Summer Months

Mid July and August are traditionally a little quieter for recruiters as everyone is on holiday! (Alas not me this year with a young baby!)
This year, however, we haven't really stopped as fewer requirements provides us with time to concentrate on other activities.

Fusion Investments, the recruitment investment business that I run is in negotiations with a number of existing agencies that are looking for an investment of either, money, infrastructure or expertise to build, grow and exit in the future. There are a couple of likely prospects that I am hopeful of completeing some time during Q4 2010 so watch this space.
The summer is a good time for reflection about business direction and if you are looking for an ivestment or exit, please do give me a call. We regularly receive a number of enquiries, purely making contact for some time in the future or for information and we welcome all contact. We try and offer sage advice to recruitment owners and start ups, which includes encouragement as well as discouragement where necessary. We have been approached by lots of job boards in the past months which is a sign that there is still plenty of ideas of how to improve on the current formats which will be great for the industry. We do own a job board and again continue to welcome fresh ideas.
A success story for us is from a business of ours called SNS. SNS were a new start up business that have been trading for 4 months. The MD, had been an undervalued recruiter working in a niche IT market for a number of years. SNS specialise in EPOS and Networking recruitment.
We set them up with an office, salary, car and IT infrstructure as well as a job board access etc and delivery support from the main group. The MD has unlmited access to us for delivery, business processing, support and advice if he wants to use it!
They now have regular permanent placements and contractors working and an extra sales staff member to push business further. Its a great model and I will ask the MD to write something about his experiences of Fusion Recruitment Investment in the coming weeks.

We are looking for businesses particularly in the North West, Midlands, Scotland and the South East. Call me on 0117 370 3076 for an informal discussion.

The other activity occupying a significant amoungt of my time is recruitment compliance. I have done a number of assignments over the past couple of years reviewing pre-engagement and pre-employment checks for agencies and corporates and it's a complex subject. The recruitment industry is still getting to grips with it as legislative, regulatory and client-led demands are made on the recruiter to gather pre-engagement information. Some are reasonable, others are impractical and some clients are in danger of making it impossible to do business with them! The current project is well underway and was scheduled by the organisation to run over the summer to minimise impact on the business in quieter times.

Outside of work, family life is great - We are still getting to Topsham most weekends, although as Theo is becoming more active, its becoming harder to keep him entertained on the boat. We have had a couple of long weekends and are off for a week in early September.

Call me if you would like to discuss the above on 0117 370 3076 or email jonny.hiles@fusioninvestments.co.uk

www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Director - Manchester

The Fusion roadshow moves on.....

Director - IT & Business Change Recruitment
North West

We will be launching a new North West based IT & Business Change Recruitment Business in 2010.

The Opportunity
We are seeking a Managing Director to shape, launch and build a new IT Recruitment Business. You will be involved right at the outset with naming, branding and designing the business strategy together with the assistance of a very successful management team of a Recruitment plc.

The new business will be yours to run and build, using the support and infrastructure of the recruitment plc to make the business a success.
Furthermore, you will need to recruit a team and offices will be provided in a central location. The business will not be restricted by location.
We are keen to attract the best and this is a salaried role, with equity in the new business.

The Person
You will be a proven IT Recruiter, with an established network in the North West market.
You will be ambitious.
You will be entrepreneurial, and have your own ideas about building a successful IT Recruitment Business.
You will lead by example. You will be passionate about IT Recruitment.

You may have already run your own or someone elses business, or be an employee looking for the next step. We are open to ideas!

To apply, send a profile to Jonny Hiles or call for an informal conversation. All communication is treated in strict confidence.

This is a genuine and unique opportunity and we look forward to discussing ideas with you.

Email address is jonny.hiles@fusioninvestments.co.uk or call 0117 3703076

Recruiter in need of investment? Recruitment Start up? Recruitment M&A? - www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Jonny Hiles

Recruitment Investment Opportunities

The recruitment market continues to gather momentum and new opportunities are available for ambitious recruiters.

Wanted: Recruitment Businesses. Start up or established recruitment companies wanted. - http://www.fusioninvestments.co.uk/invest/


We are actively looking for recruitment acquisition / recruitment investment opportunities in 2010 so if you are exiting or looking for investment, call me on 0117 370 3076 for an informal and confidential conversation.

Jonny Hiles
www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Hot Vacancies

Top couple of urgent live contract roles from the network -

1) Polaris / Product Writer Developer
3 months Contract Vacancy based in the Midlands
The job holder will be responsible for the programming of pricing rate reviews in the Polaris product writer software. They will also be responsible for testing Polaris deliveries using Microfocus's automated testing software 'TestPartner'. This is an urgent requirement starting asap for a leading insurance business. We have interview slots available for tomorrow!

2) Onsite Resourcing Manager
3 months contract based in Swindon
Contract opportunity for a professional onsite recruiter. Specifically, the role is sourcing against multiple perm vacancies from Direct and 3rd part agency suppliers.
Starting ASAP

If you are interested in the above, please drop me a line on 0845 117 0 115 or jonny@recruitment-hub.com

Whilst you are here - why not learn a bit more about me by visiting other pages on the blog - http://jonnyhub.blogspot.com

May

Well, what do you know, the summer has arrived! (I am aware that I speak to soon but this is the 4th straight day or cloudless skies!)
We have all spent a few days basking in the sun over the weekend and already, the office air conditioning has broken down and our office manager is spending considerable time trying to negotiate the definition of room temperature. Is it 20 degrees or 25? Wikipedia explains more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_temperature

The second of the may bank holidays is nearly upon us and we again have had a record month. This year has been terrific for IT and Finance recruitment and as our main specialisms, we have made the most of the opportunities. I have been mapping where we place most of our business and watching the map evolve over the past 12 months, some of the biggest customers of last year have now cut back whilst others have come through in even greater numbers. Financial services is the primary industry for us and we have seen an overall increase in contractor numbers over the year, despite some the cutbacks with individual accounts. Contractor rates have increased as well as demand has increased.

Outside of Financial Services, we have recently launched a new brand, specialising in the retail market. We have supplied a number of large retailers over the years and have some well established relationships. We were approached via Fusion Investments for funding and support to launch a specialist brand and we were so impressed with the MD, his energy, passion and business plan, that we were delighted to welcome him onboard. The business is now up and running and has already made contractor placements.

If you are looking to make the most of the upturn, Fusion is a specialist recruitment investment business. We invest in start ups and existing recruitment businesses and again, looking for further opportunities so call if you would like to discuss a new venture / Joint Venture or an exit plan. My number with Fusion in 0117 370 3076.

The Hub
The Hub - The Hub is a network of recruitment specialists utilising a centralised delivery, back office and support function – or hub – hence the name.

Through partnership, The Hub provides the delivery capability, infrastructure & support of a recruitment plc to independent recruiters utilising our significant resources.

The Hub is part of a recruitment plc – one of the largest independent recruitment organisations in the UK with a multi-discipline delivery capability. Browse these pages to learn more about The Hub how we can help you to open up new channels and maximise revenue from your existing business.

Outside of work, we have spent the past few weekends in Topsham now that the boat is back on the water. Topsham is just gorgeous and we really enjoy our days out on the River Exe. Theodore has had his first couple of gentle sailing trips down the river and seems to have taken to it. We are taking it easy as we don't want to scare him - we are working up to a Dartmouth trip soon. I have my first boys weekend away planned with some of my old crew-mates from the round the world race f, although Domino is very different from the 60' Ocean racing yacht that we were on, but I am sure will be equally enjoyable.


If you would like to discuss any of the above, please contact me on 0845 117 0115 or email - jonny@recruitment-hub.com.

Website for The Hub - www.recruitment-hub.com
Website for Fusion - www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Hope all are well?

Jonny Hiles

500+ UK Recruitment Directors!

I am pleased to announce that membership of the UK Recruitment Directors Group has today passed the 500 member mark. The Linkedin Group provides a forum for networking and sharing views / news with fellow recruitment industry leaders.

The Group is free to join and membership is open to recruitment directors and business leaders. Membership includes independent niche agenices as well as board directors of large global agencies. Further details via http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=1962486&trk=


Information about me can be found at http://jonnyhub.blogspot.com

Recruitment Investment - http://www.fusioninvestments.co.uk
Split Fee Recruitment - http://www.recruitment-hub.com or

Jonny Hiles

International Recruitment

We have been presented with an opportunity to expand our services internationally by one of our customers - a global corporation. They have numerous offices covering most countries and globally, they recruit a lot of perms and contractors. They would like us to extend our services to fullfill their needs internationally so all in all, a great opportunity! The trouble is, can we service it?

We have long supplied abroad, principally in Europe and in all honesty, we probably could have won more non-uk business if we had asked for it. With global job board access, mature databases and sophisticated relationships and network, we can pretty much find a candidate to work anywhere and so its not necessarily the sourcing that has held us back, its the; how do we process the business? question.

So a project of mine over the past couple of weeks has been to look into how could we supply into a couple of key territories? how does recruitment work in Latin America, APAC, USa etc? What are the rates? What are the legalities or setting up a business in X country? Do they have a contract market etc? etc etc.

Given the size of the recruitment industry, I am amazed that there is not a guide somewhere to how do you recruit in x country? or at least an overview! My first point of call was REC whose only focus is the UK, so were unable to help. I have run numerous google searches and drowned in irrelevent information and search results. I have spoken to consulates - although helpful and polite, most did not have recruitment specific information. I have viewed websites like Monster etc but they really don't appear to have much presence in some of the territories that I am looking for. I have posted questions on forums, but not had much response. AARGH! Where to go now??

This is an appeal for information!

Can anyone recommend information sources or share experiences of recruiting in the following regions -
South / Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Argentina)
Asia - Pacific (Malaysia, Hing Kong, Singapore)
USA
and while we're at it, we may as well bundle the other European countries in as well?

Ideally job boards, how it works, where to go, can we do it etc? Anyone done it? What's good bad, do's and dont's etc etc.

I am happy to post the information and build a repository for use by others, unless there is one already that I don't know of! (Please tell me!)

I am grateful for any advice, information or any experiences that you can share and please forward this post onwards to maximise the exposure. The more contributors, the better the information!

It's a great opportunity for us and even if we decide that we can't service the business, i would hope that its for a good and genuine reason, rather than declining because we're simply unsure.

Hope all is well and I welcome your comments!

Jonny Hiles
The Hub
www.recruitment-hub.com

Investing in Recruitment

Hello all, just a quick interim message to let you all know what I have been up to and why I haven't blogged in a while.
The market is busy and our ventures have seen huge activity over the past 6 weeks.

The Hub - www.recruitment-hub.com has benefited from the uplift in the market as our partners have been swamped with vacancies. The Hub is a flexible resource and we have been providing a valuable overflow option to our customers with some great results! As always, we are looking for new partners so call if you would like to discuss!

My work with Fusion - www.fusioninvestments.co.uk has generated two new recruitment ventures which we are very excited about. Fusion is a specialist recruitment investment business that I am running as an interim. We invest in start ups and existing recruitment businesses and again, looking for further opportunities so call if you would like to discuss a new venture / Joint Venture or an exit plan.

I will get time to blog in more detail over the next week or so but I was conscious that I hadn't updated in a while. Home life is great by the way!

Hope all is well?

Jonny

www.recruitment-hub.com

Theodore Hiles

Thank you all for your kind messages and wishes for Jojo, Theodore and I. Theodore Hiles arrived on Saturday 30th January weighing in a 8lbs, 10 ounces, a perfect baby boy.

The experience is just magical and despite my protestations about not looking south before the labour, I saw him being born. The labour was straightforward and fairly swift - only 8 hours from waters breaking to arrival, so Jo wasn't too exhausted but the labour wasn't so fast that it was out of control.
Watching Jo go through the pain and effort to produce our son is just the single greatest thing that I will ever witness.

Since the birth, life has been turned on its head. We were warned constantly that we would be tired, but until they arrive home, you cannot believe how tired you actually are. Jo bears the brunt of the sleep deprivation whilst I try and maintain a diurnal life because of work. I am sure that life will settle down at some point but other things which I now notice are a) our previously tidy, modern and slightly minimalist home, has been wrecked!; b) it takes huge amounts of planning and energy to leave home!; c) because we lack the energy and will to go anywhere and spend any money, our bank balance is unnaturally healthy for late in the month!; d) he doesnt like outfits, his pram, his moses basket or some of the other really expensive things that we bought for him!; e) baby clothes with poppers all the way down the front are the easiest and he likes them, he doesnt like things that have to go over his head!; f) always have a towell or something handy to stem the flow for the times that he decides to 'go' when you are mid way through a nappy change! I could go on but the ultiimate lesson is that I must enjoy every day!

I promise not to bore you with constant updates from now on, but as you had been so kind with your interest, messages and wishes, I thought that I should add an entry.

Today, I start my first full week back in the office from paternity and I feel good, having had a good sleep last night. I know that there are a number of messages and emails to which will respond and I am working my way through over the next day or two but if you need to discuss, please give me a call on 0845 117 0 115. As ever check out The Hub Website - http://www.recruitment-hub.com and see our Twitter feed for the latest from us!

Jonny Hiles
The Hub (Recruitment Hub)
http://www.recruitment-hub.com or http://jonnyhub.blogspot.com

Director - IT Recruitment North West

The Hub has been retained by a recruitment plc, that will be launching a new North West based IT Recruitment Business in 2010.

The Group is a recruitment plc with ambitious plans to launch a new IT Recruitment brand in the North West.

The Opportunity
The Group are seeking a Managing Director to shape, launch and build a new IT Recruitment Business. You will be involved right at the outset with naming, branding and designing the business strategy with the assistance of the very successful management team of the plc. The new business will be yours to run and build, using the support and infrastructure of the £120m +recruitment group. Furthermore, you will recruit a team and offices will be provided in a central location. The business will not ne restricted by location.
We are keen to attract the best and this is a salaried role, with equity in the new business.

The Person
You will be a proven IT Recruiter, with an established network in the North West IT market.
You will be ambitious.
You will be entrepreneurial, and have your own ideas about building a successful IT Recruitment Business.
You will lead by example. You will be passionate about IT Recruitment.

You may have already run your own or someone elses business, or be an employee looking for the next step. We are open to ideas!

To apply, send a profile to Jonny Hiles at The Hub to arrange an informal conversation. All communication is treated in strict confidence.

This is a genuine and unique opportunity and we look forward to discussing ideas with you.

More about The Hub @ http://www.recruitment-hub.com
Email me at jonny @ recruitment-hub. com

Pushing Social Media

The necessity for business presence in social media is now commonly accepted and well-documented although a crucial starting point for any business building an online network is still their own website: the shop window to their services. We as a business work hard to demonstrate our grasp of new recruitment technology and practices and having just revamped the website, one of the key additions that has generated comment is the introduction of a Twitter feed.

The Twitter feed serves three purposes - 1) to demonstrate that we are a leading edge recruiter, using cutting edge practices to generate the best available candidates for our partner vacancies and 2) to provide a live news feed for us to advertise vacancies, links, jobs, news etc. 3) To maximise exposure of the brand across multiple channels and increase SEO.

We find this technology hugely successful and Twitter in particular has the potential to become the worlds largest job board. As a business, you either adapt to the new technologies and practices or you fall behind and use the various forms of social media allow you to push the brand and message to an audience at very low cost. Once you have set up the accounts, the feeds and branded them, the ongoing cost should be modest if not free! The key investment is time.

As a regular reader may know, we have been working closely with Sticky Media for some time and they are offering an extremely competitive deal for companies wishing to bring their website up to date and push the brand yet further.

The offer is as follows -

The offer is a Live Twitter or Blog Feed on your web site! (£75 +VAT)*

Leading Edge Recruiter grasping the power of Social Media? Want to prove to your customers that you know what you are doing with Social Media?
Keeping a website fresh and up to date can be a costly process in both time and money; particularly when also juggling Twitter contacts, Blog articles and any other online interaction. We have been busy working with our customers developing a cost effective social media strategy, maximising brand and product exposure across the various media channels.

We have developed a very cost effective product that can be added to an existing website from only £75 +vat, thereby avoiding expensive redevelopment, but still keeping your site bang up to date.

Sticky Media can integrate a live Twitter feed or a Live Blog feed to existing websites for £75. This will update automatically, keeping your website fresh, and using your company web site as the hub of your online network - exactly as it should be. Post all of your vacancies to Twitter - increase traffic – maximise brand awareness.

For an example of a recently completed client project please visit http://www.recruitment-hub.com – each page has a Twitter feed with real time vacancies and update; the 'News' page is automatically populated from the director's blog - keeping news up to date automatically, at minimal effort to the director.

We are only offering this product at this price for a limited number of clients and as a member of the UK Recruitment Directors Group, you qualify for the discount. We will even help you set up a Twitter Account if you haven’t started using one yet!

For further information and to discuss viability, please contact me via mike@stickymediagroup.co.uk or 0845 872 1942.

(£75 +VAT – subject to availability and viability.)


The Sticky Media site is http://www.stickymediagroup.co.uk where you will find further info. I dont often push another companies products, but really feel that this is an excellent offer from a reliable source and they won't be offering the £75 deal for ever!

Jonny Hiles
The Hub - www.recruitment-hub.com

The Hub - The Hub is a network of recruitment specialists utilising a centralised delivery, back office and support function – or hub – hence the name.

Through partnership, The Hub provides the delivery capability, infrastructure & support of a recruitment plc to independent recruiters utilising our significant resources.

The Hub is part of a recruitment plc – one of the largest independent recruitment organisations in the UK with a multi-discipline delivery capability. Browse these pages to learn more about The Hub how we can help you to open up new channels and maximise revenue from your existing business.

400+ Members of the UK Recruitment Directors Group

UK Recruitment Directors

The UK Recruitment Directors Group on Linkedin has today passed the 400 member milestone.
The UK Recruitment Directors Group provides a forum for Directors of UK based Recruitment Businesses to network and share views and news with fellow industry leaders.

The Group now has over 400 Directors, actively participating in discussions on the forums and has seen huge growth in the past couple of months.

Jonny Hiles, founder of the UK Recruitment Directors Group has been thrilled at the success and growth of the group and has ambitious plans to integrate the group into other Hub project and services such as The Recruitment Wave.

More about The UK Recruitment Directors Group can be found at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=1962486&trk=

For further information on The Hub, please visit - www.recruitment-hub.com

The Hub's projects are listed on The Hub's projects page -

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the UK Recruitment Directors Group or The Hub, please contact Jonny Hiles on 0845 117 0115

New Site

With the upturn in 2010 and a general need to update what we do, we are redesigning our website. - http://www.recruitment-hub.com

The new site should clearly define what we do and include news and latest updates from our solcial media channels. We also have a projects page for ventures such as Fusion or Recruitment Wave.

The release is a test version which will be live for 24 hours to gather feedback and test links / funtionality etc. I therefore would appreciate your comments / feedback on the site - please mail to jonny@recruitment-hub.com

I have used Sticky Media Group as the designers / developers - www.stickymediagroup.com.

Hope you are all well and enjoying a positive start to 2010?

Jonny Hiles
The Hub
www.recruitment-hub.com

PS. you may need to refresh your browser if you had visited the old site recently. On the new site, there is a picture of a chain on the home page!

PPS. Still no baby news!

J

Fusion

The eagle eyed amongst you and in particular those following a link from Linkedin may have noticed the introduction of Fusion Investments to my profile.

At the outset it is important to state that The Hub is still my focus and the primary business. The Hub is a specialist split fee recruitment brand and for more details please visit www.recruitment-hub.com
The Hub provides a delivery partnership to independent recruitment businesses thereby improving their delivery capability. The Hub is growing as the popularity of split fees grows in the recruitment industry.

Fusion is a specialist investment company, specialising in the recruitment industry and investing in recruiters. Fusion provides funding to start ups and new businesses as well as acquisition of established recruitment agencies.
Fusion is actively looking for new investment / acquisition opportunities.

Fusion is an initiative that I have been involved in for some time but had not accepted a formal role with but I am providing specialist consultancy to them and enjoying it greatly. For more on Fusion, please visit www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

As for everything else - No baby news yet, even though I am asked by everyone I speak with and the market is busy so happy days!

Hope all is well and speak soon!

Jonny

PS. Fusion pays a bounty for successful introductions - for more info please call 01179 370 3077.

J

PPS. I hadnt realised that the silly pic in the last post was so big and visible! Never mind.

New Year = New Job(s)

Happy New Year!
I am sorry that it has taken me until the 12th to write an update and as you sit with bated breath, No, its not because I have been on paternity leave!

As everyone is constantly asking; Joanne is good, a little tired and very much looking forward to having the baby. She has really enjoyed the pregnancy and I am sure will miss being pregnant, but is very excited about the arrival and finding our whether we have a son or a daughter. We have names picked and the baby will arrive in the next 3 weeks or so - watch this space!

I will obviously take some paternity leave, but I shall check emails and colleagues will be able to answer any queries whilst I am away. The main line number is 0845 117 0 115 and the email address is jonny@recruitment-hub.com

I will hopefully get the opportunity to blog again before the baby arrives!

New Year = New Job is a phrase that has been bandied around the industry for years and used in numerous recruitment campaigns. There is undoubtedly sentiment in the statement and January is a very busy period for recruiters.
The weather in 2010 has certainly had an affect on the whole of the UK and the recruitment industry is as affected as any because decision makers have been absent from work or interviewees being unable to attend interviews. A busy IT recruiter that I know had 7 interviewees cancel in one day with a single client and most businesses will have lost revenues because their candidates failed to attend selection.

Most of our staff made it in last week as the majority live locally but all have been refreshed by the Christmas break so are definitely up for it. Activity levels are good and we are the market feels busy with a good supply of candidates.

We are of course looking for new Recruitment Partners and vacancies so if you have had a busy start to 2010 and are struggling to source for all your vacancies, please get in touch!

That's it for now, keep your fingers crossed for us and watch this space!

Jonny

1) The Hub is a split fee recruitment business.
2) Send vacancies that you are unable or struggling to fill to us.
3) We will source candidates and present a short list to you.
4) You brand the candidates and send the shortlist to the client.
5) When the placement is made, we split the fee.

The Hub is part of a £100m + recruitment group and uses their combined delivery capability and infrastructure to deliver applications for our recruitment partners. Our recruitment partners generate the vacancy, we find the candidates, the partner maintains contact with the client, we speak to the candidate and split the fee when the placement is made. If that could be of use, for any vacancies that you struggle with, then please let me know.
Info about The Hub can be found at http://www.recruitment-hub.com