Why use a specialist recruitment agency?

Why would you use a recruitment agency rather than going directly to the employer yourself?

As recruiters we spend 8 hours a day every day talking to clients, gathering information on who is hiring, who is firing, who is expanding, who is contracting, speaking to candidates gathering information on which practices are the best to work for, who are the dogs, which are investing, which are stagnating, which are high tech, which are antiquated.

In a nutshell we get to know which practices are the best to work for and which are to be avoided.

We also know which practices are hiring but not advertising and which may be open to employing that star candidate but are not necessarily advertising a vacancy.

That is why registering with a specialist veterinary recruitment agency can dramatically improve your chances of finding your dream job.

At Recruit4vets we have been providing recruitment solutions to veterinary practices since 2006 and over the last 8 years we have build up a detailed bank of information on virtually every veterinary practice throughout the UK, we know how often they recruit, how often they employ locums, their staff turnover and they probably have staff working at the practice who we have placed their ourselves.

As a specialist veterinary recruitment agency we have built lasting business relationships with many of the practices owners and we understand their requirements, what they look for when employing staff and have an understanding of whether you will be the right fit for their practice. We also have built trust so that we can often get you into that interview before your peers. On many occasions a CV simply isn’t good enough; it will be the recruitment consultant selling your skills to the client that gets you that all important interview.

We review CV’s and cover letters on a daily basis and we know exactly what information will likely get you to the top of the pile when clients are reviewing CV’s, we can also offer interview tips which will help you secure that perfect job.

We speak to hundreds of employers every month and we know what the market salary rates are and we can offer advice to both you and the client and help with your salary negotiations, most people feel uncomfortable negotiating salaries with a new employer, we can act as a buffer.

We also understand how the recruitment process works and will point out the pitfalls to stop any negotiations breaking down.

Our services will save you a vast amount of time, will open the door to lots more vacancies and put you at an advantage over your peers. 

What’s more it’s completely free of charge!!

To find out how Recruit4vets can help you with your next career move please contact us on 01423 701 321.

New school of Veterinary Medicine

You may have heard that The University of Surrey has announced that it is going to launch a new school of Veterinary Medicine?

Well, this is looking to take place in 2014 and will be based at the University’s Manor Park site in Guildford.

According to the University, the new school will embrace the “One Health – One Medicine” philosophy.  The degree programme will also emphasize research, veterinary pathology and livestock medicine.

The new School at Surrey will collaborate with key partners to deliver their programme. Collaborators include: the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) , the BBSRC Pirbright Institude, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), Fitzpatrick Referrals, Liphook Equine Hospital and Westpoint Farm Vets. Extending relationships with regional Veterinary practices is also on the cards for the coming year.

The University is also in consultation with the RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) who plan to assist them in the development of a timetable for considering the new programme against their accreditation standards. The RCVS believe that the monitoring process of this could take a number of years.

The University certainly have already laid the foundations for the new school through its teaching and research activities expansion in its Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. This includes the launch of the BSc programme in Veterinary Biosciences in 2009 and the new MSc in Veterinary Microbiology. A new MSc in Veterinary Pathology is currently under development also.

I think over the next 12 months we can expect them to be recruiting new academic staff along with attracting the first cohort of students for 2014.

"As a research-intensive University we have the expertise, reputation, technical and business skills which our students can benefit from, allowing us to train the veterinary leaders of the future. Combining state-of-the-art facilities, our unique partnerships and a campus location, the new School will provide a stimulating environment not only for undergraduates, but for the professional development training of qualified veterinary surgeons."

-          Professor Lisa Roberts. Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

"This is good news for the UK veterinary research community. The Pirbright Institute currently works in close collaboration with the University of Surrey on research that benefits animal health and welfare; we very much look forward to building on this established and growing association as the new school of veterinary medicine is launched. There is an important place for trained veterinarians in scientific research and we are delighted that the University has decided to emphasise these areas in particular."

-          Professor John Fazakerley, Director of The Pirbright Institute

Why you shouldn't take a Counter Offer

Using a job offer as a bargaining chip with your current employer may seem tempting but all too often it ends badly. If you want a raise, then negotiate one on its owns merits or prepare to move on.

1. Employers often make counter offers in a moment of panic but after the initial relief passes,  you may find your relationship with your employer has changed for the worse. You are now the one who is looking to leave, you are no longer part of the 'inner circle' and you may be top of the list if your company needs to make cutbacks.
2. Even worse, your company might just want time to search for a replacement, figuring its only a matter of time before until you start looking around again. You might turn down your other offer and accept your employers counteroffer only to find yourself pushed out soon afterward.
   80% of people who accept counteroffers either leave or are let go within a year. 
3. There's a reason you started job searching in the first place. Whilst money is always a motivator, more often, there are other factors that drove you to look for another job, personality fit, your boss, boredom with the work, lack of recognition. These factors aren't going to change, and will likely start bothering you again as soon as the pay rise wears off.
4. Even if you get more money out of your company now, think about what it took to get it. You needed to have one foot out of the door to get paid the wage you wanted, and there's no reason to think that future salary increases will be any easier. The nest time you want a raise, you might be refused altogether on the grounds that 'we gave you that big increase when you were thinking about leaving'
5. You may be told to take the other offer, even if you don't really want it and then you'll have to follow through. Using another offer as a bluff is a really dangerous game.
6. Finally, your new employer is very unlikely to consider you again for any job offers.

Managing a Locum Workforce

Whether you are looking for someone to hold the fort for the day, delivery of a special project or to recruit an entire seasonal workforce, you need strong skilled staff who add to the effectiveness of your organisation.

The potential for locum vets and nurses to excel is often under-estimated. However, with the right input from you and choosing the right recruitment consultant to build a relationship with, you can expect locum staff to hit the ground running, with commitment, expertise and the same positive attitude as a permanent member of staff.

Why use Locum Staff?

• Sickness
• Maternity/Paternity cover
• Holiday
• Providing cover whilst role is vacant
• Temp to Perm
• Flexible workforce
• frozen head count

Preparation

• Prepare a brief of the role you have to fill - it may be a different role from the role of a permanent job
• Think about timings - taking into account a permanent member of staff to meet them and settle them in
• Research relevant recruitment consultants - good place to start is the REC website
• Prepare a set of criteria by which you will judge the effectiveness of the consultant
• Make a short list of consultants

Then ask yourself:

• Did you feel they understood what you were looking for?
• Did they take as much information as possible about your company and the booking you are discussing?
• Did they understand the type of staff you are looking for both in terms of skill set and culture fit.
• Did they send through a copy of their Terms of Business?

Managing the Workforce

• Keep the permanent staff aware of new locum workers and why they are there - this saves any undermining of the staff or animosity on their part.
• Create a 'mini induction' covering Health & Safety issues, fire exits, the accident book, when to take breaks and any procedures within the company which will help the locum work more effectively. Many of your practices procedures and policies will differ from other practices so its always a good idea to explain fully what your procedures are.
• Explain the role to the locum worker and give them a point of contact for any queries or questions
• Make sure they are aware of what criteria they may use to judge where they have done a good job
• Check within the first 4 hours that work completed is up to standard, feedback any problems or compliments to the recruiter.
• Sign the timesheet at the end of the assignment or each week if the booking is ongoing, and keep a copy to be married up when the invoice comes in
• It is important to differentiate between locums and permanent staff. the line between that status is very fine and employers often make the mistake in their efforts to make locums 'feel at home' particularly if they are there for a long period.
• Clients should not get involved in disciplinary discussions with the temps. Locums should not be on memo lists, holiday charts and work rotas. Invitations to company members should go as a separate memo to temps.
• Respect and value the contribution temps make to the overall well being of the company.

Is the locum legal?

One thing that is often overlooked when practices book locums directly (i.e. not through an agency) is whether the locum is working legally.

• Have they registered with the RCVS as a home practising member?
• Have you checked their ID, are they who they say they are?
• Have you checked their work visa (if applicable)
• Have they got Professional Indemnity Insurance
• If the locum is working self employed, have you the correct contracts in place, if not HMRC will view their payments as 'cash in hand' and you could be liable for any unpaid tax and NI.

Locums are a wonderful resource and in the main simply want to do the best job they can - feedback to the recruiter, both good and bad, will help move the relationship and make the matching process far more accurate.

Locum Induction Checklist

Pre-employment

• Joining instructions
• Company literature

Health & Safety

• Emergency exits
• Evacuation procedures
• First aid facilities
• Health & Safety policy
• Accident reporting
• Clothing
• Specific hazards
• Policy on smoking

Organisation

• Site map - canteen, first aid post, etc
• Telephone system
• Computer system
• Company products and services
• Vaccination schedules
• Prescriptions policies
• Security procedures

How to Read a CV

Human capital is the most important asset to any employer, so short listing and assessing the calibre of 300 CV's to identify the 10 best can be a daunting prospect.

Reading the CV

The first step is to match your candidates against your Job Specification. Beyond that, here are some things to look for:

1. Skills: Seek out CV's that describe how the candidate measured their performance using the relevant skill. Furthermore, has the candidate correctly described the skills needed for the role?
2. Achievements: Candidates that describe how they added value to a job through, for example, saving money or increasing sales outperform other candidates that list job duties.
3. Transferable Skills: Career changers that describe relevant, transferable skills.
4. External Validation: Winning awards or being selected to chair working group meetings rarely happen to under performing individuals.
5. Promotion: Steady and consistent promotions are a good indicator that the individual can sustain the enhanced job responsibilities and that the person has been highly regarded.
6. Length of Service: Advantage or Disadvantage?
   Long Service: Some consider many years of service a benefit, others consider the candidate institutionalised.
   Short Stints: Look for signs in the CV. The candidate could be a job-hopper or could be going through rapid fast paced promotions or it may be normal for the sector.
7. Photographs: Ignore photographs/videos when recruiting as they allow for the potential to discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, etc

Warning Signs:

1. Gaps: Ensure gaps in employment are accounted for.
2. Duties: A list of these does not say how the person performed in the role, just what they were meant to be doing.
3. Spelling: Mistakes on such an important document should prompt fears.
4. Promotions: Job-seeking within 3 months of promotion may be indicative of over promotion.
5. Salary fluctuations: If a salary is £10k higher or lower than former roles - ensure you understand and accept the reason for this.
6. Lies: With so many CV's containing exaggerations, look for evidence to overcome this concern.
7. Contact details: A work direct line on a CV often indicates the person is happy to take personal calls during work time. Unprofessional email addresses also draw unwelcome assumptions.

Return on Investment

You should think about this in particular for your trainee hires. The costs to a business rise considerably for Trainee Schemes, so individual graduates should sell to you far more than a list of their modules. Look for descriptions of projects/dissertations. How they interpreted their project findings/results can help you understand how they tick, which is vital if you are to invest substantial sums of money in them. The grade alone is not enough.

Correlation of Job Advertising and CV Cliché's

The CV's you receive will mostly mirror the job advertisements you place, so favour absolute requirements and limit clichés in your advertisements that require a good team player or excellent communication skills as applicants are likely to feed these generic terms back to you in their CV, without evidence of the skills use, leaving you with a batch of CV's impossible to short-list. Many CV's simply claim the applicant to be a great organiser who is hard-working with excellent communication skills and able to work in a team - but when pressed for specifics these applicants often cannot recall a good example using the said skill to make a noticeable difference for the business.

Searching CV Tips

To expand your CV search, look at positions below the one you are looking to fill - a candidate ripe for promotion. Additionally, look for competitor names or company names that are synonymous with like minded employees.