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'News, Views & Tips From Recruitment Matters International'
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Recruitment Matters International Newsletter: April 2018




Contents

Welcome to our April newsletter

Recruitment Marketing Matters
Don’t follow the instructions at your peril
Tension                                         
How to become an ACE recruiter
Employers can dismiss an employee for association with another person
What's new?
Contact us
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Welcome to our April newsletter
A warm welcome from the Recruitment Matters International team!

As ever, there are some updates on what we’ve been up to and our plans for you over the coming months. We feature external contributions, too, and would welcome more from you for future newsletters.

You may recall from last month that we are very proud to be shortlisted for the Recruitment Industry Supplier Awards 2018 in the 'Best Training Provider' category. If you have used our services before, we would be very grateful if you could show your support by voting for us via this link  http://bit.ly/2DbLKO4 . Please use your work/business email address when registering your vote – new deadline May 1st. Thank you!

We have another in our series ‘Recruitment Marketing Matters,’ our monthly column from The Ideal Marketing Company. In this article, Hannah Wellings looks at what GDPR means for recruiters and specifically at some of the issues relating to ‘legitimate interest.’

We have a new contributor this month – Stefan Sosnowski, Director at uComply who explores some of the potential pitfalls relating to the Government’s Right To Work regulations and advises on how to avoid them.

We then have a piece from Neil Kirby, The Red Rubber Ball Company who looks at how to relieve tension between apparently conflicting parties.

This month our CEO Warren Kemp asks what makes an ACE recruiter.

We also have the latest article from our legal expert, Simon Bloch, Partner, JMW Solicitors along with his colleague Jake Filson who warn that there are circumstances when employers can dismiss an employee for association with another person.

We very much like this to be an interactive newsletter and welcome your comments and feedback and will be happy to feature your contributions on important industry issues and your advice on how to improve the success and professionalism of our marketplace. As you know, in return, we show our gratitude by featuring a link to your company as a contributor to this publication.

Recruitment Matters International has a simple underlying philosophy to everything that we do, and that is, by helping each other to improve, we all stand to benefit in this large, dynamic and ever evolving industry.

Please send your potential editorial contributions to ken@recruitmentmatters.com .



Recruitment Marketing Matters



Contributor: Hannah Wellings, Head of SEO & Digital Content, The Ideal Marketing Company

Monthly ideas on ways to market your recruitment business and achieve better results.

GDPR: Is it OK to contact someone who has shown legitimate interest?

All recruitment agencies will no doubt have heard a great deal about GDPR.  In short, it replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 – a necessary modernisation given how much communications have changed in the last 20 years.

GDPR specifically impacts upon recruitment agencies because of the candidate data that may have been collected, stored, processed and used.  To continue using all of this information, your agency or agents will need to be completely GDPR complaint, or risk fines of up to €20,000,000 or four percent of your agency’s annual global turnover – whichever is greater.

In short, GDPR places importance on companies being transparent about the data they hold and what they are doing with it; in line with whether a person has given their consent to allow continued contact or not.  If someone wants their data erased or removed from a database, then GDPR means that in most instances, this is what has to happen.  And why shouldn’t companies comply with this?  If someone doesn’t want to hear from you, they’re of very little benefit to you. After all, it’s not as though they’re likely to contact you in the near future.

Candidate consent in line with GDPR
Obtaining consent from candidates as a recruiter means that you must give them complete control over what they share with you and what they wish you to store and use.  Once you have confirmed whether you are allowed to use their data, you can either use it or you may need to delete it – it will quickly become a simple process, where there is no in-between grey area.

Contacting candidates who have shown legitimate interest
Gaining official consent is not the only way that you can contact candidates.  According to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) another lawful basis for processing data is ‘legitimate interests’ which the ICO explains as:
“The processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)”

Assessing legitimate interest in recruitment
Firstly, it is important to check that legitimate interest is the most appropriate basis for processing data (there are several others that are worth reading up about, on the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/ ).

There is then a test to take, to ensure that this is the correct decision:
  • You need to identify a legitimate purpose
According to the ICO’s guidelines, a legitimate interest can be either your own interest, or the interest of your candidates. This can be commercial, societal or simply the singular interest of an individual.
  • Is data processing necessary to achieve the legitimate interest?
Is there another way to achieve the goal relevant to a legitimate interest?  If there is another method that doesn’t involve collecting, storing and using personal data, then you should always use this way.
  • Balance the legitimate interest and necessary processing against the rights, freedoms and personal interests of the individual
The interests of an individual will almost always override the legitimate interests of a company.  For this reason, it’s important to balance one against the other and if you find that the individual wouldn’t expect you to keep something like their date of birth on file, you shouldn’t.

Keeping a record of your legitimate interests assessment
Where you have put processes in place that directly relate to legitimate interests, you must keep a record of this in case you ever have to demonstrate GDPR compliance.  The ICO has published a helpful checklist for proving legitimate interest on their website.  This includes further points such as considering whether an opt-out option would be appropriate and repeating the legitimate interests assessment if circumstances change.

Hannah Wellings is Head of SEO and Digital Content at The Ideal Marketing Company, an award winning full service marketing, digital and PR agency that works with the recruitment sector as well as many others. The company offers a free one hour consultancy to recruitment company owners. For further information and advice, visit www.idealmarketingcompany.com or call 01858 445 543



Don't follow the instructions at your peril



Contributor: Stefan Sosnowski, Director, uComply

Are you the sort of person who builds first and then only looks at the instructions when you find bits left over? Or do you meticulously go through the components and then the instructions first before you start?

I know which category I fit into.

In business there are many areas where we are expected to comply with all the regulations laid out by the Government. Ensuring that all your workers/employees have the Right to Work is one of them. Get it wrong and it is significant, it’s not just a matter of missing a few screws, starting again or even phoning a friend. A simple mistake can cost you up to £20,000 per illegal worker and or even imprisonment.

It is surprising how many businesses don’t realise by not ensuring the Right to Work process is adequately managed they are exposing themselves to risk. The Right to Work process is frequently relegated to the office junior or the receptionist. Their instructions were passed down by word of mouth and are performed in the quickest way possible; no one has pointed out how important this task is.  Hopefully this is not something you have in your recruitment business but, if it is, perhaps it’s time that you took some action.

I’m sure that you wouldn’t ask the office junior to interview a candidate, you would expect this to be handled by one of your recruitment professionals to ensure that the candidates are what you expect before they get near your clients. You’ll ensure that you check employment history, where applicable check qualifications, obtain DBS clearances, etc. What action would happen if you placed an illegal worker with a client? Perhaps ex-client?

What are the requirements for Right to Work?
  1. Obtain original versions of one or more documents
  2. Check the documents validity in presence of the holder
  3. Copy those documents and record the date on which the check was made
Providing you follow the three steps above you will obtain a Statutory Excuse. i.e. if the document is not an obvious fake, you have established clear ownership of any documents submitted, can prove that you did those checks and have no suspicions that the person is illegal you will not get fined or prosecuted.
 
Sounds simple? Let’s take a closer look:

    a.  For “Obtain” do you know that:
  1. Only seeing a copy invalidates your Statutory Excuse?
  2. Incorrect documents invalidate your Statutory Excuse?
  3. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse and can invalidate your Statutory Excuse?

    b.  For “Check” do you know how to:
  1. Tell if an original document is real or fake?
  2. Perform basic facial recognition?
  3. Ask questions to highlight concerns?

    c.  For “Copy” do you know:
  1. Not recording the date invalidates your Statutory Excuse?
  2. Not stating that original documents were seen invalidates your Statutory Excuse?
  3. Not being able to access the data to prove the checks were done invalidates your Statutory Excuse?
Over the last few months I’ve been approached several times by recruitment businesses who say that they are being fined for fakes that were not obvious. The reasons for the fines?
  1. Wrong combination of documents
  2. The person working was not the person on the documents
  3. They hadn’t stamped the documents with the date
When legal advice was sought no appeals were successful. In all the cases, with basic training, the implementation of a robust procedure would have avoided these fines.

Instead they all contributed to the Home Office “coffers” with all businesses being fined an average of around £10,000,000 per quarter over the last few years for illegal workers.
 
Sometimes reading the instructions and following them does have benefits. A little training will go a long way to protecting your company’s reputation, your end-user clients, reducing the risk of fines and making your own employees day a little easier.

If you have any questions about this article or want to know more about uComply’s training and other services, email Stefan.Sosnowski@ucomply.co.uk or call Stefan on +44 1707 800842.



Tension



Contributor: Neil Kirby, The Red Rubber Ball Company

I recently received a very detailed email making some suggestions about something I’d been working on for a while.  I was initially rather annoyed – “not only were they simply wrong, but didn’t they know the effort I’d put into this piece of work?”
 
I’m sure we all find ourselves in situations like that, where there’s tension, maybe between two people, two departments or two companies.  Each side has its own different position and over time these can become entrenched.  The outcome can become frustration, with parties remaining locked in dispute or maybe having a parting of the ways.
 
I resisted the urge to respond immediately and, as I became aware of my feelings, I thought of two things:
  1. Considering the intent of the other person or party – what’s their purpose in putting forward their viewpoint?  What I found was that their intent was actually the same as mine; we just had different views about how to achieve it.
  2.  I then stopped thinking about the answer in terms of either them or me.  It wasn’t whether I was right or they were right.  I shifted from OR to AND.  If we were both right, what would need to happen?  Changing my thinking helped me to see an alternative which satisfied both sides.
If you would like to discuss this subject further with Neil, or find out more about his coaching services, call him on 01707 395850 or email neil@redrubberball.co.uk. He will be delighted to hear from you.



How to become an ACE recruiter



Contributor: Warren Kemp, CEO and Trainer, Recruitment Matters International

If there is a particular topic on recruiting that I have been asked about over the years more than any other, it is on the subject of: what attributes/personality/skills makes for a good recruiter and what makes the great recruiters stand apart from the rest?

To help us start to come close to an answer I would first of all like to ask you a question or two.  Why do some of the world’s technically best sports men and women never break into even the top 50 in their field?  Why do some of the less gifted punch consistently above their weight (no pun intended) and why do some of the most technically gifted and best athletes who are at the top of their game start underperforming by their own extremely high standards?

We all know that the right amount of knowledge and skills, when combined with appropriate personality traits, will make a big difference as to whether someone is technically & emotionally capable of doing any given job.  When we take the role of the recruiter, on paper, you should be able to hire someone who will be able to perform to an agreed minimum acceptable standard every time. But will they all? No of course not.

So, is there something else that can make the difference? Something that can help us make fewer poor hiring decisions?  Something that can help us perform better? The answer I believe is “yes,” and it’s not just one factor, but three that will make the difference.  Number one is ATTITUDE.  Number two is CONSISTENCY. Number three is ENVIRONMENT. (‘ACE’).

All three need to be right for both people and organisations to prosper. There are numerous examples of great recruiters flopping when they move organisations. There are scores of examples of underperforming recruiters positively thriving in a different environment.  Similarly, many recruiters have good weeks and then bad weeks, perhaps a great quarter and then a bad quarter.  That comes down to consistency and not relating to their own performance.  We all know just what a difference the right attitude can make (of employer and employee) to any given outcome.

Therefore, if you are a recruiter and want to be the very best: show the right attitude consistently in an environment that works for you.  Find an organisation that matches your outlook on life - not necessarily for life - but for long enough so you can get where you want to be on your ladder to success. If that ends up being the same organisation for the rest of your career, then all the better.

If you are an employer or manager, then, as well as making sure you do the above for yourself, hire people who will positively thrive in the environment you create. Make them fully aware of what life will be like working for and with you and what will be expected of them.  Be as sure as you can that you and the employee are right for each other.  When they leave, you wish them well knowing you have taken them as far as you can. Be far more concerned about them performing consistently well while they are with you – that way, they will be a lot less likely to leave you in the first place!

Warren Kemp is CEO and trainer with Recruitment Matters International. For more tips, advice and information on Recruitment Matters visit http://recruitmentmatters.com/  telephone 0800 0749 289/ +44 (0)1529 410586 or email info@recruitmentmatters.com.



Employers can dismiss an employee for association with another person



Contributors: Simon Bloch, Partner, and Jake Filson, Solicitor, JMW Solicitors LLP

In the recent case of Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council [2018] UKSC 16 the Supreme Court upheld an Employment Tribunal decision that found a school had acted reasonably in dismissing a Head Teacher for misconduct on the basis that she did not disclose her relationship with a person convicted of making indecent images of children.

This case also confirms the well-established principles of dismissing an employee by reason of conduct, but opened a line of argument of a potential challenge to the well-established Burchell test that has been good law for 40 years and which has been applied in unfair dismissal claims since then.

Background

By way of background, Mrs Reilly was a Head Teacher at a primary school.  She had a close personal relationship with a man (S) who had been convicted of making indecent images of children.

Upon discovering this information, Mrs Reilly was suspended by the school, pending disciplinary action. The disciplinary procedure ultimately culminated in Mrs Reilly being summarily dismissed for gross misconduct.

The school justified its dismissal on the basis that Mrs Reilly failed to disclose information that amounted to a repudiatory breach of an implied term of her contract of employment; i.e. to disclose relationships with convicted sex offenders.  In addition, the school asserted that Mrs Reilly’s continued refusal to accept that her relationship with S put the children of the school at risk, highlighted a lack of judgment.

Consequently, Mrs Reilly brought a claim for unfair dismissal progressing that she was not under any duty to disclose the information in relation to her relationship.

The law – unfair dismissal

In order to dismiss an employee with two years’ service or more, an employer must ensure that they have a fair reason for dismissal, follow a fair procedure and act fairly and reasonably in treating the reason as sufficient to dismiss.

Accordingly, it will only be possible for an employer to effect a fair dismissal on the grounds of (mis)conduct, if, at the time of dismissal:
  • The employer believed the employee to be guilty of misconduct;
  • The employer had reasonable grounds for believing that the employee was guilty of that conduct;
  • At the time it held that belief, it had carried out as much investigation as was reasonable.

The Decision

The Supreme Court in this case upheld the decision of the lower courts and dismissed the appeal.

The Supreme Court found that the school was entitled to conclude that Mrs Reilly had been under a duty to disclose her relationship with S and that the dismissal was within a range of reasonable responses.

This was based on the fact that pursuant to the provisions of the Education Act 2002 and certain provisions within Mrs Reilly’s contract of employment, she was under a contractual duty to assist the school’s governing body in discharging its duties to exercise functions with a view to safeguarding the pupils. Failing to report something which was her duty to report was therefore an example of conduct, leading to disciplinary action.

Why is this case important?

The dismissal in this case clearly arose because the employee had failed to disclose information to her employer which was relevant to her role and position and the failure to understand obligations that she should have understood. The decision is unfortunately not clear on when the duty arises and what information should be disclosed. This leaves open the issue that employees in positions of significant trust will not know what is expected of them and may result in disclosures being made which are not necessary. The question is, if Mrs Reilly had disclosed her relationship with S would or would she not have been dismissed?

An important area that this case considered was whether the Burchell test was still correct in correlation to the test for unfair dismissal set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996. The path has therefore been laid for a challenge to the Burchell test – watch this space.

This article is for general guidance only and should not be used for any other purpose. It does not constitute, and should not be relied upon as legal advice.

This article was prepared by Simon Bloch, who is a Partner at JMW Solicitors LLP and Jake Filson, Solicitor. To contact Simon, please email simon.bloch@jmw.co.uk or call 0161 838 2628 to discuss any matter in this article or any recruitment issue at further length.


 
What’s new?

A reminder that we have been shortlisted for the Recruitment Industry Supplier Awards 2018 in the 'Best Training Provider' category. If you have used our services before, we would be very grateful if you could show your support by voting for us via this link  http://bit.ly/2DbLKO4 . New voting deadline is May 1st. Please use your work/business email address when registering your vote. Thank you!

New for 2018 are Warren’s Train The Trainer Bootcamps featuring 30 hours of participative learning over the three day bootcamp. A very productive and enjoyable time was had by all in his recent Birmingham event. The next one runs in London on May 15-17th.

Feedback has yet again been excellent for our recent one day open course Proactive Calling and our next date is on May 15th. In addition there is the two day in-house course version Proactive Calling – Energiser we’re already offering from Andrew Carr. These are two great alternatives if you need to re-invigorate you telephone calling activities. With GDPR looming, we expect significantly increased use of the telephone as a marketing tool in 2018.

We continue to lead the way with our ever-popular one day open course on Executing A Successful Head-Hunting Assignment (next date June 20th). Also, the flipside of the coin, Selling Executive Search and Winning Retained & Exclusive Assignments (next date is London on May 2nd). These two courses and our Candidate Sourcing (May 24th) course are currently enjoying a high level of bookings.

Our ever-popular one day management course continues to experience strong demand for both open course and in-house training: Stewart Stone’s The Billing Manager – managing people & motivating teams (next date is May 23rd). We always enjoy welcoming the continued steady stream of consultants who are moving up to management positions.  This course is also great for managers who have had no formal training or who, quite simply, would benefit from a refresher.

All our one day open courses are available regularly including  Candidate Control, Screening & Interviewing (Jun 1st), Business Development & Key Account Management (June 14th), and Running A Successful Temp Desk (Jun 7th).  All of these open courses will be running throughout 2018, including our Two Day Introduction To Recruitment at the outstanding rate of just £549+VAT! Our next induction course is in London on May 30/31st.

In order to optimise your learning experience, our courses are purposely run with small delegate numbers and are generally capped at 12. Book now to avoid disappointment! See here for our latest training dates.

Remember, if you can’t come to us, we can come to you to deliver an in-house version of any of our courses to meet your specific objectives or, indeed, write a training programme specifically for you and your team. Contact ken@recruitmentmatters.com for more information.
                
For more information on these courses and our other services and products, visit https://recruitmentmatters.com, email info@recruitmentmatters.com or call Julie or Ken on 0800 0749289 or, if you’re overseas, 0044 1529 410586.





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