The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) have just posted their Report on Jobs for February. Key findings ✨ Perm placements decline again, while temp billings expand only modestly ✨ Upturn in candidate availability slows sharply ✨ Demand for staff broadly stable after drop in January My thoughts are as follows:- ✳ Perm placements only dropped modestly ✳ The temp market was always going to pick up first due to the flexibility it offers ✳ Applicants are potentially not confident in moving roles at the moment - this is counter productive as there are some great jobs out there with some very stable companies ✳ Salaries arent moving much which is to be expected ✳ I believe that there is much to be optimistic about particularly given the success of the vaccination programme So if you need help recruiting and dont have the time it takes to sift through all the applications you will receive why not call me. IT COSTS NOTHING BUT YOUR TIME UNTIL I FIND YOU A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE - What have you got to lose?

Andy Edwards, a friend and colleague, has just published an interesting course on the worldwide learning platform ‘Udemy’. It’s called “Want a new job?  Interview better than the other candidates!”.   As a behavioural psychologist, Andy has sat on the recruitment panel of many organisations and he knows what presses the interviewers’ positive buttons!  Using a unique approach borrowed from the psychology of persuasion, he will help you be seen in the best possible light and be put on the top of the pile when it comes to those job offers.   At under £25 (and Udemy sometimes has a flash-sale so you might get it at even less) Andy’s course comes with Udemy’s 100% money back guarantee.  You can even try a few of the ‘unlocked’ lectures before you decide it’s for you. Use this link to explore “Want a new job?  Interview better than the other candidates!”.  

Whether your road is bumpy and full of potholes, narrow with twists and turns or a straight three lane motorway to a final destination, it pays to have a cohesive roadmap in place, so you don't finish up at a dead end.

Let's face it, we've all done it haven't we.  Posted something on Facebook or Insta that's not exactly showing our best side... A dodgy photo, a rant, strong political views, laughing at someone else's expense... the list goes on. How many of you make your social profiles private? i.e. viewable only to your friends or followers list? How many of you allow other people to tag you in that hilarious meme or funny photo? What does your social profile say about you? Why is this important? Because as a recruiter I'm looking, and your potential employer is looking. Looking to see what the 'social' face of this person whom I might place or they might employ, is saying. What can I find out about you that isn't readily available on your CV.

Monster have made hiring trend predictions for 2021, but what is the local view? If you're interested to know the UK wide view, the link to read the full article from Monster is here. At Aspire we're interested to know if the local view reflects the national view and so have distilled the key trends highlighted within the report into 10 questions. It'll take just 2 minutes of your time to complete it and we'll share the results with you all next month - it should make for an interesting read

Find out more about a new role just in....

It feels late to be saying Happy New Year, but at the same time weird not to! My newsletter this month is  a week later than normal as I unfortunately contracted Covid over the Christmas and New Year period. Back to work and almost fighting fit now, thankful that I was able to manage it at home.

Wishing you all Happy New Year! I'm not going to dwell on the last couple of weeks of news, we all know what has happened what with Covid, Tiers, Lockdown, Brexit and Trump - there hasn't been a dull minute!   3 words To help me stay focussed this year, I've adopted a personal '3 word mantra' Consistent - Positive - Loyal Choosing a 3 word mantra helps, especially when things are tough, they serve to remind me 'what I'm about', what's important to me and when the chips are down, where I need to strive to get back to. Choose them when you're feeling positive and confident about yourself. Stick them on a post-it note, somewhere you look everyday and remind yourself of your personal mantra. My three words are important in all walks of my life, with clients, candidates, friends and family. I know when I'm having a wobble, I can work myself back towards them. What will your three words be I wonder?

While we continue to see growth in new jobs, companies are remaining cautious and temp jobs have started to overtake permanent roles in terms of popularity. So, if you’re struggling to find a permanent job or don’t want to tie yourself down to one role for a long period of time, temping could be the answer

One of my favourite moments in the week is when the latest ‘Savage Truth’ blog post lands in my inbox. What a treat!   Greg Savage is the author, and this is how he describes himself:  “With a career spanning four decades, Greg is a founder of 4 highly successful businesses, is a trusted advisor and respected voice across the global recruitment and professional services industries, and a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.”

Here are 6 Things You Can do to Help Yourself People across all industries in the UK have been affected in some way in recent months with the UK unemployment rate standing at around 4.5%. There doesn’t seem to have been a single industry that hasn’t been affected in some way or other.

We've had a busy few weeks since our last newsletter, November is looking to be a really productive month, the previous quarter was close to where we usually are. Looking forward to the next quarter it feels somewhat uncertain as to what we'll achieve, but as usual we strive to support where we can and deliver great service along the way! This month I'm sharing 3 articles on different topics, all of which are pertinent right now.