The rate of contraction of Scotland’s jobs market eased in December, according tothe Bank of Scotland’s latest PMI report.
The report posted a reading of 53.7 in December, up from 50.6 in the previous month for manufacturing, while the services sector posted a reading of 47.1 in the month, up from 46.9 in November.
Education staffing specialist Axcis Education has opened new offices in Liverpool and Sheffield.
The offices will run by branch managers Donna Whitfield and Rachael Frith respectively.
Meanwhile, the firm’s London and Home Counties office welcomes Emily Sherwood who joins as a candidate consultant, while Sumé MacDonald is promoted to senior consultant.
US-based Integrated Healthcare Strategies, a healthcare human resource consulting firm with offices in Minneapolis and Kansas City, has appointed Rita Johnson as vice president in its MSA Executive Search practice.
Before joining MSA Executive Search, Johnson ran her own executive search firm Healthcare Management Group and served as a director of nursing at a University hospital.
Professional staffing recruitment consultancy Barclay Meade, part of the Matchtech Group, has strengthened its team in London with six new appointments.
Toby Beech and James Woolley join the firm’s procurement and supply chain team as lead consultant and as senior consultant respectively.
Not-for-Profit recruiter Charity People has appointed Ed Cherry as senior fundraising consultant.
Cherry, previously with Badenoch & Clark, will now recruit senior fundraising positions for Charity People, which is part of the People Unlimited group.
More than half of firms (55%) have encountered difficulties recruiting in the last six months, according to research by Alexander Mann Solutions.
The survey of global senior HR decision makers shows that 70% cite difficulties to a skills shortage in the candidate pool. This is a particular issue for companies in the UK (76%) and less pronounced in Asia-Pac (60%).
Pressure on banks to limit and defer bonuses and pay only a small percentage in cash enabling hedge fund start-ups to poach key IT staff from the banking sector, according to technology staffing specialist ReThink Recruitment.
Military personnel need to be afforded more respect following reports that soldiers were served redundancy notices via email, according to ex-military recruiter ForceSelect founder, Hugh Andrée.
The Sun newspaper reported that 38 soldiers were recently informed that they were to be made redundant via email.
Eliot Davies
The UK needs to take a long-term approach to developing talent if it is to successfully tackle spiralling unemployment, according to Eliot Davies, director at Hays Energy.
The government’s new Welfare Bill aims to put “work, rather than hand-outs”, at the centre of the welfare system, according to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
The bill will introduce a Universal Credit, aiming to simplify the benefits system to make work pay and break intergenerational cycles of worklessness.
The government says the changes will mean: