The New Level Health & Safety Recruitment Blog

Happy Christmas everyone!

The shops are packed and my local supermarket has run out of carrots, parsnips and potatoes... it must be Christmas!!

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year :)

I'm off to Australia for Christmas this year, so am busy getting things up to date before I go. I've been having fun this afternoon writing our latest newsletter (email newsletter@newlevelrecruitment.com if you'd like us to include you). I've found some great funnies on the internet, not all strictly publishable, but I really like this poem so I thought I'd share it on the blog.



A Politically Correct Christmas Story

'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck...

How to live in a world that's politically correct?

His workers no longer would answer to "Elves".

"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.

And labour conditions at the North Pole

were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.



Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,

Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

And equal employment had made it quite clear

That Santa had better not use just reindeer.

So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid

Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!



The runners had been removed from his sleigh;

The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.

And people had started to call for the cops

When they heard sled noises on their rooftops.

Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.

His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."



And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,

Rudolf was suing over unauthorised use of his nose

And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,

Demanding millions in over-due compensation.

So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,

Who suddenly said she'd enough of this life,



Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,

Demanding from now on her title was Ms.

And as for the gifts, why, he'd never had a notion

That making a choice could cause so much commotion.

Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,

Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.



Nothing that might be construed to pollute.

Nothing to aim, Nothing to shoot.

Nothing that clamoured or made lots of noise.

Nothing for just girls, or just for the boys.

Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.

Nothing that's warlike or non-pacifistic.



No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.

Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.

And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,

Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.

For they raised the hackles of those psychological

Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.



No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;

Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.

Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;

And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, dishevelled, perplexed;

He just could not figure out what to do next.



He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,

But you've got to be careful with that word today.

His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;

Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might

Give to all without angering the left or the right.



A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,

Each group of people, every religion;

Every ethnicity, every hue,

Everyone, everywhere...even you.

So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...

May you and your loved ones, enjoy peace on Earth.

Copyright; Author Unknown

Exciting new HSE Manager vacancy

Ok, I don't normally like to post job ads on our blog ('cos it's for blogging, after all, not job ads), but in this case I'll make an exception. I've just had the most interesting and challenging new role (Group HSE Manager) come in and I'm really keen to talk to anybody who thinks they might fit the bill.

My client is one of the world leaders in ship repair and dockside services, based in Newcastle, and operating over several large sites in the UK. They're looking for a Group HSE Manager (newly created role) to develop and implement a common set of standards across the group, while (obviously :)) ensuring compliance to the highest level of HSE standards. This is a senior role, requiring someone with a fairly devolved management style, accustomed to handling behavioural change issues in a high risk environment.

If you think this might be you, then please drop me a line - jo@newlevelrecruitment.com or call me on 0845 270 1640 and we can discuss things in more detail. The job ref is 0950.

Worldwide recruitment cover!

Great news this week - TEAM (The Employment Agents Movement - www.jobsatteam.co.uk), the UK's biggest network of independent recruitment agents,has joined forces with NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network (www.npaworldwide.com) to form the WORL'S LARGEST network  independent recruiters, meaning that we can now offer our clients and job seekers the best jobs and candidates frojm the USA, Canada and Australasia as well as the UK. Full press release as follows:

"NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network with global headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA has entered into a strategic alliance with TEAM - The Employment Agency Movement, based in the UK. Both organizations are engaged in the business of facilitating networking between their member firms offering independent recruiting, executive search and temporary staffing. The alliance has been formed to increase global business opportunities for the cumulative membership. Clients and candidates represented by these two networks will benefit from the worldwide connections and boundary-breaking reach that will be available from the combined networks of TEAM and NPA. 

The arrangement provides NPA with a larger presence and more points of connection in the UK and across Europe. Once implemented, NPA members will have a new collection of recruiting partners to work with cooperatively to fill open positions and place employees throughout UK and Europe. The NPA-TEAM alliance creates a combined recruiting network of over 600 locations worldwide with coverage in a broad range of occupations and industries. “NPA is excited to have a working relationship with TEAM. We believe there is value for NPA members, TEAM members and for the clients and candidates represented by each,” states Dave Nerz, President of NPA.

TEAM’s 300-plus members will gain access to NPA’s worldwide membership of nearly 400 premier independent recruiters to respond to the growing needs of UK and European based clients with demand for talent in North America, South America, Africa, and all across Asia/Pacific. “To gain this access to a like-minded organization with a global presence offers TEAM members a real advantage,” according to Simon Garbett, Managing Director of TEAM.

###

About NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network. NPA is an international, member-owned recruiting network facilitating cooperative, split-fee placements between its members. In 2008, NPA members shared over US$9 million in split-fee revenue. Founded in 1956, NPA has 420 member offices with more than 1,500 individual consultants in 25 countries on 6 continents. www.npaworldwide.com

About TEAM – The Employment Agency Movement. TEAM is the largest independent networked group of recruitment and employment service providers in the UK. With TEAM, a business gains all the advantages synonymous with a local agency whilst also benefiting from a substantial support network. TEAM has over 300 branch locations across the UK with a combine 1 billion turnover with an estimated 26,500 placements across the UK last year. www.jobsatteam.com "

Britain the safest place to work in the EU!

According to research published this week by the HSE, Britain is one of the safest places in the EU to work. last year 29.3 million working days were lost to injury and ill health, compared to 33.0 million in 2007/8, and apparently significantly less than other EU countries.

Thats down to dedicated Health & Safety professionals like the ones we recruit, working hard to get their message across - well done all of you!

Halloween

Have a good Halloween everybody, hope you get more treats than tricks :)!

How to work with your recruitment agency to achieve the ultimate aim - hiring the best possible person for your company!

It is a common complaint of HR managers that they don’t get all they expect from their external recruitment supplier, that agencies are full of talk about high levels of service, getting to know you etc etc. As usual when a relationship doesn’t live up to expectations, there is likely to be fault on both sides.  It is very difficult for an agency recruiter to get a really good idea of what you’re looking for if you don’t tell them. Recruitment via ESP isn’t really feasible, is it?

With this in mind, I’ve put together a few thoughts on things that can be done to improve communication and to increase the likelihood of a successful recruitment outcome.

• Provide a job description that actually matches the job. Often we receive job descriptions that are several years old or which were originally written for another position entirely. Remember that the job description is what the recruiter and the candidate take to be your requirements – if you ask for the wrong thing, you’re going to get the wrong thing…. Allowing the recruiter to speak to the current incumbent or the line manager is also very helpful in getting a feel for what the position actually entails.
• Be clear about what you actually want - provide specific requirements, not general concepts. Think about what you actually mean by “good communicator”, “flexible approach” and where you can, give more detail. One person’s flexible good communicator is another person’s inflexible brick wall.
• Meet your recruitment consultant! Many HR Managers don’t want to waste their precious time meeting their recruitment consultant face to face, but if you think about it, without seeing the place where a candidate will be working, meeting some of the team and getting a feel for the company ethos and culture it is very difficult to know what sort of person will best suit the vacancy. Expecting a recruiter to find you the perfect candidate without giving them any information about the company is like asking them to swim the channel with one arm tied behind their back!
  
  
• Offer a realistic salary and benefits package. Ask yourself if you would move from your current position to another company for less money than you’re on now. Of course you wouldn’t, so why expect anyone else to? Take advice from the recruitment consultant if you’re unsure of the market rate – they are the ones dealing with it every day and generally have a pretty good idea of what is feasible. And remember – paying peanuts gets monkeys.
• Move fast - don’t waste valuable time waiting for weeks before booking interviews – even in a depressed market the best candidates will get snatched up while you’re cooling your heels not bothering to move. Also, long delays before interviews tend to give a bad impression of your company and your HR processes – the best candidates will simply go to someone ready to act quickly and treat their application with respect.
• Sell the job and the company to the candidate. An interview is a 2 way street – the candidate is there to sell him/herself to you, but he/she is also there to find out more about the company and the role – you’re both in the spotlight so be prepared and make sure you present yourself in the best light.
• Trust the recruitment agency to manage the offer negotiations – this is the stage at which a third party can give valuable distance to allow honest discussion to take place.

2009 IOSH Salary and Attitudes Survey published this week

I thought that the results of the 2009 IOSH Salary and Attitudes Survey published this week in the SHP were generally good news for the profession! Here are some of the key points for those who missed it:

• The average salary overall was £37,705 with oil and gas being the best paid sector where the average was £57,408.
• The average salary for Chartered fellows of IOSH (CFIOSH) was £58,484; while Chartered members received an average of £42,847, with Grad IOSH and Tech IOSH at £35058 and £3,748 respectively.
• The average salary for non-members of IOSH was £31,384 (non-members made up for just under 8% of the sample)
• Consultant’s rates varied considerably with 29% charging up to £250/day and 19% charging a daily rate of over £551.

Attitudes are changing… according to the survey 43% felt that health and safety practitioners had a higher status than five years ago and 60% added that their company is more committed to health and safety than it was five years ago.

More than half of the respondents thought their job would be changed to include extra duties - around 80% of respondents already have responsibility for fire safety, two-thirds for occupational health, over half for environment, a quarter for security / general FM and a sixth for quality control.

Approximately 80% of respondents said that they wanted to see a government-recognised scheme of accreditation for the profession.

The survey took place in April 2009 and of the 2969 people who responded, 93% were ‘in-house’ employees and 7% were consultants. 1973 people supplied salary details. For full details see www.iosh.co.uk/salarysurvey

Have a great weekend!

Just completed our latest job seeker newsletter

Phew! After some hours of hard work I've just completed the latest edition of NLR News to send out to all our registered job seekers (and anyone else who might find it useful!) If you're not on our list but would like to be, just drop us a line to newsletter@newlevelrecruitment.com and we'll be happy to include you.

We also do a regular NLR News for our clients (past, present and future :)) which is designed to supply a mix of useful HSE and recruitment information. Just email us at the same address putting "client newsletter" in the subject line.

Interview advice - how to come out of there with the job of your dreams!

Now that the economy is showing such strong signs of picking up there are obviously going to be a lot more people out there going for interviews, so I thought the time might be right to revisit a blog I posted earlier this year on interview techniques and advice. I hope you find it useful.

The thing to remember is that an interview is a 2 way street - they are assessing you to see if you will fit their company, and you are assessing them to see if the company (and the role) fits you. If you just remember that, you'll find that you are a lot less nervous about the whole process!

If you're lucky and you're being put forward for the position by a reputable recruitment agency (like New Level Recruitment, for example :)) you will have been offered an interview preparation session before you go in - take it! The prep. session will not only cover the likely interview format and probable questions, but will also give you the chance to clarify in your mind the things you need to say and ask. It will also "limber you up" mentally and help you to relax once you get into the actual interview.

Good preparation is the key to ensuring a successful interview so be sure to go through the job description in detail prior to the interview and match that against your own unique experiences. The interviewer may also ask why you are specifically interested in working for the particular company, so ensure you have fully researched the company  beforehand – the company website is a good place to start.

The interviewer will initially ask you to talk through your CV and previous experiences.

Below is a short list of just some of the questions you may be asked in an interview situation:

  Why are you looking for a new position?

  Tell me about yourself      

  What interests you about and our company and this specific role?

  What strengths could you bring to the role?

  Describe two weaknesses\development areas - and what you are doing to address them

  How would your current manager describe you?

  Talk me through a recent achievement that you are proud of.

  Give me an example of when you have had to manage two or more conflicting priorities - what happened, what did you learn, how would you manage differently?

  Give me an example of when you last worked under pressure - what happened?

You will probably have questions of your own that you would like to ask the interviewer, be sure to write down critical questions so you don’t forget. It is really important that you leave the interview having found out everything you need to know to decide if this is the right opportunity for you.

Finally, before you leave the interview if you have decided that this is the position and company you have been looking for, make sure you tell the interviewer. It will ensure that the manager is in no doubt about your level of interest and it is a great way to make a lasting impression!

 

By the way, I hope it goes without saying that you should always make sure you arrive in plenty of time, dress smartly (and appropriately) and take a copy of your CV, your passport and the job spec. with you. It all just helps things to go more smoothly!