South sees jobs surge

Southern counties are seeing a surge in job vacancies.

Jobs board brightonandhovejobs.com’s survey of Brighton & Hove businesses shows more than a third (36%) of employers plan to create new jobs and recruit over the next 12 months, while 17% said they anticipate higher than average growth which could lead to new jobs. Just 4.3% said they were looking to cut headcount.

Meanwhile, across county borders in Hampshire, Ringwood-based agency The Work Shop has seen job vacancies on their books soar by 25% compared with this time last year.

Vacancies include general office administration positions, design engineers, customer service and account managers.

http://www.recruiter.co.uk/1008469.article?cmpid=REC04&cmptype=newsletter&email=true

Manufacturing survey shows increase in UK output

Manufacturing survey shows increase in UK output | News | The Engineer.

British manufacturing saw a sharp increase over the last three months, according to a new survey, but companies are still holding back investment.

EEF, the manufacturers association, said its measures of output and new orders reached 30 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively, over the second quarter of the year – the highest levels since the survey began in 1995 and up from eight per cent and two per cent in Q1.

However, 65 per cent of companies said uncertainty over domestic demand was limiting new investment, while 46 per cent blamed uncertainty over future tax changes and over half citing lack of finance or decision by a parent company.

‘Manufacturers are pulling in more export orders on the back of a recovering world economy and a better outlook for the domestic market is giving companies some confidence to recruit again,’ said Lee Hopley, EEF chief economist.

‘But manufacturers are very aware that economic headwinds could still pick up again as there are still risks to a sustained recovery. In the short term this requires a budget that delivers tax reform and deficit reduction in a way that provides some stability and gives manufacturers the confidence to invest.’

EEF forecasts 3.5 per cent manufacturing growth this year and next, while engineering output, which fell by 15 per cent in 2009, is expected to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2010.

The balance of firms expecting output to increase was 22 per cent, while the figure for those expecting increased orders was 20 per cent. A balance of 15 per cent expected to recruit new staff over the next quarter.

The survey was conducted between 5 May and 26 May with 547 companies across the engineering sectors responding.

EEF’s balance measures represent the difference between the number of firms that answer ’yes’ to each question in the survey and the number that answer ’no’.

Temp recruitment to rise

REC JobsOutlook: Temp recruitment to rise

A third of employers are planning to increase temporary worker headcount, according to the latest JobsOutlook from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

The outlook also reveals that short-term demand for permanent staff seems also to be building, with a net positive balance of 9%, higher than last month’s figure.

Roger Tweedy, the REC’s director of research, says: “There are increasingly positive signs of a gradual upturn in employers’ hiring intentions, probably linked to greater post-election stability and a feeling that a Conservative government is likely to be best for future job creation. Recruiters should also take heart from the fact that greater fluidity seems to be returning to the jobs market with recent survey data from Gfk NOP suggesting that up to six million workers are now planning to move jobs.”

REC JobsOutlook: Temp recruitment to rise | News | Recruiter.

Demand for electronics specialists on rise,

Demand for electronics specialists on rise, says ATA Selection | News | Recruiter.

Electronics specialists are increasingly in demand, according to technical recruiter ATA Selection.

The firm says it has recently helped manufacturer of satellite and cable peripherals Global Invacom recruit electronics design, mechanical design and embedded system engineers, while ATA has also placed several engineers with Qioptiq, which produces thermal weapon sights for the British Army as well as technology for civilian and military aircraft and satellites.

Andrew Hardaker, managing director of ATA Selection, says: “We have particularly noticed a rise in vacancies for electronics design engineers in smaller companies, although larger companies are also looking for qualified electronics engineers.”

Engineering

Engineering | Analysis | Recruiter.

Engineers are in demand despite looming cuts in the UK that will hit public sector projects hard. But recruiters may have to think differently

Despite the spectre of public sector cuts as the government implements a £6bn package of savings in the sector this year, demand for engineers is spread over a wide array of sectors and international destinations.

Both employers and recruiters have had to look at innovative solutions in this particular war for talent.

“We’re competing with other industries that traditionally have a sexier image than rail. However, Network Rail deliver 5,000 engineering projects a year, and has some of the biggest civil engineering projects in Europe – Cross-rail, Thameslink, Birmingham New St revamp, Read-ing,” says Adrian Thomas, Network Rail’s head of resourcing.

According to David Leyshon, managing director at CBSbutler, this war for talent is fought on international fronts.

“Those that are reliant on the domestic market, on defence programmes like Trident and some of the government sector projects, including local government ones, are going to see those things shelved.

“Most process engineers and mechanical, civil engineers and project managers continue to be in demand overseas. In the emerging developing countries in Asia, the Middle East and Far East and South America, demand is pretty robust.”

Those that are reliant on the domestic market, on defence programmes like Trident and some of the government sector projects, including local government ones, are going to see those things shelved.

Despite engineers seemingly able to pick and choose between employers and even the country in which they would like to work, UK employers are looking further than the right diploma from the right institution, says Richard Hamer, education director and head of early career programmes at BAE Systems.

“We recruit a significant number of systems and software engineers, but our recruitment policies tend to reach further than specific skills-sets.

“We look carefully at softer skills and place emphasis on identify-ing candidates who can show the right attitudinal, communication and behavioural skills.”
Recruitment delivery manager at TfL Alan MacKinnon adds that the sector also suffers from a leadership gap, lacking engineers with strong people and management skills.

MacKinnon says that trying to attract the right candidates with benefits is not always a solution.

“It is sometimes difficult to attract good engineers for permanent roles, even with very competitive reward and benefits packages. The temporary labour market offers better daily rates but not necessarily the best career opportunities for engineers in the longer term.”

Ultimately with competition so fierce, according to Russell Dalglish, managing director at Talascend, success in this sector may lie in taking a different approach.
For example, Dalglish says that the technical recruiter’s US operation was faced with trying to place a number of computer aided design (CAD) specialists in the oil and gas sector in Houston. With the recession in the US hitting Detroit’s automotive sector hard, good CAD designers found themselves out of work.

“If you have experience of CAD for automobile and you are applying to an oil company, you are probably not going to get through the front door because they are going to go for the guys with oil and gas experience.

“What we did was link with oil and gas companies, telling them that these guys have got 20 years of CAD experience in auto-mobiles but can be retrained.

“We took people out of Detroit, put them through retraining courses to work in oil and gas and placed them. The guys in Houston are getting top class talent.”

RPOs are here to stay – get over it

RPOs are here to stay – get over it | Opinion | Recruiter.

Outsourcing remains a dirty word for some in the industry, but agencies must learn to work with RPOs

Having attended the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2010 earlier this year, I was disappointed at the booing by the attendees whenever the acronym RPO [recruitment process outsourcing] or the names of key players was mentioned. I was uncomfortable, but certainly not surprised.

Since our inception in the UK, recruitment agents have always been wary of and reluctant to embrace relationships with third parties. I remember very clearly when I was a consultant for a national IT recruitment agency working with a supposedly ’independent’ vendor management company.

I duly submitted my CVs via the agreed portal and followed due process only to find one of my submitted candidates had subsequently been interviewed and offered a role via the agency who owned the ’independent’ vendor manager. These situations should now be few and far between as the RPO industry has matured, although the memories still appear to remain.

The use of RPOs has increased over the last few years and this is going to continue for some time to come as the practice becomes widely recognised and accepted. In fact, in the UK, most clients have always outsourced their recruitment, just in a crude fashion with multiple suppliers, processes and terms.

Organisations are always looking to improve their recruitment effectiveness while driving through cost efficiencies, and an RPO can deliver this.
So, having established that RPO companies are here to stay and increase market share, what can agencies do to embrace these relationships, rather than fight them, and what can RPOs do to build long-term relationships with suppliers?

The first lesson is that both types of organisation need each other. A good RPO will never fill 100% of its client’s roles via direct sources. Its role is to source the best candidates possible within agreed timescales, and this often means using an agency.

In a nutshell, RPO is here to stay, no matter how hard agencies fight. Recruitment consultancies must adapt and build long-term relationships with RPOs, as must RPOs with agencies.

For sure, RPOs are getting better at direct sourcing, and this will continue, but there will still be a place for niche suppliers who have a strong, current and targeted database. Agencies can no longer rely on placing a few ads on job boards and waiting to see who responds, as this task will almost always have already been undertaken by the RPO.

With RPO growth forecast to continue, suppliers need to build a long -term relationship with their relevant account manager within the RPO. Treat an RPO as you would a client, and ensure the relationship is reciprocal.

Do not try to fight against the RPO as, ultimately, this will damage your long-term relationship with your client and the RPO. Bear in mind that most RPO contracts are over a three-to-five year period. This could be a long time to wait for your next role. If you are not getting the service you require from the RPO, speak to them and discuss your issues. If the RPO is unwilling to discuss matters, I suggest you draw a line, and concentrate your efforts on working with an RPO that treats agency relationships as a partnership.

The RPO industry must understand that our customers aren’t just clients, but also candidates and suppliers.

In a nutshell, RPO is here to stay, no matter how hard agencies fight. Recruitment consultancies must adapt and build long-term relationships with RPOs, as must RPOs with agencies. Both parties must treat each other as they would expect to be treated themselves, and embrace new ways of working.

Clients must ensure they only sign up an RPO who has a proven history of quality agency relationships, backed up by quality agency references.

With a bit of work from both parties, agencies and RPOs can live happily ever after.

Robert Leggett is managing director of Omni Resource Management Solutions (RMS), winner of Outstanding Outsourced Recruitment Provider at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2010, supported by Innovate CV

£12m plan to support business

£12m plan to support business | News | The Engineer.

Edinburgh Napier University has announced a £12m plan to support over 3,000 enterprises through the economic downturn.

Central to the move will be the launch of nine institutes, designed to act as one-stop shops for businesses, to access expertise, research, facilities and product testing. EU project grants worth £8m and £4m of Scottish Government funding will be used by the institutes to engage with business more effectively.

The approach, which has been welcomed by CBI Scotland, will help develop over 300 products and services, and create more than 300 full-time equivalent new jobs.

The nine institutes will offer direct technical support, grants, specialist skills, training, facilities and equipment in sectors identified as key growth areas by the Scottish Government. These include construction, creative industries, digital markets, energy, financial services, food and drink, forest industries, life sciences, manufacturing, textiles, tourism and enabling technologies.

The institutes will sit alongside the university’s existing Transport Research Institute, Employment Institute and Edinburgh Institute of Leadership and Management Practice. Together, the nine institutes will work with Scottish and international companies of all sizes – from small start-up companies and public bodies, such as the NHS, to multinationals such as Diageo, Johnson and Johnson, NCR, GlaxoSmithKline and Jardine Matheson.

The move addresses the call from the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council to improve the transfer of research from Scottish universities into the Scottish industrial base, to make a direct improvement in the country’s economic development, productivity and innovation.

The principal of the university, Prof Dame Joan Stringer, said: ’The Institutes give businesses an easy access point to the wide range of expertise within the university. Whether a company is looking for management leadership skills, wants a product to be tested or wants to investigate the best scientific or technical approach, we want them to come and speak to us.’

Talent retention is top priority for employers

Talent retention is top priority for employers | News | Recruiter.

Retaining talent is the most pressing recruitment challenge for employers over the next six months, according to a new survey from PA and office support recruiter Crone Corkill.

The survey shows that 29% of employers identified retaining talent as a key recruitment challenge, while 17% are aiming to improve staff performance and productivity.

The survey also shows that 13% want to manage recruitment costs more effectively.

Conversely the same number (12%) said managing restructuring programmes  was a key recruitment challenge as those that aim to attract new talent over the next six months.

http://www.recruiter.co.uk/1005577.article?cmpid=REC01&cmptype=newsletter

Meggitt PLC – Heatric win is show of confidence from energy market

Meggitt PLC – Heatric win is show of confidence from energy market

Heatric win is show of confidence from energy market 20 May 2010

Heatric contract shows confidence returning to its energy markets Heatric, in Poole, Dorset, UK, has won a £3.5 million contract for its specialist heat exchangers.   Its biggest order for 18 months, the Meggitt operating company says this reflects the return of confidence to its oil and gas markets.    Heatric’s prospects book is also healthy. Some 18 heat exchangers—for gas compression aftercooling—will be delivered by the end of 2010 for a brand-new ship-mounted oil and gas production system for MODEC, which specialises in constructing, selling and leasing such floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs). Heatric has grown its business in the offshore sector over 20 years where it remains the only provider of the diffusion-bonded, micro-channel heat exchangers known as printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs). PCHEs are engineered with great precision to accommodate the flow rates of individual oil and gas reservoirs and will last the lifetime of an operation. They have special advantages over conventional tubular cooling equipment.   The PCHE production process enables highly compact heat exchangers to be produced— approximately a quarter of the size as a rule of thumb—a significant advantage in offshore plant where space and weight is at a premium. In terms of operational effectiveness, Heatric’s PCHEs exemplify the extreme environment engineering that characterises sister Meggitt businesses. They can accommodate extremely high pressures—up to 600 bar—needed to overcome the pressure of wells down which waste gas may be reinjected after separation from oil.   On FPSOs, PCHEs cool the highly compressed, high temperature gas being prepared for reinjection, or piping to shore, improving the efficiency of gas compressors and conserving fuel. The high pressure integrity of Heatric PCHEs arises from a production process that eliminates joints. This results in a leak rate that is 100 times less than any competing system and therefore easily managed and controlled.   This reduces the opportunity for catastrophic failure dramatically. Heatric’s technology is unique and is reproduced nowhere else globally at this scale or effectiveness. ENDS For further information, please contact Meggitt PLC Fiona Greig, Corporate Communications Tel: 01202 597587 Editor’s notes 1.     Heatric is a Meggitt operating company.  Its main product, the printed circuit heat exchanger, was first developed in the early 1980s at the University of Sydney in Australia as part of a post-graduate research project.   In 1980, the project researchers commercialised the project,forming Heatric.   The company relocated to Poole in the UK when it was acquired five years later by Meggitt.   Its workforce numbers 120 today, supported by regional offices in the USA and Australia. 2.     Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Meggitt PLC is an international group operating in North America, Europe and Asia. Known for its specialised extreme environment engineering, Meggitt is a world leader in civil and military aerospace equipment, sensing systems, combat support systems and defence systems training.

Red tape costs UK business £88.3bn

Red tape costs UK business £88.3bn | News | Recruiter.

The cost of red tape to UK business has now reached £88.3bn, up £11bn on last year, according to the latest BCC’s latest Burdens Barometer.

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, says: “The Burdens Barometer highlights a clear problem for UK business. The cost of dealing and complying with new laws and regulations over the last 12 years has been far too high.

“During this critical time for the economy, we need businesses to be driving recovery and creating jobs. But, the government must play its part by putting the brakes on the relentless flow of red tape.”