Recruitment in 2012: A review
20 December 2012
There is never a dull moment in the recruitment industry – 2012 has been no exception. Here, we run through the big issues and stories, the people who have made the news and how the recruitment industry has continued to go from strength to strength.
Thu, 20 Dec 2012
There is never a dull moment in the recruitment industry – 2012 has been no exception. Here, we run through the big issues and stories, the people who have made the news and how the recruitment industry has continued to go from strength to strength.
The Games of the 30th Olympiad, otherwise known as London 2012, was very much the centrepiece of the year, with our July special edition charting the recruitment challenges for the greatest show on earth and the potential knock-on benefits for the UK labour market.
Games organisers LOCOG’s head of recruitment Paul Modley will be speaking at our February knowledge-sharing event Smart Resourcing, sponsored by Eploy, on lessons learned from recruiting for London 2012.
Missing out on the medals for the recruitment event was security provider G4S, which failed to deliver on its £238m Olympic and Paralympic contract, with vetting and screening taking four time longer than expected, and the company taking a pummelling from MPs as extra military were drafted in to cover the shortfall.
Another effort of Recruiter’s to recognise the excellent work of those at the forefront of the hiring game was our October edition, with the special Game Changers feature charting how British techies are advancing the world of recruitment. And the very next month, one of these firms had managed to attract £1.1m of private investment from a group including the outgoing boss of white collar recruiter SThree.
Firms that will be hoping to emulate this success in years to come include two high-profile start-ups – science recruiter Hyper Recruitment Solutions, founded following ex-Matchtech manager Ricky Martin’s victory on TV’s The Apprentice, and online intern recruitment service Intern Avenue, a rare recruitment solution to receive investment from the BBC show Dragons' Den, founder Dupsy Abiola benefitting from £100k of entrepreneur Peter Jones’s money. Certainly this pair were gave a more glowing impression of the recruitment industry than the sector’s somewhat tenuous involvement in January's Celebrity Big Brother…
But recruitment was also hitting the news this year for all the wrong reasons. In February Emma Harrison, director and chairman of A4e, one of the major operators of the government’s Work Programme, resigned from her job, also stepping aside from her role as a special advisor to the Prime Minister, as a police investigation targeted ex-staff accused of fraud.
Also taking national column inches was an employment tribunal brought against her old company by Kate Bleasdale, the founder of healthcare recruiter Healthcare Locums. The claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal were themselves dismissed, but Bleasdale told Recruiter she planned to appeal.
There is never a dull moment in the recruitment industry – 2012 has been no exception. Here, we run through the big issues and stories, the people who have made the news and how the recruitment industry has continued to go from strength to strength.
The Games of the 30th Olympiad, otherwise known as London 2012, was very much the centrepiece of the year, with our July special edition charting the recruitment challenges for the greatest show on earth and the potential knock-on benefits for the UK labour market.
Games organisers LOCOG’s head of recruitment Paul Modley will be speaking at our February knowledge-sharing event Smart Resourcing, sponsored by Eploy, on lessons learned from recruiting for London 2012.
Missing out on the medals for the recruitment event was security provider G4S, which failed to deliver on its £238m Olympic and Paralympic contract, with vetting and screening taking four time longer than expected, and the company taking a pummelling from MPs as extra military were drafted in to cover the shortfall.
Another effort of Recruiter’s to recognise the excellent work of those at the forefront of the hiring game was our October edition, with the special Game Changers feature charting how British techies are advancing the world of recruitment. And the very next month, one of these firms had managed to attract £1.1m of private investment from a group including the outgoing boss of white collar recruiter SThree.
Firms that will be hoping to emulate this success in years to come include two high-profile start-ups – science recruiter Hyper Recruitment Solutions, founded following ex-Matchtech manager Ricky Martin’s victory on TV’s The Apprentice, and online intern recruitment service Intern Avenue, a rare recruitment solution to receive investment from the BBC show Dragons' Den, founder Dupsy Abiola benefitting from £100k of entrepreneur Peter Jones’s money. Certainly this pair were gave a more glowing impression of the recruitment industry than the sector’s somewhat tenuous involvement in January's Celebrity Big Brother…
But recruitment was also hitting the news this year for all the wrong reasons. In February Emma Harrison, director and chairman of A4e, one of the major operators of the government’s Work Programme, resigned from her job, also stepping aside from her role as a special advisor to the Prime Minister, as a police investigation targeted ex-staff accused of fraud.
Also taking national column inches was an employment tribunal brought against her old company by Kate Bleasdale, the founder of healthcare recruiter Healthcare Locums. The claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal were themselves dismissed, but Bleasdale told Recruiter she planned to appeal.
