subject: The New UK Work Programme Could Benefit from the Skills of Recruiting Agencies [print this page] The New UK Work Programme Could Benefit from the Skills of Recruiting Agencies
Copyright (c) 2011 Alison WithersThe expansion of temporary and permanent job opportunities in the UK continued during March 2011, albeit at a slower rate than in previous months, according to the latest figures in the KPMG Report on Work. Although the continued improvement in demand for staff is encouraging Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG commented that the signs are that the job market recovery remains volatile and while some private sector employers are hiring again they are not yet doing so at levels sufficient to absorb the job losses in the public sector. The recruitment industry's representative body, the REC, has identified a new opportunity for recruitment specialists to provide some of the contracted out services that will be needed with the start of the Government's new Work Programme, to replace the New Deal for helping longer term unemployed people back into work. Recruitment agencies' survival as businesses depends on being successful in securing job outcomes. Specialist agencies work hard to develop good relationships with their clients and with their candidates and know their local areas very well. These skills could all be put to good use to develop a potential new income stream because they are likely to have the "street level" knowledge and contacts that the chosen main candidates to bid for contracts may not have. While at first sight it might not seem to be an attractive prospect to take on candidates who might be seen as "difficult" to place because they have been outside the workplace for six months or longer, the recruitment agency has a number of tools that could make it worth considering. They are very skilled at assessing possibilities and skills of their candidates and may be able to draw out of people more than the candidate themselves is aware of, given the blow to the confidence that unemployment can be. In addition the process of helping someone back into work can be managed through initially placing them in temp positions, which can be used as a confidence builder and help the candidate to rediscover their competence and polish their skills. It often happens that repeated rejections may cause a perfectly competent candidate to give up hope and even a temporary placement is likely to result in someone with considerable motivation to make it a success. The result of a sucessful placement could be more business for the agency since the candidate is likely to remain with them and if they have proved their worth to the client, they also will be happy with the service they have received. While initially the candidate may have been placed in a relatively low-skill position regardless of their former track record and CV, there is no reason to suppose that their ambition will not be rekindled by being given a chance and the agency could end up with someone who goes from a fairly routine office administration position to a role as an executive PA. The outcome could be a good "case study" for the agency to quote in future marketing, a grateful candidate and the possibility of generating more business for the agency.
