programmatic advertising will make job ads more targeted and effective. Profile augmentation will allow jobs to be recommended based on the job a person wants to do, not just what they do now. This would make finding profiles for new tech jobs, that are hard to fill, such as Blockchain Developers easier as it matches experience with interests and recognises a candidates’ potential. Chatbots are already being used by some recruiters, answering candidates’ questions 24/7 and can also fill in the gaps in candidates’ CVs, giving recruiters a clearer picture of their suitability for the role. AI can be used to analyse candidate’s speech patterns to find out more about them but can also check language competency. Advanced competency tests will allow candidates to demonstrate their emotional and cognitive abilities through fun games – a great way to test soft skills that can be difficult to detect. Video interviews are also set to become automated. A candidate may only have to speak to the camera while the machine takes them through a list of questions. This may help eliminate unconscious bias and saves recruiters’ time. Facial and speech recognition software may can also be used to analyse the candidate’s body language, their tone of voice and their stress levels during the interview. Finally, automated appointment setting will help recruiters quickly and easily schedule meetings with candidates. What’s the mood of the industry? According to Tratica Research, revenue generated from the direct and indirect application of AI software is estimated to grow to $36.8 billion by 2025. Bullhorn’s 2018 UK Recruitment Trends Report shows that 29% of recruitment firms consider improving core business efficiency to be one of their top three challenges for the year ahead but only 16% said introducing automation is one of their top three priorities. 30% of respondents believe that AI will create more jobs while 41% think it will lead to job losses. A recent survey by Jobvite was slightly more optimistic with 49% of recruiters feeling positive about the effects of AI automation on their jobs with only 7% believing AI will have a negative effect. 72% of recruiters believe their approach to hiring will need to evolve as AI and automation become more prevalent. Matthew Ferdenzi, Head of Machine Learning & AI at Understanding Recruitment commented: “We’re already seeing the huge potential AI has to disrupt industries across the board. There has been a sharp increase in demand for specialist talent which we predict to continue over the coming years. We already have a specialist AI & Machine Learning team of four people based in the UK and towards the end of the year we’ll be expanding into the American market, opening an office in Boston, that will specialise exclusively in AI and machine learning roles.” Will AI replace recruiters? AI will impact what the job of a recruiter looks like, but instead of a threat, it should be seen as a tool that will make the recruitment process more sophisticated. A modern recruiter needs to be knowledgeable, highly networked and understand the industry. The use of AI will free up their time to put the human element back into the heart of the hiring process. Time saved by automating the mundane and time-consuming tasks including scheduling interviews and sending routine emails, can be spent competing for candidates and focussing on making decisions about which candidate is best for the job. Of course, AI could lead to the loss of admin-heavy jobs, but new roles will also be created. overall, the benefits of automation and other tools outweigh the risk and help recruiters do a better job and be more productive. How AI can help recruiters In this competitive industry, recruitment firms need to constantly evolve their services to stay relevant. The crucial role of recruiters needs to be to bring people together. AI will free up time for recruiters to meet with more candidates in person and to be more creative in the hiring process. While AI will enable senior recruiters to spend more time on business development and winning new business, more junior recruiters will be able to spend time dealing with candidates and clients from the start which will have a positive impact.

Your company’s culture is a huge part of your employer brand and can make or break it. It’s one of the many aspects that can attract, engage and secure top talent. It’s no wonder then that a growing number of candidates ask about culture during the interview stage, seeking transparency, flexibility and authenticity. The Shift With money now being less of a driver, especially for graduates, the focus has shifted to a sense of belonging, purpose and development within the workplace. Job descriptions can no longer just be a long list of what you expect from the candidate but must also give them an insight into what you can do for them. With an average of only 20% of candidates actively seeking new roles, building your brand’s magnetism is more important than ever in the battle for talent. Creating a culture based on your values leads to buy in from like-minded people and higher retention rates. With people spending more time at work than with their families, the ultimate goal for candidates is to find an environment that they can thrive in rather than just survive in. Getting It Right Culture is the backbone of your company but there is no cheat sheet for quick success. Culture has to be built on purpose. It’s not just about providing a pool table; some drinks and flicking the fun switch on. Your culture needs to be ingrained in everything you do from the top down. Your leader’s actions and decisions reinforce the culture of the company on a daily basis. It also affects how people interact with each other internally and how they treat your customers. Ask yourself what your company stands for. What do you expect from your employees and what motivates them to come to work every day? Building a people centric culture will ultimately lead to business performance and productivity but you need to take care of your people first. During the interview process it’s a good idea for your candidates to meet with multiple people in the organisation to help paint a better picture of your culture for the candidate, as well as making sure the candidate is a right fit for you. And remember, candidates will have a pretty good understanding of what you’re about before even meeting you, through their own research from news articles, word of mouth and social media. What About Millennials? According to Forbes, 90% of Millennials stated that culture is important to them and that it makes them more invested in a company. With 51% of Millennials open to the possibility of another job, culture has the power to attract and retain these future leaders. With this generation, it’s all about authenticity and they’re likely to spot if you’re pretending to be something you’re not. Being transparent is the way forward. In addition to the benefits you offer, highlight your development programmes and how you give your employees the opportunity to grow and hone their skills. Show people the reality of your business with behind the scenes content that lets them have a unique insight into what it’s really like working for you. According to recent figures from The Global Recruiter, employee stories are 20% more immersive than careers sites, bringing more employees into the recruitment process. 95% of participants said the content was highly relevant and 77% said their impression of the company improved with 98% of participants saying they would apply for the job. Differentiating Yourself When your ideal candidate is torn between your offer, as well as another company’s offer, what you stand for can really make a difference. If both offer packages are similar, a common situation for quality candidates, the distinguishing factor is what you’re all about, and how well it is being represented and communicated to your candidate could be the deciding factor. This is even more important if your salary package is not market competitive. Your culture could be the deciding factor why quality candidates might reject the higher salary package over yours. It’s all about identifying if the company will suit the candidates´ working styles, behaviours and values. That is one of the reasons, why many candidates are choosing smaller FinTech start-ups over the security of large IT companies. What’s in it For You? Culture can have a huge impact on the level of connection an employee feels with the company so making sure candidates are a good fit from a cultural standpoint is also beneficial to your company. Value-based recruiting is crucial to protecting your culture as you grow your business and hiring someone based on their skill set alone is bound to backfire, costing you twice that person’s salary to replace them when things don’t work out. Striking The Right Balance Attracting top talent is a hefty time investment but leaders should spend just as much time building the culture that keeps them. While your company’s culture plays a big part, candidates in the tech sector are also concerned about the type of work they’ll be doing, what niche knowledge they’ll be applying and exactly how they’ll be managed. The best approach to finding the right talent is to consider softer skills as well as technical skills evaluating cultural fit, values, beliefs and outlook as well as potential and technical skill.

For a lot of businesses the summer months are an unusual time of year with many questioning if now is the time to recruit or to wait until after the peak holiday season is over before looking to make changes within their organisation. The months of June, July and August are a great time to attract new talent to your business for a number of reasons though and with the technology that we all have at our fingertips these days the process is easier than ever before. In years gone by we could lose weeks with people heading off abroad and being out of touch, but in 2018 most of us travel with a smart phone at the very least allowing for messages, calls and emails to reach us wherever we are on the globe. The technology also allows for browsing through job boards at a time of year when people perhaps have time away from their usual routine and allow their minds to turn to thoughts of the future. ​After enjoying the last few weeks of beautifully sunny weather it's positive news for the British job market with CV Library quoting an increase of 5.9% in advertised roles with an rise of 1.2% in salaries across the UK. So while companies seem confident about recruiting, what does this mean for candidates? According to a recent mid year survey by Totaljobs Group 64% of employees in IT state that they cannot see themselves in the same role this time next year, and while this may not mean they are being pro active in searching for a new role, this could be the perfect time to tap into talent who may be open to the idea of a new opportunity. So why is summer such a great time for the recruitment industry? Here are some of the reasons... 1. Happy holidays The summer period isn't just a time for rest and relaxation, for many it's time away from their place of work and an opportunity to reflect upon their life and career plans. Moving outside of the usual routine can be a time for contemplation which can often lead to big decisions about career plans. Even if someone is enjoying time off at home for the summer, the mid year provides a natural time for pondering over whether they are doing what they had hoped back a few months ago at New Year. 2. Time out With many taking time out over the summer months on annual leave and the usual working week sometimes being disrupted by with flexible working, this is naturally a time of year when it can be more convenient for candidates to take calls regarding potential new roles. With the routine working hours being a little out of the ordinary the opportunity to pop off to an interview goes more easily unnoticed, taking away one of the barriers to a job search. 3. Refreshed and recharged We all know that the sunshine lifts the mood and makes most of us feel happier. After the grey winter months most of us enjoy the warmer weather finding it leaves us re-energised and ready to take on a new challenge. It's that mindset and feeling that leads to refreshed enthusiasm and many being open to new opportunities and a job change. 4. Fresh talent With the end of year marking graduation time for those leaving university, these months see an injection of fresh new talent into the pool of potential candidates. Having successfully completed a degree, graduates are ready to work and actively searching for a suitable position. If you have a job opportunity waiting in the wings that you'd like to discuss, now's the perfect time to begin promoting the role, or as the saying goes 'make hay while the sun shines'!

Over the past few years we've been watching the global tech trends with interest, and with our own expansion plan in full swing, we were interested to see the Berlin tech scene developing. We are delighted to have launched our German operation in Berlin this week and are excited to see what the future brings for this new European tech hub. A Creative Community The German capital has long been known as a centre for culture and art within Europe which automatically lends itself to attracting a vibrant and creative community within the area. This is certainly a factor when it comes to the thriving tech scene that has developed in the city. Berlin is experiencing growth with more start ups within tech in the city where new ventures and ideas are being created all the time. The combination of the creative community coupled with a low cost of living makes it the ideal place. In comparison to Silicon Valley or European cities such as London the cost of living in Berlin lends itself to business start ups without the financial pressure of a high cost area. The Tech Giants are already there It's not just the start ups favouring Berlin though, tech giants such as SoundCloud call the city home with their headquarters next door to the remains of the Berlin Wall which divided East and West Germany until 1989. Another big business who have a base in the city is Amazon who run their German operation from the capital. What started out as a customer service centre for the company now encompasses development for technologies management tools and operating systems for the Amazon platforms. Our Future in Germany Our new German operation is now up and running with our Head of Java, Sam McBroom heading it up alongside Java Consultant Alex Bloisi and their growing team, all of whom are looking forward to contributing to the further growth within the Berlin tech market. For companies looking to recruit in Berlin, or candidates searching for an opportunity, please get in touch with Alex via email or by calling +44 1727 228 235. We are also recruiting internally for German speaking team members. Please contact Emily Thomas via email or by calling +44 1727 228 255.

June is a month for celebrating here at Understanding Recruitment with this month marking our tenth anniversary in business! Looking back over the last decade it's hard to believe how far the company has come since it's inception ten years ago. First formed by Founding Directors, Chris Jackson and Dale Swords Understanding Recruitment began life with just the two of them in a tiny office, but has experienced huge growth and are expecting to top 60 staff before the year is out with a strategic plan in place for both UK and International growth. The Groundwork... Having graduated from Brunel University in 1994 Chris Jackson joined a large IT recruitment organisation based in London. He worked his way up the ladder from Resourcer to Associate Director with achievements such as placing over 250 candidates within an International organisation under his belt. Similarly, after graduating Dale joined the sector with one of the UK's most successful recruitment firms. Starting out as a Graduate Trainee he gained valuable experience before establishing Understanding Recruitment with business partner, Chris. How it all began Having gained a collective 25 years experience in the field, both Chris and Dale decided to follow a long standing dream and create their own company. With a clear cut idea of the company values they wanted to achieve the two set about establishing an organisation that could really live up to it's name. What's in a name? The choice of company name 10 years ago was no accident. The title conveys exactly what they wanted future customers to know about them; that they truly understand recruitment and all that it entails for both the candidates and the companies. What makes Understanding Recruitment stand out from the sea of other recruitment firms is the attention to detail. It's been an integral part of the company ethos over the years with the founding partners, and all employees since taking the time to thoroughly understand what the needs of the companies they work, and comprehend the culture in order to successfully place the right candidate. In the same way, our recruiters strive to discover what makes their candidates tick giving them the edge when it comes to placing them in a position that will be an ideal fit not only for their skill set, but also their working style and personality. We believe that this has been absolutely key to both the success and growth we've experienced over the years with more than 90% of our business being repeat custom. Growing the team Starting from a partnership of just two, Chris and Dale soon added to their team with James Mills being the first to join them during their first year. Still with the company a decade on, James continues to help build and develop his team as Head of .NET. As time has gone by we are proud to have added a number of specialist teams and now have dedicated departments in Mobile & Web, Data & Digital, Dev Ops & Cloud Machine Learning & AI and Fintech amongst other niche areas. Specialising in this way has undoubtedly allowed us greater success with the tech industry growth picking up speed and new areas continuously. Our head count currently stands at 46 staff, including Financial Director, Suzy Bolton who joined in 2013 having previously been Head of Corporate Finance at Nuffield Health; and Non Executive Director, Miles Hunt who has over 20 years experience in International recruitment and talent management. The next few weeks will see 7 new starters taking on their new roles, and we expect to have over 60 employees before the year is out. The company is growing at such a rate that we have our own Internal Recruitment department devoted to finding like minded people who fit with the company culture and future plans. A global plan 2018 also marks our launch into Europe beginning with the German capital, Berlin. With plans on the cards for the US and a Boston based office for 2019, the wheels are in motion for our International expansion. A celebration We understand only too well the value of good staff and must give credit to the team around us for a thriving, award winning business. We took the opportunity to celebrate in style at Luton Hoo recently with activities including segway riding, clay pigeon shooting and Apache buggies and of course, the traditional champagne toasts to the future!

There's no doubt about it, the European job market is huge and with Understanding Recruitment rapidly expanding we are looking to Germany where the capital, Berlin has approximately 3.3 million residents and is the largest city in Germany with the second highest population in Europe after London. With tech companies flocking to the German capital, Berlin seems like the logical step for a recruitment specialist in the IT and software field. The tech giants are moving in Whilst Germany has experienced a rocky past, the economy is now recovering and there's no surer sign that the current surge of interest from tech giants who are taking up residence in the city. Household names including Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook all have offices in Berlin, and that makes up just part of the list of tech companies adding to the employment possibilities for those in the industry. Technology companies such as Facebook only need to look to their current audience to understand the scope of the market. The social media platform has over 29 million active monthly users in Germany, and it makes sense for them to have opened local offices to ensure they have eyes and ears on the ground there. As specialists in IT and software recruitment Berlin has been on our radar for some time and seemed a logical move when we began our search for the ideal location to launch into Europe. With our expertise in the field, and the growing number of companies searching for the ideal candidate in the region we are looking forward to our upcoming launch and a bright future in the German technology recruitment market.