For The Want of a Nail

Unemployment is unexpectedly down, manufacturing output is unexpectedly up, interest rates remaining at an all-time low and new order enquiries - confounding all the expectations of the 'experts' - are on the increase. So why all the faffing about over recruitment?

All over the UK employers are emerging from the recession and looking to bolster their talent pools once more. History holds many lessons, but how many have retained the knowledge heeded them? This first of a two-part article looks at the implications of how employers have responded to the serious challenges of recession.

Are UK organisations totally desensitised to inefficiencies? How much does your organisation have to lose in hard cash or productivity before your CEO, Chairman, MD genuinely makes talent a priority?

This is actually 'Happy 2008 Part 3' but, a feature of modern business life being rolling with change, we've an added twist to reflect how the people market is being shaped by events....

Who are you when you're not at work - and in what way can you use hiring practice to influence HOW you are who you are? Note: this post only really applies to the top 15% of people in the UK....

There's lots of things that are going to effect your 2008. If work is one of them, then there are ways in which you can take some control of how the year goes. This two-parter looks at the hiring issue from all of those that are touched by it....

Ownership of hiring performance is one of the key issues that organisations are having to address. Should it remain with the HRD, or is hiring and retention now so critical that it demands a dedicated resource? Part two of this three-part feature takes a closer look at the ownership question.

The last post brought in so much correspondence about the employer brand issue that a follow-up post appears to be in order!

Employer branding is just one area where a collaborative approach pays dividends. Instead of vying for individual reward and recognition, maybe speaking with one voice will reap far greater rewards and sooner?

Hiring, recruitment, talent management, whatever you're inclined to call it, traditionally falls under the remit of Human Resources. Fine back in the days when it was a case of Eeny, meeny, miny, moe and a few administrative formalities.....

Like recruitment, Human Resources is a profession that is ever changing and developing. We examine how the various evolving satirical characters of one Edmund Blackadder might have approached a career in HR?

Too many policy makers are in danger of falling into one of two camps: skills shortage denial, or believing training will save the day. One denies what is undeniable whilst the other misses the point of this campaign...

Twenty years ago virtually every recruitment advert published would have the statement 'No agencies' as a footnote.

Leading lights of the HR world advocate 'Unshrinking the People' as the route to better performance. Absolutely - but when should this start?

Skills shortages are a threat, but there's a bigger one for employers a lot closer to home

What came first - commercially detached HR deparments, or businesses run on the basis of 'numbers first, people second'?

If you’ve ever had a job when you’ve wondered why on earth one or more of your colleagues was hired by the firm, you’ll get this.

When still head of the CBI, Sir Digby Jones visited my Nottingham offices to hear some of the early case studies that I had begun to gather as the forerunner to For The Want of a Nail