Things are looking up for Graduate Recruitment in 2014

“2014 signals a boom in UK Graduate employment opportunities” claims Jason Staniforth – Digital Marketing Specialist for Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software.

“It has previously been understood that you go to university, graduate, and then enter the working world to become exactly what you studied for – the harsh reality is that  this has not been the case for a number of years, and many graduates are finding  out the  hard way. 

Many of the opportunities available will be offered to those who have previously worked for the company, meaning graduates who took advantage of paid internships, industrial placements or vacation work will have the upper hand in the grad-race for paid work in a related sector. 

Technology advances and the rapid uptake of social media vehicles hasn’t gone unnoticed by employers, with an increase in advertising spend being dedicated to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even YouTube to reach prospect graduate employees, this has resulted in less spend on traditional methods such as graduate directories and sector/ local guides. 

Click HERE for the full article.

Skills Testing & Screening - What's new?

Recruiters now have at their disposal a wide variety of screening and skills testing solutions, ranging from competency based testing, aptitude testing and various types of psychometric testing, comments Tony Brookes, Sales Director at Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software. 


Brookes continues: “In addition to that, there is a variety of background screening solutions to verify that the candidate is who they say they are and that they have the experience and qualifications to match...

View the full article HERE.

Microsoft axes jobs in shift to cater for "mobile-first, cloud-first" world

I read with interest the cull of jobs at Microsoft. The giant has stirred and woken up to the fact that, according to their statistics, Microsoft's operating systems are now only used on 14% of devices, if you take into account smartphones and tablets.  Their new CEO goes on to say that they need to be “mobile-first, cloud-first".

Adopting cloud-based business applications are massively more efficient than using in-house maintained software or taking a halfway house approach of outsourcing the business application to the supplier’s own datacentre. 

At Vacancy Filler we took a fundamental approach to using Amazon Web Services, allowing us to take control of the design, build and installation of our infrastructure hosted by Amazon.  The scale of computing power on tap for us, and our customers, is simply staggering.  We simply do not need the overheads and complexity of building and maintaining our own datacentre. Instead we use Amazon’s resources to build and configure an infrastructure significantly more scalable and robust than any datacentre that we could design.  This gives us the elasticity to flex the service depending on user demand.  

Cloud computing makes our software ubiquitous.  Recruiters, Hiring Managers and Candidates can login and use our system wherever they are, and on any device they choose, without the need to buy or install a Microsoft product.  I guess the recent news at Microsoft is not altogether surprising. 

Tony Brookes

Perform ID and Criminal Record Checks Direct From Vacancy Filler Software - Coming Soon

Vacancy Filler is pleased to announce its partnership with GB Group (GBG) to provide online Identity and Criminal Record Checks on a Pay-As-You-Go basis.

Together we are able to provide two value adding services for our customers:

 - Real time Identity Check documentation validation to help bolster your Right To Work procedure

 - An integrated one-stop-shop for Enhanced, Standard (DBS/CRB Service) and Basic Disclosures (Disclosure Scotland).

The integration will add a convenient and cost-effective layer of security and peace of mind to the recruitment and onboarding processes- something we understand many of our client organisations are currently looking to do.

Just this week the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, reported that deceitful attempts to gain access to sensitive data via the recruitment process accounted for more than 50% of all internal fraud cases. Read the full article here.

To learn more about how an integrated and automated ID and Criminal Records Check can benefit your organisation, email us at sales@vacancy-filler.co.uk or you can read more on the benefits of profiling and screening your candidates in our white paper.

Vacancy Filler to Exhibit at the AoC HR Conference, Nottingham 4-5 March

Vacancy Filler has announced it is to exhibit at the AoC Human Resources Conference and Exhibition on 4th and 5th March. This conference will offer thought-provoking ideas and solutions to equip further education HR professionals to tackle the current issues facing the sector and its workforce.

Vacancy Filler has developed a full set of solutions specifically designed to eliminate the common pains that come with recruiting for the education sector.

These include the ability to shortlist candidates confidentially and objectively (adhering to the sector’s guidelines and procedures), enhancing your candidates’ experience through allowing them to complete an online application form on your organisation's careers page, as well as one click reporting capabilities around Equality and Diversity.

Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software not only allows FE & HE institutions to hire the right way, but it also streamlines the recruitment process by up to 70% to save you time and money. Thereafter the candidates can be seamlessly passed to your HR and Talent Management systems.

More information, including case studies and white papers, can be found at https://www.vacancy-filler.co.uk/Education.aspx

Are you attending the AoC Human Resources Conference and Exhibition? To learn more about Vacancy Filler’s latest innovations, to view a demonstration or to arrange a consultation during the event, call 0844 800 9376 or email sales@vacancy-filler.co.uk

Lessons Learned from the 12th HR Directors Business Summit

The #HRevent14 was a great experience for Vacancy Filler. Unlike many trade shows, the conference was aimed at the Directors and senior HR managers looking to attend many of the presentations and workshops on current developments and practices in HR. The theme was around staff retention, development and motivation as it’s clear that many businesses realise that they are unable to deliver their business strategy without having the right people in place.

I think for us in the world of HR and Recruitment, this is fairly obvious, borne out by the success stories of the organisations presenting at the conference as the financial results speak for themselves.

It’s staggering though that many businesses still don’t get it and it’s our jobs both as suppliers to the industry and the HR and Recruitment professionals we speak with, to spread the message.

Nowadays there are not only tools available to automate the recruitment process, but in doing so can focus on the quality aspects through profiling integrated as part of the process, to ensure that the cultures are aligned and staff churn is significantly reduced. The information about our people collected during the intense period of the recruitment process, can be passed on to the in-house Talent and Performance Management systems to nurture the talent.

We are excited by the developments in the industry together with the upturn in the market. We eagerly await next year’s show.

Vacancy Filler to Exhibit at HR Directors Summit @ ICC Birmingham

Vacancy Filler has announced it is to exhibit at the HR Directors Business Summit on 4th and 5th February.

The 12th Annual Event is for anyone involved seeking the latest solutions to their HR problems. The summit provides an appropriate platform to help debate the future of the HR function and its role in steering corporate strategy.

Vacancy Filler will be launching a number of new developments at the summit which will further increase the return on investment for any organisation wishing to take a more ‘in-house’ approach to hiring.

These include Asynchronous Video Interviewing, offering an alternative to phone screening or first round interviewing. Video Interviewing is time-saving as well as a way to let you see candidates’ personality and presentation, not just a list of qualifications.

Vacancy Filler partners with ERAS to provide Psychometric Testing services and are integrating their solution into the platform. Organisations can not only find the right fit for the role. The ERAS Job Analysis & Job Match tools are ideal for the identification of areas to probe at interview, for candidate sifting during the recruitment process, or for the identification of training and development needs.

Vacancy Filler provides Recruitment Process Outsourcing services, complementing your own recruitment activities, whilst making considerable savings compared with a traditional agency model. Certain of these service offerings, such as Automated Background Checks are also soon to be integrated into the platform. More information on the Vacancy Filler Platform can be found at www.vacancy-filler.co.uk/Resources.aspx

Customer Services Manager Paul Hammond commented on the importance of events such as the WTG HR Directors Summit for Vacancy Filler: “The themes of the conference events are closely aligned to our product development plan, because it is closely aligned to the needs of our HR clients. We love to attend these events to network, to learn and to contribute to the knowledge base of the industry”

Are you attending the HR Director’s Business Summit? To learn more about Vacancy Filler’s latest innovations, to view a demonstration or to arrange a consultation during the event, call 0844 800 9376 or email sales@vacancy-filler.co.uk