the Dark side.tv ww w. Be a VIDEO Star! Is AWR Evil? Business Blast Offs! Start Your Own Business Time to Sell Up? Inside this issue: Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with everything ........ R U ? N E X T SHOPFITTERS IN THE SOUTH New Business using highly skilled European Labour to service a buoyant Retail & Construction Sector in the SE of England. Highly experienced duo at the helm. BLAST OFF! July 2011 For more info, contact: [email protected]RENEWABLE ENERGIES With two years of specialist renewable experience, this new TEMP based business will be exploiting the explosion in demand for key staff within the North West. Big fees but hard work! BLAST OFF! July 2011 For more info, contact: [email protected]SEPTEMBER 2011 DIRECTOR DESIGNATE (x2) 45k + Bonus + 10% Equity Nr. Heathrow The Opportunity of 2011 Page 18 for Details
Transcript
the Darkside.tvwww.
Be a VIDEO Star!Is AWR Evil?Business Blast Offs!Start Your Own BusinessTime to Sell Up?
Inside this issue:
Sometimesit’s hard tokeep up witheverything ........
RU ?
NEXT
SH
OPFI
TTER
S IN
TH
E SO
UTH
New Business using highly skilled European Labour to service
a buoyant Retail & ConstructionSector in the SE of England. Highly
Just in case you are wondering who Support Services Group (aka SSG) is and what we do, perhaps I can provide a quick & painless overview?
We are a firm of Recruitment Business Incubators. Our job is to identify Budding Entrepreneurs from within the Recruitment Industry who may want to start their own Recruitment Company & then provide a ‘Business Launch’ & ‘On-Going Support’ facility.
Our Business Launch process is FREE & there are no fixed costs for our ON-GOING SUPPORT facility. We hope to make our money (as they say) by charging a percentage of the billings of the business once it is up & running.
So, the good news for our Entrepreneurial Recruiters is that they can have a business launched without the need for any investment, loans or other weird caveats. In addition, unless
they actually make placements, there is no cost for the support provided by SSG once the business has been launched.
The business is 100% owned by the Recruiter and SSG exists to provide services, advice and support (which really means that all decisions are yours and you do not have to listen to what SSG says if you don’t want to...).
Since 2003, we have launched over 130 new Recruitment Businesses in a myriad of Perm’ & Temp’ markets. We have detailed and expert knowledge in almost all recruitment markets and have enjoyed tremendous success in helping Recruiter Entrepreneurs make the transition from Employee to Business Owner.
There are no catches, no hidden charges and no restrictions. Equally, there is no easy ride either! For our Recruiter partners, the process is hard work, challenging and relies upon their Recruitment Expertise. It isn’t easy and every business that we have launched will tell you that.
But it is fun and potentially hugely rewarding. If you want to find out more, please have a browse through our web site (see the ‘Home Page’ screen shot above!) and then perhaps give me a call for the traditional ‘Confidential Chat’.
I.T. MattersLet’s Get Trained!Recruiters in a BarCredit ControlVoice of VikkiInteresting FactsFrustration!!Busy MonthSerious Stuff
Health SectorN. East CommercialSunny Devon Temp’Oil & Gas Up NorthS & M in W. Midlands
Be a Video StarSurvey ResultsFeeling Isolated?Pay Less TaxTime to Sell Up?
Belly LaughComfort FoodHelp Needed at SSGWorth a Read?Point the Finger
Welcome to ‘The Dark Side’ (aka TDS) – a publication aimed solely at Recruiters who are either already recruitment Business Owners OR those Recruiters who might like to one day become recruitment Business Owners.
We are nothing to do with ‘big businesses’ or Corporate Recruitment Companies. In fact, we do not want to exist for any demographic other than Owners of small Recruitment ventures OR potential Owners of small Recruitment ventures!
We ought to be interesting to any Recruiter striving to build a Company. We also ought to be helpful to any Recruiter hoping to escape ‘employment’ & ‘do their own thing’.
TDS is a free production highlighting services, issues, problems and solutions relating to the set-up & operation of independent Recruitment Businesses within the UK. TDS is generated via a Recruitment Incubation & Support venture known as ‘SSG’ (www.SupportServicesGroup.tv).
We are hopeful that TDS will supplement the information & services available via ‘SSG’ & provide tangibly useful ideas to any Recruiter who has either already turned to ‘the dark side’ and set up their own recruitment company or any Recruiter thinking that they might like to own their own business.
TDS is complied by successful Recruitment Entrepreneurs drawing heavily on the experiences (good and bad!) of over 130 businesses launched by SSG since 2003. In addition, we will continue to cajole, encourage and pester ‘Industry Experts’ (as we have told to label our contributors!) to provide practical advice about how small, independent Recruiters can compete with the big boys of the Corporate World.
So, all we ask is that you ‘give it a go’ & have a look through our first attempt? Of course we want you to enjoy your read but more important to us is the hope that the information might actually be useful!
It would be great to hear from you with any ideas or thoughts which you may have. We can only get better with your help – tell us what works and what doesn’t and we will try to adapt.
For more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Thank you.
1. All the contents of The Dark Side are only for general information and/or use. Such contents do not constitute advice and should not be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision. Any specific advice or replies to queries in any part of the publication is/are the personal opinion of such experts/consultants/persons. 2. The information in The Dark Side is provided on an "AS IS" basis, and all warranties, expressed or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any information, advice or replies are disclaimed and excluded. 3. The Dark Side and its associates shall not be liable, at any time for damages including, without limitation, damages for loss of any kind(but excluding personal injury or death caused by negligence) arising in contract, tort or otherwise from the use of or inability to use the publication, or any of its contents, or from any action taken (or refrained from being taken) as a result of using the publication or any such contents or use of information contained in the publication. 4. No representations, warranties, or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability, or applicability of the information to a particular situation. 5. Certain references in the publication refer to third parties over whom The Dark Side has no control or connection, business or otherwise.
Material Submitted by OthersSome sections in The Dark Side contain materials submitted by users. The Dark Side accepts no responsibility for the content, accuracy, and conformity to applicable laws of such material, and any views or opinions expressed by such third parties are those of the author alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the owners or publishers of the Dark Side.Effect of these TermsThese terms constitute the sole basis on which the Dark Side is published and made available and supersede and replace all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, or any implied terms which might otherwise apply.
EDITOR’S NOTE
the Darkside.tvwww.
Regular Stuff
Who’sAfraidof the
AWR?
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Clare looks at AWR
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Get your business into the Movie Business from £2.74 (plus a family bag of Revels)It takes more than a Company web Site and a splattering of Internet Job Adverts to promote your Recruitment Business these days!
Increasingly, the competition out there is turning to Video to attract new Clients and Candidates. You Tube, Plug In’s, stand alone videos – they seem to be all the rage.
SSG has recently created an impressive facility at our Hertfordshire office which is designed to create high calibre VIDEO Presentations for small, independent Recruitment Companies.
“We can design, record, edit and upload to your web site a promotional video for your business” – confirms Chris Ion of SSG – “It is really quite easy and not something to get worried about”.
‘Having said that, we understand from personal experience that anyone new to this idea will need help, guidance and support to get the job done – it can be quite a daunting prospect for any Recruiter, but we are here to help’
Chris and his team are have put in place all of the technology required to produce these 3-4 minute masterpieces & really just need any would-be Video Stars to do a little preparation work and then arrive at SSG’s Dower House head-office ready to read their pre-prepared script from the autocue!
The central VIDEO presentation is typically ‘top & tailed’ by movie clips and music to generate a really impressive advert for the business.
Chris views this offering more as a service to any existing SSG Clients than a revenue earner! Quite how he arrived at £2.74 per video is a mystery, but knowing Chris and his sweet tooth (or two) the family bag of Revels requirement is less difficult to explain.
This product is also available to any independent Recruitment Business and is great value (typically around £150-£200 ‘all-in’). If you want to find out more, just get in touch for an initial chat.
You will select the relevant files / folders in the software before it runs. It will then automatically collate the data, compress it and then pipe it up to the online server.Highly recommended if you aren’t very good at regular file copying. Also highly recommended where you have an office full of donuts and want a central backup.
Drawbacks:
If you need any help with finding your files etc. I would highly recommend contacting an IT professional – things like those email addresses that automatically come up when you start typing an address are stored in a file which can be backed up and restored as and when necessary!
How many times have you heard SOMEONE (it could be You!) say “My computer’s crashed, I don’t have the data ... I’m screwed” (or words to that effect!). So many times we rely on our PC just “working” – until that f/hateful day when it “doesn’t”!
If you take regular backups you can sit there a bit smug with yourself. The rest of this article probably isn’t for you.
If you don’t know what a backup is / don’t do it regularly, are unsure of what to backup then read on......
What is it?:
Taking a copy of your essential data in case of a blown up machine (or just losing it or it being stolen)
Equipment Required:
USB “Flash” Memory Stick OR External HDD OR Online Backup Service. Minimum 8Gb to allow multiple backups.
What to Backup (using local drives / sticks):
The main things here are your email data files and documents. If you’re a good and efficient worker you will no doubt use the “default” locations for all your documents so they will be easy to find (My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos). If like me you have your hard drive split into partitions and you use a mixture of locations then you will need to find these each time you want to backup.
Email Files are a bit trickier to find – it would be worth getting an IT professional to locate all these for you as the location changes between different versions of Outlook / Outlook Express etc.You may choose to create shortcuts on your desktop to each of the main folders so you just have to open the shortcut and drag and drop your files onto your chosen backup device.
The idea of doing it this way is to take your essential data, uncompressed as a straight “copy” that can always be copied back.
This is the most reliable form of data backup SO LONG AS YOU’RE NOT A DONUT AND DO IT REGULARLY!
Drawbacks:
Automated “Online” Backup:
This is where you install a piece of software from an online backup provider (such as www.depositit.co.uk) and it automatically runs the software at a pre-determined interval, compresses it and spurts it onto an online server for off-site storage.
Did you know?.......
8,000 Recruiters receive this...........
Chris’s IT Matters
Backup you Donut!
How to NOT be a Donut!
Requires all machines to be backed up to be left switched on (perfect for servers but less so laptops)Data is compressed so you will have to have the software re-installed to be able to retrieve your data as and when necessary.Cost – you will pay an annual fee dependent on how much data storage you need (compressed data, bear in mind that 1000 Word CV’s will probably compress to about 25% of their original size).
Requires manual copying at pre-defined intervalsStorage requirement is higher than Online solutions as it is “uncompressed”.
Don’t Be a Donut!
Do it Regularly!
Don nut!
Do ly!
Don’t Be a Donut!
Do it Regularly!
Don nut!
Do ly!
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NOT by YOURSELF....
www.supportservicesgroup.
tv
WOR
K for
YOU
RSEL
F....
Should Interest Rates & Inflation really matter to Entrepreneurial Recruiters?
Everything is rosy in the UK economy - Business Investment is rising whilst Public Borrowing is down & GDP (Gross Domestic product) is up. Interest Rates remain rooted at a historic all time low and unemployment seems to be beginning to shift. That’s all good and as Recruiters we are all very happy to hear that.
Nothing is rosy in the UK economy – despite the lowest interest rates in history, the rate of inflation continues to rise and bank lending has stagnated since the crisis of 2008. House prices are forecast to double-dip and the European Economy is under siege from cheap imports coming from India, China and the rest of the emerging markets. All terrible news and as Recruiters we are all very unhappy about that.
All very confusing for owners of independent Recruitment Businesses.
What is actually happening to the UK Recruitment Market & more specifically, what does it all mean to owners of small, independent Recruitment businesses?
With unparalleled access to the thoughts and opinions of Entrepreneurial Recruiters, we decided to ask Recruiters working in the UK market in the past couple for years what is happening & what really matters to their businesses.
Their views were unsurprisingly very interesting!
As an example, 66% of our survey of Recruitment Business Owners do not feel that interest rates are of any real concern to their independent business. The cost of Job Board access and the lack of lending from the Banks are both certainly more important.
As ever, the picture is not really conclusive but the way to deal with the uncertainty would appear as clear as ever:
Everywhere we look, we find conflicting opinion – read any set of Daily Newspapers and you will see that whilst one article predicts the end of the World, the other is comfortable that the worst is over.
So, perhaps we ought to rely purely on some comforting facts?
Having said all of that, 47% of our survey complained of increased competition leading to pressure from end clients to lower fees (particularly margins on Temp’s). Another 60% saw the lack of good calibre Candidates as a more significant issue than any perceived lack of Vacancies. Almost two thirds of all respondents to our survey felt positive about their particular Recruitment market and almost no one felt adversely affected by the National News.
Another 72% of our respondents felt that things were ‘much
better’ than 6 months ago but confusingly of that demographic only 45% felt that they would recruit a Recruiter in the next 12 months.
SSG Client Placement Revenues are 27% higher in the opening six months of 2011 than in the corresponding period of 2010.The economic crisis of 2009 precipitated just a 15% decrease in Placement Revenues compared with 2008, suggesting small Recruitment Businesses remain more agile and able to cope with changes in the market.Applications to start a new Recruitment Business with our help are at Record levels.Business Failures are at their lowest level for 5 years.
Fig. 1
100
2007 2008 2009 2010 NOW
INDEXSSG Client
Revenues
Business
Applications
Our Survey Results
‘It doesn’t really bother me what the
interest rates are – the Bank won’t
lend my business money anyway’
‘I am finding placements easier to
make but still don’t feel confident
to recruit staff for my business’.
‘Paddle your own canoe – no one
can affect your business unless you
allow it. No one can make your
revenues grow unless you decide to
work harder, smarter and better’
6
It was equally no surprise to hear that more than 80% of our sample survey were worried that they knew very little of Linked In and another 72% felt that response from the traditional job boards was becoming even harder than ever to sift through – suggesting that although applications per
vacancy is a great headline for the big job boards, it isn’t anywhere near what we Recruiters actually want. (see Fig. 2)
It would seem obvious that a booming economy can make things seem easier in the short term. The more vacancies which exist the better (I guess?) but it is also very clear that for owners of small Recruitment businesses the wider economic indicators are not always relevant.
Low Interest Rates, increased liquidity, high unemployment, increasing inflation – none of these indicators seem to affect a good Recruiter. A good Recruiter will still make their calls, still talk to their candidates, still listen to their clients and still make money.
For every 7% of our Recruiters who felt that nothing was getting better another 74% felt in control of their own destiny.
Recruiters who start their own business do so for many reasons (autonomy, money and flexibility to name the obvious) but very few fail in that business without acknowledging that they could have worked harder. Good times or bad, the key to success remains distant from Government Policy and broad economic indicators.
Whilst ‘Corporate Business’ will always remain vulnerable to international conditions and on the accepted axiom that trouble flows downhill, surely small Recruitment Businesses will suffer too?
It seems not.
Low overheads, minimal fixed costs, flexibility, business agility & hard work continue to make owning an independent Recruitment Business attractive to increasing numbers. 85% of those asked confirm that starting their own business was the right thing to do.
A FINAL THOUGHT
Our survey strongly suggested that many Recruiters are increasingly concerned by their inability to comfortably grasp Social Media (Linked In especially).
Traditional anxieties over credit control, payment terms and vacancy numbers seem to have been superseded by a general doubt of how to source fresh candidates from media other than job boards? Is this true for you too?
If so, please let us know ([email protected]) Perhaps we can identify a Guru to help us out?
Just 11% of our survey participants admitted to feeling that starting their own business was a mistake but 4 times that numbers confessed to sleepless nights during the last 12 months. Our most unconventional advice for dealing with stress came from a chocolate eating alcoholic with a propensity to place bets on events of which he had no understanding.... interesting!
The traditional methods of coping with stress remain popular and of course involve time management, consistency, regular exercise and the recoding of all positive moments throughout the day:
In other words, what makes a small Recruitment business succeed is not really much to do with the broader economic conditions BUT what can cause a Recruiter to give up might be more to do with rumour, doubt and individual weakness. The potential for failure is always alive within a poor Recruiter we are told, but it seems that the smoking gun of a troubled economy doesn’t make a Recruiter fail, their reaction to the everyday stress of working in a tough industry does.
Perhaps the best advice for those Recruiters owning a small business in these difficult times comes directly from those Recruiters owning a small business in these difficult times!
8% Very Comfortable
12% Unaware
80% Anxious
LINKED INFig. 2
‘I write down everything that is
good in a note book and flick
through it when I start to doubt
myself – don’t laugh! Try it!’
Just make a placement – forget strategy, forecasts and trends, just identify vacancies and generate candidate interest.Sit at your desk. Ignore the temptation to go away to ‘collect your thoughts’, just keep working.Value your service – if you start to offer discounts you will start to diminish your self-worth.Ignore the negatives – miserable Recruiters are miserable even in a boom.ABC – Always Be Closing. Get the deal done.
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8
Mike’s Training Corner
I soon began working with some of SSG’s Clients and both David & I immediately felt that it would be great to formalise an offering for all of the budding entrepreneurs working with SSG.
It wasn’t long before we looked at how fledgling Recruitment Businesses could afford to engage with the range of Training & Support facilities available from my organisation.
David was clear that his Client ventures could not be expected to meet the cost of the value we could bring to these young businesses. Pretty soon, David & I created a Three Tier Training Programme which would be free to all SSG Clients.
Real value from Recruitment Training can only come from true engagement and in taking away the cost of such training we both knew that there was a significant benefit to be had by all SSG Clients.
In turn, I understand that SSG truly believe that in adding value to their Clients (through training, job board access & all sorts of other facilities) their Clients will grow, in turn generating revenues & becoming more secure Clients.
So, nearly 5 years on and here we are!
I want to outline what is available and to encourage all of you to look closely at how www.MikeWalmsley.com can help you and your business develop. We are talking about a real competitive edge – a set of commercial tools to help you to be the best Recruiter and the best business owner that you can be.
My name is Mike Walmsley and I am arguably the UK’s leading Recruitment Trainer. I have been lucky enough to be involved with some of the most innovative and successful Recruitment Businesses in the World – from my early days as one of the original ‘Super Biller’ Recruiters through to the present day, I have worked with literally hundreds of the UK’s top Recruitment Businesses and Recruitment Entrepreneurs. A particular passion of mine has always been helping to nurture & evolve the core skills of budding entrepreneurs as they migrate from employee to business owner & then on towards fledgling employer. There is an energy and excitement surrounding that challenge which is unique and the transition required to complete that journey is an immense challenge – even for the most competent of Recruiters.
In 2006 I became aware of Support Services Group (aka SSG) by way of a happy accident – my 6 year old son began playing football in the same team as the son of David Jones, the owner of SSG. It was obvious that we both vaguely knew of one another and then of course the incestuous nature of Recruitment led us to start chatting about this & that.
Available to you & your
staff – for free!
Daily, weekly & monthly
Programmes!
Keep informed & Keep
Learning.
Mike Walmsley
Did you know?.......
8,000 Recruiters receive this....
and all need banking,
software & “other stuff”
A recruitment consultant asks a judge to let him off jury service. Judge, ‘But surely your firm can manage without you for a few weeks?’ The man replies, ‘Certainly. They can manage without me altogether - and I don’t want them to find out.’
The recruitment consultant asked me ‘What do you think of voluntary work? ’ I said ‘I wouldn‘t do it if you paid me.’
Q: How can you tell when a Recruitment Consultant is lying?A: His lips are moving.
Employee of the Month is a good example of how someone can be both a winner and a loser at the same time.
How do you get a Recruitment Consultant on the roof?Tell him drinks are on the house.
An entire range of recruitment training DVDs which offer an easy & affordable solution to your everyday training needs. They offer the viewer the opportunity to watch me presenting expert knowledge, skills and advice - over and over again, whether at home or in the office. In addition, you can keep coming back to it as often as you need to, without any problems. It is all on-line and available to you and your business – for free!
We all know how frustrating and disheartening it is to have invoices overdue for payment.
Whether dealing with small companies where the problem may lay with their lack of cash flow or large companies whose Finance departments are controlled by strict policy and procedures, the problem of securing payment is down to a conflict of your terms of business against those of your client.
I would like to draw your attention to a couple of points which may help and apologise in advance if you already follow this line.
A purchase order number may also be required and should be quoted on the invoice. Please confirm with your client contact that if this is the case, that a purchase order has been raised and for them to e-mail you a copy. This can be attached to the invoice to help speed along payment.
If all of the above has been adhered to and you still find yourself chanting Bob Geldof’s ‘give
us the money' mantra, Darren, Vikki and myself are always here to chase your outstanding invoices and offer advice on further action when all else seems to have failed.
Fancy a chat about any aspect of Credit Control? Just give me a call (Gillian Miles) on 01442 200 965
1) When placing a candidate or contractor with a new client, it is in your interest to agree realistic payment terms with your contact. They may be happy to promise your invoice will be paid within 7 or 14 days, but their accounts department may have a 'set in stone' policy that all invoices are paid on 30 or even 60 days.
2) Larger companies have a Purchasing Department and in order for your invoice to be paid, you will need to be on their preferred suppliers list to avoid any unnecessary delays. Please check with your client contact and obtain the necessary form to complete.
This involves two full days of live training, presented by me each month in central London. Your invitation to attend is part of the SSG programme of support and although spaces are necessarily limited (so please book in advance with SSG), the content and depth of the training will leave you excited and motivated to do more, earn more and enjoy your business even more. As with the other elements of SSG support, your attendance is free!
Every two weeks, SSG will facilitate free access to a 30 minute live and interactive session via your PC, with you sat at your desk communicating with me and other like minded Recruiters. Each session comes complete with a workbook, copies of the session slides, an action plan & it is all part of the SSG offering (for free!).
I know that training can help (and will help) any Recruiter achieve more impressive results. Training for business owners is equally crucial to ensure that you (& any staff which you may have) always know ‘what is happening out there’. I also know that there is a key issue for all start-up businesses in how to deal with Isolation (an area clearly addressed within this issue of The-DarkSide) & engagement with an established Support Company and a high calibre Training Professional will certainly ease this concern.
So, if you are already a client of SSG’s, please ensure that you make the most of the free training facilities available. If you are not yet a client or just want to see what we could bring to you, wither visit our web site (www.MikeWalmsley.com) or get in touch with SSG.
DON’T FORGET:
If there are any specific areas where you feel you might want help or support, why not suggest to SSG some ideas for live Webinars?
It could be that you are not alone in wanting support and the best way to get a consensus is to start one! Please email your ideas / questions through to [email protected]
Tier 1 - 24/7 ACCESS TO A
DVD LIBRARY
Tier 2 - REGULAR LIVE
WEBINARS
Tier 3 - LIVE TRAINING
EVENTS
SupportServices
Group
SupportServices
Group
Credit control
Easing the pain!
Don’t let Debt
weigh you down!
!!!!
225 g butter, softened140 g caster sugar1 egg YOLK , lightly beaten2 tsp vanilla extract 225 g plain flour55 g cocoa powderpinch of salt85 g milk chocolate chips85 g white chocolate chips115 g plain chocolate , roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 190'C / 375'F/Gas Mark 5. Line 2-3 baking trays with baking paperPut the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix well with a spoon, then beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt into the mixture, add both kinds of chocolate chips and stir until throughlly combined.Make 12 balls of the mixture, put them onto the prepared baking trays, spaced well apart, and flatten slightly. Press the pieces of chocolate into the cookies.Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, leave to cool, then enjoy !
MEGA chip Cookies :The What:
The How:
Comfort Food for Fed-up Recruiters9
Pop’s Pantry
10
Thought for the Day
It doesn’t matter who you are, we believe that learning to overcome the inevitable feelings of isolation will represent one of the biggest challenges that you will ever face when running your own show.
From one-man band to thriving independent, the buck always stops with you and you will always be the architect of your success or of your failure. There is no getting away from that one & the sooner that fact is accepted, the quicker any of us will start to ‘get better’ (or luckier!).
It is also very difficult to adopt a new routine, especially when working from home. Routine is key – we all need to sort of know what we are doing and when, especially in the early days and especially when working from home.
Home is a lovely warm place. Home is where you watch TV, play with the children, tidy up, wash your clothes, unload the shopping, entertain your friends & where you often just ‘Chill out’. So how come one day ‘Home’ suddenly needed to become something completely different – something more formal, something more routine?
To lack routine and also become successful, you will need to be extraordinary, exceptional in fact. To lack routine is to create such pressure for yourself that you will need to be super-human to remain routinely successful.
To generate routine placement revenues requires...... routine. To routinely fail to hit targets & goals can usually be traced to a lack of.... routine. All so simple and yet for the majority of us, routine is a very difficult concept to turn into a working reality.
How many of us work really hard for a few days and then get knocked off course by some daft event, or disappointment or domestic upset? How many budding entrepreneurs find themselves far too aware of what TV shows play out at 9am in the morning? How many times do you wonder if you really ‘have it’ in you to drive a business forward?
So, what can you do? How can you face up to the twin horrors of isolation and routine? Is there a common strategy adopted by successful business owners?
1. NO EXCUSES:
Nothing can get in your way. You are an absolute beast of the recruitment industry! You cannot be diverted from achieving your daily goal – whatever that might be. What you say will happen, will happen. What you say you will do, you will do. What targets you set, you hit.
Pretend to be unstoppable. Imagine that you are Gordon Gekko out of the movie Wall Street (‘Go to work Budd Fox’ / ‘Money never sleeps’) or better still think of yourself as Ari Gold, the manic, driven, determined and hugely successful ‘LA Agent’ from the TV comedy Entourage! Ask yourself - What would Ari or Gordon say?
We all feel Isolated & we all seek Routine. Apparently.
How Budding Entrepreneurs cope with the Twin Evils!
Many of our Clients understandably seek comparison – ‘How are we doing?’, ‘Do other ventures feel that?’ and ‘Who else has that problem?’
The nature of what we do at SSG fortunately brings together a community of Recruiters breaking the mould and all trying very hard to create something out of nothing, to generate a business from an idea – it is stressful, challenging and almost always harder than one imagined that it might be.
It is very rare that any budding entrepreneur with whom we work finds the process of launching and then running a recruitment business easier than they thought it would be. Clients are never as loyal as one would hope and candidates are always harder to find than they used to be. Fees are squeezed, clients are often late in paying and costs always seem to be higher than forecast.
Nevertheless, although as new business owners we all face a myriad of problems and anxieties when we launch a new venture, our research at SSG consistently highlights two major issues for the majority of fledgling business owners:
• Isolation &• Routine.
Anyone who has launched a business with our help will probably remember being quizzed on how they might feel when working all alone at home on a wet Wednesday afternoon, when all of your ex-colleagues are laughing and joking about the latest episode of some or other BBC 2 comedy.
65% of all SSG ‘failures’ cited Isolation as the critical factor in their
demise.
Success creates success – just be good at some-
thing!
Routines generate money – not inspiration!
8,000 Recruiters....
Plus EVERY Visitor to
www.supportservicesgroup.tv
11
attention and care when dealing with the public, with clients and with your family. Be proud that you have remained in control of your emotions when so many others fail. Offer someone something that tells the Cosmos that you have class.
Act like a dog and you will be treated as such. Act like a professional and the £ will roll in – ‘maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life’ (Quick Quiz: Which 1950’s film does that line come from?).
Be cynical enough to know that being polite will disarm even the most severe critic and more often than not act as a catalyst for something good. Go on; give it try (please...).
Ok – I accept that even if you follow all of this advice to the very letter, you will still have bad days. You will still feel lonely and doubt will creep into your working day. BUT, I also believe that in adopting these simple routines, you will feel connected – part of the wider community of Recruiters all trying to be the best that they can be.
WANT TO HELP?
Finally, perhaps that one good thing that you can do today could be offering your thoughts and ideas to your fellow budding entrepreneur?
What helps you get through the tough days? How do you cope with the isolation? What routine do you follow?
Please get in touch and we will publish the best ideas in subsequent issues of The Dark Side. Perhaps we can start to create a reservoir of ideas and goodwill for everyone?
Can’t face the day? Believe that you have nothing good to focus on, that you would rather just flake out for the day?
Ok – well why not take the rest of the day off IF you work hard for just 1 hour first thing in the morning?
If you are dropping the kids off at school, give yourself the option of sitting around doing nothing for the rest of the day IF you work like a crazy person for just 60 minutes - from the very second you walk back in to the house. Truth is, if you hit the ‘phone for 60 minutes or write 3 solid job postings in an hour or if you simply lock yourself into the study for 1 hour, you will probably go on to have a good day. Try it – it works!
3. DO JUST ONE GOOD THING:
Rubbish day? Nothing going right? Nothing to show for a full day of effort? If you start to feel that you day is heading down the tube, plan to end it a little earlier than normal and follow this advice. Do one good thing.
Stop what you are doing 30 minutes earlier than planned and do just one thing that you know is good, even though you do not need to do it today, tomorrow or even this month.
You might send a few emails to Clients thanking them for looking at your candidates (even if the candidates didn’t get the interview). You might telephone a couple of guys that you placed just to ask them how they are getting on in their new job. You might create a spreadsheet of your own KPI’s (number of interviews, offers, rejections etc). Perhaps you will just return a few calls to really marginal callers?
Whatever you decide to do, just do it (even for a little while) so that you can categorically know that despite it being a difficult day, you did something right – something that you didn’t have to do - something that you could have ignored. It will make you feel better and you will ‘do better’ I promise.
4. ALWAYS HAVE OTHER PROJECTS:
Recruitment is your ‘bread & butter’ and how you make your living, pay your mortgage and feed your family BUT it ought not to be the only thing that defines you (at this present time, right now, today or this minute!).
Do you know why successful recruiters have neat gardens, well decorated homes and look fit and healthy? It is because they reward & challenge themselves with ‘other projects’. They recognise that the only colour is not orange or blue or even green.... They know that success is highly contagious – that it is hard to be focussed on something and for that focus not to permeate into other aspects of their lives.
Be good at Work and you will become good at other things. Be good at other things and you will become good at Work.
5. BE REALLY POLITE ALL OF THE TIME:
Buck the trend. Send out a positive message to the World that you are not beaten. Be extra nice when candidates are rude. Make yourself immune to the pressure and doubt through 100%
Feeling a little tense?Apparently, working alone can
make you a little Crazy?
Did you know?.......
this space is for sale!
One man bandstarts a Commercial
Business in theNorth East focusing on
Perm salaries between 20 & 30k.Hard graft but regular fees to be had!
Now, don’t groan! VAT plays a very important role in your accounts each and every month of the (business) year. It’s crucial!
You all know that VAT is Value Added Tax and is imposed by the Government to raise yet more money to subsidise inefficiency and waste within the hallowed Halls of Westminster!
If you own a business with an annual turnover of more than £73,000 (which is really the total value of your placements), then you HAVE to be VAT Registered. What this really means is that once you are ‘VAT Registered’, you become an unpaid Tax Collector on behalf of HMRC.
Even if your turnover is less than the magic £73,000 p.a., you MAY register for VAT. Either way, the simple truth is that if you are in business then you OUGHT to register for VAT.
This is because once registered, you can reclaim the VAT on your Purchases. These purchase amounts (money that you have spent) will then be offset against the VAT that you collect on your placements. The net effect is that you will reduce your VAT bill (which is really VAT Collected against VAT Spent). Being registered for VAT will also reassure your Clients that you are a serious and solid organization (in fact, some Clients won’t work with Companies who are not VAT registered).
Once registered for VAT you will be issued a VAT Certificate which will give you your Registration Number, - which you must always keep safe. The VAT man will not answer any queries unless you quote your number.
This period is almost always a quarterly thing (i.e. you have to complete and submit a quarterly return 4 times a year).
Each VAT Return you submit insists that you cough up the money to cover any money owed by the end of the month following that quarter (e.g. for a quarterly return covering the period 1st February – 30th April, you will need to send the return to the HMRC along with any cash owed by 31st May).
Incidentally, VAT is set at different rates depending on the goods or services being provided & currently there are 3 rates being used. The rate you need to know about is known as the Standard Rate – which is 20%. In other words, whenever you raise an invoice for a placement, what you really charge your client is the placement + 20% on top (which they will probably ‘claim back’ anyway).
Interestingly (!), VAT on your Sales (i.e. the placements) is known as Output Tax (this is really the VAT that you are ‘collecting’) whilst VAT on your Purchases is known as Input Tax (which is really the VAT that you find yourself paying out).
Just as interestingly (now concentrate on this bit please), if your Output (VAT collected) Tax on your Sales (placements) is more than your Input Tax (VAT spent) on your Purchases you will need to send the amount payable (i.e. the difference in the amount collected against the
You will also be given something called an ‘Effective Date’ – which is really the date from which you can start charging & reclaiming Vat.
Finally, you are also given a ‘Return Period’ - which is when you have to submit your ‘VAT Returns’ .
ACCOUNTS Made& a tiny bit Simple!
Pay less Income Tax! - Let’s Fight Back!Any Client of SSG will know how hard we work to help to reduce your personal tax liabilities. Part of the great joy of running your own business can be the considerable ‘Income Tax’ breaks your Accountant can help you to engineer.
When helping you to transfer monies from your Company Bank Account to your Private bank Account (so that you can then spend it just like traditional ‘salary’) the key goal is to ensure that your total income remains within the combined level of your basic ‘band and tax free
allowances’. You need to know how much money you can take out of your business (profits permitting!) before you need to worry about paying tax.
So, this is the latest ‘Tax Planning 101’ lesson we need to learn from the Tax man:
£35,000(dividends) + £7,475 (PAYE) = £42,475
p.a. = £0 tax payable.
All good really and rest assured that for all SSG Clients we will continue to make you aware of
when you need to look at ‘Tax Planning 102’ (as Homer Simpson might put it!). In fact, as you may already know, if you are approaching the magic £42,475 drawings from your business within your personal tax year, we would then look at what we can assign to your spouse (e.g. are they earning less than £35,000 p.a.? If so, we can allocate some drawings to them for you – to a potential combined tax free amount of £76,000 p.a.).
Want to know more? Why not give me (Darren Hulbert) a call on 01442 200 961
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Think of the VATmoney as almost
nothing todo with you
amount spent) to HMRC with your return (i.e. you send the VAT Man money).
On the other hand, if your Input Tax (VAT spent) on your Purchases is more than Output Tax (VAT collected) on your Sales (placements) you will be due a refund from HMRC which will be sent to you upon them receiving your return (i.e. the VAT Man sends you money). They are surprisingly very good at sending money back by the way.
Having said all of that, whatever happens, once you are Registered for VAT, you must submit a VAT return for the quarter even if you have collected or spent nothing (known as a ‘Nil return’)
The VAT Man is just like any other tax man of course and if you submit your return late, you will be fined (or ‘incur penalty charges’, as they like to call it).
Nice & Easy Example:
Naturally, a great way to ensure you have enough funds to meet your VAT return amount is to set up a separate Bank Account for VAT only. This way once you receive a payment for a placement, you just transfer the VAT amount to your VAT account. Simple but very effective.
Let’s say over the 3 month period your placement value came to £10,000. The VAT on that £10,000 will be at 20% (i.e. you will collect £2,000 worth of VAT).Over the same 3 month period, your Net Spending amount for Purchases on VAT registered goods was £3,000. The VAT on that £3,000 expenditure will also be @ 20%, which is of course £600 (i.e. you ‘spent’ £600 on VAT).Therefore if you collected £2000 in VAT and spent £600 in VAT you will need to send the VAT Man £1,400 with your next VAT Return.
Conclusions:
Fascinating stuff I am sure you will agree.
Want to know more or need help in getting all sorted / up to date? Just get in touch with me via:
VAT is serious – understand it ASAP!Think of the VAT money as almost nothing to do with you – it is not yours when you collect it. Equally true is that when you make purchases, remember you can reclaim the VAT element.There are some things which are not VAT liable and therefore if you buy these things (e.g. Stamps!), there is no VAT to reclaim.A VAT Registration can take up to 12 weeks to come through but you can still raise invoices with VAT charged on it before your VAT number arrives, as your ‘effective Date’ can often be back-dated.
The most visited job boards are www.linkedin.com,www.Reed.co.uk, www.Indeed.co.uk, www.totaljobs.co.uk
The All-Jobs Recruitment index shows that vacancy levels are around the same as they were in 2001.
40% of businesses plan to BAN the use of Facebook, Twitter and the like during office hours.
UK Income Tax rates peak at 50% as you know. This UK rate is the highest in the commercial world with the exception of Sweden.
If you don’t owe any income tax, then the Inland revenue cannot fine you for late submission of your tax return.
Latest rumours suggest that the current historic low of 0.5% base rate may well remain until August 2012.
Tomatoes are more than 90% water – the same can be said for celery, strawberries and water.
70% of women think that they are heavier than they are. 70% of men are.
Stop Yawning!Interesting
Facts tofollow....
St g!
Submit an interesting fact and if we publish it .......£25!
If you are on the edge of panic over the VAT Man, Tax Man, National Insurance, Corporation Tax or any other form of arrears, debt or impending demand, take a deep breath and decide not to press the Panic Button just yet.
Pick up the ‘phone and allow us to help you to generate a plan of action. Believe it or not, it is usually not quite as glum as you imagine it to be.
VAT, PAYE, NI, CT Problems?
FeelingNervous?
13
14
Frustration Corner
Sometimes I get really frustrated & when I do it helps me to head straight to my keyboard to bust wide open some jargon or something – and boy oh boy, am I feeling frustrated today?! My wife says that I get so frustrated that I am only half a man really, and her boyfriend completely agrees.
So, let’s avoid further nonsense and get down to it. Most of you horrible, lazy recruiters don’t have the faintest idea about ‘social media’ – we all know that. You say that you do, but you don’t.
Most of you will either try to use Twitter as a job board or LinkedIn to share saucy photographs of yourself or see Facebook as your gateway to ‘headhunting’ – give me a break!! What are you thinking about?
Today I am going to bust some jargon or I really will get cross:
Right – just read the next few lines and if you are still too stupid to know exactly what to do next, then you can contact the nice people at Support Services Group and they will tell you exactly where to go.
A blog:A place for people who think that they are interesting or a place for professional footballers with dodgy hair transplants and weird relationships with girls who like to be ‘roasted’ (whatever that is?) No one seems to stay ‘connected’ and people just drift on and on and on about nothing.
Facebook:It’s a place to relax with idiots just like you. A place where twits share jokes with other twits about another man’s wife or a place to ‘meet new people’ (although why the hell would you want to do that?). It is nothing to do with work really – so, why do you still think that you will ‘do business’ there (do the business is what you really think isn’t it?!) Well, not on my watch you won’t.
Twitter:Full of clever people with 140 characters worth of apparently amusing anecdotes. Everyone ‘tweets’ and no one listens. It is a place to be witty & casual and bright with complete strangers (mostly middle aged men pretending to be Charity Workers seeking friendship & maybe more, but please take things slowly as I have been hurt before).
LinkedIn:Now that’s more like it. A proper place where proper people connect with other proper people. No talk of endowment-size, college reunions or erectile dysfunction here. Proper people will talk about business, their business, other people’s business and business in general. You can build a proper network and everyone behaves because it is a proper place. Get it?
So, all you need to do is to start a profile on LinkedIn and spend time building your relationships, contacts and influence. In doing so, you are capturing the essentially usefulness of social media as it stands today. Ignore it and you will get left behind like a man with a gold wrist chain and brown flairs (I know).
As a Recruiter, your profile should be professional and attract others ‘to connect’. As a Recruitment Business, your profile ought to be as good as your web site – if not better.
So, stop wasting time and get some help (I know I need help).
Important Note:
SSG takes no responsibility for the rude and inappropriate rants of this frustrated man, but would like to offer the hand of friendship & support to any Recruiter or Recruitment Business Owner who might like to get a little help in getting started with LinkedIn. Why not get in touch to talk through your options?
Well, it means that you ought to start to consider what you need to do to catch the growing opportunity coming our way. There are some heavy purse strings ready to burst. Want to get a piece of the action?
SSG will be asking 100 of our independent Recruitment Businesses what they think of this opportunity and reporting on our results in the next issue of www.The-DarkSide.tv
We will also show you how to value your own business & how the maths works when another lucky Entrepreneur becomes a Recruitment Millionaire.
If you can’t wait to know what to do to cash-in, give me a call and we can start talking about how to exit your business.
The next two or three years will see a record number of small recruitment companies snapped up by cash hungry PLC’s – according to two recent reports published by leading M&A (Merger & Acquisition) specialists.
There has probably not been a better time since the early 1990’s to own a growing recruitment business. The recent economic downturn turned normally bullish predatory PLC’s into nervous ninnies & now the pressure is building on the ‘powers that be’ within these anxious cash-rich giants to start to use their borrowed cash to acquire profitable niche businesses.
Of course PLC’s borrow money to spend on acquisitions to ensure that they grow – even when their underlying business fails to make more money. In other words, if a PLC can borrow money & then purchase a ‘well groomed’ small business, their bottom line grows – which in turn will allow then to borrow more money to make further acquisitions.
But, if a PLC borrows money and fails to spend it, then they not only fail to grow (which in turn restricts their future ability to borrow) but they also start to pay heavy interest on their borrowed funds, making their bankers both rich and nervous at the same time!
So, what does this mean to the likes of you and me?
‘PLC’s are ready to splash the cash!’
‘Learn how to makeyour Millions
in the next issue ofwww.The-DarkSide.tv’
Ever Considered Selling Up?
for Recruitment CompaniesHuge Demand...
I guess we would complain if things were quiet, but the tempo has been soaring at SSG with record numbers of Budding Entrepreneurs looking at how we might be able to help launch a new business for them. In addition, our team continues to grow with a key recruit (Catherine White) joining our Berkhamsted head office in June.
Catherine joins Carly’s team with a particular focus on ‘Client Service Delivery’. Catherine has a great customer background and seemed very bright throughout the interview process, but in joining Carly’s manic team, you have to question her sanity!
I am glad to say that our Service Range has been expanding too – the whole COMPANY VIDEO thing is outlined in great detail within the pages of this publication of course, but we are also thrilled to be able to roll out the best VACANCY SPIDER software in the business (via Innovantage) which is available to all of our clients (please contact Carly on 01442 200 946 for details). In addition, we have extended our arrangements with Total Jobs and Credit Safe recently with continuity of service ensured.
More importantly, our clients revenues continue to rise (well done you guys out there) and the positive trend of the last 18 months seems set fair for our Client’s businesses. We are also being asked to
look into the most effective ways that many of our single Recruiter businesses can grow & in the next edition of www.the-DarkSide.tv we will be running the rule over the whole idea of Commission Only Recruiters (& will it work for our Clients?).
Anyway, please feel free to get in touch about anything recruitment-related! Hopefully, even if we don’t have the solution to hand, we will know where to get it! Hope to hear from you soon.
We all know it’s coming, like a juggernaut heading down our road – headlights on and the sound of a distant rumbling, but not yet in full view and certainly not in our way...yet.
Planning and preparing for the impact will be important of course, but there is no avoiding it.
There has been a lot of comment in the press about the negative effects of the new legislation (due to come into force on October 1st 2011) but we see this as a great opportunity to open up a discussion with your clients and get closer to them.
So, what are the AWR?
In a nutshell, the new Agency Worker Regulations are designed to give temporary agency workers the same pay and employment conditions as they would have been entitled to had they been recruited by the end client directly to do the same job. The agency worker needs be engaged for 12 weeks' of service with the same hirer, in the same role, in order to qualify.
It is not retrospective and for those agency workers already on assignment, the 12 week qualifying period will start from October 1st.
After 12 weeks:
Temporary agency workers will be entitled to the same:
basic hourly rate and any additional entitlements that are linked to the work done by the temporary agency worker during an assignment.
This Juggernautis coming.....
There are some benefits which
temporary agency workers will be
entitled to from day one of an
assignment:
temporary agency workers are to be made aware of perm vacancies that arise within the client's organisation.
temporary agency workers will also be entitled to access a number of collective facilities including crèche and childcare facilities, parking spaces, canteen facilities and the provision of transport services.
overtime and shift allowances,
unsocial hours premiums,
payments for difficult or dangerous duties
lunch vouchers.
bonuses which are directly attributable to the quality and quantity of work done by a temporary agency worker
rest breaks
annual leave allowance.
....as a comparable permanent employee within your client’s organisation.
Who will be protected?
The Regulations apply to all temporary agency workers supplied regardless of whether they are on a contract of employment or contract for services with their supplying agency. PAYE workers who are employed via an umbrella company will also be within scope.
It also applies to master vendors and neutral vendors (i.e. the management company who manages the overall recruitment process for a client but does not supply workers directly themselves)
Exemptions include:
Managed Service Contracts (i.e. those where the supplier rather than the hirer, manages or directs staff) are not expressly excluded, but they will be outside of scope unless in reality, the hirer, rather than the manager service, supervises and directs the staff.
Genuinely self employed temporary agency workers – these people are in business on their own.
Use of agencies that have a contract of employment with their workers and pay them in between assignments. However the workers must be paid at least 50% of what they were being paid in their previous assignment when out of work and no less than National
Minimum Wage. They must be paid for and accrued four weeks whilst between assignments before the contract can be terminated. This would most likely be the case of in-house staffing banks.
16
The juggernaut is coming, what impact it is likely to have on you and your business, is down to you.
To find out more, why not give me a call on 01442 200 957?
This and other law-related articles are designed to give an opinion on a legal issue at any given moment in time – for specific advice on your circumstances, please seek independent legal advice.
Help is at hand.....
Where the temporary agency worker you are supplying is on a higher rate of pay than the clients’ employees then their pay does not need to be lowered.
In relation to pay only, having no comparable employees within the client’s workforce.
Engaging with your client on AWR
What a fantastic opportunity to get closer to your client – you will need to identify with them a directly comparable employee to establish parity in pay and working conditions. If you can’t find a comparator then talk to your client about an identifiable pay scale or a starting rate which could be used as a reference point. Talk about the benefits which 'apply generally' in the workplace. Benefits outlined in company handbooks, employment contracts and collective agreements are a great source of reference – of course the main objective is to talk to your clients, open the discussion, engage and share the responsibility.
How will the 12 week qualifying period
work?
The provisions will apply after the worker has been engaged for 12 weeks regardless of their working pattern (e.g. full time or part time). It is a calendar week, starting with the day that the agency worker started the assignment.
An agency worker can qualify for equal treatment after 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer regardless of whether they have been supplied by more than one agency for part of that period of time.
It is important to note that the 12 week qualifying period commences from 1
October 2011 and that previous use of a temporary agency worker will be disregarded. A new qualifying period will only begin if a new assignment with the same client is substantively different, or if there is a break of more than six weeks between assignments in the same role.
The 12 weeks qualifying period can be paused if the worker takes annual leave, takes certified sick leave or takes time off for public duties. The regulations include a complex set of anti-avoidance provisions designed to make it difficult for clients to circumvent the qualifying period.
Who is liable for establishing equal
treatment?
The agency will be liable for any breach of a right in relation to equal treatment for which they are responsible. However, you will have a defence if you have taken 'reasonable steps' to obtain the necessary information from the client.
What to do next?
Research your own temps to discover:
Existing pay and overtime rates per job scope.
What proportion of assignments last more than 12 weeks.
If assignments are extended or regularly repeated.
The average break period between assignments.
The use of the same temporary agency worker in different roles within the same client.
The supply of the same agency worker by different agencies.
Amend your registration documents to ensure that you know your temps’ recent work history (taking account of the any breaks)
Speak to your clients – let them know you are working within the AWR and help them meet their own obligations:
Research their use of temps
Develop process to identify comparators
Amend induction packs to include the day one rights
AWR is new and of course unchallenged at the moment, there are no hard and fast rules on how it will be implemented. However, at this time, it is a great chance for you to open up discussions with your clients, get them talking about their responsibilities, your responsibilities and ensuring that you are both compliant.
HELP NEEDED!You are probably already aware that www.SupportServicesGroup.tv identifies experienced Recruiters who want to run their own business? I am sure that it no longer remains an industry secret that SSG will launch a business for that Recruiter & then provide ‘On-Going Support’ to that Recruiter & their business.
RELATIONSHIP MANAGER & INNOVATOR (£30-35k)
We are looking for an exceptionally gifted individual to join our team in Berkhamsted (near Hemel Hempstead) to help to provide on-going support to new and existing Recruitment Businesses. This is a role that requires an extraordinary combination of skills and experience. Sitting alongside your intuitive understanding of all aspects of Recruitment, you will then need to demonstrate fantastic empathetic support skills – knowing when to research solutions, investigate improvements or just to provide a sincere shoulder to lean on.
You will be looking after the very real issues faced by Budding Entrepreneurs. This is tough – you have to really care, to genuinely want to help – all of the time, whatever the circumstances. Equally, you need to be tough, innovative and constantly seeking improvements which will add to the SSG Offering. You will also be required to identify new applicants for SSG, using job boards, LinkedIn etc.
This is not a passive role. You have to be pro-active, engaging, amusing, determined, level headed, almost workaholic. No prima donna, you will want to get your hands dirty every day working in a team which is tremendously strong, supportive and close. Forget 9-5, this is something much more fun, much more engrossing.
Fancy a chat? Please contact me to find out more and to convince us that this is the right role for you.
Clare Armstrong – 01442 200 957 (8am-9pm)
17
REFER A RECRUITER
SENIOR RECRUITER – Unique Rewards
Unique opportunity to be responsible for the growth of a major new Recruitment Company with a team of 9 Recruiters working directly for you by the end of 2012 and up to 30 Recruiters looking to you for leadership by the close of business 31st December 2013. No pressure then!...
As a Non Executive Director of this new Venture, it is my job to identify two SENIOR RECRUITERS (Director Designates) from within the PERMANENT sectors of CONSTRUCTION, RETAIL or I.T.
We are extremely well funded, ambitious, driven and located in great offices in Stockley Park, near Heathrow. This is a hugely exciting and credible project seeking two individuals who can combine personal billings (c. £180,000 p.a.) with real Management and Company Strategy Expertise.
This is an opportunity to make your mark in Recruitment and to earn extraordinary rewards IF (& only if) you are both talented and prepared to commit yourself 100%.
The owners of the new business are gifted businessmen who recognise that they need Partners, not traditional employees at this Director Designate level & as such, we are looking to you to be entirely involved in all aspects of business strategy & growth.
Great fun, great rewards and a huge challenge!
Please give me a call to chat it through.
David Jones07967 562 847 (8am – 9pm)
Making a Fortune
A book that examines what it takes to be an Entrepreneur and looks at the particular experience of the Asian Community.
Dr. Spinder Dhaliwal is a big cheese in Entrepreneurship at Surrey University with massive knowledge and insight into how Entrepreneurs behave, the problems they face and how they overcome them. She has been published everywhere and spends much of her time examining the ‘Asian experience’. We have met her and she is approachable, relevant and very impressive.
The book looks at 11 Asian Entrepreneurs & recounts their stories of hardship and success. It has the traditional ‘rags to riches’ theme of course but has a great way of presenting the journeys of each of the subjects – it is inspiring, informative and somehow a refreshing antidote to the plethora of Richard Branson style biographical ‘stories’. It is ‘real’ and therefore useful to anyone starting or running a business.
Because it is not all glitz and glamour and tales of easy success – the Entrepreneurs have often needed to overcome significant cultural and bigoted hurdles before then addressing the common thread of how to make money! It is a real insight into how the Asian community have adapted to a totally new environment & rather than ignored their own cultural history, how they have harnessed the traditional values of their own community to build fantastic businesses. It is a book that sets a proper context for what the UK is about – multi cultural forces battling to co-exist.
Without doubt the number one lesson that these Entrepreneurs teach is that in business whatever you say you will do, do it – and then do a little bit more.
Hard to put my finger on it but at times I just felt that it would be good if the book would draw all of the lessons and ideas together and present some sort of template for what it takes t succeed. Having said that, Dr. Dhaliwal clearly didn’t set out to write a ‘self help’ book!
Spinder is an authority for all things Entrepreneurial, particularly within the Asian context. She has focused special attention not only on the Asian community but also the role that women play within the Entrepreneurial environment.
Published by Capstone (01243 779 77) and costs £14.99.
Money well spent if only to open your eyes to the fact that most of us have it pretty easy when thinking about starting a business – try overcoming cultural pressures and corporate prejudice!
Great stories, well presented.
WORTH A READ?
M
OTHER WORK:
WANT ONE?
DISLIKE:
RATING:
KEY LESSON:
WHY BOTHER:
OVERVIEW:
AUTHOR:
IN A NUTSHELL:
TITLE:
£2,000To Pointthe Finger
Don’t Forget .......
Ask SSG about
Catherine 01442 200945
Skills TestingVacancy ListsCredit Reports
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HOW I MADE IT
It’s always fascinating to hear how others have made their millions. How did they do it? What was the biggest challenge? How can their experience help others to do the same?
It’s even more fascinating when we can also learn what went wrong – the mistakes, the arguments, the upsets. Was the money worth the pain? Does the end result justify the means?
It’s even more fascinating than things that are just ordinarily fascinating when these tales comes directly from the wicked World of RECRUITMENT!
SELLING A BUSINESS
The math is mind boggling. The stories incredible & the route to market seemingly fraught with impossible conundrums, but what factually do you have to do to sell your recruitment business and join the ranks of the multi-millionaires? Probably a lot less than you might imagine.
With the help of some genuine industry Super-Stars, we are going to show what you need to do not only to create a business that makes you plenty of ‘income’, but one that is actually attractive enough to ‘the market’ to ensnare a cash rich buyer & unlock your millions.
PhD RESEARCH PROGRAMME
SSG has recently gained final approval to launch a Doctoral Research Programme in Entrepreneurship in partnership with Surrey University (St Mary’s college).
This unique sponsored offering provides talented Recruiters the opportunity to Research a key area of industry interest and work towards a Doctoral qualification (i.e. a PhD). To help along the way, SSG is picking up the tab for all of the University Fees and also paying an annual salary / bursary of between £20,000 & £25,000. How cool is that? Maybe you have a great Research idea or know someone that might?....
3 WAYS TO SYOB
If you want to Start Your Own Business, then we have identified 3 great ways to do so. From the self funded route through to Business Angel Investment or Company Incubation, we will look at the good and the bad of each alternative.
