Checking publicly available information, such as a prospective candidate’s social media page, might be technically lawful but may not be best practice, said Adrian Marlowe, managing director of Lawspeed.

Speaking at a Recruitment Society event earlier this month, Marlowe said that pre-employment ‘processing’ of applicants is covered under the Data Protection Act. This means that looking up information about a potential candidate on a social networking site is classed as processing. And processing would need consent from the applicant. However, the fact that it has been posted on a public site could lead you to conclude that consent has been impliantly given.

Marlowe warned that if employers base their decisions on information gleaned from a social networking site, they could be in line for potential claims of discrimination, should the unsuccessful applicant discover this is the case. Yet he admitted that in the real world, this scenario [where the candidate realised their profile was hacked into] would be rare.

Source : Recruiter

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Digital camera phones should be banned from Christmas parties to avoid employees being fired due to photographic evidence emerging of party high jinks this year, according to employment lawyer Jonathan Whittaker.

The firm advises bosses to tell staff that snaps taken with a digital camera are fine, but not with mobile phones.

Jonathan Whittaker of law firm SAS Daniels, says: “The speed with which an embarrassing or even unlawful photo can make it from phone to internet is breathtaking – digital-savvy types can take a photo and post it on a blog, website or social networking site for the world to see within seconds.

“Under the European Convention of Human Rights, everybody has the right to respect for their private life. Employees should seek permission from each individual before posting their photo on a website or blog, otherwise it could give rise to problems for staff and employer.”

Source : Recruiter

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The Recruitment and Employment Confederation is responding to a report from Oxfam entitled “Who Cares?” which looks at dealing with exploitation of workers in the care sector.

Anne Fairweather, the REC’s Head of Public Policy,  said “Boiling down a series of complex issues, which in virtually all cases involve breaches of the law, to a call for an extension of the licensing of recruitment agencies is missing the point.  The REC is committed to an effective enforcement regime and agrees that while the existing regime is not perfect, the Gangmaster Licensing Authority is not a silver bullet which can solve every enforcement issue.  If we are going to be serious about tackling issue of exploitation, in both the agency and directly employed sector, then we need to get to the root of the problem.”

Peter Cullimore, Chair of the REC Nursing and Social Care Group which represents 300 agencies in the sector, said:  “Social and domiciliary are agencies are highly regulated.  In addition to the Conduct Regulations which govern all recruitment agencies, our members have to be registered with the Care Quality Commission and are regulated and inspected by them.  Adding another layer to the inspection regime will simply add complexity and cost to legitimate businesses and would not necessary lead to better enforcement against those who break the rules.  Care work can be very rewarding and we would encourage better funding to enable the workers in the sector to be better rewarded financially for their work.”

Anne Fairweather concluded:  “Initiatives such as the Pay and Work Rights helpline to make it easier for workers to report abuses in the workplace, are an example of a measure that could have a real impact. The REC also supports the extra resource which has been given to the Employment Agency Standards inspectorate.  It is vital that those who exploit workers are caught and the REC will be considering how to further improve enforcement in our sector without adding complexity or costs on those operating correctly.”

Source : Recruitment-International

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The REC is hailing victory after a new report was published today aimed at boosting standards in social work, which will include the establishment of a new national College for Social Work.

The REC had been invited by the British Association for Social Workers (BASW) to be part of a working group looking into the possibility of creating such a College.

In welcoming the proposal, Raluca Boroianu-Omura, Policy & PR Executive for REC Nursing and Social Care, said: ‘The College would promote the status of social work and would create a powerful voice for the profession. The REC is a strong advocate for raising standards and promoting good practice in social work, and sees this as the College’s main mission.

She added: “Social workers would benefit greatly from having the support offered by a national college. It would provide workers with post qualifying support and career structure. It would allow social workers to have the help they need to deliver first class services.

“This is a fantastic opportunity and to this end, the REC is committed to working closely with BASW and other key stakeholders to ensure that we keep up the momentum in achieving this aim.”

www.rec.uk.com

 Source : OnRec

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Its official, Taplow recruiter Mandeville is home to the Best Recruitment Consultant in London & The South East

Specialist Sales Recruiter Jadie Whitehead-Patey, from Burnham in Berkshire, was delighted to be awarded given the prestigious title of ‘Recruitment Consultant of the Year’ in the REC sponsored London and South East Recruitment awards this weekend. The judges unanimously voted Jadie, who works at specialist recruitment company Mandeville Recruitment, the best in her industry in Friday night’s glittering award ceremony, hosted by TV presenter Paul Ross. Jadie received the accolade due to her outstanding efforts and proactivity in seeking market opportunities, networking and proven evidence of delivering great staff for businesses time after time.

Jadie, who started at specialist recruiter Mandeville just 3 years ago with no sales or recruitment experience, is delighted that her hard work and commitment to finding talented people jobs and fulfilling businesses recruitment requirements, has been recognised in this way.

Mandeville themselves were also delighted to be nominated as finalists in three other categories, taking ‘Certificates of Merit’ accolades for both “Recruitment Team of the Year” and “Recruitment Agency of the Year” from 16 other finalists, including large national recruiters – a great amount to celebrate in a market that most people would believe is all doom and gloom.

Jadie beat off strong competition to take home the ‘Recruitment Consultant of the Year’ accolade, taking the upper hand over 12 other top performing finalists to be crowned, including regular entrants such as Aston Taylor & Spring Group. Jadie was put forward by Mandeville senior management for this award following her leading performance in the first 6 months of 2009, topping the Mandeville bill in terms of revenue and client generation.

A team of consultants and managers from Mandeville, which has its UK head office in Taplow, Berkshire, attended the final awards ceremony on Friday 13th November 2000 to find out if its hard work in the recruitment field was rewarded with the top prize. They were delighted to win both one top spot first time around and be second overall across London and South East for their agency overall, and one of their leading recruitment teams

David Riley, Mandeville’s Managing Director, said: “I am thrilled that Mandeville has yet again been rewarded as one of the top recruitment teams and agencies in London and the South East and that Jadie, who has performed fantastically for us over the past 3 years coming up the ranks from trainee to senior consultant, has lifted this prestigious award. This accolade reflects the dedication, professionalism and commitment of Jadie and the whole team throughout 2009, keeping our company performing in a tougher recruitment market than last year.

Source : Recruitment-International

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New website unveiled for the UK’s largest online recruitment research project.

The annual National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) is the largest online recruitment research project in the UK and to mark the start of the 2010 research across 70 of the UK’s leading job boards, an upgraded and updated website has been unveiled.

Currently in its eighth year, NORAS is the UK industry benchmark for independent online recruitment research and provides audience data on the demographic profile, working status and job seeking habits of online job seekers. The findings can help employers choose the right job board for their recruitment needs and enable participating job boards to deliver a more targeted and accurate sales message to their clients and candidates.

The updated website features information for employers, job boards and agencies about how the NORAS research can specifically help them. An entirely new section called NORAS Labs has also been added, giving visitors an insight into upcoming research projects from Enhance Media, the company behind NORAS.

Giles Guest, Managing Director of Enhance Media commented “An increasing number of employers and job boards recognise the need for independent data about the habits of online job seekers to base their purchasing decisions on. The new website will give them an efficient medium through which they can access the valuable information that the research provides.”

In addition to the site’s new technical features, the graphic design and navigation have been improved in order to make the website more user-friendly.

To see the upgraded site visit www.noras.co.uk where you can also download the NORAS 2009 results for free and use the interactive tool to carry out a detailed analysis of job board audiences.

Source : Recruitment-International

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The future of the recruitment industry will come under the spotlight today at the much anticipated inaugural National Convention organised by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) taking place at the HAC in central London.

Recruiters and their clients are coming together at the Convention to discuss, debate and learn from experts about the key issues that will shape the future landscape of employment.

At the heart of this is the REC’s influential White Paper, Gateway to Success: Recruitment 2020 which is being launched at the Convention and will be the subject of a panel discussion and five interactive sessions.

Kevin Green, the REC’s Chief Executive, said: “This is without doubt the most important day in the recruitment and employment calendar. We are very much looking forward to giving members the opportunity to participate in the debates about work and jobs in the future.

“This is a groundbreaking event and feedback from it will help to shape the REC’s future agenda. Providing a world-class service to our members is at the heart of all we do and this is another step to ensure this objective is fully realised.”

www.rec-convention.com

Source : Onrec

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Recruiters now have an opportunity to update their skills and knowledge through the launch of a range of 13 online courses being offered through a new partnership between the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the Open University’s Centre for Professional Learning and Development (CPLD).

With each of the courses taking around 30 hours to complete, they can be studied at a time and pace to suit each individual. This makes them ideal for those unable to commit to long-term study but want to acquire new skills, knowledge and ideas which can be applied to the workplace. 

With the courses come a number of benefits. They include skills development to suit an individual’s personal development and work-based needs. Each has a series of clearly presented and sequenced materials, activities and the support of a expert, who, acting like a personal coach, will respond directly within 24 hours.

The courses comprise a series of activities and cases studies that allow the student to reflect upon and assess current practice, and plan for development. There is also a final end of course assessed work-based activity, which is forwarded to the Learning Advisor who provides personal feedback.

On successful completion of the course, the participant will receive an Open University certificate which can be used as proof of continuing professional development to the REC or an employer, or can be simply added to a personal portfolio of learning.

The 13 courses, for which a ten per cent discount has been negotiated for REC members, range from Managing Performance Through People; Applying Strategic Thinking to Understanding Stress at Work.

Judith Armatage, the REC’s Director of Professional Development, said:

“This is an extremely exciting development for us to be able to offer continuing professional development courses with the Open University, ranked the top UK university for student satisfaction.^¹

“Through this partnership, we hope even more members, especially those who cannot commit to longer-term courses, will be able to continue their own personal development programmes so that they are able to acquire new skills knowing that they have both the full support of the OU and of course, the REC.”

Charles Edwards, Acting Director of the OU’s Centre for Professional Learning and Development said of the launch:

“We are delighted to be working with the REC and supporting members with our online CPD courses. Our expertise in flexible, work-based, supported open learning also lends itself superbly to meet the ongoing needs of professionals and our CPD certification distinguishes us from other training courses – it provides the evidence of the quality, relevance and application to practice of CPD activity.”

Full details of the new courses are now available through the REC website, www.rec.uk.com. 

 
 Source :  Recruitment Times

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