VACANCIES ACROSS THE UK RISE AT THE FASTEST PACE SINCE MAY 1998

KPMG and REC’s Report on Jobs’ for January shows a strong growth in permanent vacancies and increase in shortage of candidates available. December’s report also showed a six year peak in salary growth.

Think Global Recruitment has been assisting firms across the globe recruit accountancy and finance professionals for over 14 years.  In that time Think Global Recruitment has seen the 2000/2001 down turn and now the World Wide Global Recession.   The findings of this survey have not surprised Abigail Stevens, Managing Director.  However, she is delighted that this is a sign that the economy is strengthening.  Abigail herself has over 18 years recruitment experience and commented ‘Banks and Professional services companies often study our industry’s performance to gauge what is happening in the economy.  We were amongst the first to see the recession coming, as companies started to put recruiting new staff on hold and now we are seeing a sharp increase in the number of vacancies available, indicating the economy has to be improving.  We literally watched as it went into recession, country by country and now I am delighted we can see a similar reverse effect in most locations throughout the globe.’

  

Commenting on the latest survey results, which is carried out by Markit, Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG, said:

“Employer confidence continues to grow, with the thirst for new staff hitting a fifteen-and-a- half year high in January. In a week showing improvements to UK construction figures and growth across the Eurozone manufacturing industry, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if other sectors begin to report peaks in performance.

“Yet no one should be fooled into thinking that the road ahead will be easy to travel. Earlier this week markets across the globe fell as investors were rattled by weak data. It’s unlikely to herald a crisis, but should serve to ensure employers remain vigilant to business threats.

“The warning has been noted by employees because, although jobs are being created, January saw another decline in the number of people putting themselves on the jobs market. The preference seems to be for temporary roles, suggesting that employees are adopting a ‘try before you buy’ mentality before committing to long-term roles.”

The main finding for January are:

Further sharp rises in permanent placements and temp billings

Permanent staff placements continued to increase strongly in January, although the pace of expansion eased from the 45-month high recorded in December. Similarly, temp billings

rose at a rate only marginally slower than December’s 15-year peak.

Strongest growth of demand for staff since May 1998

Overall job vacancies rose at a sharp and accelerated rate in January. The pace of expansion was the fastest in over fifteen- and-a-half years.

Permanent salaries continue to increase markedly...

The rate of growth of permanent staff salaries remained elevated at the start of 2014, holding at a pace broadly in line with December’s six-year peak.

...amid declining availability of candidates

Further falls in staff availability were signalled in January. Both permanent and temporary candidate numbers declined at marked rates, albeit the slowest in three months.

Abigail has pointed out the last summary fact is one that we should all be aware of.   It is great news the economy is picking up.  However, this will mean more competition for good quality staff and a smaller pool to choose from.   Abigail said ‘although firm’s have learnt a little from the 2000/2001 down turn and tried hard to not decrease staff numbers, in particular trainee’s, with this recession going on so long, they had no choice.  This means that between 2014 and 2018 I am predicting demand for qualified accountants to get higher and higher and those available to decrease.’  

The good news for those using Think Global Recruitment is that, being one of the longest established international accountancy and finance recruitment consultancies, we have predicted this pattern and therefore put into place a strategy to ensure that we continue to have the best available professionals for our clients requirements.   We are also creative and always happy to talk to organisations regarding ways they can attract those hard to find accountants to join their teams.

THINK GLOBAL RECRUITMENT LAUNCH GLOBAL RECRUITMENT WEBINARS

Last month Think Global Recruitment launched ‘Global Recruitment Webinars’ allowing the company to invite industry leaders in both recruitment and accountancy to present to professionals on a host of topics.

Presented by Abigail Stevens (Managing Director– Think Global Recruitment), the first webinar discussed ‘Interview Preparation’ and was presented to an enthusiastic audience. Covering the full interview process from phone, video and all the way to face-to-face, Abigail has almost 20 years recruitment experience and has conducted literally thousands of interviews both for internal and external vacancies, covering a whole variety of roles and therefore knows every potential pitfall and is excellently placed to advise professionals seeking advice.

Although a new service line for Think Global Recruitment it is something that the company hugely enjoyed setting up and promoting. Abigail Stevens received great feedback from the participants. They all agreed that they felt far more confident and prepared for any interviews in the pipeline. All attendees that supplied feedback noted that they are more aware of how imperative it is that you tailor each application to the role and company that you are applying for.

Some top tips that were discussed in detail were:

TOP 10 TIPS TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW PROCESS

1. Research - Read up on the company and do your research. Look at web site, financials, media page etc (keen)
2. Key Skill - Know what key skills are required and whether you have them (capable/confidence)
3. Practice - Practice answering difficult questions - Put yourself in the interviewers shoes
4. Salary - Never bring up the topic of salary before the interviewer does.  It is often best to discuss salary at offer stage. Ensure they know its not all about money (keen)
5. Most important - The interview practice is invaluable. It’s better to turn down an offer than be rejected. You may decide mid-interview that you really want the role but interviews feedback shows you have already blown it by that time (first five minutes)
6. Recap - Recap through your experiences.  Know your key achievements
7. Sell Yourself - Be confident in an interview but do not rely on your CV.  Remember to sell yourself.
8. Turn weaknesses into positives
9. Questions - Prepare questions before the interview (keen)
10. Closure - Ask what the next step will be and   indicate that you are keen (keen)

  

The GlobalRecruitment Webinars are an opportunity for professionals who are considering their next career move to receive first-hand advice on such things as ‘Interview Preparation’, ‘Living and Working on Offshore Islands’ and ‘Living and Working in Emerging Markets’. We are always open to suggestions on subject matter and topics that can be discussed so please feel free to leave a comment in the space below of any suggestions of topics.  We look forward to meeting you there.

The next two webinars cover the following:

Interview Preparation - 11th July 2013 at 10:30am GMT
Living and Working on Offshore Islands - 18th July 2013 at 7pm GMT

Think Global Recruitment does Oil and Gas

Having successfully recruited exclusively for the international accounting and finance sector for over 12 years, Think Global Recruitment is delighted to announce that we are operating in a new sector. We have now got a division actively recruiting into the international Oil and Gas industry.

With this new division comes a new team, with a new team comes new clients, new clients lead to new jobs and with new jobs leads to a world of new professionals that are looking to take their career international! This excites all of us at Think Global Recruitment as nothing gives us a better feeling then meeting new people and discussing the ways in which we can improve their lives. We are a recruitment consultancy that has been built upon ensuring that we give the best service to the professionals we work with and the companies that we recruit for.  

Managing Director Abigail Stevens has been investigating this avenue for some time and has decided that now is the best time to launch it, she said; “Having successfully used our model to assist companies recruit the best Accountancy and Finance talent across the globe, we felt we could use the same model for another sector.  We wanted a sector that was not as reliant on the same economic factors, but one that sometimes found it hard to find the professionals it required on its doorstep.  That’s where we can come in and source for those hard to fill vacancies by providing applicants from overseas with the right skill set and motivation to make the move.  Oil and Gas ticked all the boxes.”

Furthermore, Operations Director Cramond Perry who has over 15 years experience in the Oil and Gas sector is equally optimistic with the path that Think Global Recruitment have taken when launching the new sector of the company and said; “ I've always been impressed by how international the teams were in the oil and gas industry generally and how mobile and flexible most of the workforce are prepared to be. I enjoyed seeing more of the world at the same time as progressing my own career and am looking forward to supporting this sector which is currently booming on buoyant commodities prices and a severe skills shortage.”

Andrew Sharp has been assigned the task of establishing the Oil and Gas department and with extensive experience not only recruiting into this sector but also on an international scale, Andrew is a great fit to make a success of  this new venture.

Having assisted hundreds of professionals to make the ever daunting international career move, nobody is better suited to give advice not only on the role and company that each professional will be applying for, but also the in-depth advice on the location and social opportunities that each location provides. Think Global is not only about helping find that perfect job for you, but also about helping you find the location that suits you best; socially, financially and professionally and that is why our vision is “Improving Lives”.

To Makeover or Not Makeover?

Happy Monday all. I know many do not like Monday's because that means a whole work week in front of them. However, if that is the case I challenge them to consider changing jobs.... Radical? Well you are in work more of your waking hours than anywhere else and if you do not enjoy those hours then you should vote with your feet. Stop! Do not rush out there and hand your notice in though. Wait will you have something else to go to. It is important not to have gaps in employment dates on your cv (resume). Believe me the amount of accountants we have seen get rejected for gaps on cvs is extremely high.

There are heaps more jobs on the market now then over the last 18 months, so if you are considering a move and felt there was nothing to go to before, take a look now. If you are an accountant our web site has some very interesting and varied roles. We specialise in moving accountants around the globe. Why not consider an overseas move? After the tough times we have had in the UK over the last couple of years, maybe its time for a clean slate... or a Make Over?

Who else will be considering a make over? Well the top CA firms seem to have been giving it a go, recently PricewaterhouseCoopers have made the much anticipated change to pwc. Causing a little confusion as to if they are now 'pwc' or 'PwC'. Their logo seems to indicate 'pwc', but the media article on their sight indicates PwC, then why change their PwC logo other than to take off 'PricewaterhouseCoopers'? BDO also seem to be dropping off the various other names they have historically had to simply be BDO. This seems a good move to me. Rumour has it Ernst & Young will be next for the make over.

The question is, why spend such a large budget on a change, just as everyone is tight for money and coming out of a recession? Maybe that is just it. The firms have made a lot of change, redundancies, cut backs etc to survive this period and maybe feel they need a fresh image to forget the past.

Any comments on why companies change their brand? The pro's and the con's of doing so? ....