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What does it feel like to be the Best Small Recruitment Business in the land? Hopefully we’ll get to find out in October when the Global Recruiter Awards happen in London.

Why? Because we’re delighted to announce that Franklin Fitch is one of five shortlisted businesses in the running for the long-standing and industry-respected title of Best Small Recruitment Business.

Commenting on the shortlisting, Steven Ewer said:

“In the month that we are celebrating 10 years of Franklin Fitch, it’s great to get recognition from Global Recruiter on our successes over what has been a challenging year to say the least. Despite all the chaos that has been happening around the world, the team here has stuck together and grown across the board.

Headcount has increased in all our locations, and we’ve moved to bigger spaces in both our Cardiff and Austin offices. Most importantly though, we are pleased to have continued to connect brilliant IT infrastructure talent with companies across Europe and the US, building great partnerships along the way.

This will probably be our last year of being eligible to enter this category so it would be great to sign off with a win. There are some brilliant recruitment businesses shortlisted alongside us – congratulations to them as well. I look forward to hopefully celebrating with everyone in October.”

You can view the Global Recruiter Awards shortlist in its entirety here.

At nearly 18 months into the pandemic, numerous lockdowns, multiple vaccinees and a completely new way of working – it’s safe to say that the world has changed quite drastically.

Technology has been a huge enabler of this change. Microsoft’s Brad Smith said two years of digital transformation took place in the first two months of the pandemic.

As England emerges from lockdown with a promise of a return to “normality”, which of these tech innovations will stick?

Video calling

Perhaps the most notable “new tech” is the increased use of video calling, not only as a work tool, but also to stay connected to our loved ones. So much so that Zoom became a verb.

While Zoom-fatigue did hit hard and the thought of another virtual pub quiz is a little sickening, it’s clear that video calling is is a welcomed tool in the workplace, if not in our personal lives.

Unsurprisingly, in-person interactions with friends and family are preferred to virtual ones, but the use of Zoom, Teams and other video conferencing tools have facilitated the new era of flexible working. It’s safe to stay that Zoom is here to stay, whether we like it or not.

Cyber-security

Cyber-criminals have had a field day since the pandemic started. Businesses globally were forced to adopt a remote working model where employees were often working from personal PCs, laptops and phones with limited antivirus software.

The ever-growing amount of data breaches means an ever-growing demand for cyber-security professionals. The unemployment rate in cybersecurity has been at 0% since 2011, so the responsibility lies with businesses, organisations and educational programmes to upskill people in the skills needed to fill the gap.

There will always be people looking to exploit a situation. As users of tech, we must remain diligent to phishing attacks, while keeping our devices updated and secure.

Fitness and wellness apps

As gyms remained closed for large parts of the pandemic, people looked for new ways to remain fit and healthy. Apps such as Strava and Nike Run Club were downloaded in mass.

Strava went from just over 2 million sessions each week pre-pandemic, to over 6 million sessions by May 2020. This figure remained even with the reopening of gyms.

While the gym isn’t going anywhere yet, it’s clear that people’s exercise habits have changed. Perhaps it was the efficiency of a home workout vs going to the gym that has kept the momentum going.

Awareness around mental health rose in 2020 as months in lockdown took their toll. Mindfulness and meditation apps such as Calm, which raised new funding at a $2 billion valuation in December 2020, were downloaded globally to combat the lockdown-lows.

The fact that these apps have held on to their users throughout the past 18 months points to a shift in the way we manage our fitness and wellbeing.

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With so much uncertainty around what the immediate future will look like, it’s difficult to determine whether the tech we use today will be relevant tomorrow. Certain habits from the past 18 months were indeed welcomed and here to stay – many of which were enabled by technology.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Once again, social media platforms are facing calls to tighten regulations on their platforms, following the hurl of racial abuse to members of the England football team. After losing to Italy in the final of the Euro 2020, certain players received swarms of abuse on social media, which critics say lies in the hands of these platforms to regulate.

London Mayer Sadiq Khan directly called on social media platforms to ‘act immediately to remove and prevent this hate’.

What kind of responsibility do these platforms have to prevent the spread of hate? Is there a way to leverage automation and machine learning to make this job easier?

Traditional media in the UK has an agreement with regulator Ofcom that makes them accountable for any form of abusive response to content. For example – a racist comment left on a BBC News article – the BBC would be accountable.

Ofcom doesn’t have this agreement with social media platforms because they aren’t considered to be publishers or broadcasters. These platforms remain self-regulating, so the question of accountability remains a grey area.

The difficulty these tech giants face is the huge volume of user-generated content, which swamps the efforts of human moderators employed by these platforms. It’s not expected that human moderators can sift through every piece of content, as soon as it’s posted, to see if it contains hate. The solution has to be automation.

We can already see social media platforms utilising automation to prevent misinformation around COVID-19. For example, Instagram immediately fags any content that contains information about COVID, and points users to the World Health Organisation for accurate advice. Critics have suggested this same technology be used to detect racist and abuse content.

Automation is already built into the algorithm in this way, such as a blanket banning of certain hashtags and words. But it can only do so much. Automation is currently unable to understand context, nuance, different cultures, etc. A certain emoji may not be offensive if said to one person, but when the context is different, the intention also changes. Instances such as this is where automation fails.

So what is the solution? Stopping trolls from posting hate on these platforms is of course, the ideal solution. But alas, an impossible ask. The more likely solution will take time – develop automation technology that is intelligent enough to detect the context of hate. Until then, there remains some power in the hands of users to report hate content when they see it. 

written by Evangeline Hunt

Many people have been working remotely for over a year now. While it was initially seen as a temporary solution to lockdown, it is becoming clear that flexible working is here to stay.

For some organisations, the logistics of remote work was already set up. For others who previously had no remote workers, it was more of a challenge.

In this heavily candidate-driven market, employers need to offer flexible working to attract the best talent. Utilising IT Infrastructure can help businesses implement a successful remote working strategy, while also minimising security and cost issues associated with remote work. Below, we share our top tips on how this can be executed.

Keep security tight

Security threats are amplified when employees are working remotely. Networks operate from beyond the firewall, making them difficult to secure. Some employees are working from their personal devices, which may not have any kind of antivirus software installed.

According to CIO.com, 20% of organisations have fallen victim to a security breach since the start of the pandemic that was directly linked to remote working. An unsurprising statistic, given the new open-door that hackers were gifted with when people started working from home.

To prevent potential security threats, businesses will need to secure the infrastructure and software used by employees when working remotely. One way to do this is to use a centralised desktop environment through the cloud. Working inside a secure cloud environment means that all data remains within the cloud, reducing the chance of potential cyberattacks.

Invest in collaboration tools

Keeping employees connected while working remotely is essential for a happy and engaged workforce.  Remote work can sometimes feel lonely, so investing in a business-wide communication tool, such as Teams or Slack, makes collaboration easy and efficient.

Given that remote working is here to stay, scheduling time for virtual coffee breaks can help keep company culture thriving.

Offering a user-friendly way to work remotely is essential to ensure that employees can connect to IT resources when out of the office.

Using a cloud desktop rather than a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) means that a service provider will host your applications in the cloud, reducing any downtime from a weak network connection. A cloud desktop will make it easier for employees to access everything they need on any device, from any location.

Reduce unnecessary hardware using the cloud

Maintaining the hardware of remote employees can be a big challenge. If laptops need maintenance when employees are working from home, it can be difficult to facilitate this.

This goes hand in hand with IT issues in general – any form of hardware/software issue is more time consuming to solve remotely.

Employers can combat this by minimising the amount of physical equipment that their employees need to work from home. As previously mentioned, using a cloud desktop is an easy way for workers to access files and applications from their own devices, while still ensuring everything remains secure. The only resource needed to log onto a cloud desktop is a web browser, making it an accessible option for most.

Reducing the amount of hardware needed can also work to keep costs down. Trying to recreate the whole IT infrastructure of the office in each employee’s home can be costly. The cloud desktop will enable employees to access their workstations without the need for expensive equipment.

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The future of the office remaining relatively uncertain, but one thing that we can be sure about is that most employees are keen to keep some aspect of remote working in their schedule.

With the help of IT Infrastructure, businesses can successfully implement a productive remote working strategy to meet these needs, while remaining secure and cost-effective.

We partner with businesses globally to deliver top IT Infrastructure talent that is essential for enabling a post-covid workplace. Are you looking to grow your IT Infrastructure team? Get in touch today to find out how we can assist you!

written by Evangeline Hunt

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly, as more and more devices become connected each year. IoT is powering many areas of our lives – from lightbulbs, wearable tech, to the creation of complex Smart Cities – automating day-to-day processes.

Besides consumer advances, IoT is becoming an essential component of successful and cost-effective business transformation.

Given the consistent growth of IoT, Business Wire predicts that the global IoT market will reach $1.1 trillion in revenue by 2024, with 80 billion connected devices.

How are we using IoT in our daily lives? And where do we expect it to take us looking forward?

What is IoT?

IoT is the connection of multiple appliances/objects to each other and the internet, which are monitored remotely. These devices are interconnected and track and receive data, which is then processed in the cloud.

A smart home is an example of IoT – appliances such as the thermostat, doorbell and security system can sense their surroundings and interact with one another, which can be monitored over a mobile app.

This involves complex communication between devices and accurate processing of data. Sensing devices are used to monitor things such as temperature, humidity and water level.

IoT in the world

Complex uses of IoT already exist in today’s world. Amazon’s fully automated supermarket where you can “just walk out” uses IoT technology to fully automate the whole shopping experience. You scan a barcode when you walk in and then there is no need to scan or pay for any items.

Smart Cities are being created across the globe, where IoT tech is used to monitor everything from traffic, recycling and energy use. Citizens interact with a smart city through their smartphones, connected cars and homes. The smart city can do things such as cut costs of energy, improve sustainability and manage traffic flows.

Like with many industries, the Covid pandemic highlighted the true potential of the IoT, as it was used for things such as enabling remote operations to manage distancing policies.

One example of this is the NFL, who used wearable connected sensors to manage the safe return of players and staff. Connected through IoT, these sensors provided real-time data on the movements of everyone in the stadium – meaning if someone tested positive for COVID-19, the data could determine who needed to isolate.

Potential problems

As with all growing technologies, there will always be potential problems and setbacks. IoT relies on a speedy and reliable connection as it often analyses data in real-time, meaning network issues can impact how well IoT performs.

As more and more devices are connected, some networks are unable to manage the increased traffic. The ability to scale as demand grows will be essential if businesses want to continue to digitally transform.

Perhaps the most obvious problem is the security issues that come with numerous connected devices. Poorly secured IoT devices are a common target of hackers, as one unsecured device can act as a portal to the whole network.

Organisations can manage this by delivering security functions through the cloud, to ensure that all devices will receive the same level of security.

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Looking forward, it’s clear that the potential of IoT is exponential. Smart living and smart cities are already embedded in society, and will only continue to grow.

Where else do you see IoT being utilized in the future?

written by Evangeline Hunt

Franklin Fitch is proud to announce the launch of Programme One. We have joined forces with some of our fellow recruitment agencies to address the significant underrepresentation of Black talent within the recruitment industry. We are thrilled to be part of this programme. As a collective, we want to remove the barriers for Black talent to enter the sector.

As a member of Programme One, we are signing up to deliver against four strategic objectives:

1. To embed a Diversity, Inclusion and Respect Strategy within our business.
2. To remove barriers to hiring Black recruiters, so that our organisation matches the Black representation in our local community.
3. To ensure every Black recruiter hired has access to a mentor.
4. To widen our talent attraction methods and techniques.

We are eager to play our part in making this happen.

"The recruitment sector is diverse, but the Black community is severely under-represented at all levels within it”, says Founder and Director of Franklin Fitch, David Annable.

“My ultimate hope is that Programme One creates parity between black people within our communities and within our industry. Programme One's first target, and therefore initial success, will be the attraction, mentorship and retention of 100 more black recruiters within the UK."

To find out more about how you can get involved with Programme One, please visit their website.

Several major websites went down on Tuesday morning, following a software bug on cloud-computing company Fastly.

Fastly said the bug was triggered by a customer configuration change.

The outage lasted 49 minutes, affecting some popular websites including Amazon, the Guardian, Reddit and even the UK gov website.

The problem originated with the cloud – more specifically the content delivery network (CDN) operated by Fastly. The Fastly CDN is a global network of servers, used by organisations to deliver content as quickly as possible (oh the irony).

Fastly were quick to recognise, apologise and resolve the issue. ‘This outage was broad and severe’, said Fastly’s Senior Vice President of Engineering and Infrastructure, Nick Rockwell. ‘We’re truly sorry for the impact to our customers and everyone who relies on them.’

Although the global outage was dealt with quickly, it does highlight how dependent many organisations are on cloud services and service providers.  

This didn’t turn out to be a cyberattack this time. But it does raise the question as to what would happen to any of these providers if they fell victim to a cyberattack. The consequences would be far worse than a 49-minute outage.

For a long time, organisations have focused their efforts and investments on financial capital rather than their human capital. However, with a lot more studies being conducted and evidence showing the significant impact top talent has on business performance, the focus of organisations has seemed to slowly start shifting.

Knowing the value of talent for companies, there also comes a problem with it; talent is very scarce. A company needs to be outstanding in order to make scarce top talent apprised of their existence. The market is highly competitive; the more an employer understands talent’s needs and core motivations, the easier it will become to attract the exact people wanted and needed. Talent is as varied as the many job opportunities out there, so it is of utmost importance to match the right talent with the right job for long-term success. To do so, talent has to be looked at from all different perspectives such as age, gender or geographical location.

Building a strong EVP is one of the key attributes it takes to attract top talent, establishing an outstanding talent magnet position in the market, and communicating it successfully to the target audience. However most companies face limitations, especially when it comes to finding the best and brightest candidates. Therefore recruitment agencies out there can help them tap into different and broader talent pools. Recruitment needs to be a pro-active process, “employers cannot wait for the new talent to find them; they have to go out and look for it”. (Hillenbrand, 2020, p. 4)

Passive jobseekers make up a great share of talent and therefore have to be actively sourced and reached out to. There are many different possibilities on how to reach out to all the bright and different talent out there. Instead of focusing on only a few talent pools, companies should embrace diversity to fill open positions and take advantage of the effect it has on overall business success.

Recruitment agencies act as a middleman, a third party between the candidate and hiring company. Recruiters usually have a deeper talent pool than the in-house talent acquisition teams, as it is their job to have a large database with potential candidates to reach out to. They also do not wait for active applicants but put themselves out there, actively searching for talent. Hiring a recruitment agency is also time-saving, they take on the pre-screening and selection of potential candidates. It also makes the hiring process more efficient, as good recruiters act in the interest of the client and the candidate and think long-term. They know their market, what the client expects from a candidate and what the candidate will be able to deliver.

In order to attract the right talent, it is not only crucial to understand what talent wants, but also where required talent can be found and ways to make contact. Therefore, understanding the channels that are being used by jobseekers to search and apply for jobs will help to implement the right technology when reaching out to potential candidates, which will also differ from geographic location and age. Some information is more valuable than others for candidates when reading a job description. Recruiters ensure the right information is available upfront to an interview in order to increase the efficiency of the hiring process. The more transparency a candidate can get, the better he or she is able to understand what to expect from their potential future job and employer.

In conclusion, recruiters provide you with an exclusive and specific selection of top talent for your business. If you want to find out how Franklin Fitch can support your recruitment process please reach out to Carmen Hiemisch (c.hiemisch@franklinfitch.com or +49 69 971 94 2913).

Source: Hillenbrand, P. “The people-first approach to business building”, McKinsey Digital, 2020, p. 4

written by Carmen Hiemisch

What do Bitcoin, Charlie Bit My Finger, and Beeple’s digital art all have in common? They’re all powered by blockchain – a digital list of records that are linked together using cryptography.

Blockchain-powered tech has risen in popularity, most notably in the form of cryptocurrency. But more recently, the sale of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) online for often millions of dollars has created a new buzz around blockchain.

Blockchain was originally created in 1991 with the purpose of timestamping digital documents so that they couldn’t be tampered with. This new tech went mostly unused, until it was adapted by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 to create the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

A blockchain is a decentralized ledger that is open to anyone. The complex properties of a blockchain make it near-impossible to tamper with. Each block contains a unique “hash” – like a fingerprint, plus the hash of the previous block. If a single block is tampered with, the hash will change and won’t correctly match the hash of the next block – invalidating the chain. This makes blockchains a very secure way of storing data.

These days, blockchain is essentially a peer-to-peer network that enables trusted trade between individuals without the need for a mediator. Mediators can be anything from banks, online servers such as eBay or Amazon, or physical shops.

This is all well and good, but it sounds a bit hypothetical. Where is blockchain being used in our lives as of now, and where can we expect to see it in the future?

Like any new technology, its potential is still being unlocked. The most commonly known use for blockchain tech as of present is Bitcoin.  Cryptocurrency uses blockchain encryption techniques to control the creation of monetary units and to verify their transfer between users of the peer-to-peer network. This removes the need for banks and even physical money.

In theory, blockchain can be applied to any sort of trade – be it goods or services, energy, or something like voting.

Most recently there has been a surge in the sale of non-fungible tokens, which are powered on the Ethereum blockchain. Non-fungible means something unique and can’t be replaced with something else – like a piece of art, or a song. Bitcoin, or a dollar, is fungible – one bitcoin can be traded for another bitcoin and it’s exactly the same.

The Ethereum blockchain is the cryptocurrency used to support NFTs – it stores extra information that makes them work differently. NFTs can really be anything digital, such as art, music, tweets, memes, videos, etc. A lot of the excitement surrounding NFTs is around digital art. Yes, artist Beeple did sell a piece of digital art at Christie’s Auction House for $70 million… The exact piece of art can be viewed online by anyone – yes anyone. But only one person “owns” it. The authenticity of this ownership is powered by blockchain.

Is paying $70 million for a piece of digital art crazier than buying a tweet from the founder of Twitter for $3 million? I can’t decide…

What makes blockchain so interesting is that its potential is only just being unlocked. Until recently, we wouldn’t have thought that it was possible to “buy” a tweet – but apparently it is. Who knows where this exciting new tech will go next… any ideas?

written by Evangeline Hunt

As we approach the halfway point of 2021, it’s a good time to reflect on the trends that were predicted for the year. Most of us were relieved to say goodbye to 2020. A year full of uncertainty and change. Not all of them were bad – the past year pushed engineers into a new way of collaboration to build, deliver and manage IT Infrastructure.

This digital transformation has become crucial for business success. As a result of the challenges of the past year the following DevOps trends have gained more attention:

1. In 2021 Service Mesh has increased and become one of the key components of the dedicated infrastructure layer built into an app as that’s how parts of an application can share data with another. Service mesh is used to facilitate service-to-service communications between services. Due to factors from choosing particular tools, people will be forced to use them. This means, as tools become a more and more inseparable part of other solutions, more service mesh will be used. On top of that, it will provide the features and standards within each application and therefore represent the platform for ALL kinds of applications.

2. DevSecOps is gaining more importance, ensuring security for businesses of any sizes as working with cloud-based technology is becoming part of our daily workspace. Vulnerabilities and security gaps need to quickly be noticed, detected and diminished by the DevSecOps team.

3. Kubernetes is an open-source container-orchestration system for automating computer application deployment, scaling, and management. It was originally designed by Google and is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The use of Kubernetes continues to grow in 2021 as they are needed to build complex cloud-native infrastructures for automating computer applications. As these are difficult to understand, in 2021, cloud operators and practitioners create new supporting tools and will benefit the tech community. These tools focus especially on data science, visibility and secret management.

4. AI & ML driven DevOps approach: nowadays, traditional organisations need to handle a massive amount of data that is being generated with immense speed, variety and volume. To be able to analyze and compute this data of any scale and size, organisations work with AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (machine learning) as they are the boosters to transform the workflow of teams. ML helps to understand where blockages or capacity issues that occur in the delivery lifecycle and therefore improves developing, deploying, delivering and managing applications properly.

5. Observability or monitoring is the question. As systems are transforming into more complex, cloud-native and open source microservices running on Kubernetes, more engineers will be mindful of observing and monitoring the application to identify and respond to outages and events. This deeper insight into downtime is an approach to monitor, analyse, trace events to investigate the specific causes and pinpoint the impact on the company. 

Excited for the second half of 2021? Well, if you weren’t yet, then you should be now. The fact that DevOps is the best solution to increase quality, save time and money for companies hasn’t changed. But still, a new era is well underway in this cloud-centric and all-digital world. Therefore, upgrading and integrating techniques and tools are required for the rapidly changing market needs.

written by Sophie Finsterer

As recruiters, we get the opportunity to speak to a whole host of hiring managers, each facing their own challenges when looking to bring the best talent on board and grow out their teams. Although even the largest, most resourceful companies are still likely to face their fair share of tests, this article will focus on identifying the key challenges faced by SMEs when hiring for their IT/Infrastructure teams, as well as looking into best practices and new ideas on how to solve them.

I am in contact with a range of SMEs, speaking with hiring manages to get to the bottom of what works, what doesn’t and how they have managed to improve and streamline their recruitment processes. Outlined below are some of the key talking points that arose, which will hopefully provide insight and assist in building a hiring process that works for you.

What to focus on when hiring IT/Infrastructure employees?

Believe it or not, a surprisingly large number of hiring managers found putting too much emphasis on a candidate’s technical capabilities was ineffective in the initial recruitment stage. It was an almost unanimous agreement that on reflection, more focus should have been placed on values fit and working attitude. Bringing in someone that shares the values of the company, as well as having a positive can-do attitude can have a huge impact on SMEs.

Having a team of motivators is a sure way to maintain positivity, overcome challenges and create opportunity for innovation. Someone could be exceptionally talented in terms of technical ability, yet if they aren’t invested and motivated to make things work, they’re probably going to be more of a detriment to the business in the long run. As the saying goes, “one bad apple can spoil the bunch”.

Unlike technical skills, mentality can’t be taught. So, when it comes to technical skills vs mentality, let’s call it even. Hitting that perfect balance of technical prowess and personality fit in a new hire is any SME’s dream!

Make your interview process more effective

Giving candidates reasons to buy into the company from the start is crucial for attracting talent (and it only takes 10 minutes). The current market is extremely candidate driven; strong candidates are likely to have multiple other processes going on alongside the opportunity you’re offering. Ten minutes on the phone is all it takes to create a good first impression and make candidates feel like you are valuing their application and are aware that interviews are a two-way street. You are aiming to put your company at the forefront of the candidate’s mind.

Testing technical ability

The interview processes at SMEs are often far more thorough than some of the larger companies I’ve worked with, and why shouldn’t they be? The associated risk of every hire is far greater than in larger and more established companies. Holding some form of technical test, whether it’s an online screen share, or a verbal test in the interview from one of the senior team members is a great way to separate the technically strong from the lesser capable.

There are two big “don’ts” when it comes to testing technical ability. Firstly, jumping straight into a technical interview as a first stage, without previously giving buy-in to the company (yes, this again). This can be hugely off-putting and can give a sense of elitism to your hiring process.

Secondly, putting candidates through a ridiculously long process, just to prove what they’re capable of. The candidate shouldn’t need to be asked the same questions by 4 different people within the organisation. This can give the impression of poor communication and time management within the business, whether this is the case or not. Candidates are often reluctant to commit to such a long process for a job that they ultimately might not land.

One of my clients mentioned the idea of collaboration-based interviews. The way this works is that they get the candidate to participate in a real-life situation. Sit in on a brainstorming session with the team, focusing on how best to overcome a specific, real problem. This way you can test the candidate on how well they collaborate, how confident they are giving their own ideas and how they communicate these ideas to a wider audience. This also gives a positive experience to the candidate as they get a real insight into what it would be like working in the company – and ultimately the team.

Finally, something hugely important for all companies, big or small, is responsiveness and feedback. This is so vital, yet still not on the priority list for many companies. Due to the competitiveness of the industry, candidates can be off the market within a matter of days. If you aren’t providing constructive feedback on profile submissions or interviews within two days maximum and keeping candidates in the loop, assume that your competition is, and expect to be left behind!

How does your tech stack correlate with talent attraction?

I asked each hiring manager: “when choosing your tech stack, do you think about how that correlates with talent attraction and current technical trends for when you’re likely to be growing the team further down the line?” This often prompted the response: “I’d never really thought about it until now”.

Around 90% of the people I spoke to stated that the tech stack was chosen with the sole focus on implementing the best tools for the product, without giving a thought to how their choices would affect the future hiring process. Makes sense! However, keeping talent attraction in mind when discussing technical decisions is no bad thing. This doesn’t mean that you should pick a tool unsuitable for the job just because it’s the “next big thing” but keeping up to date with the latest versions of the tools and technologies that you’re using is likely to appeal to potential candidates when the time comes to grow out the team. Emerging technologies will also keep your product/service scalable as you continue to expand.

Being open to implementing new technologies and offering an element of technical freedom to your IT employees can also be a great way to attract talent, encourage innovation and ensure that your hires have the mindset of continuous development (which is the attitude needed in most successful tech SMEs).

How do you compete with the tech industries “Top Dogs”? And do you need to?

Interestingly, the majority of people I spoke to didn’t feel as though they are competing with large organisations on anywhere near the same level that they are competing with other SME’s. This is due to the belief that the majority of candidates either have the appetite for an SME, or they don’t.

If you have a candidate with their mind set on working in a small, more open environment, how do you attract them to yours? Many thought that it is more effective to focus on offering the candidate intangible benefits such as technical freedom, ownership over projects, the chance to make a real difference on projects and the company as a whole. This would often be more appealing than trying to match the ‘competitive’ financial packages that are being offered elsewhere.

Whilst these benefits will appeal to a “smaller company” minded candidate, it’s important not to use these benefits as leverage to negotiate a lower salary. Underwhelming a candidate with a job offer is a sure-fire way to put them off!

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If you have any questions, comments, or tried and tested methods for attracting talent to SMEs that haven’t been covered here, please feel free to share.

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, which focuses on the theme of nature. During the long months of the pandemic, millions of people globally turned to nature as a coping mechanism - with 45% of people reporting that being in green spaces had been vital for their mental health.

There is lots of research to support the role that nature can play in protecting our mental health. This week, the Mental Health Foundation is encouraging those who can to spend some time connecting with nature. 

We care deeply about mental health at Franklin Fitch. Our charity of the year for 2021 is Heads Together, who are fighting the stigma around mental health. We've shared some of the ways in which we are connecting with nature this week, and encourage you to do the same.

Algida Gaidyte: 'I'm going to give my houseplants some extra love this week."

Richard Shayler: 'I'm growing some basil plants"

Charlotte Drury: 'My friend and I are growing spring onions from the end bit of old spring onions that we had in the fridge. They've already shot up after only a couple of weeks.'

Dane Keenan: 'I'm going to make the effort to eat my lunch outside rather than at my desk.'

Konstantin Ehrenberger: 'I'm going to take a picnic to Brickwell Park, where the oldest Oak tree there is over 600 years old.'

Carmen Hiemisch: 'I'm cycling to work this week rather than getting public transport.'

Parnian Faqiryar: 'I'll ditch the bus this week in favour of walking to work.'

Luned Jones: 'I'm spending a day at Kew Gardens with family and friends.'

Patrick Griffiths: 'I've been growing apples from the seeds, I even had to re-pot them this week'.

Dominique Lianos: 'Myself and my housemates are growing various herbs that we've already used in our cooking'.

Mona Aboud: 'I plan to take a walk in the forest this week.'

Maike Nenninger: 'I'm going to my parents' place with a protected landscape area for a family walk in the woods.'

Gareth Streefland: 'I'm going surfing in Swansea at the weekend.'

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How do you plan to connect to nature this week? For resources, tips and more information on Mental Health Awareness Week, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website.

A new Oxford University study reveals “little evidence” of a link between technology use and mental health problems in teenagers. This comes in the run-up Mental Health Awareness Week, which has the theme of ‘nature’ for 2021.

Over 430,000 10 to 15 year-olds from the UK and USA took part in the study, which found a small drop in the association between depression and social media use from 1991 to 2019.

"We couldn't tell the difference between social-media impact and mental health in 2010 and 2019”, said co-author Prof Andrew Przybylski. “We're not saying that fewer happy people use more social media, we’re saying that the connection is not getting stronger.”

Despite this, Przybylski said it was still too early to make any firm conclusions, and “certainly way too soon to be making policy or regulation.” 

While this study is good news for the tech industry, it goes against several reports that suggest a more harmful relationship. Mental health problems amongst young people are rising, and technology and social media are often blamed.

Regulators often point to risks of addiction, depression and anxiety among young users. In teenagers, multiple reports link social media use with feelings of suicide and depression, particularly among teenage girls.

The World Health Organisation recommends that children under five should spend no more than one hour a day in front of screens.

Moving forward, more research needs to be done to confirm or deny this link. Taking time away from social media and screens certainty won’t do any harm in the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week.

written by Evangeline Hunt

The shortage of cybersecurity professionals is nothing new. The unemployment rate in cybersecurity has been at 0% since 2011 – a fact unmatched by any other industry.  According to Cybersecurity Ventures, there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide by the end of the year, up from 1 million positions in 2014.

This issue has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Businesses globally were forced to adopt a remote working model where employees were often working from personal PCs, laptops and phones with limited antivirus software. 

According to IBM, remote working increased the average cost of a data breach by $137,000. Despite these heightened security threats, many businesses are still cutting their cybersecurity budgets as we move through 2021. 

Even with the ever-growing threat of smarter and more advanced security breaches, the security industry is under-resourced to fight hackers. 

What can be done to address this issue? 

Upskill more people

Sounds simple, but giving people the skills needed to fill these roles is the single more effective way to close this talent gap. It’s clear that there isn’t enough talent to fill the roles needed, so businesses, organizations and educational programs need to take responsibility in training people in the skills needed. 

Organizations already have the wheels in motion for this. Massachusetts-based MassCyberCenter is partnering with businesses, academia and the public sector to train new cybersecurity workers to fill the more than 9,000 vacant cybersecurity jobs.

The NYC Economic Development Corporation has launched Cyber NYC, which aims to grow the city’s cybersecurity talent pool through training and education programs. 

The Cyber Innovation Center in BossierCity, Louisiana, plans to broaden its cyber skills preparation to 10 million students and 50,000 teachers in K-12 across the US – building a pipeline of young cybersecurity talent. 

Build a youth movement

Encouraging and nurturing young people to become future cybersecurity experts will ultimately solve the cyber skills shortage of the future. Instilling enthusiasm and excitement around cybersecurity and STEM from an early age will organically grow a new generation of talent. 

Various organizations are doing this already. Girls Scouts of the USA have joined forces with Palo Alto Networks to deliver the first-ever Girl Scout Cybersecurity badges for girls in K-12. 

The National Security Agency has been educating young people in cybersecurity through their GenCyber program since 2014. The NSA’s summer camp, Camp Cryptobot, runs annual cybersecurity camps to build the next generation of cybersecurity workers. 

Focusing on the impact that a cybersecurity professional can have on people, businesses and even nations can encourage young people to become invested in the industry. Framing cybersecurity as a career that helps people, does good and is morally right is something that young people in today’s world are keen to make time for.  

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are particularly important in the fight against skills shortages. Untapped talent pools exist that often go unnoticed in the recruitment process.

How can the cybersecurity industry tap into neurodiverse talent pools, for example? Autism affects more than one in 100 people which means a huge amount of talent. However, only 16% of autistic adults are in full-time employment, and out of the ones that aren’t, 77% would like to be according to the national autistic society’s research.

The lack of awareness around neurodiversity often acts as a barrier of entry for neurodiverse professionals looking to enter the cybersecurity space. Educating decision-makers in unconscious bias is one way to create a more inclusive hiring process that can open doors for unnoticed talent. 

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As recruiters in the cybersecurity space, we know too well the need for talented candidates in this space. Do you have a cybersecurity role that you’re struggling to fill? We have a pool of talent that could be the perfect fit for your role, so don’t be afraid to get in touch.  

written by Evangeline Hunt

Franklin Fitch is proud to have been awarded a 2-star accreditation from Best Companies, representing "outstanding" levels of employee engagement. 

In addition to the 2-star rating (out of a possible three), Best Companies recognised Franklin Fitch as one of the following:
London's 30 Best Small Companies to Work For 2021
Recruitment's 40 Best Companies to Work For 2021
The UK's 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2021

We couldn't be prouder of this achievement. We consider our people to be our biggest asset, and knowing that they feel engaged at work is very important to us. Having an engaged workforce encourages people to feel connected to each other and our aims at Franklin Fitch, meaning we all want to work towards a shared goal.

Looking forward, we're already getting started on analysing and implementing the feedback from the Best Companies survey. This data will provide invaluable insights into what we can do to make Franklin Fitch the very best place to work - because that's the standard we're aiming for. 

This feedback comes at a great time for us, as we've got ambitious growth plans moving forward. We want to reach 100 heads by November 2023, and are looking for talented people to join us on this journey. Do you think this might be you? Are you keen to hear more about what it's like to work at Franklin Fitch? Get in touch with us today!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Diversity and Inclusion have been around for a while, but 2020 was the year that many businesses started to take the matter seriously. The global pandemic raised questions around remote working, coupled with the tragic murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that swept the globe brought matters around diversity and inclusion to the forefront of conversations.

As a business, where is your place in this conversation?  Hiring, retaining and nurturing a diverse workforce that is representative of the wider population is something that all organizations need to invest in.

Widening the diversity of your candidate pool will give you more chance of finding the best person for the job. Combined with studies from McKinsey and the Harvard Business Review which demonstrate that diverse teams have real benefits to business outputs, as well as it being “the right thing to do” – investing in a diverse and inclusive recruitment practice should be at the forefront of every business in 2021.

A diverse recruitment strategy alone isn’t enough – it has to be part of a bigger commitment to move away from the dreaded “cultural fit” to a more inclusive culture that fits around each individual, no matter what their background. Only by nurturing this diverse talent in a culture of inclusion, are you able to tap into the diverse perspectives and thoughts being offered by your workforce.

Hiring and retaining a diverse workforce can’t be done overnight – it’s a long-term commitment. Below, we outline some of the practices we use to hire diverse teams for our clients, as well as internally at Franklin Fitch.

Is your branding inclusive?

A recent study by PWC showed that 86% of female millennials and 74% of male millennials seek out employers with a strong record of diversity. One way to show these millennials of your commitment to diversity and inclusion is by visually showing a diverse workforce in your marketing materials. Are you able to use diverse imagery?

The Flexible Job Index says an estimated 87% of employees want to work flexibly – meaning if you want to have access to the best possible talent, you need to show that your organization is happy to support those who choose to work flexibly. Are you able to show your commitment to flexible working with real case studies? Include these case studies in your marketing materials.

Avoid sweeping statements such as ‘we value diversity and inclusion’  unless you follow them up with specific examples of what you’re actually doing to place value on D&I. What exactly is your organization doing to champion diversity and inclusion? Use real and specific examples in your branding and communications.

Are your job adverts attractive to all?

You can be sure that if an applicant is looking at nothing else – they’re looking at your job advert. Therefore it’s worth spending time ensuring your adverts will attract a variety of diverse individuals to your organization. There are a few easy ways to do this:

• Use a debiasing tool to ensure that gender-neutral language is used. Language such as ‘competitiveness’ or ‘assertiveness’ can discourage women from applying.

• Advertise the role with some degree of flexibility to ensure that parents can apply.

• Focus on competencies, attitude and aptitude rather than formal education/qualifications.

• Instead of including a general equal opportunities statement, be clear in saying that the organizations actively encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and explain why.

• Describe the culture as inclusive and one that aims to fit around individuals – rather than wanting to hire people who fit into a specific culture that could be exclusive. Focus around looking for a ‘values fit’ rather than a ‘cultural fit’.

Make use of the variety of platforms and job boards that actively recruit people from underrepresented groups to advertise your vacancy. As well as listing your vacancy on your company website, utilize identity-based networks to advertise job listings.

Spend time cultivating networks of underrepresented groups by attending events and networking. Are you able to partner with one of these organizations?

How are you ensuring that bias doesn’t creep in when interviewing?

It’s an almost impossible task to prevent unconscious bias creeping in when interviewing someone. It’s not something to feel guilty about – it’s unconscious! But is it important to take steps to prevent it from occurring, and knowing when to recognize it.

Hiring managers are often reliant on ‘intuition or a ‘gut feeling’ when making hiring decisions. These feelings often occur when we like someone because we believe them to be similar to ourselves. Acting on these gut feelings results in a homogenous work culture where everyone comes from similar backgrounds/experiences – the very opposite of what we want to achieve.

The easiest way to avoid unconscious bias when interviewing is to ask competency-based questions. This prevents talented candidates from being filtered out of the interview process because of their diverse or individual differences.

When the final decision is being made, ensure it is made by a panel/group of people, rather than an individual. It’s much more difficult to act on feelings of unconscious bias when in a group.

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Diversity and inclusion is a long game, and isn’t something that can be “solved” overnight. It requires continuous work from organizations large and small. Don’t be afraid of getting things wrong – it’s a learning curve.

If you’re keen to hear more about how we hire diverse teams both in our external recruitment practice and internally at Franklin Fitch, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

written by Evangeline Hunt

People hear the word "headhunter" or "external recruiter" and immediately take a defensive stance. Yet HR professionals, especially with today's shortage of skilled workers, often rely on the expert knowledge of external recruiters to find suitable candidates for niche vacancies.

In the IT industry, candidates with expert knowledge and skills are needed. Specialist IT recruitment consultants can help, yet the negative stigma surrounding recruiters can make this difficult. So what common ideas about recruiters are true, and which are myths?

Initially, applicants might be unsure whether they want to put their job search in the hands of a recruiter and whether they can trust them – the same can be said for organisations looking to hire. Recruiters are often met with statements such as "we don't need that", "we have our internal recruiter" or even "we already have enough applicants". So where does this initial rejection come from? Below are some of the common misconceptions that we hear about the recruitment industry…

Recruiters ...

1. ... only work with established companies on management roles.

This isn’t true. Time is money, both companies and applicants know that. The selection process - from the initial selection to the interviews - takes time. Not only large companies, but SMEs can benefit from the network and talent pools of recruitment agencies. Recruiters have already established relationships with decision-makers at a variety of companies and organisations, which makes it easier for candidates to get their application seen and heard.

2. ... take a cut of your salary.

This is wrong! The candidates' salary remains untouched, nor is it lowered to compensate for the cost of the recruiter. In fact, recruiters often help candidates negotiate a better salary. Many people simply can't believe it, but it's true - for candidates, working with recruitment agencies is completely free of charge.

3. ... have no idea about the job they’re recruiting in.

More often than not, recruiters specialise in a niche industry that they spend years learning about. At Franklin Fitch, our consultants have in-depth tech and IT training that equips them with the skills needed to fully understand the job spec that they’re hiring for. Our teams stay up-to-date with the latest industry news and developments, which furthers their knowledge and understanding of the IT industry.

4. ... work only to get commission.

Some recruitment agencies indeed work on a commission basis, but that doesn’t mean that money is their only motivator. The goal of every consultant is a long-term partnership with their clients, which can only be achieved after a first-class service has been provided. Adding true value to your client’s team through an excellent hire will foster a solid, long-term relationship. The same applies to the candidates - the satisfaction of all parties is essential for success.

5. ... approach candidates from other companies.

Due to the scarcity of skilled workers in the technology industry, it can be difficult to find qualified individuals for vacant positions. To ensure the best possible shortlist for their client, recruiters often headhunt candidates who are already employed. However, it’s up to the candidate to decide whether or not to apply for the new position. Let's put it this way - recruitment consultants enable further career development and training opportunities for their candidates.

6. ... take forever to get back to you.

This shouldn’t happen, but depending on the company and their application process, it can occur. Rule of thumb: the larger the company, the longer takes the application process. Recruiters keep in touch with their candidates throughout the process and keep them updated on their current application status.

We hope this clarified the most common misunderstandings about recruitment. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

Since the pandemic began, tech has become an essential tool for us to stay in touch with our loved ones, exercise, work, and study. Yet not everyone has access to the same tech – known as the digital divide, which appears to be widening.

Some young people might be able to complete all of their school work, while others only some if they have to share a device amongst the whole family or don’t have a strong enough bandwidth. Some homes don’t have any internet at all, making it impossible for children to engage in remote learning.

Research from Ofcom UK revealed that 1.8 million children in the UK have no access to a laptop, computer or tablet. Speaking on this issue, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said ‘if a child doesn’t have access to broadband, data, or the devices, then they’re not going to be able to lean, and that’s just unacceptable.'

This week, the creator of the world wide web has spoken out about concerns over the widening digital divide. In his annual letter to mark the anniversary of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said A shocking number of kids in the UK don't have meaningful connectivity’.

Sir Tim is calling on businesses and governments globally to make fibre broadband available for all a priority, with a push to connect young people to the internet. He quotes $428 billion (£306bn) which needs to be invested by governments and the private sector to achieve this aim by 2030. Although this sounds like a huge investment, the economic benefit would be equally huge.

One way in which private businesses are tackling this problem is through satellites. Elon Musk’s SpaceX programme is already working on this. Their Starlink satellite internet constellation consists of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), which work with ground transceivers to deliver high-speed internet access to consumers globally.

SpaceX has currently launched 1,035 Starlink satellites into space. The current consumer setup cost for Starlink’s internet is $499 plus a $99 monthly service fee. So while such programmes are doing great work to implement the internet in more remote regions, it does nothing to tackle the socio-economic problem of those who cannot afford the internet. Potential solutions to this problem including driving down the cost of accessing the internet, which requires the development of low-cost technologies – not a simple fix.

Furthermore, individuals might be able to assess the internet, but there are additional barriers such as the ability to process the information that the internet is giving. This is more of a barrier in developing countries, where access to education in general is a challenge.

As IT Infrastructure specialists, we know how important this infrastructure is to keep the world connected. IT Infrastructure exists to provide secure connectivity, efficiency, and growth, so we developed our recruitment service to do the same.

IT infrastructure has been our sole focus since we were founded in 2011. We're proud to have placed thousands of IT professionals into meaningful roles that work to implement connectivity across the globe.

We pride ourselves on trusted partnerships, whether you're looking for a new role in IT Infrastructure, talent for your team or considering joining Franklin Fitch. Why not start that partnership today?

written by Evangeline Hunt

What actually makes a real difference in driving greater inclusion and diversity in tech?

This was the question that framed the Tech Talent Charter Inclusion in Tech Festival, which took place at the end of February. We attended the virtual festival as a signatory of the TTC, which ran nine sessions that presented headlines from their 2020 Diversity in Tech Report. The festival shared the key insights and strategies from experts and employers of tech, with a focus on actionable insights.

Day one started by looking at where we are on diversity and inclusion in 2021. Pulling on data and key insights from the 2020 Diversity in Tech report, it was encouraging to see “slow but steady” progress within the tech industry. TTC signatories reported that 22% of their tech engineering roles are occupied by women – up from 17% in 2019.

There is still more work to be done. Although more than 80% of respondents agreed that “initiatives in the workplace to improve gender and ethnic diversity in tech roles are necessary”, 22% would have concerns raising a D&I issue, rising to 32% among ethnic minority groups.

Panellists discussed how unconscious bias training alone is not very effective at changing behaviors. We also need to look at key systems and processes to remove the opportunity for bias to unintentionally creep in.

Tough conversations are the start of meaningful change. While many businesses have the right diversity intentions, reluctance to speak up due to fear of saying the wrong thing often prevents inclusion. These conversations might be tough, but they’re essential in order to close the digital skill gap.

“You need diverse people at the table to help design the solutions”, said Steve McCrystal of Unilever. “We must design for inclusivity”.

Although it’s expected to take time, it’s important to move to a culture where people are genuine allies to their colleagues in different situations from them. This is how we create inclusion at work.

The conversation on day two focussed on diversity outside of gender.  Letting individuals decide for themselves what they need rather than assuming their needs – what one black colleague wants is different from what another wants.

Panellists stressed the importance of such initiatives coming from the top of an organisation. The tone needs to be set by the leadership team that diversity and inclusion is a resource, rather than ‘another thing to do’.

The term BAME is often used when discussing ethnic minorities, yet this category is too broad when looking at diversity in tech workers. For example, Indian tech workers make up a much higher percentage of the workforce than black tech workers.

When thinking about recruitment, diversity and inclusion must be baked in from the start – not as an afterthought. Spending time creating diverse shortlists is essential, which often requires stretching beyond our usual networks.

Take inspiration from digital tech skill training providers who have inclusive and specific approaches and are training black people. 

Day three of the festival focussed on the practicalities of opening more doors into tech. TTC signatories are already making moves to get more people into tech. Across signatories, women represented 25% of technical role holders compared to the UK average of 19%.

The TTC’s ‘Doing it Anyway’ campaign focussed on women who retrained and found new careers in tech. Some of these women shared their insights and experiences on day three of the festival.

When it comes to a career in tech, don’t be afraid to rethink your approach. There are so many different routes into tech – find the learning style and route that suits you.

The phrase “squiggly careers” was used to describe the often non-linear careers that people can have and still be successful. Diversity of experience is vital to bring fresh ideas to the table.

The final takeaways of the festival were around continuing to learn. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but be accountable. By acting now, we can improve the future of tech talent so that everyone benefits.

If there is one thing that makes me smile in the morning, it’s knowing that I get to spend the day working with a wicked group of people I’m lucky enough to call my colleagues. And hopefully soon, actually see them in the flesh in the office… madness!

Having people at work who you can call your friends has a lot of benefits. Whether it’s someone to eat lunch with, take a screen break with or even sit next to, work feels more fun with friends.

Research taken from the Personality and Social Psychology Review looked into the connection between forming meaningful relationships at work and our health. The data showed that those with strong relationships with their colleagues reported having better health and wellbeing. So if you and your co-workers feel like a community, the more likely you’ll feel physically and mentally healthy at work. Win-win!

This research isn’t alone. Experts agree that friendly colleagues foster a better work environment. “A department, or company, that works well together, has the most success together”, says corporate veteran and author Andy Teach. “When you enjoy working with your colleagues and look forward to interacting with them, everyone benefits.” High morale at work leads to better productivity.

We wanted to conduct our own research into this theory. We asked the question “what do you love most about your current role?” and the results were as follows:

41% - my team/colleagues

25% - the work itself

18% - the benefits/flexibility

16% - the salary

The majority of people surveyed said that their colleagues were their favourite thing about work. This only bolsters the importance of creating and fostering friendships with your colleagues – it’s more than likely that they’ll be your favourite part of going to work!

At Franklin Fitch, our company culture is something we’re proud of. We’re a tight-knit bunch who work collaboratively across our international offices, and that’s the way we like it.

Can you see yourself working with a team like us? If so, get in touch to find out about our hiring plans. 

written by Evangeline Hunt

Before I started in Recruitment, I used to produce TV shows for Channel 4, Discovery and the BBC.

One of my fondest memories was the time I bumped into Paul Daniels in the corridors of the BBC Studios when he was a participant on Strictly. We locked eyes and he immediately asked if I wanted to see a magic trick, even though he was just about to go on stage. 

I said yes (of course) and he produced a deck of cards from his waistcoat pocket (because naturally, Paul never left home without a deck of cards on his person). 

It was refreshing to interact with someone you grew up watching on TV to be exactly as you imagined them to be. Something you most definitely cannot say for every celeb… 

Last month, we kicked off the conversation about hiring neurodiverse talent in the IT infrastructure industry. With a shortage of skilled workers and a lack of awareness of neurodiversity in many cases, we thought we’d speak to someone with first-hand experience of living and working with autism.  

As January draws to a close and the UK remains in a third national lockdown, it's expected that spirits might be a little low. ​Now more than ever it is so important to look after our mental health, which can be challenging when we aren't able to see loved ones.

Even though a lot of people are working from home, it's still important to try to keep your working day as enjoyable as possible. Some people are working longer hours than usual, so it's essential that you're not hating every second of it. Below, we share our top tips on how to stay happy at work. 

Be Organised 

Keep your desk as tidy as possible and manage your time to avoid stress. If you have a plan for your day you will feel prepared and work effectively.  

Stay active 

Exercising at work can be difficult and it isn’t 100% necessary, but research says staying physically active can improve your mood and performance. Even just standing up at your table or walking around for a few minutes every now and then is better than nothing. 

Self-Development 

Take care of your professional development. In today’s working world experience is key, so ask for training opportunities to develop and improve your skills. 

Ask for Feedback 

In order to improve your skills, it's important to look for constructive criticism. If you ask your supervisors for feedback on your performance you might even be praised, which is always a little motivation booster. 

Talk to your colleagues 

Keeping a good relationship with your colleagues will brighten up your mood every day. It also helps you make yourself more comfortable in your workplace.

If you dread coming into work on a Monday morning, perhaps you're not getting the job satisfaction that you deserve in your current role. We have loads of amazing opportunities available, whether you're an IT Infrastructure professional or looking to start a career in recruitment - feel free to get in touch.

Interested in a career in recruitment but feeling overwhelmed with questions? Want to know more about graduate opportunities here at Franklin Fitch?

We sit down with our Academy Manager, Charlotte, to answer some of the most common questions that she gets from graduates seeking a career in recruitment.

How can I get a job in recruitment?

Stick to the basics, so find a company that fits your ideals, apply and prepare really well for the interview.

What are the typical working hours like? Have you ever been asked to work weekends?

Our standard working hours are 8.30am - 6pm and Consultants do work either side of that, depending on workload. I've never been asked to work weekends, but in recruitment, the more you put in, the more you will get out - but it's completely up to you.

How important is your work environment for your success in recruitment?

It's really important, it's just great to collaborate and bounce ideas off different Consultants with different approaches, tends to make you better in the end. Recruitment is full of lots of highs and lows, so it's good to celebrate those or commiserate those with other Consultants.

How does the Academy work?

It's a team set up to equip Consultants that have no recruitment background with the tools they need to then move on to have a successful career in senior teams in recruitment.

Do I need to know all about IT before applying?

Absolutely not. There is technical training as part of your onboarding here and most of our highest performers had no technical understanding before they came into the business and now they're experts, so don't worry.

What does the first week in the Academy look like?

The first week is fairly easy really, it's geared towards you getting to know everyone in the business and it usually ends with a social event on the Friday.

What is the training like at Franklin Fitch?

The training is a long programme that follows you from trainee all the way through to director-level. It's a multiple-strand approach, so we do variations of classroom, theory, workshops, listening sessions and live coaching depending on your learning style and your individual needs at the time.

What are the incentives like?

The incentives are really varied and really fun! We've done everything from Las Vegas, skiing trips, Dublin, watersports, London nights out - so really varied and they tend to be lots of fun.

How quickly can I progress through the business?

Each stage at Franklin Fitch has a structured career path so it's standardised targets that you can hit. So the short answer would be, as soon as you want to but realistically you're looking at your first promotion within 6-8 months.

Can you actually earn the figures that we see on the adverts?

There are some massive figures going around on some of the adverts out there. The short answer is yes, you absolutely can earn those figures in recruitment. We are confident we'd get Consultants there, but we focus on those smaller steps at first, to get you there. The building blocks to get you to that success.

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If there are any questions that haven't been answered, or you want to find out more about the graduate opportunities that we have at Franklin Fitch, drop Sian a message!

One of the biggest issues within IT Infrastructure recruitment is access to skilled IT talent. Some people argue that it’s a case of demand being too high for the supply of talent that is available, others say it’s a case of talent going unnoticed by recruiters. Today we’re taking a closer look at the latter one: untapped talent pools. 

While December might feel like a strange time to be making new hires, it’s actually the ideal month to be hiring new talent into your business before the chaos of January commences. Most businesses tend to be fairly quiet during December, which makes it the perfect time to focus on hiring. Here are a few reasons why….

Yesterday saw Google applications such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Docs experience a service outage which meant users were unable to access Google’s services. The outage occurred before midday UK time and lasted less than an hour.

Initially there was uncertainty as to whether the system had been hacked or not and if user’s data was at risk. It soon became apparent that the fault was with the authentication system, rather than a security breach.

A Google spokesperson issued the following statement:

"Today, at 3.47 a.m. PT Google experienced an authentication system outage for approximately 45 minutes due to an internal storage quota issue. Services requiring users to log in experienced high error rates during this period. The authentication system issue was resolved at 4:32 a.m. PT. All services are now restored. We apologise to everyone affected, and we will conduct a thorough follow up review to ensure this problem cannot recur in the future."

The outage had a significant impact on the millions of users who rely on apps such as Gmail and Google Calendar to work.

Although the outage was only brief, it served as a stark reminder of how dependent many people and businesses are on cloud-based services.

The pandemic has proved how valuable cloud services such as GCP can be to keep businesses running remotely, yet those who use Google Cloud will be frustrated after yesterday.

Can Google guarantee that it won’t happen again?

written by Evangeline Hunt

Franklin Fitch is a signatory of the Tech Talent Charter - a commitment by organisations to work together to increase the inclusion and diversity of the tech workforce in the UK.

They recently launched a new campaign designed to improve gender diversity in the UK tech sector. 

The campaign, entitled ‘Doing It Anyway’ aims to encourage working-age women to consider a career in tech, and features stories from women from a variety of backgrounds who have found careers in technology through inspiring, non-traditional paths. The women were selected from more than 300 candidates nominated by Tech Talent Charter signatories. 

In order to support women who may be considering a career in tech, Tech Talent Charter have worked with their signatories and the wider tech industry to create a substantial database of digital skills courses and retraining programmes, which can be found here.

As a signatory of the Charter, we take responsibility to tackle the diversity problem within the tech space. Our Inclusive Infrastructure campaign actively promotes diversity and inclusion in our interaction with candidates and clients, as well as the way we run our business. We provide a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

Franklin Fitch is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to encouraging equality, diversity, and inclusion among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. Our organisation - in providing recruitment services - is also committed against unlawful discrimination of clients, candidates, or the public.

Do you work in tech with an inspiring story to share? We want to have more conversations about the state of diversity and inclusion within the IT Infrastructure space, so please get in touch!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Franklin Fitch are announced as the winner of the Best Recruitment Company to Work For (£5m to £20m) at the TIARA 2020 Recruitment Awards!

After being shortlisted for two awards, it was a huge honour to walk away with the award for Best Recruitment Company to Work For, especially given that we pride ourselves on being people- focused.

The awards evening was held virtually over Zoom, with live acceptance speeches from all of the winners (including our Founder Dave!). We were ecstatic to be recognised for our hard work during what has been a challenging year for everyone. Our people remained at the forefront of our business during the pandemic – they’re our biggest asset, which makes this award particularly special to us.

A few comments from the judges:

“Franklin Fitch showed strong growth through their investment in people and international expansion. The business is clearly people led with a major focus on training and development, with major strides to address diversity.”

We were pleased to be recognised for our work to address diversity within our industry. We’re proud to run our Inclusive Infrastructure campaign, where we actively promote diversity and inclusion in our interaction with candidates and clients, as well as the way we run our business. We are providing a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

‘Absolutely delighted to be announced as the winner of the Best Recruitment Company to work for 2020 in the TIARA Awards last night, genuinely surprised and humbled by this accolade’, says David Annable, our Founder and Director. ‘I'm very proud of our awesome people, it's their dedication that makes this possible. Supporting our community and seeing our values enacted daily, it is a true pleasure to lead Franklin Fitch.’

We have ambitious growth plans for our offices across Europe and the US. If you’re interested in joining the Best Recruitment Company to Work For then get in touch!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Diversity is a continuous challenge in the tech industry. Figures from 2017 show that women make up 19% of tech workers in the UK, while ethnic minorities make up 15%. This is clearly not representative of the UK population, but has led to a growing number of initiatives to promote diversity and address this gap in the UK. To mark Black History Month 2020, we are celebrating a few of the current influential and inspiring black voices within technology.

Simi Awokya

Not only is Simi Awokya a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, but founder of Witty Careers. Their mission is to equip black women in the tech industry with the skills to succeed in their careers. Witty Careers offers free events, resources, mentoring and practical tech skills workshops, to help black women in tech break out of junior roles and gain recognition for their skills. Awokya was also named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 this year.

Mark Martin MBE

Mark Martin founded UKBlackTech with the aim to make the UK the most ethnically diverse tech hub in the world. Martin is globally recognised for his contribution to this mission – so much so that he was awarded an MBE for services to education, technology and diversity in UK tech. His passion lays in helping schools use technology to improve teaching, while also promoting cultural diversity within UK tech companies.

Charlene Hunter

Charlene Hunter created Coding Black Females in 2017 in order to grow, educate and support black female developers in the UK. Coding Black Females is the biggest platform for black female coders in the UK and also presents opportunities within the industry through their job board. Hunter also hosts Meetup and Code – a community of coders who meet, network and work on projects together. ­

Ismail Ahmen

Topping the Powerlist2020, Ahmed founded money-transfer app World Remit after struggling to send money back to his family in Somalia. Ahmen began to develop the idea for a money-transfer app that would be more cost-effective than banks and traditional money transfer systems, launching World Remit in 2010. The app can transfer money globally, quickly, securely, and inexpensively – which has continued to grow in its ten-year lifespan.

This is only a fraction of the influential black voices within the tech industry. We’re sure there are many more to add to the list. Who do you think should be mentioned as well?

written by Evangeline Hunt

October marks European Cyber Security Month (ECSM) – an annual EU campaign that promotes cybersecurity and provides accurate online security information by sharing good practices. Every year in October, hundreds of activities take place across Europe, such as conferences, workshops, training and webinars, to promote digital security.

Organisers of ECSM provide the knowledge and tools to promote the safer use of the internet for all EU citizens. Since 2012, the ECSM has reached its key priorities by bringing together parties from across Europe under the slogan ‘Cybersecurity is a Shared Responsibility’ to unite against cyber threats.

ECSM 2020 launches with the motto of ‘Think Before U Click’. The month is split into two themes – the first two weeks focus on ‘cyber scams’ and the second on ‘digital skills’.

Kicking off the month with ‘cyber scams’, this theme provided insights on current and potential cyber threats to help businesses and individuals minimise risk. COVID-19 has led to an increase in e-commerce and online payments, which hackers have used to their advantage. The key message of this theme encourages users to have a heightened awareness of cyber scams when conducting online transactions.

The second theme, ‘digital skills’, presents educational activities that inform on internet security. COVID-19 has increased the digitalisation of everyday life, which requires people to be on top of digital trends to remain safe online. The theme covers e-privacy matters such as data protection, cyber bullying and cyber stalking.

For a full list of activities occurring in your region, please check the timetable here. 

written by Evangeline Hunt

Franklin Fitch is named as the Best IT/Technology Recruitment Agency at the 2020 Recruiter Awards!

After being shortlisted in three categories in this year’s Recruiter Awards, it was a huge honour to walk away with the award for best IT/tech recruitment agency, especially given that we were up against some great companies within the industry.

The awards evening was held virtually, meaning our whole team were able to watch from their desks (be it at home or in our socially distanced office). We were ecstatic to be recognised for our hard work during what has been a challenging time across the whole industry. It’s safe to say that the Franklin Fitch cheers could be heard a mile off!

A few notes from Recruiter Awards regarding our win:

“To give its clients valuable up-to-date information, building on the traditional salary survey, Franklin Fitch released its Market & Skills Report. Sent to more than 19,000 infrastructure professionals in the UK and Germany, with a diverse response across all demographics, the survey looked into the topics and trends affecting its clients on a daily basis, not just around pay rates, but what talent in the IT Infrastructure space was demanding.”

Comments from the judges:

“An excellent understanding of their sector and adding value with data-driven insights (market and skills report). Consultants have to pass a test on sector – Franklin Fitch also trains its staff in skills relevant to the sector. Showed they care and would add value to the process.”

We were pleased to hear of the positive impact of our previous Market and Skills report given that we are in the process of compiling another one to be sent out to tech workers towards the end of the year.

“We are ecstatic to be announced as the winner of best IT/ Technology Recruitment Agency 2020 in the prestigious Recruiter Awards last night,” says David Annable, our Founder and Director. “It's a testament to the whole team's hard work and dedication throughout one of the toughest periods. I'm humbled by this achievement and very proud of our people and community.”

We have ambitious growth plans for our offices across Europe and the US. If you’re interested in joining the best then we’d love to hear from you!

written by Evangeline Hunt

Businesses around the world are waving goodbye to datacentres in favour of the cloud, in order to innovate and grow to meet demand. As an IT infrastructure professional, having experience/certifications within cloud is going to make you more employable as cloud computing continues to rise in popularity.

AWS, Microsoft Azure and GCP are the three biggest cloud platforms used globally. IT professionals looking to upskill themselves should consider training in one of these three platforms – but which one will be the most valuable? We ran a poll on LinkedIn to ask that question – the results are as follows.

What is your preferred public cloud platform?

AWS = 55%
Azure = 38%
GCP = 8%

(218 people surveyed)

It’s no surprise that AWS gained the most votes – it is the market leader and the oldest established cloud service. According to Canalys, AWS owns 31% of the market as of July 2020 – with Azure at 20% and GCP at 6%. This is to be expected considering the seven-year head start that AWS had without any real competition.

But AWS isn’t just the oldest cloud provider, it also has the most services to offer. Its enterprise-friendly features make AWS a solid option for large organisations – such as Netflix, AirBnB, Nike and the Royal Opera House.

Microsoft’s Azure is closing the gap towards the market leader as it builds up its platform. It gets a lot of business from tech companies that already have a relationship with Microsoft, or who already use their programs such as Office365 or Teams. Microsoft can make it easy for these companies to transition to the cloud seamlessly, which is an attractive feature.

While Azure initially struggled to work with open source technologies, this has recently changed with around half of its workloads running on Linux.

GCP is the “new kid on the block”, which explains why it came in third in our poll. Yet it appeals to certain companies due to its strengths in big data, machine learning projects, and cloud-native applications. Despite this, Google has more work to do if it wants to compete with the likes of AWS and Azure.

So which cloud platform should you consider upskilling yourself in as an infrastructure professional?

‘AWS is still the market leader and the most popular, but Azure is catching up and so many businesses partner with Microsoft that it will make you really employable if you have skills in Azure’, says our Cardiff Consultant and cloud expert Gareth Streefland. ‘Plus, it’s probably the most approachable for engineers starting out with cloud.’

Upskilling yourself on any platform will improve your employability and job prospects. If you are experienced in cloud computing and are looking for new opportunities, feel free to get in touch – we would be happy to help.

Can you see a shift occurring in the preferred public cloud platform as time goes on? Or will AWS remain the market leader for the foreseeable? We would love to hear your thoughts.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Do you want to be part of something special right from the start? At Franklin Fitch we offer exactly that opportunity as we expand to the US East Coast.

Why the East Coast?

The home of bagels, steak sandwiches, the tallest buildings and the straightest roads – of course it’s the US East Coast.

Two years into starting our Austin-based operations we’re ready to take our US venture to the next step. Covid-19 hit the UK recruitment industry hard yet hiring in the US seems to have been less affected by the pandemic.

A recent Dice report on the state of technology jobs across the US supports the idea of a real hotspot for vacancies on the East Coast which have the potential to be tapped into. From May to June 2020, Boston saw a 39% increase in tech jobs, Pittsburgh saw a 44% increase, Philadelphia saw a 36% increase and Baltimore saw a 34% increase.

In addition to this, job postings within the technology sector increased in Q2 of 2020 compared to Q2 of 2019 – during a pandemic this is quite an achievement. Java Developer jobs increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020 Q2, while Cyber Security jobs increased by 15% in this period.

What we can offer you

To assist with our expansion to the US East Coast we’re looking for our next generation of recruiters. Based in our London HQ, you will be working the East Coast market alongside our already established US team.

Since this is a brand-new venture for our business, we’re offering a unique opportunity to our consultants –autonomy to shape your role from the beginning. Although we have existing clients with East Coast presence we are keen for you to build up your own business within our business.

In addition to this you’ll be able to benefit from our market-leading commission structure as well as our plenteous opportunities for career progression which enable you to fast-track your way up the Franklin Fitch career ladder.

Once we have established our presence in the East Coast we will be looking to open an office there. Have you always wanted the opportunity to work and live abroad? This could be your chance!

As an experienced recruiter, you will already know the skills, attributes and work ethic required for the job but do you have the ambition to lead a new operation to success? Do you want to make your mark on a new venture? Then give us a shout!

written by Evangeline Hunt

When starting out in IT Recruitment you are confronted with numerous job titles that sound very similar at first but have distinct differences when you take a closer look. So, I found myself asking the question: “What’s the difference between a System Administrator and a System Engineer?”

My first understanding was the following: Being a System Administrator involves installation and configuration on already existing systems. System Admins take care of IT Infrastructure which were developed and implemented by a System Engineer. The infrastructure can consist of Servers, Networks, Desktops or all of the above.

After talking to both System Administrators and System Engineers, I then realised that the IT infrastructure world isn’t simply black and white. I spoke to a System Administrators who only focussed on the implementation of systems, others were taking care of automated Server landscapes, some were actively involved in the automation processes and another group managed the full life cycle, including concept, design and implementation of systems. On the other side I spoke to a similar variety of System Engineers.

Needless to say, I was confused. Were the two job titles simply a personal preference? Or a company choice? I didn’t understand the fine differences between the two.

Not willing to give up until I found an explanation, I searched many websites and blogs to find the answer. During the search I noticed that the topic was widely and heavily discussed, I found supporting evidence in blogs and discussions that the difference, in most cases, was simply the title. However, my feeling is that the difference between these two roles has narrowed due to the developing IT landscape. Nowadays, companies need hybrid engineers who can take care of the infrastructure maintenance work as well as the implementation and automation.

A case study from my own experience as a recruiter supports that opinion: I was working with two different candidates, one of them was a System Administrator and the other one was a System Engineer, however, they both had very similar skill sets including automation tools like Puppet and Ansible. The company I introduced them to were looking for a System Engineer. In the end the System Administrator was chosen for the job!

After all this time working with both System Administrators and System Engineers, I still haven’t truly found a distinct difference between them. Maybe our network can help me find the answer. Whether you share my opinion or disagree, I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

The Benefits

Motivation for companies to invest in a cloud strategy is high, take a look at just a few of the benefits of cloud computing listed below:

1. It’s cost effective

All businesses share two common goals, make money and save money. A key factor of any business when adopting a new technology is how much it is going to cost them and whether this investment will be returned. Cloud promises savings across the board, everything is hosted on your provider’s servers, meaning no expensive hardware is needed, and costs of running said hardware no longer exist. Before the cloud, large organisations would store their data in massive datacentres. Datacentres need a great deal of space, power, security, and air-conditioning to maintain. Cloud computing removes the need for all of this.

2. Increased, scalable resources

Without the cloud, if additional resources are required, you’ll need to buy, install and configure an expensive new server. Cloud computing allows companies instant scalability. If extra resources are needed due to a peak in traffic, computing capacity can be increased with immediate effect. This affords companies unprecedented freedom and allows tech teams to react to issues quickly.

3. Deployment time

Applications integral to the growth and success of a system or a company can be deployed with virtually zero delay. This offers a huge strategic advantage over companies that are still operating with physical infrastructure.

4. Level playing field

Smaller companies, normally at a disadvantage against large companies with more in-house capacity and the ability to afford massive datacentres can now contest and find themselves able to operate on the same playing field without having to invest heavily.

5. Zero Downtime

Downtime is one of the biggest issues faced by companies as the reliance on applications to run operations rises. Cloud hosting fixes this issue, removing the possibility of server failure and guaranteeing 100% uptime.

6. Security

Due to the strict security regulations, cloud providers are required to comply with, cloud- hosting services to ensure that businesses are protected against hacking, infection and internal data theft.

7. Flexible working

With a bigger push for companies to adopt modern working practices, especially amid the Coronavirus pandemic, flexible working is a topic of paramount importance. Cloud Computing affords businesses the capability of allowing employees to work from home, ensuring they can access their files anywhere. This, in turn, cuts costs as companies can reduce their need for office space.

8. Environmentally friendly

With environmental concerns at an all-time high, companies are under pressure to demonstrate the measures they’re putting in place to reduce their carbon footprint. The lack of need for a data centre means no powering servers, lighting or air conditioning. The scalability of the cloud allows companies to operate more efficiently, and only use what they need, ensuring far less energy is used than if the systems were on-site.

How can you ‘future-proof’ yourself?

The move to cloud is inevitable and as  the saying goes, “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em”. Now is the time to ensure you don’t get left behind in the datacentres of old, gathering dust among the server racks! The benefits outlined above are simply too tempting for any business to resist. Take every bit of cloud exposure and knowledge you can get your hands on and you’ll find yourself just as desirable to employers as the cloud services themselves.

If your current role is lacking cloud exposure and you’re worried about being left behind, contact one of our team here at Franklin Fitch and we’ll be sure to point you in the right direction.

There is no denying that recruitment has been slow recently. And by recently, I mean the past six months. Covid hit our industry hard, but after what feels like an age, we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Companies are starting to hire again which means now is the time for us to put our foot on the gas. But this might feel challenging after so long out of practice. Getting back into the swing of things can feel difficult, especially as we adjust to the so-called ‘new-normal’.

Maintaining productivity is key during this transition period. We all know what it’s like to experience a lull in productivity – it can be frustrating and demotivating. We’re here to give you our favourite productivity hacks to keep you motivated as you put in that grind!

Organise your day into time blocks

Start the day by looking at your to-do list and assigning yourself specific time blocks for each task. If you have to look for candidates today, assign it an hour – then move in. This will make your hour more focussed knowing you have limited time to get it done, and prevents time wasting and procrastination. It can also just make you feel more organised, which in itself can be a motivator.

We all need breaks

We're only human – and all of us need short breaks fairly often. Don’t be hard on yourself by saying you don’t have time. Taking small breaks will ensure that your working time is more productive – which saves time in the long run.  

Reward yourself

As recruiters we like to be rewarded for hitting certain metrics. But this doesn’t have to come from someone else and it doesn’t have to be for big things. It can be as simple as making a cup of tea after your next CV send out, or having a walk around the office after an hour of work. Small targets will make each task feel small itself – winning!

Don’t start the day with admin

Admin can be done any time of the day, and is actually quite a good task to do when you’ve run out of brain power near the end of the day. Instead, start your day with the most challenging tasks – the things that require the most brain power to get through. It’s only natural to get a little tired towards the end of the day, so having something easy rather than challenging to fill your time later on will seem less daunting.

Learn to prioritise

Prioritisation can sort your never-ending to-do list into something that resembles organisation. It goes without saying that the most important things go at the top… but sometimes there is the temptation to start with the easy stuff. Don’t do it!

Get out of the office

Having a change in environment is so important. On your lunch break try to get outside for some fresh air and to stretch your legs. Changing your environment is important when taking breaks – it can be hard to shut off from work at lunch time if you remain in the office. Besides, fresh air is never a bad thing.

Hot drinks

The thing that unites office workers across the world – a love of hot drinks. We’re not suggesting 27 cups of coffee each day, but caffeine can stimulate your brain and help you focus.

If all else fails, try something a bit more structured

Trying something like the Pomodoro Technique can be an easy way of ensuring your day has some structure. This technique encourages you to break your day up into 25 minute chunks of work separated by a five minute break. It’s a firm favourite of many, so it might be worth giving it a go if you’re finding nothing works for you!

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What is your favourite productivity hack? If we’ve missed a good one we’d love to hear it!

written by Evangeline Hunt

To pivot, or not to pivot, that is the question: 

“Pivot” must be the business word of the year. In 2020, many businesses have taken stock and considered whether to channel their efforts in a new direction. I understand it, particularly as the current economic landscape and even future outlook is very different to previous years. However, my question is this; if you chose to pivot, at what cost, and should you also reconsider your brand?

We've been clear since inception that our vision is to be a market leading talent provider focused purely on the IT infrastructure market. Naturally we will follow technology trends and advances of the IT infrastructure stack, but we will expand our geographical coverage long before diluting our service offering into other sectors or technology areas. Our Franklin Fitch feet are firmly planted within our niche, we love it, and will not be pivoting anytime soon.

However, if a business does choose to pivot, and hopefully it’s only once, then should that company’s brand identity also change? Surely the original brand was set up for the initial service offering, I wonder how this translates to the new path of said business? From an employee perspective, if decisions are made too hastily, further pivots or a retraction could follow and this creates brand uncertainty and confusion. At some point it could feel like the circus is in town and the whole organisation have spent too long on the Waltzers.

Our people and our time are the two most important facets of our business. I believe it’s paramount that everyone clearly knows our purpose, fully understands it and identifies with it. One pivot can be tricky, numerous pivots can be dangerous. Brand identities can be lost in translation, your all-important people can become disorientated and time will be frittered away.

Leadership is tough right now, pivoting can look appealing, but be mindful, the brand you’ve worked so hard to build, may quickly be lost in the ether.

Pause:

I’d like you to hit pause for just a moment.

Given the opportunity, would you rewind the last 6 months to take another shot at navigating the Coronavirus storm? I wonder which decisions you would make differently and which you’d keep the same. I do not believe many business leaders could have imagined the magnitude or ferocity of the ensuing turmoil caused by this pandemic. Reacting quickly was critical, the stakes were high and potential mistakes costly.

Rewind:

I’m writing this to give an insight into Franklin Fitch’s journey over the first half of 2020. To do this fairly, I need to give perspective, so I’ve shared previous years’ results, our expectations at the beginning of 2020 and our actual results from January to June this year.

I am proud to say that since our inception in 2011, we have grown our group Net Fee Income* (NFI) each and every year. Eight years of successful, sustainable, organic growth, mostly gained through a mix of careful strategic planning, rigorous hiring processes, a “people first” growth mindset, and a great deal of hard work.

The chart above illustrates our H1 results for the previous 5 years. Using 2015 as our baseline, the year on year compound H1 growth rates are:

2016: 43% increase

2017: 47% increase

2018: 39% increase

2019: 42% increase

Thus, from 2015 to 2019, I’m pleased to say our H1 results have produced an average compound growth rate of 43%. So, when forecasting our growth expectations for 2020, we didn’t deviate far from the norm (dotted purple line on the chart). Since our forecast in December, it’s been a whirlwind, the game has certainly changed.

The solid purple line on the chart plots our actual H1 2020 results. This year for the first time ever, we have tracked behind the previous years’ H1 results. In fact, by the end of June 2020, we tracked behind our 2019 results by 12% and tracked behind our original H1 forecast by approximately 55%. Whilst the latter number is worryingly large on first view, it is completely understandable when considering the severity and pace at which Coronavirus’ effects were felt across Germany, the UK and the US.

When reflecting on the above I have many thoughts and feelings. My first thought is always with our people and the wider physical and mental impact of this period. We continually search for ways to support and lead our people to excellence inside and outside of work. Guiding the leaders and team members through this has easily been the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face.

How successful we have been is difficult to know at this point. We believe we’ve made good decisions with the information available, but only time will truly tell.

Play:

I’m hoping that my transparency here can give other leaders comfort and confidence when considering their company and team performances. I am sad that we will very likely lose our impeccable record for year on year growth, but I am proud of the efforts of our people, their work rate, focus and resilience enduring this relentless downpour.

I believe we need to pull together in times of hardship, not forget the bigger picture, whilst working daily on the more granular tasks and targets.

According to our recent datasets, the choppy waters are beginning to calm and we are hopeful for a few sunnier days in H2. We are consistently reviewing the course we chart and are diligent in our decisions and movements, hopefully plain sailing is not too far away again.

Fast Forward. Bonus track coming….

I’m sure most of us would like to fast forward this entire year, but unfortunately time is one thing we cannot control. I would be interested to hear your views and opinions on the above. If comfortable, feel free to share your results or simply your feelings. I wish everyone luck over the coming months, it’ll be Christmas before we know it!

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*NFI is a term often used in the recruitment sector and can be used as a metric to measure success/ growth. Of course, there are many other important metrics.

Personal brand has been a buzzword for some time now. So does that make it an actual ‘thing’?

In reality it’s just a snazzy word for your reputation. Everyone has a reputation whether online or offline – some people are known for being experts in a particular field, others are known for having a humorous approach to how they communicate and in other cases it’s a combination of several things. It really is who you are.

Having a solid and respected personal brand is beneficial at the best of times, but in this almost exclusively digital world, it could be the difference between nabbing your dream job and not. Being able to showcase your personality and allowing people to “get to know” before they meet you can be a huge advantage.

As much as we’d like it to, coronavirus isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future. The result is a hugely competitive job market and increasing rates of unemployment. While this might seem bleak, your personal brand could be your biggest tool for ensuring you stand out. If you are an expert in something (and everyone is an expert in their chosen career, right?) or feel passionate about a topic, trend or issue you can use your personal brand to showcase yourself.

On that note, we’re here to give you three tips on how to build a successful personal brand.

1. Social media is your best friend

This might go without saying, but LinkedIn is the perfect space to be able to show your level of expertise and knowledge. Write articles, make videos, record podcasts, host a virtual workshop, engage with content from others, have an opinion – you get the idea.

If you’re an IT infrastructure professional, make sure your content is focussed on this space alone. You don’t want to be known as someone who has an opinion on everything, but you do want to be known as someone who has an opinion on all things IT infrastructure – you want to be that guy. But don’t be robotic, be you, make sure your personality shines through.

When recruiters/hiring managers are looking over job applications, LinkedIn is likely to be one of the first places they’re going to look to verify your level of expertise. Do you claim to be an expert in cloud migration? If you’ve recently written, shared or engaged with an article about it, that’s a pretty good indication that you know what you’re talking about.  

Doing the above is a great way to virtually network. Given that we can’t network in person yet, engaging with others online and adding value to their conversations is a great way to get your name out there and maximise your connections. You don’t always need to be the conversation starter but you should try and be involved in them. You never know who might have the next job opportunity for you!

2. Show that you’re adaptable

Coronavirus has changed everyone’s working life in one way or another. For many it was as drastic as losing their job, for others it was adapting to working from home. However it was that you were affected, you want to show that you rose to the challenge and came out on top. With the uncertainty of the future, employers will be looking for someone who can deal with the changing way of the world, so showing you’re adaptable should be a key trait of your personal brand. In that sense as when, showing vulnerability is not a bad thing, people are able to relate to it and will buy into you a lot more.

So how do you do this? You’ve got a few options. Include a section on your CV/resume on how you responded to coronavirus. Write a short post on LinkedIn. Mention it when you have job interviews.

And if you struggled to adapt to the changing way of the world, then it’s all a learning curve. Think about what you could have done differently, and how you can use this moving forward. Self-reflection is essential for development and growth, while also showing you can be genuine and honest with yourself.

3. Don’t be afraid of failure

As humans, we want to avoid failure as much as possible – that’s natural. But the reality is that in order to push yourself one step ahead of the crowd, you’re going to fail a few times.

Most successes don’t come first time around – there’s a lot of trial and error involved. Take any successful brand/person/business and all of them will have stories of trying things that didn’t work.

Walt Disney experienced countless failures throughout his career, but instead of getting him down, he learnt from it. ‘It is good to have a failure while you’re young because it teaches you so much’ says Disney. ‘For one thing, it makes you aware that such a thing can happen to anybody, and once you’ve lived through the worst, you’re never quite as vulnerable afterwards.”

We worry about what people may think but those that are able to get past that hurdle of fear will connect with those who they want to start building relationships with. The others don’t really matter.

And surely, the only thing worst than failing is never trying in the first place?

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Do you think you’ve got an awesome personal brand? We’d love to see it! If you need help building your own personal brand, or have any other ideas on ways to do this, feel free to get in touch.

written by Evangeline Hunt

Cloud computing is massively on the rise in the current day and age. In fact, 81% of companies with 1,000 employees or more have a multi-platform strategy. 

Cloud technology has redefined the way in which companies store and share information. It has transcended the limitations of using physical devices. 

Cloud Technologies provides many benefits such as better scalability, better storage options, better collaboration with remote users and highly affordable for a lot of companies. 

But what does the future of cloud technology look like? 

Matt Riley CEO & Co-Founder of Swiftype commented “A decade from now, every business will be operating primarily from the cloud, making way for more flexible — yet more productive and efficient — ways of working. Hardware won’t be the problem in a decade — software will.” 

The future is bright for cloud computing. Analysts at IDC estimate that the field will evolve rapidly in the coming years, with almost 75% of data operations carried out outside the normal data centre. Moreover, 40% of organizations will deploy cloud technology, with edge computing becoming an integral part of the technological setup. Also, a quarter of end-point devices will be ready to execute AI algorithms by the year 2022. 

Cloud Computing trends on the rise - automation 

The automation tools available to us have proved to be very important when it comes to addressing errors in business processes, meanwhile streamlining them to generate fruitful results. 

For instance, developers can make changes to their websites hosted on the cloud before going live. If anything goes wrong, they can restore an older version of the website without affecting the sales process or user experience. As soon as the website goes live, it starts getting traffic. 

Opting for cloud means there will be more data consumption involved. Managing applications and routine tasks can become tedious. Developers can use automation to get rid of the manual process they have to use to carry out daily operations. 

Serverless paradigm 

The serverless paradigm is the next revolution in waiting, according to the CTO of Amazon. The concept of serverless paradigm relates to the fact that it facilitates cloud to execute a code snippet without any hassles for the developers. 

Using this approach developers can divide software into chunks of code to upload on cloud to address customers’ desires, thereby delivering valuable experience. This practice ensures faster release cycle for software. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has already started using the serverless paradigm to its advantage. 

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As cloud computing continues to make inroads in enterprise worlds, all stakeholders are looking forward to the evolution of the model. As things stand today, almost every significant innovation such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, robotics, and IoT rely on cloud computing technology. 

It’s not just computational power, networking speed, or storage capacity that makes cloud computing great. Those are just operational metrics that better technology would eventually change and replace over time. The real value of technology is what it does, not what it’s made of.

With redundancies happening across the board due to the current pandemic, it can be even more difficult than normal to make your application stand out in a hugely competitive market. Not to mention the frustration of not getting a response (even when you are promised one).

‘I’ve never seen it so competitive out there’, says Practice Manager Simon Nicholls. ‘With that many people applying for the same role it’s impossible as a recruiter to review all of the candidates, and similarly impossible to get attention as a candidate’.

Despite this, there are things that you can do to make it as easy as possible to make your application stand out. Simon shares his advice below.

1) Make sure the role is a perfect fit for you

It’s common for people to apply to anything and everything when job hunting. This not only wastes your time, but also the recruiter/hiring manager who has to go through the applications. If your profile doesn’t match the job description, you won’t get the job – simple as! With this in mind, you do want to challenge yourself to a role that you know you can do, but requires some brain power and is engaging. Some people suggest your profile needs to match 80% of the job description – this isn’t an exact science and varies every time but might be worth keeping in mind.

2) Apply to the role on the job board/LinkedIn etc

This might sound like it’s a given, but you’d be surprised how many people call/email to say they’re interested in a job but haven’t actually applied yet. Job applications can be tough, so try not to procrastinate and get it done. You’ll be in a much better position after you’ve applied to the role.

3) Track down the recruiter on LinkedIn and send an InMail & Email. This InMail/Email should include a very short overview of your suitability e.g.

"Hi Simon. I've just applied for the ROLE in LOCATION. I feel I am a good fit for the following reasons:
- The rate/salary is in line with my expectations
- I am based near to the location (description)
- I have experience in X, Y and Z and companies A,B and C
- I am immediately available for interviews and starting
Please let me know if we could discuss this role further."

4) Follow up with a call (but at the same time don’t spam call)

It’s all about getting your name heard! (and having the application to back it up…)

-----------------

This may not be a sure-fire guide to get your application viewed by decision-makers, but it can sure help. If you have any more suggestions or questions regarding this topic feel free to get in touch!

written by Evangeline Hunt

With unemployment figures rising across the globe, companies run the risk of taking their eye off the ball when it comes to paying attention to the experience that people who are looking at, or indeed applying to opportunities and engaging with businesses.

Even if you’re not actively recruiting at the moment you need to focus on candidates whether they are active or passive. A proactive approach to candidate experience in the current climate will pay dividends down the line.

We take a look at three areas all businesses should continue to invest in and pay particular thought to regarding candidate experience.

Walk in their shoes

It is a tough time for many people at the moment but if we are working in businesses then we need to understand that many people are either not working or seriously want to consider their career options.

Before you dismiss speculative applications, reject messages on LinkedIn (both direct and from recruiters) or ignore social media messages, take a moment. Many people are not purposely trying to waste your time, they don’t know the ins and outs of your business so appreciate their point of view.

Emphatic approaches and processes will position companies as an employer of choice even more so in the ‘new world’.

Communicate

Some things never change. If you have “live” roles and people apply, then you simply have to listen and communicate on a regular basis. People want to understand the process from applying to roles all of the way through to interview and offer stage.

Many of these processes have changed, maybe indefinitely, so this is even more important now.

Recruitment is often a process of rejection. People know this but they want to be told. This doesn’t necessarily mean a dissertation on every application, that’s unrealistic, but ignoring is rude.

Have you been transparent? Does your website explain the recruitment process with clear timescales to manage expectations? Do you have email templates to facilitate communication? Could you pre-record videos from hiring managers that updates on applications?

Oh, if you don’t have live roles and there are still some floating about online then you should take them down. There is nothing worse than presenting an opportunity that simply does not exist.

Technology

We have spoken previously about interviews moving online but this is only one aspect of the candidate experience where technology plays an important part. We’ve forever heard of clunky ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) that frustrate applicants.

There is no better time to review the experience of your candidates across all technology touchpoints. Are you using a chatbot on your Facebook page? Have you looked at using AI in the screening stage of recruitment? Is the way you do video interviewing secure enough?

Technology’s role in candidate experience cannot be understated. Choice and accessibility are absolutely essential, so you need to ensure that everything you use (and offer) is fit for purpose.

Here at Franklin Fitch, we speak with businesses and advise them on candidate experience. We have the benefit as recruiters to experience the processes across a wide range of companies and industries. The common theme is that the ones who invest time and effort in CX secure and retain the best talent on the market.

In the current climate, it would be remiss to think that it will be “easy” to pick up talent and bad candidate experience can be damaging in both the short and medium-term.

If you’d like to speak to us about our thoughts on best practice of candidate experience, please get in touch.

As well as insisting on social distancing measures needed to get your staff back in the office, even on a more flexible basis, there are a number of things that you can be doing to make the return as seamless as you can. 

There is no doubt going to be a novelty factor in terms of getting back to work and seeing colleagues in the flesh again. But creating a framework for returning to the workplace is key. We know that many businesses have been working extremely hard in putting processes in place, but these need to be flexible and adaptable in line with individual needs and the wider uncertainty that the ongoing pandemic presents.

Mental health

The toll on peoples’ mental health during lockdown periods across the world is largely unknown at the moment. Employers need to ensure that they have resources (and people) who are on-hand to help with questions and concerns as people start getting back on public transport and getting back to work.

Some relevant resources that may be of interest can be found here.

Communication

In many cases communication levels have increased over the past months. The use of technology in the form of Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Hangouts and the like has been positive.

It’s essential that this communication is maintained as people return to the workplace. We simply can’t go back to ‘normal’ as employees now expect higher levels of transparency and communication than they did prior to lockdown. Make sure that you outline the how, what, where and when and stick to it.

With a likely more flexible workforce in terms of time and place companies are going to need to make sure that inclusivity of access to leadership and equality in communication is high on the agenda.

• Be empathetic - what is it that people need to know?

• Do you need different messaging for your employees – both those coming back to the physical workspace and those who may be remaining at home?

• Do you need to communicate what you’re doing with customers? What about your suppliers and investors?

The office and technology

Most companies would have carried out the necessary risk assessments in relation to getting back to the office, but the reality is that the workplace is not going to resemble what it did pre-Covid.

If you’re a business that traditionally collaborates together and utilises meeting rooms then you need to plan ahead. Do you forgo the room and stick to ‘virtual’ meetings even if you’re in the same office? Do you need to remove chairs from boardrooms? How can technology play a role in this?

We’ve just picked out three areas here that you need to be thinking about as a business and at Franklin Fitch we have started to see people come back into the office if they feel it’s safe to do so. If you want to find out how we’re doing it then please just drop us a message.

Equally, if you’re doing something that you think is unique in terms of returning then we’d love to hear about it.

As the UK eagerly awaits to hear how Boris Johnson's plans to pull the UK out of lockdown, most of us are continuing to work from home.

For lots of businesses, employees will continue with remote working for as long as possible. Unsurprisingly, motivation could be flagging after so many weeks in the home office and the challenging business markets.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep your team engaged while working remotely – not just to keep spirits high, but also maintain an effective workforce.

How best to do that? Here are three simple steps to follow….

Set realistic goals

Lots of businesses operate by setting goals for their employees to meet. The current crisis has impacted most businesses in some way or another, meaning that the goals you set your team may have to be adjusted to suit the current business climate.

Although we can say that it’s ‘business as usual’, it’s likely that most employees are going to be slightly more distracted than usual – not because remote working is distracting, but because we are in a global pandemic and everyone is concerned about the future.

Adjusting your team’s goals will encourage your team to push towards an achievable target, rather than giving up on something unrealistic in these times.

As always, the best way to set goals is the SMART criteria – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time bound.

Keep company culture strong

While it might be hard to keep the company culture alive when everyone is working remotely, it can and should be a priority. Keep the usual traditions up, just make them remote.

Friday office drinks can be done over Zoom, run club can happen separately and achievements shared on Strava.

Create fun additional games and challenges to bring teams together – office quizzes, crazy hat day, or new incentives. Doing some teams challenges will remind everyone that they’re not working solo, but are a vital member of the team.

Keeping the social side of work strong is important as without it, the “work” side of the job is the only side. Adding a little fun to the mix will encourage your team to keep logging on, day after day.

Internal communication channels are essential

Having a central internal communication channel where teams can chat is essential. The office comradery can be hard to replicate online, but encouraging you team to engage with these channels will help keep some of that alive.

Wish colleagues happy birthday, celebrate achievements (personal and professional) and make jokes as if you normally would in the office.

Praise your team when they hit targets and make it visible to everyone. Recognising the wins in your team will encourage productivity and efficiency from those being praised, while empowering the rest of the team to do the same.

These are just a few of the things that we've been doing at Franklin Fitch to keep everyone happy and motivated - the possibilities are endless. What are you doing to keep your remote workers engaged?

There is no doubt that the current crisis has impacted us all personally and professionally in some way. Since March, many people around the world have had to adapt their entire lives.

Businesses and leaders have had to shift the way that they motivate their staff; companies that are still hiring have had to ensure they can effectively onboard remotely and more attention than ever is focused on mental health and wellbeing.

But what does a post-Corona world of work look like?

For thousands upon thousands of people, working remotely is nothing new and for many businesses, they operate perfectly well without numerous physical “offices”. So, is it the case that this crisis is just going to speed up the ‘future of work’?

There are three key areas where we could see change happening:

1. Reduced need for office space.

Not everyone likes remote working, we suspect many can’t wait to get back into an office, but the choice will be there. Businesses will look at their costs, their people and their productivity and we will see increased levels of remote working.

This will shine a light on many of those we work with, as companies look to ensure that the infrastructure and security of networks is of the highest standard with workforces spread around locations.

We are likely to see policies and procedures to make remote work more widely available and businesses will realise that they are able to tap into a greater pool of highly skilled workers than they were previously.

2. A new Culture of Collaboration.

In a time of isolation, we have seen increased levels of collaboration. Companies, and indeed, countries have come together to work on solutions for the greater good of everyone – not just their shareholders. Automotive companies have been manufacturing ventilators and breweries have been creating hand sanitiser, just to name a few.

This heightened awareness of threat, in whatever form, should mean that companies and individuals create a Culture of Collaboration that transcends competition and borders – looking at the much bigger picture rather than the short-term shareholder gain.

3. People are going to expect more when searching for roles.

When companies start to hire post-Corona there will be a shift in what potential employees demand from the business they work for. This had already started to happen but will be emphasised much more in the future.

People are going to ask how businesses reacted and coped with the pandemic and what is in place moving forward to support them should it happen again. This builds on the increasing demands around flexibility, remote working set up and commitment to work-life balance, but it will be key.

Companies will be focusing a lot more on their employer brand, not just from an attraction point of view but from a retention and culture perspective. People have long memories, so some companies are going to have to make a significant shift in what they offer to remain competitive.

Or maybe nothing will change?

Some of the biggest companies in the world including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Nike quickly mobilised to set up virtual operations in light of the outbreak, and, to be fair we did here at Franklin Fitch as well (albeit on a smaller scale!). But will they/we stick with these new ways of working?

In reality, probably not 100%.

People, companies and nations will look at the positives and negatives and create a “new normal” that works for their employees and their customers and that will look different for everyone.

The businesses that have a strong culture that is constantly looking to innovate and adapt will realise the good to come out of these challenging times and will as such benefit. Those who believe there is nothing we can learn and revert to type, probably won’t.

What do you think that life after Corona will look like?

“Working from home” is probably the phrase that most populates my LinkedIn feed at the moment. With a pandemic upon us and self-isolation very much in place, everyone has very quickly been adapting to a new way of life.

I know that reading about the stories of others going through similar experiences to my own brings me a sense of comfort and unity. I figured that if anything is important in times like these, those two things are probably towards the top of the list.

Working from home as a concept was always attractive to me; as I work in a sales focused job with a big focus on teamwork and office culture it was something that was not really on the radar for me, and perhaps that was part of the appeal. Given that, it might be surprising to hear that while packing up my desk on that last day in the office, what I felt most of all was a sense of dread. Something that in concept had always seemed positive and shiny, was now an idea that held no appeal for me. 

My experience however, has been very different to my imaginings, and with the third week of home-working now in progress I am still not convinced on where I stand.

The Positives:

1. I have gained over two hours of my day back. I am better rested, have more time for recreation (within the boundaries of social distancing of course!), and overall have seen a definite improvement to my mental and physical health. There are suddenly hours in my day that I never knew existed.
2. My job, which I imagined would be hugely challenging when not immersed in the buzz of the office, is actually fairly easy to do from home. In fact, there are fewer distractions (which I am extremely susceptible to) and as a result I tend to get more done, in a shorter period of time.

The Negatives:

1. Working from home can get lonely. When having a bad day, or getting off a tough call, it’s nice to be able to turn to your left or right, talk it through with a colleague and laugh it off.  Even just talking to someone while making coffee or catching up over lunch gives you an element of social interaction you can’t get at home (and while virtual calls are there, it just isn’t quite the same).
2. My working hours have taken on a life of their own. I no longer have working hours. Countless times I have found myself sending out LinkedIn messages at 11pm or replying to my emails on a Saturday afternoon. Since working from home, recruitment is at my fingertips from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep, and while I am fortunate enough to enjoy what I do, sometimes I end up feeling like I am running on a bit of a hamster wheel.

Overall, I would say my experience working from home has been a bit of a double-edged sword.

The positives have definitely proved to me that working from home can indeed be an extremely attractive prospect but when taking into account that it hasn’t been all work-life balance and metaphorical sunshine, it leads me to believe that my mother may have been right when she warned me about too much of a good thing…

The onboarding process is very important

"We place a lot of importance on the onboarding process,” says Franklin Fitch Founder David Annable. “When employees are physically distanced from their team members and managers it can be easy to feel isolated and disengaged. This is especially true for new employees who haven’t had chance to experience the company’s culture. Ensuring the onboarding process and training has the same impact when done remotely is not easy.”  

Video calls and screen sharing are a lifesaver

Isra Suet joined Franklin Fitch as a recruiter in mid-February. Just four weeks into her new position, she has found herself working from home, conducting all her business and training remotely after the UK government ordered employees to work from home where possible. Video calls and screen sharing have been her lifesaver. 

“The group chats at the beginning and end of every day are a great support,” she says, adding that she particularly likes the fact it isn’t all work and that people discuss their feelings, along with general chats about the current situation. “I’m new to the company so am missing out on all the opportunities to socialise, so this aspect is very important.”  

Fewer distractions

Despite knowing she is missing out on some of the support and camaraderie of the office environment, Isra is finding the positives in home working. “There are very few distractions and minimal noise, which makes it much easier to focus on calls,” she says. 

Vincent Mertens, who managed just two weeks in the Franklin Fitch office before having to work from home, agrees. “Being onboarded remotely is not ideal, but it has been quite positive given the circumstances.” He too believes making calls has been easier without so many people around him, though admits that it will be harder to rectify mistakes as there is no one to hear them.

Maintain as much contact as possible

Charlotte Drury, who heads up Franklin Fitch’s Academy and is responsible for a lot of the training and onboarding, says the key is to keep up as much contact as possible with the new starters and recent joiners. For her, technology such as CloudCall, which makes it easy to listen into calls and provide remote coaching, and Microsoft Teams, which facilitates instant messaging and group video calls, are essential.    

“It is definitely more difficult than doing it face-to-face,” says Charlotte. “But we’ve been doing a lot of screen sharing and peer learning. The raft of technology available gives many more possibilities.”   

Better onboading increases retention

The key, according to Charlotte is to use the expertise of different people within the business, such as letting a colleague who is particularly familiar with Linkedin host a webinar on how best to use it for recruitment. “In the office, the onboarding process would involve introductions to, and learning from, many different people, so we need to try and replicate this as much as possible remotely,” she says.  

According to figures from onboarding specialists, Click Boarding, new employees who go through a structured onboarding programme are more likely to still be with the organisation after three years. In addition, organisations with a standard onboarding process experience 50% greater productivity from new hires. 

First impressions count

So with the old saying ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’ still holding true, it is essential you make sure you decide what sort of impression you want new hires to have of your organisation and how best to portray it, whether in person or remotely. With all of today’s technology, there is no reason it should be very different. 

Key tips for remote onboarding: 

1. Make sure internally you know what message you want to share with your new employees and have a plan of how to disseminate it, particularly who is responsible for each part 

2. Ensure new employees have all the required equipment to do their job and know how to communicate with key contacts and who to go to if they have a problem 

3. Organise video introductions to team leaders and members, HR personnel and admin contacts 

4. Arrange all necessary training, including IT, HR, team and role-specific 

5. Set times for future meetings to ensure the new employee doesn’t feel isolated and make sure the goals and targets are clear  

by Claire Shoesmith

Using humour in the workplace makes employees happier, less stressed, more productive and efficient, says Vandad Pourbahrami, a humour and business consultant. In addition, Vandad, from New York-based firm Humor that Works, believes that a dose of humour can refresh, recharge and ignite creativity in your team, helping to remove the feeling of being on an endless cycle like a hamster wheel.

Laughter is the best medicine

“Humour is not just a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity in today’s overworked, overstimulated world,” says Vandad. “Using humour in your leadership and communication style has been proven to reduce stress and prevent burnout long-term.” He also says that leaders who use humour get paid bigger bonuses and find that their new ideas are more easily accepted.[1]

It has long been said that laughter is the best medicine, and given everything going on in the world today, there is no doubt that everyone could use a bit of additional frivolity. As well as lightening the mood, laughter is believed to strengthen your immune system, diminish pain and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. It has also been said that it lightens your burdens, inspires hope and connects people, keeping you grounded, focused and alert.

Humour has a raft of health benefits

“Engaging in humour is effectively a way of sharing your point of view,” says Andrew Tarvin, founder of Humor that Works. “Everyone has their own perspective and sharing it is a way to connect.” Furthermore, humour is often related to things that have happened in the past, and reflection on the past leads to more positive actions in the future.

For those who believe laughing at work is a distraction, Andrew is quick to point out that the average person spends 90,000 hours of their life working and so enjoying some of that time – especially when there are proven health and productivity benefits, is essential. “Humour doesn’t replace the work, it is like the salt of the meal,” says Andrew. “It makes people more engaged and productive.”

Humour helps us see the positive

Laughter also unites people during difficult times. “Incorporating humour and laughter into our daily lives forces us to see the positive in challenging times,” says Vandad. “People who have a ‘how can I make this funny?’ perspective are generally happier, and their joy attracts and unites others.”

So, whether you’re an aspiring stand-up comedian, or simply someone who is good at retelling stories or acting out events, let’s remember that laughter not only lifts our moods, but also increases productivity. It’s a win-win for all

.[1] https://www.humorthatworks.com/benefits/30-benefits-of-humor-at-work/

It’s all about upskilling 

“We are investing in our people from day one,” says Charlotte Drury, who heads up the academy in London. “Recruitment, particularly in London, can be very hire and fire, but for us it is about giving our people the best framework within which to learn and succeed.” 

“Ultimately we see them upskill much quicker and it enables us to expand at a much faster pace.” 

Role plays, one-to-one tutoring sessions, classroom teaching, peer coaching and group breakfast meetings are all in a week’s work for Charlotte, who is constantly on hand to support her team of graduates. Whether she’s listening in to a candidate call to help one academy member ‘seal the deal’, or providing guidance to another on how to handle a specific recurring situation, Charlotte’s presence is a great reassurance for the academy members. 

The level of support is great 

“It’s great to have someone who is solely dedicated to your progress,” says Marima Kauser, who seven months after joining the academy as a graduate has passed her probation and is preparing to move onto one of Franklin Fitch’s specialist recruitment desks. “There’s not many places where you get this level of support.”  

For Charlotte, the academy is all about opportunity. After working in 360 recruitment for two years, she was looking for the next challenge and liked the idea that people entering the academy wanted to progress. While the London academy is still in its infancy – the first graduates joined in late summer 2019 and are just coming to the end of their six-month probation period, Franklin Fitch has been doing it very successfully in Frankfurt for three years. “There is a very clear progression between the academy and becoming a fully-fledged consultant,” says Charlotte. “There are plenty of good role models to follow and people to help with ideas and issues along the way.” 

No cap on the opportunity to earn 

Unlike some trainee schemes where graduates are separated from the rest of the business, the Franklin Fitch Academy members have the opportunity to work alongside, and learn from, other more experienced members of the business. “Even though the academy members are learning, they still have the opportunity to do the whole job,” says Charlotte. “Their opportunity to earn isn’t capped and if they find the right candidate for a high-level position, then the commission is theirs.” 

For Sian Llewellyn, internal recruitment lead at Franklin Fitch, the key to the academy’s success is the combination of opportunity, structure and support. “Our graduates need to be motivated, eager to learn and willing to work hard,” she says. “If you combine those attributes with our proven academy model, the potential rewards for the individual participants are significant.” 

Anyone interested in joining Franklin Fitch’s Academy or simply wishing to find out more about it should contact Sian Llewellyn at s.llewellyn@franklinfitch.com 

by Claire Shoesmith

Video calls and online chats are important social tools for many of us, so why not use them for business too? At a time when meeting face-to-face is being discouraged in a bid to contain the outbreak of Covid-19, many firms are doing just that and using virtual methods, such as video conference calls, to encourage business continuity.

In the recruitment business, interviews are key. They are the chance for candidates to meet their potential employer, get a feeling for the people and the business, and also to showcase who they are and what they can do. For employers, they are the chance to meet the potential employee, get a feeling of whether they would fit in with the office culture and obviously, to quiz them about their skills and experience. Doing this over the phone or by video link rather than face-to-face is a very different proposition.

Remote interviews can save time and stress

“Remote interviewing is nothing new,” says Steven Ewer, head of Franklin Fitch’s UK and US operations, adding that many of his clients have been using it for the initial interview stage for a long time. “Collaboration tools are so strong that actually there is no reason why the quality of your interview process needs to change.”

In reality, remote interviews can save time and stress both for the candidate and the company. Individuals need to set aside less time as they don’t have to travel and can fit a video call into a lunch break or even before work. Similarly, companies can schedule more interviews if they don’t need to spend time showing each person into the office.

That however, is a concern for some people. Steven says he has clients who are concerned that candidates want to see what the office environment is actually like and there is also the issue of how you check technology knowledge that would normally be tested in the confines of a controlled environment. In actual fact, he believes the company culture is the people and you can get a good feeling for that from a video call.

Treat it the same as any interview

“You need to treat a video interview in the same way you would a face-to-face interview,” says Steven, adding that many people forget they can be seen and can become easily distracted. He believes a video interview is preferable to a phone-only interview as it not only helps concentration and focus but you also get a better sense of the individual’s character. He does point out however, that it can be harder to gauge reaction and that body language is hyper-exaggerated on screen – not a big issue, but something to be aware of.

“And if you really want your candidates to see the office, the technology is there,” he says. “You can do virtual walkthroughs if you want and thanks to Google it is now even possible to see into buildings.”

“You don’t miss much by interviewing remotely,” he says. “It’s more of a mental issue.”

Companies need to adapt their hiring processes

Given the current situation – many European countries and much of the US is on lockdown and the majority of office-based staff are working from home, face-to-face interviews are a no go for the time being. Companies that want to hire – and there are still plenty of them – will have to change their recruitment processes and adapt.

There are signs this is already happening. Global downloads of business apps that facilitate remote interviews and working such as WeChat Work, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Slack have risen nearly five-fold since the start of the year, according to data from app analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the first week of March there were 6.7 million new users across the App Store and Google Play, compared with 1.4 million in the first week of January.

So, gone are the days of being judged on your pre-interview handshake. Now, if you get it wrong, it’ll be the quality of the video backdrop that you’re remembered for. So don’t forget to move away from the drying washing!

We're still hiring

For anyone looking for a position in IT infrastructure or companies with roles to fill, we are still here and busy making the most of the technology on offer to continue hiring both for ourselves and clients as normal. Give us a call on 0203 696 7950 or email info@franklinfitch.com.

Remote interview advice for candidates:

1. Treat it like a face-to-face interview – it is no different
2. Don’t forget that you can be seen – your body language still needs to be positive
3. Practice beforehand. If necessary call a member of your family or a friend to check all your technology is working properly and you can be heard clearly. Provided you feel comfortable, use a headset as it usually makes for a clearer conversation
4. Make sure you have a neutral background, no drying washing etc.
5. Dress as you would for a face-to-face interview

Remote interview advice for interviewers:

1. Prepare in exactly the same way you would for any interview
2. Communicate openly and clearly – allow more time for candidates to move between questions
3. Make you start on time
4. Ensure there are no distractions
5. Emphasise the employer brand and take time to describe the company culture

by Claire Shoesmith

The delay in the implementation of the IR35 reforms will give companies the opportunity to hold on to critical members of their workforce and quickly employ new staff to fill gaps at what is a very uncertain time.

Contract staff can be mobilised quickly and relatively easily, something which is an attractive proposition for businesses in the current environment. The postponement of the IR35 reforms, which were originally due to come in on April 6, were announced by the UK government this week as part of a £330bn package of measures aimed at helping businesses survive the economic uncertainty. The delay – until April 6 2021, will allow firms that aren’t willing to take on permanent staff to continue to issue temporary contracts to fulfil specific needs without the worry of being liable for incorrect determinations.

Perfect timing

Simon Nicholls, Practice Manager for the contract recruitment market at Franklin Fitch, welcomed the postponement, saying: “Delaying the reforms is perfect timing as it will help bridge the gap in the market in the coming months.” He said that demand was so high in some areas of the market that companies are offering contracts with immediate starts after just one video interview.

“In times like this, flexibility in the hiring process is key,” said Simon.

It is important to note that this is just a postponement however and that the changes are still due to come into force next year. At Franklin Fitch we have been preparing for this year’s planned deadline and have done a lot of work to ensure most of the contract roles we work on have been assessed ahead of time using Qdos. (Just to recap, one of the main changes to the IR35 legislation, which is aimed at removing the tax advantages of providing services via a limited company for individuals who are not truly working for themselves, is that the responsibility for determining the IR35 status of the contractor will fall to the company rather than the individual themselves.) Until the new deadline however, it remains the responsibility of the contractors – as it has done for the past 20 years - to make sure their contracts are outside of IR35.

No time for complacency

Still, this is no time for complacency on either side. Businesses need to start preparing now. Anyone seeking advice on how to approach the reforms successfully, should contact our contract team on contracts@franklinfitch.com.

We’ve already successfully helped a lot of our clients and can do the same for you ahead of the 2021 implementation deadline. The time to act is now. Not later.

by Claire Shoesmith

It’s official, the coronavirus is here. Yesterday the UK Prime Minister advised people to avoid non-essential travel and where possible to work from home to help slow the spread the of the Covid-19 virus that has already killed thousands of people around the world. Many European countries and parts of the US are already on lock-down. At Franklin Fitch we are heeding the advice and from today, most of us are working from home.

Thanks to technology such as Skype, Microsoft’s Teams and Zoom Video Communications, to name but a few, remote working is relatively simple. Provided you have access to a computer and an internet connection, most people can continue doing their job in the same way they would in an office. Meetings, document sharing and even interviews (we will return to this in a separate blog) can all be done remotely online – it just requires a bit more planning and perhaps a little more discipline from the individual workers to ensure they remain engaged and motivated.  

It's about collaboration and communication

Some companies had already made the decision for their employees to work remotely before yesterday’s announcement, but it was one that was not taken lightly at Franklin Fitch. Ultimately we are a business built on collaboration and communication, and while this can be successful at a distance, it is something that David Annable, the firm’s founder, believes is even better done face-to-face.

“We are all about collaborative working,” says David. “And what’s the easiest way to achieve that? – to sit at a desk with other people.” For him, there are huge benefits to sitting in an open-plan office surrounded by colleagues doing a similar job. As well as the collaborative aspect, he believes the learning and emotional support provided by nearby colleagues is very important.

“Being present in the office means you are more aware of what is going on with your colleagues and are able to see the visual clues to help you provide the right emotional support at the right time,” he says.

People can work just as well remotely

Still, the government advice is very clear and we fully support the move to reduce close contact in the office, especially when our employees can do their job just as well remotely. We will continue to offer the same level of training and support to our staff and engagement with our candidates and clients via email, phone and video conferencing.

For many, flexible working is nothing new – in fact, according to a study by business payment advisers Merchant Savvy, 61% of global companies already allow their staff to work remotely for at least some of their working week. But for those who usually travel into an office each day and not only enjoy the company of, but also learn from, the colleagues sitting around them, the isolation of home working can be difficult. We at Franklin Fitch are very aware of this and will be keeping in close contact with all our employees, candidates and clients to ensure that not only business continues as usual, but also that their health, both mental and physical, remains strong .

We are open for business

Contact us on 0203 696 7950 or email info@franklinfitch.com

by Claire Shoesmith

Here we finish off our week of female-focused coverage with the inspiring story of Rosie Brown. She is the perfect example of what you can do if you seize the opportunity. Don't let anyone ever tell you different....

At 26 years old, Rosie Brown has already done more than many people will do in a lifetime. Just over 18 months ago, she walked into the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) as a graduate and felt immediately at home. The fact that the majority of her colleagues are significantly older than her and the number of men vastly outnumbers the number of females, doesn’t faze her at all. In fact, her colleagues say they wouldn’t be surprised if one day she was running the place!

“I didn’t sleep at all the night before I started as I was so nervous, but when I got here I just felt like this is where I was meant to be,” says Rosie. "It was an incredible feeling.”

Rosie speaks highly of the LSEG. She describes it as an incredible organisation, which despite being a traditional male-dominated financial services environment, is working hard to promote women’s wellbeing and progression with seminars, special events and a great support network.

“I may be the only female in the risk team, but there are other women out there,” she says. “I’m definitely not alone.”

Stepping outside of your confort zone

Being the lone female is nothing new for Rosie. Having grown up with four brothers she is accustomed to being in the minority. She is also used to stepping outside of her comfort zone. During her undergraduate studies in microbiology at Newcastle University, she set up Beauty by the Geeks, a company aimed at demystifying the science behind beauty products. It also had a corporate social responsibility arm which encouraged young girls into technology.

Along with her fellow student entrepreneurs, Rosie attended many science fairs and conventions to promote Beauty by the Geeks, and it was there that she met women working in the technology space who inspired her to change the direction of her career. “They opened my eyes to coding and that was it,” she says. “I was hooked.” Rosie then studied for a Masters in epidemiology at Imperial College London, but now works in risk, which incorporates a lot of programming and statistical analysis.

Who is this woman?

By her own admission Rosie is a very chatty person who is capable of going at 100 miles an hour without stopping. “Men often look at me and say ‘who is this woman’?! I am always ready to share my opinion around innovation which people don’t necessarily expect, but I love taking them by surprise.” Still, even she has to push herself outside of her comfort zone and is very pleased she took a year out to go traveling, when in reality she would have preferred to sit in her room coding.

One issue Rosie has encountered in her male-dominated workplaces – she also interned in the NHS where she ran an IT compliance programme and was the only female on the team -  is ‘mansplaining’. This, she says, is when a man basically takes your idea or opinion and claims it for their own. The solution to this, she says, is not clear cut. “Sometimes you have to shrug it off. Other times it’s worth fighting for.”

“There is definitely a sense that you have to keep the boundaries firm,” she says. “If you give them any leeway they will keep pushing.”

No one should encounter barriers

This could happen whatever your gender however and Rosie has always been aware of the importance of inclusivity. Even when she was running her beauty business she was conscious that beauty products were traditionally focused on the female population and that as a result, they were missing out on the other half.

“The key is to make sure that there aren’t any barriers for anyone, whoever they are,” says Rosie. “Diversity and inclusivity is much more on people’s minds these days but we need to ensure it is fully embedded in the corporate world.”

“The most important thing is for everyone, whatever their gender, to be able to be themselves. We are all different and have our own voice. We are not robots. Once companies accept this, they will be able to unlock true potential.”

(Thank you to all the amazing women who have taken the time to share their stories with us this week. We hope that their experiences have gone some way to showing that not only is anything possible, but also that a diverse workforce is a better place for all. #EachforEqual.)

by Claire Shoesmith

Looking for a career in cybersecurity? Well you’re in demand - provided you get in there before the robots do.

Oliver Tattersall, head of the German cyber and information security team at Franklin Fitch, believes that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses are vastly underprepared for the threat of a cyberattack and are leaving themselves open to billions of pounds/euros of financial damage. Whether it’s a lack of funding or ignorance that it won’t happen to them, the need for skilled cybersecurity specialists has never been greater.

“There is a distinct lack of awareness of cybersecurity in SMEs,” says Oliver, adding that even if the awareness was there, there is the added complication of finding people with the right skills. “It’s a very candidate-short market at the moment, particularly in cybersecurity, and this is making it very hard to find the right people.”

The potential damage from an attack is huge

Failing to implement the right cybersecurity measures can have a devastating impact on a company that falls victim to an attack both financially and in terms of reputational damage. While allocating funds for appropriate security at a time when many companies are cutting spending is not ideal – the average mid-sized company spends tens or even hundreds of thousands on cybersecurity - the outlay is small by comparison to the damage that could be caused.

So, what cybersecurity-related skills are most in demand and how can potential specialists get the job they want and help these companies stave off an attack?

“Candidates need to be  able to communicate, get stakeholders on board, be hungry for knowledge and have good technical skills,” says Oliver.

Companies need to innovate to attract skilled workers

He is currently seeking to fill an array of cybersecurity roles in Germany, particularly in the areas of embedded security, defence analysts, cyber analysts and risk specialists. While he is quietly confident that eventually he will find the right person for each role, he also believes that German companies need to be prepared to be more flexible if they want to attract the best people. “There are many highly-skilled workers outside of Germany that could add great value to these companies,” he says, adding that now is the time to think outside the box when it comes to recruitment in order to attract the best talent. 

In addition, Oliver believes there is an increased tendency nowadays for skills to cross over. It is harder to draw a line between the infrastructure and software sides, meaning that people with a certain skillset might now be able to carry out other jobs too.

How can AI help?

In the future Oliver believes that some of the pressure on the sector may be relieved by Artificial Intelligence (AI). “AI not only removes the human element, which is itself open to risk and manual error, but it can help to identify data and pinpoint where there’s a possible threat,” he says. 

Already some cybersecurity companies are teaching AI systems to detect viruses and malware by using complex algorithms so AI can then run pattern recognition software. AI systems can also be used in situations of multi-factor authentication to provide access to their users. It is worth pointing out however that while AI may be great for processing large amounts of data or replacing autonomous manual tasks, it will never be able to replace a security analyst’s insight or understanding of a problem.

In reality, the likelihood is that jobs will change and while some of us may indeed end up working alongside an automated colleague, we will still be needed, but for alternative functions.

Anyone interested in a role in the cybersecurity space in Germany should contact Oliver by email at o.tattersall@franklinfitch.com.

by Claire Shoesmith

Year two can often be an anti-climax, but not for Franklin Fitch’s Welsh operation. Not only are they today remembering their national saint, David, but they’re celebrating a spectacular 212% jump in turnover, 90% increase in headcount and more than 60 placements. 

What do pancakes and job interviewees have in common? The more top-quality ingredients they contain, the better they are.

While this may be a rather tenuous link, for most people chocolate AND banana is better than just chocolate OR banana on their pancake. Similarly, for many roles, being experienced in network infrastructure AND security makes you a more valuable candidate than someone who is only experienced in network infrastructure, but lacks any security experience.

“In the past, if you worked in network infrastructure you worked in network infrastructure,” says Dave Annable, Franklin Fitch’s founder. “Today, for many roles you need to know about network infrastructure and automation and development and understand how security plugs in. The technology is merging.

“Technologists have to be more agile. They have to think about the bigger picture and the impact any changes to the IT infrastructure will have on the whole business.”  

Traditionally pancakes were eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, to use up rich, indulgent foods before the fasting season of Lent began. While it has become enshrined in Christian tradition, some believe that it did in fact originate from a pagan holiday, where eating warm, round pancakes – symbolising the sun – was a way of celebrating the arrival of spring.

Pancake races

Today, for many it’s an excuse to overindulge on something that is normally considered a treat. Organisations often hold pancake races, where people run whilst flipping their pancakes in a in a bid to raise money for charity. (Legend has it that the tradition of pancake races stems from the 15th century when a particularly disorganised woman rushed to confess her sins while mid-way through making pancakes.)   

At Franklin Fitch we’re as particular about our pancake toppings as we are about our need for particular skillsets. For one team it’s network security and wireless operations, alongside chocolate and strawberries (the German contingent). For others, it’s automation and artificial intelligence, alongside lemon and sugar (traditional English), or data and infrastructure management, alongside maple syrup and bacon (the US and Canada).

Raising money for charity

This year we will be celebrating Shrove Tuesday by eating pancakes and raising money for The Ocean Cleanup, a charity that is designing and developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

We at Franklin Fitch are passionate about doing our bit to help, especially when we can fill our bellies at the same time!

To find out more about our chosen UK charity click on The Ocean Cleanup or if you’re in Germany, it’s Ocean Care.

by Claire Shoesmith

Franklin Fitch has confirmed its commitment to inclusion and diversity by joining the UK’s Tech Talent Charter (TTC). 

The TTC is a non-profit organisation which addresses inequality in the UK technology sector and seeks to drive inclusion and diversity. The group’s aim is to ensure the UK tech sector is truly inclusive and a reflection of the society it represents. “We focus on the how, not just the why of inclusion and we bring communities together and support the underrepresented,” the TTC says on its website. 

For Franklin Fitch, this is another example of our commitment to inclusion and diversity. We are already members of Women in Recruitment in the UK and support the CYBERWOMEN platform in Germany. We believe strongly in the importance of equality and the benefits it can bring to a business, and are in no doubt that a diverse workforce is more productive and better placed to face today’s challenges. Internally within our own business we have a 60-40 male-female split and externally when recruiting for clients, we are focused on ensuring our job adverts are fully inclusive with the aim of hiring the best person for the role.

“This is yet another example of our commitment to diversity and inclusion,” says David Annable, Franklin Fitch’s founder. “It is something that matters to me as a leader and I’m very keen to share this philosophy with my employees.”  

The TCC is supported by the UK government and is aiming to have 600 signatories by the end of 2020. Its members are spread across all sectors - from recruitment and technology through to banking and entertainment, and all sizes of organisation - from small start-ups to large multinationals.

by Claire Shoesmith

Multi-context firewalls - what are they and what do they do? 

Just six weeks into the new year and reports of cyber-attacks are rife in the media. According to IT Governance, a provider of cyber risk and privacy management solutions, several major incidents occurred in January, boosting the total number of records breached to 1.5bn.

Just yesterday, ZDNet reported that the personal information of 10.6 million guests who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels was stolen and posted to a hacking forum this week. Already in February, the servers at the United Nations have been compromised and a quarter of the Iranian internet has been disrupted.

In addition, Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, has expressed her concerns about the global implications of cyber-attacks, telling an audience in France that a well-organised cyber-attack on major financial institutions could lead to a financial crisis.

So, what should businesses be doing about this? Cyber security is one of our focus areas at Franklin Fitch and as a recruiter, I am frequently asked by service providers and large enterprises to find people with experience in multi-context firewalls. Quite often when I ask candidates if they have used them, the response is: “what is that? “or “I’ve never heard of it”.

For me personally, a lot of my technical knowledge is gained from in-depth conversations with my candidates about how they use a specific piece of hardware and what benefits it brings. So, if you, like me, are wondering what multi-context firewalls are, read on and find out more.

Cisco ASA supports multiple firewall contexts, also called firewall multimode or multi-context mode. Multi-context mode divides a single ASA into multiple virtual devices, also known as security contexts. Each context operates a single device, independently from other security contexts. In routers, this is similar to Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF).   

When would you use multiple security contexts? 

• A network that requires more than one ASA

• A service provider that needs to offer a different security context to each customer

• An enterprise that needs to provide distinct security policies for each individual department or users and require a different security context for each one

When wouldn’t you use multiple security contexts? 

• When VPN Services are required such as remote access or site-to-site VPN tunnels

• If dynamic routing protocols are required

• If QoS is needed

• If multicast routing needs to be supported

• If threat detection is required

Context configuration files  

In multi-context mode, there are three types of configuration files:

• The system configuration – a standard single-mode configuration where the network administrator adds and manages the security contexts

• The admin context – no restrictions and can be used as any other security context

• The context configurations/user context – for each individual security context. They contain the security policies and interface configurations specific only to that context 

ASA Packet Classification  

Packets are also classified differently in multi-context firewalls. In multimode configuration, it is possible for interfaces to be shared between contexts, therefore the ASA must distinguish which packets need to be sent to each context. 

The ASA categorises packets based on three criteria:

• Unique interfaces – 1:1 pairing with a physical link or sub-interfaces (VLAN tags)

• Unique MAC addresses – shared interfaces are assigned Unique Virtual Mac addresses per virtual context, in order to alleviate routing issues, which complicates firewall management

• NAT configuration – if the use of unique MAC addresses is disabled, then the ASA uses the mapped addresses in the NAT configuration to classify packets. This isn’t very common

In certain cases, you may need to assign a unique MAC address to a shared interface in order to alleviate routing issues, which complicates the firewall management.  

Active/active failover 

Multi context mode offers active/active fail-over per context. Primarily forwards for an individual context and secondary for another. The security contexts divide logically into failure groups, with a maximum of two failure groups. There will never be two active forwarding paths at the same time.  

Important to consider 

In order to change from single mode to multiple mode or back, the commands must be done from the command line (CLI) and not via the ADSM GUI interface. When changing from single to multimode, the ASA will convert the running configurations into two files, creating a new system configuration file and an admin context file. The original system configuration file is not saved.   

By default, all security contexts have unlimited access to the ASA resources. Depending on the environment, resource management may need to be configured to limit some contexts that may be starving other contexts. This is done by configuring resource classes when assigning to contexts.  

Final thoughts

Multimode offers advantages in certain situations particularly for service providers or an enterprise with multiple departments that require individual security policies. The requirements should be carefully considered before implementing the solution. However, there are also limitations and whilst the number of physical devices you manage may decrease, the complexity of those device configurations may increase. 

With yet another school holiday upon us, the struggle to juggle working and childcare rears its head again and with it, the issue of flexible working.

With school children getting an average of 13 weeks holiday a year – that is 65 working days, compared with 28 days (including bank holidays) for most private-sector employees, it is not surprising this is an issue. For many working parents, this can lead them to question their priorities and in the worst cases, to quit their jobs. Offering flexible working can help alleviate some of these issues, and in fact, has been shown to increase productivity and make workers happier and healthier. It’s a win-win for all.

Millennials value flexibility

The way people work has changed a lot over the past decade and the desire for flexibility is no longer just the preserve of working parents. Improvements to technology have made it easier for individuals to work from remote locations and an increased tendency to spread teams around the globe means that 9-5 working is not always necessary. Moreover, Millennials, who account for the largest proportion of workers, have been reported to value flexibility over remuneration, meaning that if businesses want to target the biggest talent pool, they need to be open to flexible working.

As a result, businesses are increasingly providing their employees with the option to decide where, when and how they would like to work and the benefits are being seen on both sides. According to IWG’s 2019 Global Workplace Survey, flexible working could save 115 hours of commuting time a year – equal to 14 million working days. Given the large percentage of workers who cite commuting as the worst part of their day, working closer to home is becoming an increasingly popular option.

Significant tangible benefits

A study by the London School of Economics (LSE) found that in addition to increasing productivity, flexible working also helps to reduce absenteeism and enhances employee engagement and loyalty. It also significantly widens the pool of applicants for vacant roles, as well as helping to retain the existing skilled staff.

As with anything, there are also possible disadvantages. For some, the line between home and work life can become blurred, leading to an inability to switch off. For others, being given the opportunity to work flexibly can fuel a feeling that they owe the company more. There is also the possibility of fewer benefits and lack of career progression prompted by the reduced hours and minimal face-time in the office. Furthermore, missing out on the camaraderie and social aspect of the office environment can have a significant impact on some employees and leave them feeling both uninspired and isolated.

What’s more, one school of thought believes that flexible or part-time working is responsible for a significant element of the gender pay gap. Women who work part-time tend not to progress so far or as fast in their careers and earn significantly less over their working life than men in full-time roles.

Careful management and communication is key

For the employer, giving employees the option to work flexibly is effectively a gamble. After all, what works for one individual doesn’t necessarily work for another. Allowing one employee to work flexibly can lead to resentment amongst others who feel they too should be given this opportunity. In reality however, the success of flexible working depends on the role concerned and the mentality of the individual themselves. If not carefully managed, flexible working can lead to inefficiencies and a drop in quality of work, but with the right management and communication the benefits mentioned above can work for all sides.

As already mentioned, flexible working is no longer just about parents working. It concerns anyone who wishes to work part time, job share or work alternative hours in order to fit around other commitments or simply to improve their work-life balance. (UK employment law stipulates that anyone who has been with their employer for more than 26 weeks has the right to request flexible working. The employer however doesn’t have to grant it.)

Significant progress

While significant progress has been made - more than half of UK workers work flexibly in some way, according to a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), there is still a lot of unmet demand. The same study also found that 68% of employees would like to work flexibly in a way that is not currently available.

The key to achieving this is about more than individuals requesting flexible working. Instead, there needs to be a change in the habits and mindset of many organisations. There is plenty of evidence to showcase the benefits, it’s now time for society to acknowledge them and challenge the preconceptions about working practices.

by Claire Shoesmith

Three quarters of contractors are planning to leave their positions due to the proposed changes to the IR35 legislation, according to a survey by offpayroll.org. The lobby group cited mistrust of HMRC, having enough cash reserves to see them through whilst not working and confidence that they are in fact legally self-employed and will have no issues getting work in the future.

In a week when yet more protests have taken place against the proposed IR35 reforms – more than 500 protestors gathered outside parliament on Wednesday – we look at what the changes really mean, and whether contractors do actually need to quit their jobs.

What does the reform mean?  

From April 6th, the responsibility for declaring the tax status of a hired employee – one deemed inside IR35 - switches to the organisation rather than the individual. Currently, this lies with the contractor. The aim of the reform is to remove the tax advantages of providing services via a limited company for individuals who are not truly working for themselves. In other words, those employees whose working practices are more akin to those of traditional employees. This is why you will have seen some of the larger banks such as HSBC enforcing policies to prevent the use of limited company contractors.

The market response

Different businesses have approached the reform in different ways. Some businesses, as previously mentioned, are simply stopping using limited company contractors. Others have decided the best route forward is to deem all contracts within IR35 to remove the risk entirely. This is contrary to the case-by-case nature of the policy (and short-sighted in my opinion). 

On the other hand, some companies have educated themselves on the reform and will make a number of small changes to the way they operate and produce their contracts to ensure contractors remain outside of IR35. This, we believe is the way forward. Our aim is to ensure that all contracts are IR35 compliant and we use Qdos Contractor, a specialised tax consultancy business with over 30 years’ experience, to do this. To give some context, their assessment tool was used in the private sector for TFL and The Home Office. They were then audited by HMRC (the worst-case scenario!) and not a single assessment was challenged by HMRC. This is a tool that works!

The impact moving forward - the rise of the Service Provider and the umbrella

A number of banks and financial services companies rely heavily on the services of limited company contractors for project and BAU work. Due to the ad-hoc nature of this work, they cannot simply replace the contractors with a permanent employee. This means that they’ll need to use a service provider to bridge the gap. As a result of this, we will likely see a higher number of individuals contracted by service providers who are willing to shoulder the risk, rather than end-clients. My issue with this is that if the end-client is willing to pay for both the day rate as well as the service providers’ fees, could they not pay this sum to the contractor in order to mitigate the effect of IR35 on their rate? On the flip side of this however, some of the larger banks are now outsourcing their IT abroad meaning the money is leaving the UK economy completely, leaving neither HMRC or the contractors effected better off.

The other option is to go through an umbrella company. This means when the reform comes into force there will be no need to review your contract and you can continue to operate as you did before the reform, as the umbrella company has you covered. Many companies are also significantly increasing rates to cover the higher tax deductions. The downside, however, is that, more often than not, you can end up taking home substantially less than you would have done through a limited company before the reforms were introduced. Especially now that a number of contractors are being forced to pay the apprenticeship levy and the company’s national insurance as well as umbrella fees.

A move to the dark side?  

Some of the contractors I’ve spoken to recently are deliberating a move over to permanent employment. A number of people no longer see the value in contracting if they are put into a higher tax bracket. Many people seem to forget that the reason contractors do earn more than permanent employees is due to their convenience and the risk that they’re willing to shoulder. Contractors receive none of the benefits of permanent employment such as holidays or bonuses and often work outside of normal hours, not to mention their lack of job security. If their take-home pay doesn’t accurately reflect this risk, then it’s no longer worthwhile for them. As a result of this, we could see an increase in contractors seeking permanent roles. 

There are also contractors I’ve spoken to with fewer roots in the UK who are now taking their skill set elsewhere in Europe.

It’s not all bad… 

There could be some positive outcomes for contractors. Firstly, if contractors become less readily available, it could result in companies being willing to pay above market rate for their services. Secondly, in order to make contracts IR35 compliant, companies can make some small changes to ensure it is clear they are employing the person’s services rather than the individual themselves. One of these changes is to offer remote working. This means we could see an increase in the number of contracts offering remote working, which is actually already a common request amongst contractors. 

It’s all speculation

The exact impact of the changes remain to be seen. With less than two months to go until the April 6th implementation date, protests are still ongoing and many groups are continuing to lobby the government.

There are a few things to consider though, firstly the CEST tool for determining IR35 compliance is unfit for purpose and should bear little weight in whatever decision you make. Secondly, every instance should be considered on a case-by-case as HRMC has stated that blanket statements do not constitute as reasonable care. It is also worth noting that so far, HMRC has a notoriously low win rate on all IR35 cases which have been taken to court. It is also very unlikely that small to mid-sized companies will actually be audited by HRMC and companies of less than 50 employees are not subject to this legislation.

At this stage, jumping ship seems like a hasty reaction. As does not considering inside IR35 roles (especially if the rate is increased to compensate tax deductions). Whilst we do try to convince all our clients to access fairly and keep roles outside IR35 where possible, it’s not always the case. As the heading suggests, at this moment in time its all speculation and it requires clients, recruiters and Candidates working in unison to find the best possible solutions.

For anyone concerned about their own position or looking to move into a suitable contract role, do give us a shout at info@franklinfitch.com.

by Claire Shoesmith

The Welsh may have lost to the Irish at rugby at the weekend, but they’re not losing when it comes to business. Cardiff, their capital city, has been named as one of the best places to do business.

In line with the devolution of the political landscape, businesses are now broadening their horizons and operating successfully in regional towns and cities across the UK, according to a study published this week by the Sunday Times. This spreading of the power outside of London coincides with the launch of our new Welsh language website last week and is something that we at Franklin Fitch are passionate about.

Push to keep talent in the city

“Having an office here in the city definitely helps when it comes to recruiting for local businesses,” says Lewis Andrews, practice manager for Franklin Fitch’s Cardiff office. “There is a big push here to keep talent in the city and prevent it from moving to London.”

Once the biggest coal exporting port in the world, Cardiff has transformed itself in recent years from an economy reliant on industrial production to a digital technology hub. According to the 2019 UK tech on the global stage report by Tech Nation, the Welsh capital is considered to be one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the UK with £120m worth of technology investment in the three years to 2018.

Adding weight to this, another report by Tech Nation found that in 2019 alone, Wales’ 3,605 digital tech firms turned over £1.1bn and employed 45,000 people. Franklin Fitch is taking advantage of this upsurge at its Cardiff office, which since opening in March 2018 has grown to five full-time recruiters. Their focus is placing candidates in positions across the southwest of England and Wales, with almost a third of the roles being in Wales itself.

Cardiff is a growing tech hub

The significant growth in the sector has come in part from the city’s high quality of life and affordable cost of living, but also from partnerships with the universities. In addition, the government has invested heavily in technology hubs such as Eagle Labs and the Tramshed in a bid to create Wales’ own specialised tech industry and prevent talent leaving Wales and moving to other cities, including London, Bristol and Bath.

Andrews is quick to point out the benefits of working and recruiting locally, particularly in a city where 80% of the businesses are SMEs. (There are only 6-7 businesses in the city centre that are classified as large, with only four in the whole of Wales with turnover exceeding £1bn.) “There is definitely a push to funnel local talent into local businesses,” he says.

Let’s hope the support is as strong for the local (Welsh) rugby team in their next match against France later this month.

by Claire Shoesmith

Hiring the right person for the right job is not always easy and there are a variety of different factors that need to be considered. Here we look at the impact certification, experience and cultural fit can have when it comes to hiring candidates for the technology market.

Professional Certifications

Today there are hundreds of IT certifications available through a wide variety of independent organisations and IT vendors including Amazon, Cisco, CompTIA and Microsoft. With the average cost of an MCSA standing at around $495, one would be forgiven for assuming that such an accolade does indeed hold some sway when it comes to getting that perfect technology role. The jury is however out.

There have been several studies undertaken to suggest that hiring individuals with professional certifications will be beneficial for hiring managers.

A New Horizon learning article posted in 2017 stated that individuals with CompTIA certifications are 85% more confident in their own ability and 25% better at retaining information than those without. In addition, CompTIA certified staff with less than one year of experience demonstrate more domain knowledge than non-certified staff with three years’ experience.

Furthermore, Bowers (2016) argues that there are several facts that prove IT certifications work. These include employees with certifications being 90% more productive when compared to non-certified peers. In addition, proof of certification has allowed hiring managers to fill positions 25% sooner, which can be considered a brilliant outcome for all concerned, including recruiters.

Despite the arguments outlined above, there are several reasons why IT certifications are not an effective indicator of potential employer performance.

The first of these is that the technology industry moves in such a rapid manner, that a certification achieved in the year previous can become almost obsolete a year later due to the changing nature of the market. Furthermore, the credibility of certifications has been questioned time and time again, as anyone can set up a certification business and issue certificates.

Over the last few years, the professional certification industry has been struggling to resolve issues of cheating, validation of test scores and other problems that question whether a certification is, in fact, a reflection of the candidate’s ability at all.

Experience

Now let's consider the issue of experience. Surely, whilst certifications are of course useful, there is no substitue for on-the-job experience?

A survey conducted by Foote Partners shows that non-certified IT professionals receive higher bonuses than their less experienced, more certified peers – suggesting that experience considerably outweighs certifications. Experience allows a hiring manager to grasp how well a candidate can execute skills that have been acquired in a work setting.

Highlighting real-world examples demonstrates that individuals can apply their technical knowledge in practice.

In contrast to the argument above, there are also downsides to focussing on experience. Work experience can train an individual to perform certain tasks, yet it doesn't necessarily mean an individual has gained any kind of knowledge.

When considering programming an application, an IT professional who has simply learnt on the job cannot tell whether the processes learned at an organisation are ‘best practice’ – they can simply complete the task. As a result, those who have learnt on the job will add less value as they may not be able to identify areas of improvement which those with knowledge and certifications may be able to, and in turn generate increased efficiency for the organisation. 

Cultural fit

The final dimension to be considered here is cultural fit. After all, hiring managers are likely to spend considerable amounts of time with the employee, so the way in which they interract and the impression they make during the interview process is important. Indeed, some argue that cultural fit is infact the most important factor as skills can be learned, but personalities cannot be changed.

According to LinkedIn, workers on average know the ins and outs of a new position after three months. By contrast, personal qualities are much more ingrained and cannot be changed – or if they can, it would take more than three months to do so.

An applicant’s work ethic, honesty and willingness to learn is sometimes considered as more important than any technical knowledge they may have acquired. For example, if a solutions provider is looking for a new hire into their pre-sales team, would they rather hire an outgoing, positive thinker with a great personality to win business or a pre-sales veteran with 15 years experience who is so bored by the industry that he has a hard time forcing a smile when presenting to potential new clients?

Furthermore, the right team formations within organisations can make all the difference, as few jobs are done in total isolation. As a result, teamwork is considered vital for providing high levels of consumer satisfaction.  

Despite this, many suggest that determining an individual's fit for a role based on personality is highly flawed. It usually takes several minutes for hiring managers to get a good sense of someone’s personality. Hiring based on appointing ‘like-minded’ individuals can have many negative implications. ‘Good fit’ within organisations can turn into ‘the same as’ which leads to hiring managers bringing individuals into IT teams because they will get along with everyone, rather than the potential technical benefit that they can provide to the team.

Conclusion

The evidence appears to suggest that there are both benefits and drawbacks of hiring based exclusively on certifications, experience or personality. Following the research conducted for this article, I believe it would be naive to suggest that there is one ‘best-fit’ approach when it comes to hiring.

A hiring manager will place greater importance on each of the three dimensions depending on several factors.

1) the seniority of the hire in mind: when considering a potential candidate for a junior support role, a hiring manager will place considerable value on the personality of the candidate. They will look for an individual who is willing to learn, open to new ideas and has a strong desire for technological improvement.

2) the length of the role: by comparison, the same hiring manager will place significantly less importance on personality when hiring for a temporary senior engineer to implement specific technology. This time they will place more importance on the experience the individual has gained in his/her career to date.

To further complicate the matter, many hiring managers in modern markets simply will not consider candidates for a role if they do not possess certain certifications, therefore arguing that the two factors discussed above are completely irrelevant if they do not hold the required certification.

Employment is tight, organisations are struggling to find highly-skilled technology workers and if we’re honest, the UK isn’t helping itself when it comes to attracting talent – by leaving the EU we just restricted our access to a large number of workers.

Whether it’s the uncertainty around immigration and the right-to-work in the UK post-Brexit, the upcoming changes to the IR35 legislation, or the fact that the technology sector is not good at appealing to a diverse range of employees, there are many reasons that the industry is struggling to recruit.

So what can be done to address this?

David Annable, Franklin Fitch’s founder, believes the key is to embrace the full available range of talent. Whether you’re a baby boomer with substantial on-the-job experience; a generation x’er who’s grown up with IT; a millennial who has had digital technology thrust upon them from birth; or an entrepreneurial and tech-savvy member of generation z, each individual has something to offer.

Immigration has transformed the workplace

Since the end of the 1950s, immigration has transformed the UK. Back then, fewer than one in 25 of the population was born outside the country, according to figures from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. Today that figure is closer to one in seven. With the tight employment market – unemployment is at its lowest for more than 70 years – these overseas workers are essential to the healthy running of the UK economy.

Similarly, the age and gender demographic of the working population has changed significantly, with many tech workers both starting their careers earlier and finishing them later. Employing people with varying levels of experience can add a lot of value to a business, but is something that needs to be embraced right across the enterprise to avoid any risk of discrimination.

A study by CW Jobs found that 41% of IT and tech-sector workers said they had encountered age discrimination in the workplace, compared with only 27% across other industries. Moreover, 29, the age at which IT and tech workers first experienced ageism at work was significantly below the wider workforce average of 41.

Diversity brings benefits

There are benefits to both ends of the age spectrum. Many youngsters start writing code as teenagers because they’re fascinated by technology. By the time they graduate, they already have many years of relevant experience and a good grasp of the latest technology trends. They are generally considered to be open to new ideas and not tied to a particular design or coding approach.

By contrast, more experienced tech workers bring valuable insight from previous roles and in many situations use prior experience to successfully influence how challenges are solved. However, there is also a risk that experience brings a pre-determined mindset entrenched in a particular technology or methodology. In addition, experience often generates an aversion to risk, making these individuals less likely to move to smaller, developing start-ups or to stay in, or move to, a different country where their future may be uncertain.

Gender is an equally divisive issue, particularly in the technology sector. While just over half of the 6.5 million Britons working in professional occupations are women, the ratio falls to just one in six amongst the 998,000 working in IT and telecommunications, according to 2018 data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The disparity is even more pronounced amongst programmers and software development professionals where the ratio falls to just one in eight.

It is widely accepted that a diverse workforce is more successful. Whenever there is too much of one type of person and a lack of diversity in ways of thinking, experience levels and perspective, it’s easy for unconscious bias, stereotypes and singular mindset to take over not only individual workplace cultures, but even entire industries.

It's about identifying a need and filling it with the best person

“By failing to appreciate the benefits of a diverse workforce you are placing your business at an immediate disadvantage and potentially missing out on certain valuable skillsets,” says Annable.

“The key in most cases is agility. The technology sector is changing fast, and anyone that is able to do the same will thrive with it.”

by Claire Shoesmith

The actual act of Britain leaving the EU later today is expected to trigger a gradual upturn in the UK recruitment market, according to the latest Recruitment Sector Barometer.

After a long period of uncertainty – Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016 - employers and employees can now at least seek some solace in the fact Brexit is finally happening – even if the terms are unclear.

Although neither side of the negotiating table can say exactly what Britain’s departure means, the future is now marginally more predictable. This will enable businesses to make more informed decisions on discretionary hiring, fuelling the thaw of potential hiring freezes, and allowing candidates some comfort when being approached about new job opportunities.

All this said, we still live in an uncertain post-Brexit world where market conditions may change rapidly in the coming months and years. Businesses will need to adapt and be flexible to suit the conditions. The speed at which particular trade agreements are struck will dictate which sectors grow first and fastest. Agile organisations that are able to adapt quickly to these changes are most likely to seize the opportunities and generate the cash flow to invest in growth.

“Brexit uncertainty has undoubtedly caused many organisations to delay discretionary hiring decisions for the last three years,” the report says. “Boris Johnson’s announcement that, as of 1 February, the UK will no longer be an EU member will be the trigger some organisations need to start recruiting for certain positions.”

The Q1 2020 barometer found that recruitment leaders expect the market to improve slightly during 2020 after a challenging 2019, with net 59% of recruitment companies predicting net profit for the coming 12 months will exceed the prior year. In addition, the barometer found that industry optimism is at its highest level in a year, supported by a general expectation that Q1 2020 will outperform the year-earlier period in permanent and contingent recruitment as well as executive search.

One particularly interesting finding was that for the first time since the barometer began, the most commonly cited ‘top three challenge’ facing recruitment companies was economic conditions (63%), taking over from the availability of candidates (56%), which had until now always topped the challenges rankings.

(The quarterly barometer is conducted by Alex Arnott, specialist recruitment board advisor, in association with Recruiter magazine.)

by Claire Shoesmith

About three million new 50 pence pieces will enter circulation as official tender on Friday to mark Britain’s departure from the EU. Engraved with the message ‘Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’ (in our opinion, a rather ironic message for something that sees us leaving a union of nations) and the date of 31 January 2020, UK Chancellor Sajid Javid said the coins mark the beginning of a new chapter for the UK.

For businesses and job seekers however, what that new chapter actually means is still not clear. With just a day to go until the UK officially leaves the EU, uncertainty is still rife.

Aside from a special clock on the front of No.10 Downing Street counting down the final hour before the official 11pm (GMT) exit, Britain’s long-awaited departure from the EU is expected to bring few immediate changes.  

For politicians, it will mark the start of what is likely to be an uphill battle to get a trade deal done by the end of the year. It will also initiate the debate around security and intelligence cooperation, fisheries, data, education and research collaboration. So far, remarkably little is known about Boris Johnson’s specific plans.

For job seekers with British passports it may mean easier access to better jobs with higher pay as competition from rival applicants from outside the UK decreases. The exact rules surrounding the employment of non-Britons post-Brexit are still unclear, with talk of an Australian-style point-based system, which would mean individuals with certain desired skills can remain. Until this is finalised, there is no doubt that competition for the top talent will increase in what is already a tight employment market.

For businesses, the likelihood is that they will have to pay more as they compete for a smaller pool of skilled workers. The UK is already experiencing a technology skills shortage and Brexit is only likely to exacerbate the situation. Organisations will need to widen their reach and consider recruiting outside of their traditional talent pools. They should also consider rethinking their requirement criteria or even employing individuals with less experience and providing on-the-job training to help employees develop the desired skills.

The supply of people is not the only post-Brexit concern. The movement of data and how it is protected is an important issue which needs addressing. For many technology companies data is a precious commodity, so how it is moved to and from the EU once the UK becomes a separate entity needs to be resolved quickly and clearly to prevent any interruptions to business.

One thing that is clear is that Britain must react now and do what it can to maintain its position as a leading technology hub, ensuring it can still attract and rettain the top talent. Any change brings uncertainty, but it also brings opportunity. Whether you’re an organisation or a potential employee, the key is to use this change to your advantage and see it as a chance to innovate, improve and become stronger. That way, if something gets lost along the way, it won’t be you.

by Claire Shoesmith

What has the potential to impact the contract and permanent employment markets in opposite ways at the same time? No, this isn’t a joke, it is a serious question to which the answer is the upcoming changes to the UK’s IR35 legislation.

From April 6^th, private sector companies will be responsible for determining the IR35 status of their current and future contractors. As a result, the number of so-called ‘off payroll’ contractors is expected to dwindle, making it harder for organisations to fill highly-skilled project-based technical roles. To take them on as permanent employees, which would be welcomed in today’s tight recruitment market, organisations will need to pay more to compensate for the loss of the benefits associated with being self-employed (not paying tax or national insurance contributions).

The latest changes to the IR35 legislation are designed to remove the tax advantages of providing services via a limited company for individuals who are not truly working for themselves. In other words, those employees whose working practices are more akin to those of traditional employees.

The changes were introduced in the public sector in April 2017 and are due to come into effect in the private sector in April this year. From then, the responsibility for declaring tax status will lie with the organisation rather than the individual. The change has prompted many large businesses, including HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds, to consider the way they work with contractors and in the majority of cases, to make a blanket statement saying that they will no longer be engaging with contractors via their own personal service companies (PSCs).

While the actual impact of the changes on the private sector are yet to be seen, we can learn from the experiences of the public sector. Nearly three years into the new regime and the changes have been blamed for a series of delays to public sector IT programmes. A report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the association of Independent Professionals and Self-Employed (IPSE) published in June 2018 found that nearly three quarters of public sector hiring managers reported challenges in retaining contractors. It also found that more than half believed they had lost contractors due to the legislative changes.

Moreover, figures released by the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) in November showed that after a decade-long boom in IT contractors, the number of freelance technology workers fell by 2.4% to 121,989 in 2018, compared with the previous year.

While the new regime is without doubt the most fundamental change to the operations of IR35 since its inception, it doesn’t necessarily spell the death of the contractor. Many of these highly-skilled and very valuable individuals will be able to continue contracting via their Limited Companies, provided the end clients can provide recruitment agencies with an IR35 status determination. Companies not willing to embrace the changes will look to force contractors into permanent roles or make them switch to Umbrella companies.

 Simon Nicholls, practice manager for the contract recruitment market at Franklin Fitch, says: “We’re seeing a lot of panic from both our clients and the contractors we work with around the IR35 changes. However, if companies have a mechanism to assess IR35 status in a genuine, fair and pragmatic way then it should be business as usual.

“This is where we are educating clients currently in the hope that contractors can continue working in the same way, and clients have access to the vital flexible resources needed.”

As the saying goes, one man’s loss is another man’s gain. In this situation, while the contractor market may be at risk of losing some valuable assets, there’s every chance that the permanent market could reap the benefits as the tight employment market – unemployment is at its lowest for over 70 years - forces organisations to do whatever they can to ensure they attract and retain the best talent.

by Claire Shoesmith

A new year, a new you, or so the saying goes. For some this will mean a new job, for others it will be new resolutions, but for the remainder, it will simply be a continuation of the same, picking up where they left off sometime before Christmas. Even if it’s the latter, there’s no room for complacency. The IT world is constantly changing, and so should you if you want to keep on top of your game and get the most out of 2020.

Whilst we at Franklin Fitch have many skills, unfortunately crystal-ball reading isn’t one of them. However, being involved in two of the fastest moving industries – IT Infrastructure and recruitment, we have no doubt that 2020 is set to be an exciting year. So, what do we expect the first year of the new decade to bring, and more importantly, what can you do to ensure you stay ahead?

Here we look at the five top trends we expect to be dominating the market over the next 12 months and how we believe you can use them to your advantage.

1. A tighter permanent recruitment market

There are several reasons for this: unemployment is at its lowest rate for more than 40 years (the latest figures from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) released in December show the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, its lowest level since 1974) and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Britain’s departure from the EU. The upcoming change to the IR35 legislation is also having an impact, but we will examine this in more detail in another article.

Finding individuals with the required skills and experience to fill roles in cutting-edge sectors, such as serverless and cloud technology, DevOps, containerisation, networking and cyber security has never been easy, but it’s now harder than ever. Not only are there not enough Britons out there seeking these positions, but we are now faced with a likely shortage of skilled migrant workers thanks to the uncertainty around Britain’s future immigration policy. While there is much talk of an Australian-style point-based system, which would allow those with the necessary skills to take these roles, David Annable, Franklin Fitch’s founder, says that all the uncertainty is reducing the attractiveness of the UK as a place for non-Britons to work.

While the tight market makes it more difficult for businesses looking to hire highly-skilled security architects, network engineers or chief information (security) officers, it is also an opportunity for the UK’s top technology talent. 

2. Higher salaries

The knock-on effect of a shortage of candidates is obviously an increase in salaries. With fewer people to fill the roles, particularly in the highly-skilled areas of networks, servers, security or data, it goes without saying that those individuals capable of doing the job will need to be paid more to attract them to, and keep them in, the role.  

3. Candidate-led hiring

Another feature of a tight employment market is that it places the power very firmly in the hands of the candidate. Employers will need to work harder to attract and retain the right people, says Annable.

Training and development will be key to ensuring employees remain engaged and hopefully prevent them being enticed away to other roles. In our 2019 Market and Skills Report, the opportunity to progress featured highly, just behind salary, in the rankings of what candidates consider to be most important when choosing a new job.

4. Increased focus on employee benefits, including flexibility

Getting the right work-life balance has long been a talking point. While no definitive solution to the age-old challenge has been found, organisations have become much more open to alternative ways of working, including flexible hours, job sharing and the option to work from home. This is understandably not an option for all roles, but in today’s tight job market, organisations are going to have to pay more attention to the requests of individual employees and seek to accommodate their demands to attract the top talent. Again this offers a great opportunity for job seekers.

5. Ongoing emphasis on diversity in the workplace

Improving diversity and inclusion is not just a box-ticking exercise. Organisations are at last starting to realise the benefits of a diverse workforce. According to the latest figures from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), just over half of the 6.5 million Britons working in professional occupations are women. While this is indeed progress, it has unfortunately not filtered through to the IT and telecommunications’ sectors, where the ratio is just one in six.

However, the IT sector fares better when it comes to ethnic diversity, with the latest ONS figures showing that of the 1.84 million professionals who work in science, engineering and technology, 85.1% are white, compared with 87.6% across the UK workforce as a whole.

While the debate rumbles on as to how to achieve increased diversity in gender, ability, ethnicity and sexual orientation, you can expect organisations to try their own variations of quotas and targets to help achieve their goal. For some individuals, this will be an opportunity.

To conclude, there is no doubt that the tight employment market offers highly-skilled IT candidates the chance to shine and move ahead of the curve, but they aren't the only ones. The market situation also creates a significant opportunity for recruiters to face up to the challenge of finding the right person for the right role in a market where organisations themselves are likely to struggle. 

If 2020 is looking like a good year for candidates, then it's also not looking too bad for recruiters.....

by Claire Shoesmith

One of the most important things within the application process is your CV. It’s the first impression you make on a potential new employer. Here are our top tips on how to make it a good one.

Layout 

• Concise personal profile at the top
• Include a list of your key skills (maybe put it in order of expertise, starting with the one you’re most proficient at)
• Don’t make your CV longer than 2 A4 pages (absolute max. 3)
• Keep it simple: clean layout, easy to read font, not too colourful 
• Check on spelling, punctuation and grammar
• Start with your most recent relevant experience

Content 

• Your contact details
• Your work experiences (only mention the ones relevant to your field). 
• Include your education
• List your achievements: mention what you’ve achieved, how you managed to do that and what it took to get there (might be worth to include a complete portfolio of your projects and achievements so far)
• Match your personal skills to the ones required for the role as much as possible (be honest!)
• Don’t include a picture, your age, marital status, children, religion, political affiliation, or hobbies unless they are specifically relevant to the role you’re applying for. 
• Explain any gaps in your CV in a positive way
• Make sure your content is genuine and true 

Nearly there! Do’s and Don’ts before sending your CV out 

Do 

• Check your CV for spelling/grammatical/punctuation mistakes (maybe have someone else read through it) 
• Put the most recent experience first 
• Use the same easy to read font throughout your CV 
• Export your CV as a PDF file so it keeps the formatting wherever you send it

Don’t 

• Don’t leave gaps in your experience - explain why you weren’t working! 
• Don’t include bad grades 
• Don’t lie! 
• Don’t talk about yourself in 3rd person

Done? Perfect! Now send it off and let us take care of the next steps! If you have any further questions concerning your CV before sending it to us, feel free to get in touch. We are happy to help! 

Currently looking for a new role? Feel free to send us your CV or call us to see what opportunities we might have for you! We specialise in IT Networking, Server, Database and InfoSec. 

Diversity and inclusion are very important topics for businesses across all industries. We want to shine a light on the topic specifically for those working within IT Infrastructure.

We’ve seen a lot of women in tech initiatives over the years yet still only 10% of participants in this market and skills report were female. Although we were hoping that this is not a representative number, day to day conversations with industry specialist show a similar result.

We are supporting events like CYBERWOMEN 2019 in Germany and hope that initiatives like these will give women and girls the confidence to take on a career in IT Infrastructure.

Although we are huge fans of initiatives encouraging women and girls in tech, we think that this is not enough. Diversity & Inclusion is not only about the female-male divide. It is about tackling biases based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual preference and age (just to name a few) and ending discrimination completely.

We would like to provide a platform for those working within or interested in IT Infrastructure to share their experiences with us and to come up with possible solutions together.

We are conducting interviews with industry experts who are willing to give us their opinions and insights on diversity and inclusion within IT Infrastructure.

Interested? Contact Leonie Schaefer for more information +44 203 696 7950, l.schaefer@franklinfitch.com.

There are many reasons why Graduates should look to recruitment as their first step into the working environment. The traditional image of recruitment is changing. What used to be a “plan B” career is fast becoming the occupation of choice. Why?

More companies are using recruiters due to the high demand for talented people in the industry. Recruitment consultants use their knowledge, expertise and judgment to match talented candidates to business’ job opportunities. Most companies have realised that their most valuable asset for success is their employees, giving recruiters the change to make a real impact on the economy and business growth.

Agencies are not only seeking the skilled candidates for their clients but looking for the top talent to join their own workforces. There is a significant demand for enthusiastic, ambitious professionals who are self-driven, hardworking and want to “be their own boss”. Recruitment companies are looking for those personalities that can build rapport, handle negotiations, influence and manage relationships.

Here are 8 reasons why recruitment is a good career move for you:

• High remuneration – Recruitment is built on financial incentives for performance, through commission, rewards and trips away. The more activity you create, the more successful you are in delivering the recruitment solutions inevitably means the more reward you gain. Types of incentives at Franklin Fitch includes: Trips to Miami, Las Vegas, Dublin, Cannes, Skiing, Water sports and many more!
• Scope for development – Recruitment agencies don’t want a high turnover, they invest in their staff to help them grow and develop as a successful recruiter with expenses on training programmes, coaching and mentorship. Agencies are moulding their staff into business leaders of the future.
• Variety of work – Recruiting gives you flexibility you may not get in other industries. For instance, one day you may be on the phones working that ‘wolf of wall street’ lifestyle, the next you’ll be out and about meeting clients and candidates, attending meetups, finalising contracts.
• Progression Opportunities – Top performers will advance their career quickly in recruitment, moving into more senior leadership roles. Recruitment is solely judged on performance, not time served or waiting for someone to take a step down.
• Competition is exciting – As a recruiter, you are in head to head competition with other consultants and recruitment companies. You’ll be a successful recruiter if you find competition exhilarating, challenging and enjoyable.
• The opportunity to meet the best – You’ll be speaking with the top talent of whatever industry you choose every day. Allowing you to develop your own specialisms, understand a particular sector inside and out and growing your connections for future job prospects.
• Consultative approach – Recruitment is for people who aren’t afraid to push themselves. You aren’t selling a product, you’re selling people. People are unpredictable and difficult to manage on the candidate and client side. You are developing skills to consult with clients to find out what they need to make their business grow and help them find the candidates who will make that happen.
• Human interaction – A highlight with recruitment is the interaction you get on a daily basis. You spend the majority of your time speaking with clients and candidates, understanding their needs and developing your relationships to help advance your career.

It was a fantastic night at Recruiter Magazine’s Investing in Talent Awards where we were delighted to pick up the award for Best Company to Work For (11-49 employees) as well as being shortlisted for two other awards.

In what was the most competitive category on the night, with 10 consultancies shortlisted, the award recognises the recruitment company “that provides the most effective work environment, incentives, benefits, professional development/training, internal communications, ‘best practice’-orientated management, inclusion, and social responsibility activity.”

The evening didn’t get off to the best start for one of the team, Chris, realising that his newly purchased suit still had the security tag attached. A dash to Oxford Circus was needed, and all was quickly forgotten when the Franklin Fitch name was announced and the team proudly walked up on stage to pick up the trophy.

Dave Annable who collected the award with the team from Hays’ Director of People & Culture, Trisha Brooke reacted to the recognition with pride:

“I was genuinely surprised when we were announced as winners, we’ve been working hard to build a great business, and to receive some external validation and recognition is fantastic. The whole team are bought into our vision and we are committed to the ongoing development of each person working for us, whatever their role.

We have ambitious growth plans for all of our offices in Europe and the US, so hopefully the 2019 awards will see Franklin Fitch feature in the 50 – 99 headcount category!”

We’d like to thank Recruiter Magazine for putting on an excellent evening and congratulate all other winners and shortlisted companies and individuals.

For many, when they hear or read the word ‘Brexit’ they roll their eyes with disillusionment of the ongoing saga. After all, it has been 36 months since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU and it is still no closer to recognising what that may mean – or even if it will happen.

But it would be remiss not to understand that it affects people. People who have ambition, dreams, careers, relationships and families.

At Franklin Fitch we have a presence in the UK and Europe. We work together, overcome challenges together and celebrate successes together. This is down to our people.

A number of these people are EU citizens living and working in the UK with genuine concerns around Brexit and what it may mean for them. One of these individuals is Oliver Neukamm, who has worked at Franklin Fitch in London since January 2017. He reflected after Theresa May’s recent crushing defeat in Parliament after MPs voted on her negotiated Withdrawal Agreement:

“I’m disappointed and astonished at how the country seems to be dismantling itself.

I’m currently enjoying my work and have had a very successful career to date in the UK. Myself and my partner (a British citizen) are currently in the process of purchasing a property so I want to be here for a while longer!  I’m lucky in the sense that I have the security that Franklin Fitch will support me and sort out any visa requirements should they be needed, but I can imagine that many others in similar situations are more concerned.

From my point of view a ‘No Deal Brexit’ wouldn’t be good for anyone and I personally don’t think it will happen when it comes to the crunch. I hope that the current political purgatory ends as soon as possible to give everyone some clarity and security.”

Oliver’s comments first appeared in the German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine on the 16^th of January.

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/wie-geht-es-eu-buergern-in-grossbritannien-vor-dem-brexit-15991775.html

Are you a Network Visionary?

The Network Architect

Do you want a thriving IT career? This is the roadmap to becoming a successful Network Architect.

The Role:

Compared to a traditional Network Engineer, who is focused on implementing and troubleshooting, a Network Architect designs computer networks. This means constructing layouts for the usage of hardware and software and creating models to predict future network needs, using network modeling tools such as Opnet, OMNeT++ and NS2. Furthermore, architects are involved in the analysis of business requirements, project planning and budgeting, and often require softer skills including stakeholder management to complement their technical abilities. This requires a lot of diplomacy and consultancy skills.

But, Network Architects are among the highest paid employees in the IT-world.

Skills & Certifications:

The role of a Network Architect usually requires a bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, several network certifications are highly recommended. These include Expert level certifications, such as Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) or Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE). Also beneficial are certifications such as ITIL and TOGAF or even the Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr).

Knowledge in key areas such as cloud computing, virtualization, programming, security and application design are also in high demand.

However, it should not be forgotten that building your experience is as important as having a degree.

If you put in the time and effort into gaining professional skills, certifications and experience in the networking field, the position of Network Architect could be the ultimate goal in your IT career.

As attractive as a counter-offer may seem, you should seriously consider if it’s wise to accept it. If you have already decided to move on from your current job, you shouldn’t let anyone change your mind.

As soon as you hand in your notice, a lot of bosses will try and convince you to stay – the standard counter-offers include higher salary, more training and development, more new technologies, etc.

So your mind starts wandering: “What if they are right?” “Should I give my old job a second chance?” “Who knows, what the new job might be like – it could be even worse than the current one…”

Please stop this thought process right now! Counter-offers have a lot of traps that you might not detect at first. In most cases, people regret accepting counter-offers.

Why does your employer only react to your wishes now?

Counter-offers are quite a common thing – and here’s why:

1. Your boss thinks: “Another company is interested in our employee – maybe we need to change something…” – no one likes to change so some people will try and avoid it for as long as they can.
2. You would leave a gap, which would be very time consuming and expensive to refill.
3. Depending on your specialisation and due to numerous amounts of skills gaps, it can be extremely hard to find the right candidate to replace your position.

Let’s imagine you accept the counter-offer – what happens next?

Your boss is happy you stayed, and he doesn’t have to replace you, so he pays more attention to you and your needs for a while. You might get that pay rise, better working hours and that long-desired bonus. Then your boss eventually realises – you wanted to leave. So, he will keep a close eye on you and what you do: a person that decided to leave once might do it again. Unfortunately, that makes you a very unsafe candidate for any upcoming promotions – because if they invest in you today how do they know you won’t take your expertise to a competitor tomorrow. Chances are, your boss only wants to keep you until he has found the right replacement. Once you realise what’s happening – the job offer you secured back when you decided to leave will be long gone.

Why is your employer only appreciating your value now?

Receiving a pay rise is a nice perk – but was the pay rise really the reason you wanted to leave in the first place? Money is important, but usually there are more reasons for an employee to leave: no career progression, no work-life-balance, not enough appreciation, bad atmosphere within the team, feeling bored or overwhelmed with the tasks. If you are now still considering accepting the counter-offer from your boss, then please make sure you mention the other issues you have within the company – more money alone won’t make you happy. In a lot of cases, and we are speaking from experience, accepting a counter-offer has made candidates unhappier rather than happier.

If you are looking for a new position within IT Infrastructure, contact Xenia Kusainov today or browse our current vacancies here.

Franklin Fitch, the IT Infrastructure specialists have launched their fifth international office, and first outside of Europe, in Austin, Texas. With established offices in London, Frankfurt, Cardiff and Vienna, Franklin Fitch’s expansion into the United States comes during a period rapid growth in terms of headcount and financial performance.

Jordan Guttridge who has been with the business for four years will be joined by Matthew Forshaw who has over 10 years recruitment experience with four of them based in Texas.  Managing the operation will be Steven Ewer who has been a director at Franklin Fitch since 2013 and is excited about the new venture:

“Establishing a presence in the US has always been a part of the Franklin Fitch growth strategy.  We didn’t want to jump into such a big move until we knew we had the right team, infrastructure and opportunity.  We have that now.

Being true specialists in the areas of networking, systems infrastructure and cyber security means we can carve out a real niche in these markets and we’re determined to offer a real focused offering to the US market.  In Jordan and Matthew, we have experienced and ambitious individuals who will go that extra mile for candidates and clients as well as provide the platform for Franklin Fitch’s growth in Texas and beyond.”

David Annable, founder of Franklin Fitch, says that he believes that the latest office will emulate the existing offices that have performed so well since they launched:

“This year our business performance has consistently exceeded expectations and I’m confident that the newly formed Austin team will follow in the footsteps of its European counterparts.  We’ve invested significantly in our people development, brand and systems infrastructure over the past 12 months and it’s great to see it now paying dividends. The US is another exciting marketplace, offering further opportunity to our existing team but also playing a vital role when attracting external talent to Franklin Fitch. We work hard daily to fulfil our vision, and this really is a giant leap in the right direction.”

 About Franklin Fitch:

Founded in 2011, Franklin Fitch is a specialist recruiter in IT Infrastructure, covering the networking, systems infrastructure and cyber security markets across the UK, Germany, Austria and United States.

Today’s the day – 32 countries from all over the world are about to compete in one of the most renowned tournaments on the planet. Entering for Franklin Fitch this year will be Team #Germany, Team #England, Team #Wales and Team #Austria. “4 Locations?!”, you say? – Yes, that’s correct! We’ve grown a lot over the last few years not just in the number of consultants, but also in experience, market knowledge, internationality, and languages we speak. (9. We speak 9 languages 😊: German, English, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French, Swedish, Greek and Welsh of course!)

Since we started in 2011, we have used the international football tournaments (previous UEFA Euros and FIFA World Cups) for team motivational purposes. And since the official Panini FIFA World Cup Collector’s Sticker Albums have always played a big role in this, we wanted to honour this by changing our profile pictures for the duration of the FIFA Football World Cup in Russia. Let us know what you think!