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Why is January the Best Time to Find a Job?

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January 2020 – Is the Best Time to Find a Job

During the Christmas period it can be a struggle to search for a new job, but once that’s over it is a brand-new year, and some say it is the perfect opportunity to find a new career. January has been classed as the hunting season when it comes to finding a new job. So, if you are one of those people that has ‘find a new job’ on their New year’s resolution list then listed below are some reasons why January is the perfect month to job hunt and what you can do to prepare yourself.

Why is it the best month?

Employers are looking for new employees

In the New Year employers are feeling motivational and are eager to see what talent they can employ. They have a clearer mindset at this time of the year as they are less likely to be tied down to deadlines and projects. As January is the month for job hunting, there is a lot more competition for employers to choose from. Having a greater talent pool will enable employers to choose carefully resulting in a greater chance of your CV needing to impress them.

New budgets

The first few months of the year are normally the best times to apply for new jobs. Many job deadlines close at the end of January, so it allows for candidates plenty of time to apply within the New Year. Employers are also given a new budget at the start of every year, so this gives candidates a better chance at finding a new job and being hired. The salary is the main factor a candidate will look at when applying for a new job, so linking this with a company’s new budgets may mean the company will have more money to give to candidates.

What you can do to prepare yourself

Update your CV

When applying for new job in January it is essential that you keep your CV updated to keep track of your most recent skills and progression. Your CV is the first thing an employer will look at and it is your chance to stand out from the crowd, therefore making it a crucial factor when you are trying to start a new career. The key areas of your CV that you will need to keep updated are:

  • Your skills (technical and soft)
  • Employment history
  • Work experience
  • Qualifications

Once you have updated your CV it is important for you to understand exactly what job you are looking for. Applying for jobs you are marginally interested in will not benefit you in the future as this will impact your engagement, performance and success. Instead of applying for any job, try and find roles that you are passionate about and perhaps create a list that aligns with your personality, skills and interests. From this you are able to understand what companies you want to apply for and why.

You can also register with a recruitment agency that specialise in your area of interest and skills. Having a professional confidant in the industry can help you find jobs that may not be advertised on generic job boards.

 

Practice interview answers

For some it may have been a while since you have been interviewed and therefore it will be beneficial to practice some generic interview questions. If you have been invited for an interview, do not wait until the night before to go through potential interview questions, you should start preparing as soon as you can. The majority of employers will always start with questions about yourself such as ‘Tell me about yourself’ or ‘What do you do in your spare time’. Following this they may ask you some competency questions which are based on your previous experience and certain situations you may have found yourself in. Competency based interview questions are a good way of an employer finding out how you would handle certain situations if they were ever to arise, and this can say a lot about you. It is also a good idea to know what you are looking for from the jobs you have applied for. This way if you are asked during the interview process, you can answer in a matter of seconds.

Some companies will have a long interview process which can last a few months, whereas other companies may invite you in for an interview within the next week. Therefore, you should always be prepared and have an interview outfit ready, so you feel well equipped for when the day comes. You can check out other interview hint and tips here: https://www.digiskills.agency/interview-hints-tips/

 

Update your social presence

Although your CV and cover letter will be the first documents an employer will look at, it is also beneficial to keep your social channels up to date. Recruiters may look at your LinkedIn for example to see if your experience matches up with your experience on your CV. More employers are using LinkedIn and may want to view your profile before calling you. You should ensure that you have a professional photo on your profile, your work experience is up to date and you have the relevant skills listed as this can be a decider for some employers.

 

Good luck! We wish you the best in achieving your career goals this year, and hope you’ll be in touch with us if you’re looking for a change so we can help.

Employer Branding Study & Results – What Are The Impacts On Hiring Great Staff!

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Only 1 in 5 candidates would apply to a business that had poor online reviews; meanwhile, 4 out of 5 employers doubt the fairness of online reviews. 1,160 adults were surveyed to learn the causes and costs of a poor employer brand in today’s competitive hiring climate.

 

508 job seekers and 654 HR and hiring professionals shared their thoughts in Jan 2018 within a current Employer Branding Study. The infographic above highlights the top findings as well as a summary of the top stats from the survey. – Career Arc

 

Star Power: Your Online Employer Branding Could Be Hurting Your Hiring

  • 31% of employers claim review sites give an unfair portrayal of a company’s employment practices and company culture; and
  • 55% believe these sites give only a “somewhat fair” portrayal.
  • 91% of candidates seek out at least one online or offline resource to evaluate an employer’s brand before applying for a job.

 

 

Women More Likely Than Men to Avoid Poorly Rated & Reviewed Employers

  • Female candidates are 33% less likely than male candidates to apply to a poorly rated company.
  • Women are 25% more likely to visit employer social sites when vetting a potential employer.
  • Female employees were 15% more likely to consider quitting their job after witnessing poor client, candidate, and employee treatment.

 

 

Your Employer Brand Impacts Your Talent Pipeline AND Your Bottom Line

  • 64% of consumers have stopped purchasing a brand after hearing news of that company’s poor employee treatment.
  • Millennial employees were 30% more likely than Gen-Xers and 60% more likely than Baby Boomers to stop purchasing or promoting an employer’s products due to a poor employee experience.
  • 65% of adults say they would be less likely to purchase goods and services from a company that had laid them off.
  • 96% of companies believe employer brand and reputation can positively or negatively impact revenue, less than half (44%) monitor that impact.

 

 

Negative Reviews Triggered By Poor Layoff Experiences Has Nearly Doubled in Two Years

  • The proportion of candidates who reported shared that negative perception with others nearly doubled to 66%; in 2017 branding study, only 38% of job seekers had reported sharing their negative views.
  • Employees who were given outplacement or career assistance following a layoff were 38% less likely to harbor a negative perception of their former employer.
  • Those who received outplacement and career assistance were also 3x more likely to continue purchasing that company’s offerings after the separation event.

 

 

Millennials Are Even More Jaded By, and More Vocal About, Being Let Go

  • While baby boomers are twice as likely than millennials to report having experienced a layoff or termination in their careers, millennials are 22% more likely than baby boomers to develop a negative perception of the employers who laid them off–an increase of 14%.
  • Millennials are 2.5x more likely than Gen-Xers to share negative views of past employers on social media.
  • Overall, millennials were:
    • less likely to apply to a company after reading poor employer reviews;
    • more open to switching jobs after witnessing poor employer practices; and
    • more likely to share their opinions of employers on review sites and social media compared to Gen-Xers and baby boomers.

 

 

Facebook Tops the List of Most Frequented Sites to Research Employer Brand Beyond Company Website

  • The most popular go-to resource to learn about company brand and culture is, once again, the company’s online presence, website and social media, with 63% of Job Seekers reporting that they visit these sites after learning about a job opening—an 11% jump in two years.
  • The most visited site beyond the company’s website when researching a potential employer was Facebook (47%), followed by Employer Review Sites (41%), and then LinkedIn (28%).
  • 68% of Millennials visit employer’s social media properties specifically to evaluate the employer’s brand, 12% more than Gen-Xers and 20% more than Boomers.
  • Millennials are also twice as likely than Boomers and 50% more likely than Gen-Xers to research beyond the company website, visiting an average two social media platforms or review sites before deciding to apply.

 

 

Unhappy Employees Also Most Typically Apply for Jobs Blindly

Compared to the “happiest employees” who rated their current employers highly, the “unhappiest employees” were:

  • 5x more likely to apply for a position without performing additional research about a potential employer.
  • 44% less likely to say they consider a company’s employer brand before applying for a job.
  • Over twice as likely to be actively looking for a new job today.

Conversely, the “happiest employees” are more discerning about the next company they work for:

  • 84% perform additional research before applying for a job.
  • 40% more likely to perform research beyond the company website.

 

 

We live in an age where the decisions we make about where to eat, what movie to watch, and now where to work will likely be influenced by an online reviews, social presence or reviews generated by peers, not companies. This reality illustrates the shifting balance of power from employers to employees. Organisations that continue to neglect their employer brand and reputation, especially those looking to hire from the millennial-majority workforce, risk losing out on the best talent today, and even more so tomorrow.

ACQUISITION STRATEGY BOOSTS SHROPSHIRE JOBS

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ACQUISITION STRATEGY BOOSTS NASSTAR

Further, IT Jobs will be created as revenue has edged toward the £20m mark at Telford-based cloud computing specialist Nasstar following a “robust performance” from its core businesses.

Nasstar generated revenues of £18.4m in the year to 31 December 2016, up from £13.8m a year earlier.

Pre-tax losses widened to £1.8m from £1.3m due to a hike in exceptional items and administrative payments.

Chief executive Nigel Redwood said the group’s acquisition strategy in 2016, which led to the £13m purchase of Modrus in August, has provided a “strong platform for organic growth”and more IT Jobs within the Shropshire area.

“Modrus completes our service portfolio and enables the Group to focus on maximising and realising the benefit of bringing together five businesses over the last three years,” Redwood added.

“Our enhanced marketing plan saw the relaunch of our Nasstar brand which I truly believe now reflects the capabilities of our end to end fully managed service. The rebranding of the subsidiaries continued in the second half of 2016 with both the e-know.net and Kamanchi subsidiaries undertaking a full Nasstar rebrand with their names changing to Nasstar.

“Our focus in 2017 is to realise the efficiencies that have been made possible via our acquisition strategy with a view to improving margins in future years. We believe this will continue to provide a strong platform for organic growth, and create further new IT Jobs within Shropshire while increasing shareholder value.”

Nasstar’s board has recommended a final dividend of 0.052p per share, a 16 per cent increase on its maiden dividend announced last year.

For more information on other Shropshire Jobs that are available now, please visit our website 

– Storm Rannard 

10 benefits of using the ‘right’ Recruitment Agency!

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10 benefits of using the ‘right’ Recruitment Agency!

There are a lot of benefits to using the ‘right’ recruitment agency, we have chosen the top 10 that may be beneficial to you.

1. Knowledge of the market

The best recruiters will have their finger on the pulse of their specialist markets, and can give the hiring team insight in to what is happening. They should know the available talent, where they are and how to reach out to them, salary rates, career expectations, available skill-sets and current hiring complexities. The best will act as partners and collaborators, and should still be your eyes and ears in the market.

2. Extended reach

Some candidates are hard to find. They may be passive or they may be selective. If they aren’t responding to job advertisements, don’t see themselves as part of your ‘talent pool’ and are too busy to search full time then the chances are that they may have relationships with trusted specialist recruiters in your sector. Even if they aren’t currently ‘active’ I use this term loosely as everyone is active if presented with the right opportunity, there’s a strong chance that a good recruiter will know who they are and how to reach them. Agencies have many networks – each consultant, candidate, client or collaborator has the potential to leverage their networks to help connect you to people with a range of skills and experiences, many of who would be off the radar of an in-house team or hiring manager.

3. Time saved

In business, time is money and using a Recruitment Agency is a time saver. They will save you time because they take care of the beginning steps of the hiring process. If you post a job opening on traditional job boards, there is a strong chance you will receive hundreds of CV’s  and applications for any single position. Out of the hundreds of applicants, a significant amount will not be qualified or will simply not be right for the job. Finding the right applicants to interview will take a great amount of time and effort.

4. Candidates not applicants

A lot of talent attraction is aimed at attracting applicants, whether they are responding to an advert, applying on spec, or through your website. A lot of these people may not be good matches for the role hence a lot of time will be invested in filtering, assessing, matching and communicating with them. Using a recruitment agency should mean that you see only candidates – job seekers who have been pre-selected to match the criteria that you are looking for and who are worthy of consideration and interview.

5. Access to the best

In addition to sorting through submitted applications, a Recruitment Agency will also have access to the best talent available. This includes access to talent that is currently employed elsewhere. These qualified individuals can work discreetly with a recruitment agency when they are looking for a new challenge and opportunity. Recruitment Agencies have their own database of qualified applicants that they can pull directly from.

6. Cost

Cost needs to be proportioned to two things, price associated with advertising your vacancy and the time spent by you and your employees trying to find that correct match. If you are looking for a person with a specific skill set or in a specific niche many hiring managers in house maybe out of there depth when trying to understand what it ‘actually’ is you need from that person. Through no fault of their own they are maybe not specialists in that particular market place, although get it ‘wrong’ and it will end up costing your business more than just money. A Recruitment Agency is also there to help negotiate the best salary, giving you guidance and advice on what is fair and appropriate, but also what you might need to do to guarantee that top candidate that everyone else is after too!

7. Help with employer brand

Large companies invest a lot of time and money in developing and marketing their employer brand, but many SME’s and smaller businesses don’t have the same resources. If you choose your agency wisely then they can give potential candidates a real insight in to your business – what it’s like to work there, benefits and career openings available, and a feel for the culture. If you partner closely with right agency they will act as an extension of you and your team and also be an advocate of your brand.

8. Access to key strategic skills

The number one reason that companies gave for using a recruitment agency was to gain short term access to key strategic skills, a reason that has been growing in importance over the last 3 years, now overtaking covering leave and peaks in demand. With talent shortages now potentially hindering growth it’s not surprising that this is the case. Whilst some of the reasons I’ve already given may refer more to permanent recruiters, many also offer the opportunity to bring in qualified, experienced help at short notice. These flexible solutions are particularly crucial for a long term project or initiative.

9. Peace of mind

A good Recruitment Agency is going to have a proven track record of finding the right employees for the job and be specialist in their field. When you meet with their selection of shortlisted candidates, you can feel more confident with your final hiring decision. Working with a Recruitment Agency will help you make a more assured decision.

10. Relationship

Once you have developed a relationship with a Recruitment Agency that you trust, your future hiring’s will go even more smoothly. The Agency will be aware of the qualities that it takes to make the right fit within your company and what you expect from them. The next time you have an available position, you can fill it quickly and satisfactorily. Your recruitment partner is an advocate, a specialist soundboard and an extension of you and your company’s brand.

Please contact Graffiti Recruitment to find out how we can help! Our recruitment experts offer a free business review, and a no obligation quote on all your recruitment needs!

 

 

13 Hottest IT Jobs for 2016

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13 Hottest IT Jobs for 2016

If you’re thinking about switching jobs this year, here’s a guide to the hottest IT jobs that are expected to earn the biggest salary increases in 2016. If you’re a CIO or an IT leader and you’re planning on doing any IT hiring in 2016, you’ll want to factor this information into your budget plans.

Salaries are rising throughout the UK, and the biggest salary growth is in IT. While average annual salaries of all the professional fields studied the UK are expected to rise 4.1% in 2016 compared with 2015. A lot of IT jobs are going to do much better than that, with some expected to see average salary increases of as much as 9% this year.

So, which IT jobs are the hottest?

We’ve identified 13 IT jobs where the average salary increases in the UK are expected to outpace the rest of the IT field. The data is collected from thousands of IT job searches, negotiations, and placements done by recruiting and staffing offices, as well as from local offices in the UK.

Not surprisingly, some of the hottest IT jobs have to do with big data and analytics. What is surprising is that there’s only one security job on the list. There are some surprises. Check out the list to see how your IT job stacks up. Even if you aren’t worried about your raise for 2016, one of the best ways to stay employed is to stay employed in the hottest IT jobs.

13. Data Modeler

Percent increase (est): 6.2%

12. Business Intelligence Analyst

Percent increase (avg): 6.2%

11. Applications Architect

Percent increase (avg): 6.4%

10. Data Architect

Percent increase (avg): 6.4%

9. Web Developer

Percent increase (avg): 6.4%

8. Senior Web Developer

Percent increase (avg): 6.6%

7. Lead Application Developer

Percent increase (avg): 6.7%

6. Developer/Programmer Analyst

Percent increase (avg): 6.8%

5. Chief Security Officer (CSO)

Percent increase (avg): 7.0%

4. Mobile Applications Developer

Percent increase (avg): 8.2%

3. Big Data Engineer

Percent increase (avg): 8.9%

2. Data Scientist

Percent increase (avg): 8.9%

1. Wireless Network Engineer

Percent increase (avg): 9.7%

 

Clearly, working with data or doing something mobile is the best way to get a big raise.

There are other areas of tech that are poised to present new opportunities. For example some technology reports have noted that wearables will become a hot new place for IT professionals in the next two to three years. Start thinking about how you can apply your skills to wearables in the next few years, and your job may land on this list in 2020 and beyond.

To check out some of our latest HOT IT Jobs click here now: IT Jobs

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