FF Focus

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.

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.

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

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!

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 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

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

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

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.

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.