Of course if you are involved in installing systems, then it is probably one of your busiest times – so just as important to have the right skilled people in your team.

Here at ER & AV Jobs we have had our busiest quarter since the business began and recruited successfully for Sales, Engineering and Marketing roles within Manufacturers, Distributors and Resellers.

Short of good technical staff? We can provide both permanent and temporary contract staff with the skills that you are looking for.

Pushing for Sales for the next quarter and beyond? We have some excellent candidates based throughout the UK.

The higher up the career ladder you go the fewer jobs there are of course and often these are the ones not advertised because they are at Board level and highly confidential.

We have a number of high level candidates at Director and Management level ranging from Sales, Marketing and Operations and covering both UK and the rest of Europe.

Please contact Pat to discuss – we can assure you of the highest confidentiality.

We are also planning many customer visits over the coming months to discuss our clients’ recruitment needs and how we can best work with you to achieve your staffing goals – if you have  a “window!” please contact Pat or David to arrange a suitable appointment.

Pat Deeley
Sales & Marketing Director
pat@elementaryresources.co.uk

PS. The profiles below are a small selection of top rate candidates that we are working with who are interested in permanent, interim or contract roles- please call us for your specific needs.
Sales
Candidate J1 an experienced International Sales & Marketing Director with an excellent track record in the AV/IT/Telecoms Marketplace. Extensive European channel sales focus and a strong leader. Commercially astute, he is a visionary thinker who achieves results through people and planning. Based in the South West he is looking for a permanent European role preferably with another vendor. Salary negotiable circa £75k basic + similar bonus targets.

Candidate J2 a technically strong integrated systems salesman with a wealth of experience in tender management and system design. Looking for an opportunity to use these skills with a high end systems integrator. Based in Thames Valley. Interested in a permanent position. Salary negotiable.

Candidate J3 is a successful Channel Sales Account with experience with Tier One vendors. Based in the North West she is now available for a permanent role. Superb relationship building and account management skills. Salary circa £35k + commission.

Candidate J4 A successful AV & VC Collaborative Solutions Sales Manager based in the Midlands. This candidate is able to handle complex projects from pre-sales to completion primarily in the corporate arena. He is looking for a permanent position and a salary circa £38k + commission (negotiable).

Technical & Operational

Candidate K1 is a bright and resourceful AV/IT/VC technician with CCNA qualification and working towards CCND. Looking for a Technical support career opportunity – experience of Tandberg & Polycom, Crestron, AMX etc.,. Thames Valley based – salary circa £25k +

Candidate K2 A systems design and project engineer with project management skills. Experience of designing systems layouts on Autocad including schematics and with experience in both corporate and custom installation work including VC and control systems. Based in West London and looking for Contract or Permanent work – salary is negotiable circa £30k p.a.

All of the above are just a small sample of the quality candidates we are currently working with.

Please call us on 0844 884 9150 to discuss any candidate in confidence.

Audio Visual Salary Survey Final Week

Audio Visual Employers & Employees UK Salary Survey on behalf of AV News & Lavajobs.

www.lavajobs.co.uk are carrying out a Salary & Compensation Survey on behalf of AV News. The results will be published in AV News and on the lavajobs website in August 2010.
To take part in the survey either as an employer or as an employee please click on the links below.

All responses are anonymous.

Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

Employer – Survey
Employee – Survey

Closing date 21st July 2010

“The very low percentage of women in key-jobs of the European audiovisual sector is unfair because it leaves an important part of the European population voiceless. It wastes talent, energy and experience both behind and in front of the camera, and it seriously affects the audiovisual media content which generates our image of the world.

This situation undermines the diversity and cultural pluralism of the democratic system we all want to achieve.

To solve this serious imbalance we will start by establishing a commission that will take responsibility for the creation of a European Network of Women in the Audiovisual world. This network will constitute a digital platform that will be used to:

a. Contain a database of all the professional women in the sector
b. Exchange information, experiences and projects
c. Create an employment board
d. Forge and consolidate an industry market.”

http://www.cimamujerescineastas.es/htm/comunicacion/noticias

Whilst this is just one sector of the Audio Visual Industry it did prompt me to think about the AV market in general – are women under-represented here? Clearly it is a male dominated industry – is that because it’s high tech and therefore men are more likely to graviate towards anything technical – or am I stereotyping there? Probably, but still true I think.

Women are more likely to be prevalent in the sales side of the industry rather than in engineering. Certainly recent jobs we have advertised for AV Project Managers and AV Engineers have prompted only CVs from men whilst sales vacancy roles are split about 80% male with just 20% female applicants.

IT seems to have more women on the technical side though – we recently placed a woman in an IT Project Manager role – so why the difference?

I definitely don’t have the answers but I would be interested to hear from others in the industry as to why they think it’s so and can we change the perception of a male dominated industry – or don’t we care as long as we have the best people for the job in hand.

Your comments are always appreciated.

A quarter of all workers plan to change their jobs in the next year because of on-going pay and recruitment freezes, a new study says. More than one in eight plan to leave as soon as possible with a further one in 10 hoping to find new work within 12 months.

The findings show that employees have stopped “battening down the hatches” and their job plans could leave organisations vulnerable to the loss of highly-skilled key workers at a critical time for economic recovery.

The research also discovered that many organisations are still going through reorganisation and are continuing to restrict training programmes to save costs.

A third of those surveyed said morale at work is worse than last year.

Sukhi Ghataore, employee engagement specialist at GfK NOP, said “High attrition rates can be disastrous for any business, contributing to disengaged staff as well as higher operating and recruitment costs. Improving retention is vital for business stability and growth and ignoring these warning signs could hit the bottom line”

Many employers ignore staff retention to their cost – it has a major impact on the bottom line of any business when you consider the cost of replacing a key member of staff can be upwards of £15000 p.a. – taking into account loss of productivity when someone leaves, recruitment costs, training of new starter and their lower productivity and even replacement costs if the new employee doesn’t work out and the whole cycle has to start again.

Keeping current staff motivated is key – pay in particular is often used as a carrot to encourage workers to stay. However, this has far less influence on employees’ decision-making processes than career opportunities, being consulted and kept informed, and having faith in the business’s leadership. (Personnel Today)

It is also why it’s important to work closely with a specialist recruitment company who works in partnership with you when you do have to replace staff , so that you recruit the right person each time, who will fit with your team and your company ethos.

At Elementary Resources & AV Jobs we also offer additional services such as Psychometric Assessments and competency based testing as part of our recruitment services which can help define an even closer match for the person you need in your team.

Pat Deeley is currently scheduling meetings at both the exhibition centre and off-site so please get in touch if you would like to discuss your company’s ongoing recruitment plans or your own career plans and how we can help.

If  you are  a US based Audio Visual company looking for EMEA based AV Professionals as candidates overseas -we should be talking too.

I would be happy to talk to any organisations who are looking for Audio Visual Professionals overseas including programmers, installers, project managers and sales, where we may be able to help.

We have a number of routes to market via our recruitment companies – Elementary Resources and AV Jobs as well as our AV & Events Jobs Board - www.lavajobs.co.uk

Happy to arrange an initial discussion at the show. Please contact me asap to book a suitable time.

Hope to see you there!

Pat

Pat@elementaryresources.co.uk or 0844 884 9150 or +44773 070 2931

It’s illegal to discriminate against anyone because of their age and no-one has to put it on their CV anymore but it still doesn’t stop people asking “how old is he/she?” when I put someone forward for interview  – why should it matter?

OK, I work for myself so I don’t face the issue too often (but yes I still face it!) and know that if I was on the jobs market I would be almost unemployable due to my advancing years (and no, I’m not going to say how old I am but I still think I’m 35!). Now that’s not to say I couldn’t do a great job for someone – modesty prevents me from saying that I know I do a great job for clients and candidates every day. My enthusiasm, determination and commitment haven’t declined over the years, I have gained more patience, wisdom, empathy & experience and that can’t be a bad thing – so I probably have more to offer employers now than I did say 20 years ago.

But enough about me – what about the candidates we are currently working with who are considerably younger than I am but still get knocked back time and time again when employers say things like “too senior”, “too experienced”, “wouldn’t fit our culture” etc., all euphemisms for “too old?”. Now if you knew that this person would bring gravitas, wisdom and experience to your business, would get the job done and would have a vast network of business colleagues to utilise for you – why wouldn’t you at least interview them?

And it’s not just at the top end – young people are often discriminated against too – I had an MD say to me earlier this week – “I could only afford to take on young people and train them and of course young people means unreliable” ! Well I think that says more about him than “young people”.

Where do we draw the line? Is 30 too old, too young or just about right? We all know that age is all things to all people – some people are “old” when they are young” and vice versa. Surely it’s about what they can offer to your business both in the long and the short term. People looking for a new position are more flexible than ever – they will look at interim opportunities and contract work as well as permanent – they just want to prove themselves.

So take a chance and interview someone who is “too experienced” and you may get to the job offer stage when you find we have uncovered a diamond for you.

Now, shall I just get my zimmer frame out and toddle off to the day centre for a bit of silver surfing or shall I get the top down on the car and tear off for some jamming with me mates like innit?

A survey of UK senior executives* has found that 64% are optimistic that a change of government will bring improvements to the job market.

500 senior management employees from some of the UK’s leading companies were asked a series of questions on the job market and politics and the results found that the party that best represented the needs of the job seeker was the Conservatives (37%), followed by Labour (30%) and the Liberal Democrats (19%).

Although the Liberal Democrats fared less well, their economic spokesperson Vince Cable certainly made an impression with business people – he was voted the politician most senior managers would like to hire for their business.

When asked which politicians executives would most like to see working in their business – based on their performance in the job – the current Prime Minister only came sixth. The top 5 were:

Vince Cable (45%)
David Cameron (35%)
Nick Clegg (32%)
William Hague (31%)
Ken Clarke (29%)

The top reasons for choosing those above were because they were ‘strategic, a good thinker’ (28%), exhibited ‘personality, dynamism and motivation’ (19.5%), and had demonstrated a ‘good performance in their current position’ (15.6%) – all attributes that are clearly valued by Britain’s leading executives. 70% of those polled thought that business people would make good politicians, however 76% do not rate politicians as business people, perhaps explaining Vince Cable’s popularity; with a solid business background, he was once a senior economist at Shell.

The specific policies related to improving the job market that managers would like to see in the winning party’s manifesto are:

Funding to business to recruit job seekers over the age of 50 (47%)
Temporary tax relief for employers hiring to fill new roles (41%)
Action on retraining job hunters in transferable skills (39%)
Investments in schemes to help businesses employ the long-term unemployed (36%)
Focusing on jobs for British nationals (30%)

Derek Pilcher, MD of TheLadders.co.uk commented: “There’s a great deal of expectation riding on the election and particularly for the job market which has taken a huge hit during the recession. With unemployment currently standing at 8% and the lowest it’s been since 1996  it’s really important for our politicians to also demonstrate their business skills in helping provide a more secure job market and – hopefully – a return to prosperity.”

Meanwhile, job seekers expect the jobs market to bounce back during the rest of 2010

A new survey of more than 1000 job seekers has revealed optimism for an improving job market in the latter stages of 2010 – almost half of the 1,226 job seekers responding believed that the employment market will have fully recovered by the end of 2010 – with only 5% believing it will take until 2012 or longer before the job market had recovered from the knock on effect of the recession.

More detailed analysis confirmed that whilst 72% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that securing new work last year was more difficult than in 2008; only 36% agreed or strongly agreed that it would be more difficult to find new work next year (2010) compared to this (2009).

The survey represents the opinions of both unemployed and people in work seeking new roles.

*polled by www.theladders.co.uk
**polled by www.cvtrumpet.co.uk

As with any marketing you have to first decide your target market and then commit to a marketing plan to achieve your objectives. In the case of looking for a new job decide -

• Where can you (will you) work geographically?
• What are your USPs (unique selling points) i.e. what have you got to offer a new employer?
• What are the benefits you can offer a new employer?
• What are the timescales – be realistic.
• Who can help?

We see lots of CVs all over loads of jobs boards and people applying for any job even when it bears no resemblance to their skills and experience. This is a real scatter gun approach and will end up with you feeling very deflated and dejected when your CV keeps getting rejected.

Target your market – work with people who know that market well and can help you find a new position that will work for both parties. Whilst people advocate contacting companies directly that you know you want to work for – this isn’t always the right approach i.e. do you know who you are contacting? will your CV go straight to file 13 (yes the wastebin or the Trash folder). How many times have you done this and never received anything back?

Does your CV capture people’s attention? Remember AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

The opening paragraph of your CV should grab people’s attention, encourage them to read on and spark their interest. Once you have grabbed their interest then you have created a desire – they want to meet you and work with you and can only action this if you make it easy for them to contact you. Check and double check your numbers and email address – any mistakes here and you wonder why no-one is getting in touch.

Yes, I’m advising on working with specialist agencies who will work with you to target your preferred market, help you with your CV and get you in front of companies that you really want to work for.

We can’t promise that we will be successful with everyone but we do try and if you feel we aren’t (trying) then tell us. We believe we are good at what we do but always looking for ways to improve our services to clients and candidates.

Lots of information on CVs and interviews in my earlier posts and happy to send you you a CV writing guide just email us requesting it – cvs@elementaryresources.co.uk

But I really know that Spring has sprung when jobs are coming in for the Events market. This is a part of the AV market that has probably suffered more than most in the last 12-18 months but some of our client companies are telling us that they have close to full order books and need more people – so long may it last.

Video Conferencing and telepresence is definitely continuing on an upswing and we are seeing jobs for both engineers and salespeople in this market.

Have a lovely Easter break and let’s hope Spring sunshine will be with us all.

* Susan J Bisonette

** Henry Van Dyke

The way the government decides to spend money and change taxes this year is more important than usual and not just because a general election is looming.

The stability of British businesses  and jobs are on the line and voters will want to see if the Chancellor and the Labour government plan to give them a helping hand.

Stephanie Flanders, the BBC Economics Editor believes that the savings from the smaller rise in unemployment could now be invested in training and jobs, which they believe could be a vote winner.

George Osborne, shadow Chancellor recently told the Daily Telegraph that business organisations – like the CBI – do not believe the government is acting quickly enough to bring back confidence to the UK economy.

There will be extra assistance for the long-term unemployed and to encourage investment in certain parts of the economy. The Government will provide £1 billion for a new “green investment bank” which will provide money for energy and other infrastructure projects.

Over the past few months, the public finances have proved slightly better than expected and Government borrowing is set to be about £10 billion less than forecast – although will still set a new record.

But whatever happens later today when the scrutiny  starts – UK jobs will no doubt be at the centre of the Budget analysis.

I tend to use the blog to tell people what we are doing and give hints and tips on writing a CV and interview tips etc., for candidates and will be doing the same for clients too.

We use Facebook to promote specific jobs available but I know we can definitely improve the way we do it.

Linked in is used for getting specific jobs out there and promote our brand and we get a lot of potential clients and candidates linking to us and of course becoming clients or candidates.

Not been very good with Tweeting – could do better! Usually used to promote a specific job but not done often enough and same with blog – not updated regularly enough.

By the way the the presenter was Shaa Wasmund of www.smarta.com – well worth a look – she knows her stuff.