Goldteam's Blog

Goldteam is awarded for its innovation in Recruitment

On Thursday 24th of March, Slough Chambers of Commerce awarded Goldteam ‘Innovation of the year’ award, for our in-house developed recruitment platform Goldtime. For more information regarding our award winning services head over to http://www.goldteam.co.uk

NHS short of specialist staff despite cuts, says medical recruiter

Despite major cuts to front line services in the NHS, the health service is still short of specialist medical staff. That’s the message from the new white paper on the medical employment market from Your World Recruitment, who also warns that the government must be careful not to store up problems for the future of the NHS.

The report reveals that although cuts across the board in the healthcare sector have led to a decline in medical jobs across the UK, at the same time there are still a number of opportunities out there, especially for GPs, nurses and other medical experts with very specialist skills. These skill shortages include cochlear implant specialists within audiology, paediatric occupational therapists and MRI / ultrasound experts within radiology. Although pay levels have frozen for many, certain jobs or hospitals that are struggling to find talent are driving up remuneration to attract the right people.

The white paper also tells of the increasing number of locum healthcare staff moving into permanent positions, mainly due to the increased job security in what is a challenging time for the public sector. With less jobs, longer waiting lists and less locums to fill temporary positions when hospitals get busy, Your World is warning that investment in staff needs to continue in order to avoid future problems and staff shortages.

“With the UK’s huge deficit, it was of course necessary to make cuts everywhere, including the NHS”, comments managing director of Your World Recruitment, Tony Moss. “However at the same time, people aren’t going to stop getting ill just because we’re in tough economic times – the health service perhaps needs more attention than ever before. Although agencies are often seen as a drain on resources, they are in fact going to become even more important in 2011. Agencies need to make sure that locum healthcare staff receive competitive pay and don’t take their skills elsewhere to ensure they can supply key specialist staff at very short notice to fill critical positions.”

Long-term approach needed to tackle unemployment

Today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that UK unemployment rose by 44,000 to almost 2.5m in the quarter to the end of December. Nigel Meager, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, says: “The latest figures suggest yet again that any recovery in the private sector is still too weak to offset the intensifying job loss in the public sector. Overall employment levels continued to fall, while unemployment was up again. Public sector redundancies are already running at 40% more than a year ago and the recent spate of redundancy warnings means that this is bound to accelerate.”

Read more on http://www.recruiter.co.uk

Shock GDP figures: REC says growth is still on the cards for 2011

Announcement by the Office for National Statistics has revealed a shock 0.5 per cent contraction in the UK’s economy in the final quarter of 2010.

This is very disappointing but understandable given the appalling weather the UK experienced in November and December. As a result of this, most sectors struggled to cope and many consumers just stopped spending even in the run-up to Christmas.

However, a positive sign was the REC’s latest Report on Jobs which did indicate that the jobs market in December remained in growth. Also, Jobs Outlook, the REC’s survey of employers remains optimistic about private sector jobs growth for the rest of this year.

Global recruitment key to midwife shortage

Increasing global recruitment of midwives is the only solution to tackling a chronic shortage of UK these workers in the UK, according to Kate Bleasdale, executive vice chairman of Healthcare locums (HCL).

Bleasdale’s comments come in response to a warning from Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, that the UK’s existing workforce of midwives is not big enough to cope with the surge in birthrates, and in increasingly complex pregnancies and births.

Bleasdale says: “The market for midwives is increasingly a global one and the UK should embrace and welcome that. Looking beyond our own borders to source pools of talent across the globe will facilitate the sharing of best practice in midwifery and result in a better service for mothers and families.”

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures on the UK’s ageing population. The REC has responded by underlining the implications for the recruitment industry.

One of the big news stories over the Christmas period focused on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures on the UK’s ageing population. The REC has responded by underlining the implications for the recruitment industry and for the UK jobs market as a whole. The headline figure – based on Office of National Statistics (ONS) projections – was that approximately one-sixth of people currently alive in Britain will live beyond 100 years. The strain on pension funds and the health service have increased calls for people to retire later. “Changing demographics will have a profound impact on our society and labour market. The ageing population is one of the external factors that recruiters need to take into account when planning for the future. One of the specific implications picked up in recent media reports is that people will need to work longer – especially in light of the impact of the challenging economic climate on pension funds and our national propensity for building up debt rather than saving for the future . Commenting on the DWP data and on the implications for recruiters, Sarah Gordon, Associate Director of Sammons Group and Chair of the REC’s Diversity and Inclusion Forum says: “Recruitment agencies will have a pivotal role to play by providing opportunities for temporary and contract work so that older workers can choose to continue earning and contributing in a flexible way that suits their changing work/life balance, rather than being tied down to a full-time job . Recruiters also have an ongoing role to play in educating clients to ensure that any discrimination on the grounds of age is eradicated once and for all.” As part of our ongoing work on diversity and inclusion issues, the revised REC/JCP Diversity Pledge will be formally launched later this month. This will form part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the REC and Jobcentre Plus.

Hospitality facing exodus of female workers

Around 310,000 female workers leave the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industry each year, costing businesses £2.8bn in replacement recruitment and initial training, according to a new report from People 1st.

The percentage of women working in the sector has fallen from 61% in 2004/05 to 56% now, while the sector expects to recruit an additional 290,000 managers up to 2017.