3 AI Mistakes Your Business Will Make When Starting Out
With the increase in AI within businesses, and the increase in spending on AI within businesses that already have AI projects, comes a larger number of mistakes.
How Will Rising Energy Prices Impact Recruitment?
The crisis is currently impacting the UK with the cost of living at a three decade high. Fuel and energy prices are the main drivers of this, with food prices also rising to record levels.
Recruitment Changed From A Relationship Business To A Numbers Game – How Do We Change It Back?
We’ve all been there, especially on Linkedin, when you receive a generic recruitment message or email, that you know has been sent out in a scattershot manner in order to capture some candidates who may be possibly interested in leaving their current position for pastures new.
Why Are Companies Lying About Remote Working?
A few news stories have popped up recently regarding recruiters offering remote working within the job specs they are posting, only for candidates to find out late in the process that although they expect to work remotely, they were expected to work on a hybrid basis, or those expecting to work hybrid being forced into the office full-time.
Recruitment Problems & Solutions: How To Make Your Company Stand Out To Candidates
With the power balance shifting from employers to candidates, a change of strategy is required for companies, especially those pursuing prospects who are very much in-demand.
Recruiting: Have You Exhausted Your Network?
A lot of people working for companies have also hit a wall too. In terms of burnout, in terms of work life balance and also in terms of network exhaustion.
Why Make Data Experts Complete Tests To Get A Job?
If you ask any recruiter or HR professional working with the Data, AI or Cloud space, they will tell you that sending tests to prospective employees is absolutely the correct way of sifting through the candidates to find the best possible interviewees.
Why Recruitment Looks Easy…And Why It Isn’t
Discipline always seems easy from the outside. The famous story about Dali springs to mind. Someone asked him to draw something on a napkin. He draws a picture and then demands a million pounds from them for it. They refuse. “You only took 30 seconds to draw that!” to which he replies, “Yes but it took me years to learn how.”
What You Can Do To Retain Your Employees
Yes, we always talk about recruitment because that is what we do, we are a recruitment partner. Even so, we still understand that the best way for a firm to operate is to make the working environment, both literal and metaphorical, as welcoming and open as possible in order to retain staff.
Simple Steps To Diverse Recruitment
Inclusive and diverse workplaces don’t just happen overnight. By rights, they should, but they don’t. The hold of ‘this is the way we have always done things’ is a strong one and it will take a bit of effort to change things.
3 Cloud Trends For 2022
The Cloud is an exciting place right now and there are areas of growth that anyone involved, however tangentially, should know about. We have compiled a list of three of the most important upcoming trends.
Is AI A Waste Of Time In Recruitment?
Recruiters know how overwhelming it can be trying to find a candidate when the job market is contracting and the number of prospective candidates applying can usually number over 200, if not more during tougher times. Finding them is hard, working through them can be considered laborious.
Recruiting For Diversity
Previously seen as a sop to do-gooders, diversity is now understood to be a key asset to a business by a lot of businesses. Others have not been as quick on the uptake of this understanding. If you prioritise the effectiveness of your organisation, it would be wise to pay heed to the facts.
Giving Your Team What They Need
Just as a plant needs certain things to flourish (water, good soil, sunlight), so does a team. Likening a team within a company to a plant may seem ridiculous, but both need optimal conditions in order to thrive and, when a team fails to achieve, it is because one or more of these are missing.
Recruitment: Accountability And Partnerships
Accountability is the degree to which responsibility is taken or given. Partnership is a formal agreement between two or more parties. They’re also two words that can almost always explain why your recruiter has not delivered what you required. Exclusivity goes a long way to explaining the difference between the dedicated and the undedicated when it comes to recruitment.
Junior Talent Vs Senior Experts
With the power pendulum swinging back from employers to employees and candidates, the job market has caused many businesses to question just what it is they are doing and what they want from their team.
Responsive Employers = Respected Employees
A business which conducts itself with purpose and professionalism naturally elevates itself above the competition. A relentless drive to increase in size in order to satisfy shareholders can serve to reduce the people who work there to figures, robots even.
What Will Happen In Recruitment In 2022?
With recruiting budgets increasing and priorities shifting,
2022 looks set to be another wild ride.
Will the talent shortage continue? Will the demand continue unabated? We thought we would look into the predicted trends for the year ahead.
New Approaches To Data Team Building
In this new year, it is important to remember that we can only move forward if we are willing to think differently, question and even reject the old ways of doing things. Change is a hard challenge but if the past two years have taught us anything, it is that things left to chance will not get you to the point you need to be at quickly enough.
Continuity Is A Gift In Recruitment
One of the most important factors within a company’s recruitment strategy is the idea of continuity. Continuity contributes greatly to candidate trust and also makes the administrative side easier too. There is no real reason for a business not to value continuity other than ignorance of its importance.
Why You Will Choose A Recruitment Partner Over A PSL
The transition to a different way of doing things is always a long and drawn-out affair. Recruitment has not changed in many decades and yet, is anyone really satisfied with it? Is it free of headaches and false starts and miscommunication and abandoned jobs?
Recruitment: Opportunity & Upskilling
Whilst the role of the recruiter has always been viewed as one of seeking out and selecting candidates with the requisite hard skills needed for the role they are tasked with filling, it should now also be seen as the job of ascertaining which candidates have the requisite soft skills that aid in their interpersonal communications and problem-solving.
Recruitment: Quality Over Quantity
It may sound like the most obvious thing in the world but when you are recruiting and are looking for candidates, the best way about it is that of prioritising quality over quantity. Pretty standard idea, so how come it doesn’t always work out that way?
What To Do About The Skills Shortage?
With over 90 percent of companies finding it difficult to find and hire candidates with the correct skillsets and business leaders complaining that the situation has worsened over the previous year, this has led to organisations paying over the odds to ensure they have the hires needed in order to guarantee that their firm will be able to run, uninterrupted.
You Need Clarity In Your Data Plan
The concepts of Data Science, AI and Cloud have gone from buzz words to becoming fundamental components of how businesses now operate. Data now sits at the core of operations and the Covid pandemic has significantly sped this up.
Why Choosing Just One Recruiter Helps You Build Better Teams
Preferred Supplier Lists (PSLs) have been around for decades and they are still considered the gold standard of recruiting practices. The problem is that PSLs, as well as contingency recruitment, is that using different recruiters takes you to edge of CV spamming.
Which Bad Habits Do Recruiters Need To Break?
There are very few entry requirements for the recruitment industry. Some think of this as a good thing and some think of it as a bad thing but it is a reality and it probably won’t change. With that easy entry come bad habits which can be picked up along the way from rookie to established recruiter.
The Candidate Gold Rush
The biggest recent change within recruitment is the change within the job market, switching from being employer-driven to candidate-driven. Such a shift creates an imbalance, where in-demand hires can demand more and get it, constantly moving around and leaving gaps that need to be filled from an increasingly reduced pool of possible employees.
Losing The Candidate At The Last Hurdle
With companies reporting candidate offer acceptance rates of between 75% and 50%, with signs that those numbers could even dip lower, it is clear that a kind of gold rush is happening, especially within something like data science.
Recruitment: Short Term Vs Long Term
The skill shortage is creating a problem for businesses. With the Covid-19 pandemic, roles that may have lain dormant or perhaps, in the cases of tech roles, did not even exist prior to the pandemic, now need to be filled at speed. This has, in turn, exposed the knowledge gap and shone a light on the moribund practices going on within recruitment.
Why Is There Increased Demand For Data Science Candidates?
There is undoubtedly an increase in the demand for data scientists so we thought we would take a look at the factors that are affecting the demand and also those factors impacting upon the lack of suitable candidates.
What Is Behind Recent Recruitment Difficulties?
You will have heard about the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies out there on the market. What you may not be so aware of are the difficulties in recruiting.
Why Is Everyone Resigning?
One of the most interesting trends affecting recruitment recently has been the large wave of resignations so we thought it would be a good time to highlight and discuss this trend.
Is DevOps The Future?
Everyone is talking about DevOps. In the 2020 emerging roles report compiled by Linkedin, DevOp engineer featured prominently which has further boosted its reputation.
Do You Have A Clear Data Strategy?
Data is now fundamental components of businesses and play a large role in not just how individual companies operate but also how industries now operate.
What Is Shaping Business Data Analytics?
Using a set of specific skills like procedures and techniques to explore and investigate old and new data is what Business Data Analytics is. The aim is to discover insights through interrogating the data and arriving at improved business decisions.
How Has Covid-19 Impacted Recruitment?
Recruitment is all about finding the best candidates, no matter what the circumstances are, but with the Covid-19 Pandemic, certain elements have changed, causing ripple effects throughout the industry, and as we know, things that affect the recruitment business then affect all the other businesses that require recruitment.
What Is Your Recruitment Strategy?
With almost a million job vacancies in the last 3 months, it is clear that companies are not strategically solving their recruitment problems in a timely enough fashion. This may be a generalisation but we know it is true enough, judging by the stats.
6 Skills You Need As A Data Scientist
Data Science has become a very competitive field in the past few years and this year it seems that that competitiveness has reached a peak. As we know the job market has flipped to being candidate-led, and really specialised roles like that of Data Scientist are a struggle to fill.
Does Your AI Strategy Make Sense?
Artificial Intelligence projects that are coming back online after stalling during the pandemic need careful consideration or they risk falling apart, according to a new report.
Hiring On Potential
How can you recruit leading Data Talent faster and more effectively than your competitors? Well, there are many ways and schools of thought regarding it, but one of the major factors, and it is one that many companies talk about but rarely back up with action, is hiring exciting talent by assessing the talent’s potential.
What’s Happened To The Cloud?
Those looking for agility in these trying times are focusing more and more on the Cloud. The scalability that it offers has allowed businesses to grow or contract their IT needs throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with other companies noticing the benefits and building it into their future plans.
Why Do We Recruit The Way We Do?
It is time to question why recruitment is done the way it is and has not changed in decades despite no one being really that happy with how it is.
The Rise In Job Vacancies Is Exposing Flawed Recruitment
Job vacancies have skyrocketed as the economy picks up pace and it is fair to say that it has taken a few people by surprise. In entertainment, IT, construction, the service industry, etc., job vacancies hit around 950k for the 3 months up to July, just shy of a million, according to ONS.
The Fight For Talent
There is no such thing as an easy hire, no matter what you’ve heard or what you believe. There are easier hires, depending on the area you are hiring in, but if you are doing it correctly, it shouldn’t necessarily be easy.
Is There Common Sense In Recruitment?
When it comes to encouraging sensible ideas within recruitment, it may feel like we are like a stuck record. But consider recruitment as a whole and how much it resembles a stuck record. Over and over the same mistakes are made, and over and over the opportunity to change is missed.
What The Candidate-driven Market Means For You
Unlike other economic downturns, the Covid-19 crisis has not exploded and receded leaving chaos in its wake. It is a rolling, evolving disaster and one which, while it may have been anticipated by some, could not have been predicted by anyone.
What Is The Difference Between The Cloud, Cloud Storage And Cloud Computing?
As we recruit for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Cloud, we are often asked by hiring managers to explain the jargon. We thought we would focus on the confusion around the Cloud.
5 Reasons Recruitment Partners Are The Way Forward
As companies wake up to the fact that the candidates they are looking for are in high demand and it is becoming harder to secure them, more people are choosing exclusive recruitment partnerships. These partnerships offer security on both sides of the arrangement.
Don’t Disrespect Your Candidates
Since the hiring market has transformed from being a buyer’s market to a seller’s market, leaving candidates in the driving seat, it has exposed how some companies and organisations treated their prospects prior to the change.
Finding And Hiring Cloud Expertise
If your company is hiring people to work on the Cloud e.g. Cloud Data Analysts, it is important that you understand what you are looking for, as well as the specialist recruiter who is helping you. Job specs are a very important element in your search for the prime candidate and if the incorrect one is sent out, it makes your life so much harder in the long run.
Are Recruiters Happy?
Talent drives success. It is as simple as that. Without it, all the will in the world cannot make a business a success. Without recruiters, whether inhouse, generalist or partnership, that talent cannot be found. When it really clicks, it is the best feeling in the world.
The Candidate Ticking Clock
So you find a candidate that you are interested in and you simply introduce them to your hiring processes and a few weeks later they sign on the dotted line and everything is good in the world, right? Well sometime fairy tales come true and it is that simple, but it is becoming increasingly clear that things are not as they used to be.
What Is A Data Team?
The amount of people who think that a data team is just like any other team involved in digital escapades, is considerable. We have said it before but we feel the need to say it again: a Data Team is a revolution and should not be compared to a regular I.T. team.
How Are You Choosing Your Recruiter?
Recruitment companies can be different and unique, as different and unique as your company’s needs. If you are looking for a recruitment company, what are the attributes you might be looking for?
Why Don’t Recruiters Have Anyone ‘On The Books’ Anymore?
‘On the books’ is a funny phrase, isn’t it? When a client asks, “Have you got this kind of candidate on your books? Or “Do you have a few on the books?”, the only reaction you can give is, “Oh yes, of course.” As with most things, it is a little more complicated.
Why Would Anyone Want To Be A Data Scientist?
A recent report has found that data scientists are experiencing an increase in demand by around fifty percent within healthcare, entertainment and banking.
What Are You Doing Hiring Zoomers And Millennials?
Before we start talking about the generations, we should clarify, because there is a lot of confusion over what constitutes a Millennial (or Gen Y-ers) and someone in Generation Z (or a Zoomer as they are known). A Millennial must have been born between the years of 1980 and 1995. Generation Z were born between 1996 and the early 2010s.
Should People Go Back Into The Office And Interview?
How comfortable are you interviewing in the office? Or should the question be: at what point will you feel comfortable interviewing in the office?
What Are You Doing To Nurture Candidates?
If you were told that 7 out of 10 workers are passive when it comes to searching for jobs, how would that make you reconsider how you currently approach finding candidates to fill roles at your company?
Why Choose A Specialist Over A Generalist Recruiter?
It is a tale as old as time: a company needs to fill job roles, so they engage a number of recruiters to find them suitable candidates. Generalist recruiters work for no fee up-front, with the successful one out of the pack receiving a reward for helping fill the role. On the other side of this equation are the unsuccessful recruiters, who receive nothing but have also given considerable effort to the search.
Over-interviewing Is Killing Your Business
You may not want to hear it. You may cover your ears and hide from it. You may avoid anyone who is trying to tell you this, but you have to face facts. When it comes to AI, Machine Learning and Data Science, quality candidates are currently swamped with offers. This is no longer a buyer’s market.
The Dangers Of Recruiting With AI And Machine Learning
Whilst we recruit Machine Learning and Data experts for other companies, the actual use of Machine Learning for recruiting purposes is highly problematic. It may seem crazy that recruiters working within this sector would question ML, but because we know this subject, it makes perfect sense to us.
The Exclusive Recruitment Partnership Model
With a changing job market, there comes a changing recruitment landscape. While there are still cowboys out there, savvy businesses are engaging recruitment partners in exclusive contracts. This may seem from the outside a more expensive option, but when you scratch beneath the surface, it becomes apparent that this approach can save time, money and effort. How can this be?
Taking Those First Steps To Your Data Future
Data. Everyone is at it. And you should probably do it too. Before that happens you need to understand where the data is coming from, what it can tell you, how it can make a real impact on your business and how you are going to start the process.
Do You Even Really Need A Data Scientist?
Around 5 years ago, ‘Data Scientist’ became part of the public subconscious and everyone was talking about it. Dashboards and 3D visualisations were flying around left, right and centre. Then things, rightfully, calmed down. Companies started to ask whether they had enough quality data to really require data scientists.
Hiring a Senior Data Analyst
Hiring Data Analysts who are capable of running large-scale projects is becoming more and more of a necessity these days. Recruiting for Data Analysts is always a challenge, with the confusion caused by incorrect job specifications and new requirements such as cloud experience entering the fray.
Data Scientists: How Can You Hire Well Without Feeling Like You Compromised?
There is a lot of positivity around hiring now, after the seemingly endless postponement during the Covid-19 pandemic. Well, some companies are hiring, while others are playing their own waiting game. They are holding out for their ‘dream’ candidate. A candidate who may not exist. So we ask, how can you hire well without feeling like you compromised?
Desperately Seeking Cloud Analytics?
We have noticed a trend towards companies seeking not just Data Scientists but Data Scientists with Cloud skills. Businesses are realising that they can save money and boost the scope of their data operation if they access data via the cloud rather than from big, expensive physical servers.
Is Your Company Afraid Of Tech?
With the Covid-19 crisis, more people have been working from home and, in doing so, have been exposed to more technology than they may have had to work with prior to the move to home-based working. It was an easier time back then, when people could avoid technology if they really wanted to, relying on the IT department to help them with their set-up and passwords. The future will require more ‘Tech Savvy’ workers so we are looking at how that can become a reality for your business.
What Makes A Great Recruitment Partner?
Businesses are moving away from the free-for-all of generalist recruiters and honing in on dedicated recruitment partners. For some companies this is totally new territory, so what should they be looking for when it comes to recruitment partners? What is the reason to go down this route and not rely on generalist recruiters, like they normally do?
Recruiting for Cloud Data Analytics
Cloud-skilled candidates are in huge demand and a deficit of those skills within a company is the main stumbling block holding back the next stages after successful adoption of Cloud within businesses today. To remain competitive, how can a business ensure that it has a team ready for the Cloud initiatives that will spell success in your future?
Returning To Work?
With the recent report finding that UK employees are the most reluctant in Europe to return to the office, it raises interesting thoughts about the changing attitude towards employers in this country but also poses the question: what is the correct course of action now that lockdown seems to be easing?
The Tell-tale Signs Of The Bad Recruiter
We have been thinking lately about the differences between a good recruiter and a bad recruiter. Now we are not saying that bad recruiters aren’t trying hard at their job, but as we have said in the past, not all recruiters are made equal. So, what are the tell-tale signs of a bad recruiter?
Why Do You Need Cloud Data?
These days, data is integral to successful companies and accessing, tracking, reporting on and storing large amounts of data gives the forward-thinking business a distinct advantage. While a lot of firms are still storing their data on their own servers, accessible via traditional methods, modern ones recognise the logistical benefits of cloud data.
The Best Thing About Being A Data Scientist
As a change from our usual warnings about the AI, Data and Cloud industries, we thought we would focus on the positive aspects of being a data scientist. According to Harvard Business Review, it is the ‘sexiest’ job of the 21st Century, but what are the best things about it?
Are Companies Wasting Their Job Candidates’ Time?
As a hiring manager, does it feel like you never stop interviewing? As a candidate, does it feel like interviewing never ends? What is the normal amount of candidates to take through to interview stage and how many interviews does it take to know which candidate is the right one?
Why Do Managers Make The Same Mistakes With Data Hires?
Managers can have a hard time when it comes to finding data scientists or AI guys to fill their teams. Sure, on the surface, it looks like any other candidate search but there are a few things that generally hold back their company’s progress in the data field and sometimes it can take a while before the mistakes are spotted. Companies have never spent as much money hiring people as they do today, and so much of that is wasted because the standard way of doing things is so out of date.
How Do Companies Attract And Keep The Best Data Scientists?
No one goes into data science unless they are curious about the future and intrigued by tech innovation. With more and more firms attempting to harness the power of their data, they need great data scientists to make their plans a reality, but how can your business attract the best?
Hiring The Wrong Data Scientist Will Damage Your Business
Whilst the sector can be complicated and bewildering, one of the main problems facing businesses is the fact that they are often hiring the wrong data scientist for their needs. As crazy as it may seem, there is deep confusion within firms that require data professionals but what can be done?
Top Skills Your New Data Scientist Needs
At the root of Data Science is the need to use data in order to ascertain certain information and answer certain questions. Businesses that either possess data or are looking to collect data, need data scientists and those data scientists need a few different skills up their sleeves. We have put together a list of the top skills to look out for in the data scientists you are hiring in 2021.
Why Tech Startups Fail
Amongst the biggest talking points we have noticed recently, is the ongoing curiosity surrounding start-ups and why they fail. If you have launched a start-up, are on the verge of launching one or are considering a business idea for the future, this list will definitely provide food for thought.
Bad Hires Are Wasting Your Money
If you ever calculate the cost of hiring the wrong candidate for a job, and many companies never bother to do so, you will find that it costs you much more than in financial terms. In these times can you really afford to waste your resources like this? We take a closer look into what it will cost you to take a lackadaisical approach to hiring.
Who We Are
Our mission is the empowerment of tech companies or businesses running tech projects to create world-class teams and reach new tech frontiers. We believe in a data-driven future and know that the best humans with the requisite skillsets are required in order to get us there.
Why Is There A Huge Failure Within Data Recruitment?
It is becoming apparent that many companies are failing to select the correct candidates to hire and it is getting to a stage where those involved must be made aware in order to rectify the mistakes.
Why Are So Many Businesses ‘Cold Starting’?
As mentioned in the previous blogpost, Data Professionals are looking at the door when it comes to their current roles due to a few factors, a major one being companies being unprepared and the new hire having to start things from scratch. This situation is often referred to as ‘Cold Starting’ but why is this happening?
Why Are Data Professionals Leaving Your Business?
What are the desirable aspects about Data jobs? Well, in short, they are classed as some of the best paid and ‘sexiest’ jobs going around. Working alongside equally skilled colleagues and the chance to show off expertise are also pretty cool too. So why would they be keen to exit your business?
Do You Really Need Data In Your Business?
Whilst more and more businesses are unfreezing their Data projects and hiring teams, other companies remain stuck in their ways and are still denying their need to prioritise data within their business. Who is doing this and what are the long-term impacts it will have on them?
Why Use A Recruitment Agency?
Recruitment is an industry that has been constantly growing for many years and there are around 75,000 companies in Europe alone. Companies that hire recruiters seem to encounter the same bugbears time and again (Not cost effective, inefficient, lacking the expertise for the sector, etc) but throughout the Covid-19 crisis there has been a need for a change. Companies are scrutinising whether they really need to hire in an agency to recruit candidates.
Partnerships Are The Future of Data Recruitment
If you have been struggling to recruit data talent, there will be a really obvious reason for that. The fact of the matter is that the roles that require data talent far outnumber the amount of top quality talent out there in the job market. So that is the problem, what is the solution?
Online Recruitment Sites Are Not As Helpful As They May Seem
We caught up with a management partner recently and after an interesting chat, we thought it may be a good idea to address the realities of using online platforms for recruitment.
What Is IR35 And How Will It Impact Business?
If you haven’t heard of IR35, it is the name of two tax legislations created by the UK government in order to stop tax avoidance within the workforce. In this blogpost we will delve a little deeper into what it is and what it might mean for the wider business community in the near future.
Projects Can No Longer Be Stalled Due To Covid-19 Uncertainty
A major point we have been made aware of from hiring managers and C-suite executives is the fact that they are beginning to start pushing forward with stalled projects.
What Can We Do About Office Working?
In response to our last blog regarding depression experienced by homeworkers, what are managers feeling about the situation? We are receiving feedback that managers feel that things will never go back to how it was before Covid-19, when you needed to have someone at their desk 5 days a week, but they feel people need to be back in the office interacting with each other.
What Is Going Wrong With C-Suite Candidates?
I was speaking with a friend and they mentioned that for C- level hires (Senior Directors and above), companies only get the correct fit 20% of the time. That is an astonishing figure. But what might be behind it and what can we do to remedy that situation?
What Are The Downsides To Working From Home?
With the upcoming anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdown approaching, and with no end in sight for working from home, we looked into what is actually happening on the ground. There’s an emerging opinion that remote working may not be the panacea that it first appeared to be.
Top Tips For Conducting Video Interviews
A lot more interviews are being conducted via video, be it Skype or Zoom or another system and Hiring Managers who may be unfamiliar with the format may be missing out on great candidates due to a lack of organisation or fear of the new way of doing things. We have compiled some points to make the two-way video interview a lot easier.
6 Reasons Hiring Managers and Recruiters Clash
Hiring Managers and Recruiting Professionals are all aiming at the same target: sifting through and selecting the prime candidates for the roles required. Yet despite a shared goal, the relationship can become fraught.
The 7 Most Challenging Aspects of Recruiting Data Experts
We have decided to compile a list of some of the pitfalls companies encounter when they are recruiting Data, AI or Machine Learning Experts in order to help you avoid these problems when you are hiring.