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Posts Tagged ‘fixed fee recruitment’

Modern Recruitment – The Benefits of Flat Fee Recruitment

March 7th, 2011 by Jamie Rock

Recruitment is an ever changing practice and over the last few decades has consequently become a consistently evolving standalone industry. As techniques develop and the power of the internet as a recruitment tool begins to exert its force to an increasingly greater extent, new schools of recruitment methodology have formed. Modern day recruitment is a much more elaborate and targeted process than simply placing an advert in the jobs section of the newspaper, similarly;  choosing the best form of recruitment for your company can be a complicated undertaking given the vast differences in technique, practices and price.

The core factor to look at if you are comparing the relative merits of different recruitment organisations is value. Value in terms of the best candidate at the best possible price, as opposed to simply opting for inconsistent quality and service but at the lowest possible cost. At the other end of the spectrum, laying out tens of thousands of pounds for a new director through a headhunting agency will not necessarily ensure that you get a better person for the job. In the majority of instances flat fee recruitment (also known as fixed fee recruitment) will turn out to be the most cost effective way of filling individual roles or multiple positions with the best possible candidates.

Flat fee recruitment (as the name suggests) is a service which is performed for clients for an arranged fixed cost and is ideal for companies of all sizes. The pre-established set fee ensures that the recruitment process falls firmly within budget and similarly; those organisations who are looking to fill more than one role don’t have to pay any extra if they chose to employ any number of candidates sourced by the fixed fee campaign.

As flat fee recruiters, at Blue Octopus we work more closely with the client and launch fresh, carefully planned advertising campaigns through relevant job boards and online and offline versions of major publications. In contrast to many ‘industry specific’ recruitment agencies who build a pool of candidates within a certain sector who they then attempt to sell to companies for a percentage of the new employee’s salary for their first year – fixed fee recruitment organisations act 100% in the best interests of the client and generate new applications in each instance.

For smaller companies or those operating on a particularly tight recruitment budget flat fee recruitment allows them absolute budgetary control to ensure that they are not spending more than they are comfortable to do so. Whilst larger companies are also likely to enjoy this benefit, they are most probably going to be even more drawn to the idea of paying a set fee as opposed to a potentially huge sum as a percentage of a new employee’s salary. Companies of all sizes and turnovers will surely enjoy the benefit of being able to allocate resources to more pressing business requirements by outsourcing their recruitment to experts rather than having to deal with it in-house.

If would like to discuss the flat fee recruitment service we provide with one of our experts then click here and fill in your details so that we can get back to you.

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Posted in Blue Octopus, News, Recruiters |

2011 – What Can We Expect?

December 16th, 2010 by Jamie Rock

With the year coming to an end it seems the perfect time to evaluate the state of the recruitment industry and hazard a careful guess as to what next year may hold.

2010 has been a year of change and concern on numerous fronts – with a new government coming to power and heavy spending cuts signalling the precarious state of the economy. These spending cuts have not only meant that public services have had to watch their budgets carefully – but that a large number of people within the public sector face redundancy. Allied with the reduction in lending to small businesses and the consequential bankruptcy of a large number or SMEs it is shocking but not surprising to hear that unemployment figures have raised to disconcertingly high levels.

There is however a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, particularly as far as businesses are concerned. PwC have compiled data which points towards somewhere in the region of 28% of UK companies increasing their number of staff during 2011. This prediction is backed up by the revelations announced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) that the number of job appointments soared last month – an indication that faith is returning to the job market, particularly within the private sector. With claims that we are now out of the recession and rapidly growing employment rates 2011 is beginning to look very bright.

In addition to growing confidence in recruitment for 2011 as a whole, seasonal factors also point to a very strong January for organisations such as ourselves. Although many will dismiss their New Year’s resolutions just as easily as they formulated them – many stick to their guns and genuinely try to make a change over the New Year. Pursuing a new career is a resolution for many and a consequence of this is a particularly strong start to the year for forward thinking online recruiters like Blue Octopus. With our transparent operations policy and client focus, more and more organisations choose to utilise our fixed fee recruitment services in order to get the best possible people for the best possible price during January and beyond. As a result of this upturn in clients we inevitably place a high volume of candidates in new positions (and in doing so aid them in making their New Year’s resolutions come to fruition).

At Blue Octopus we’re extremely excited about this coming year and will be launching a wide range of new services and initiatives throughout 2011 to ensure that we offer the best value and most comprehensive recruitment service available – we hope you’ll join us on this thrilling journey!

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Posted in Blue Octopus, Recruitment |

Online Recruitment Basics – A Glossary

November 8th, 2010 by Jamie Rock

Much like numerous other industries, those who operate within recruitment tend to use language and terminology which to an outsider may be a little confusing. At Blue Octopus we do our best to do away with jargon to ensure absolute transparency, but there are some terms and phrases which it would make sense to define…just to be certain. Although some of these terms are for the most part self-explanatory we’d like to take this opportunity to outline precisely what is meant by some of the terminology which is central to our organisation:

Flat Fee Recruitment/Fixed Fee Recruitment

Flat fee recruitment and fixed fee recruitment mean essentially the same thing: that you pay a one off fee for your recruitment campaign. Whilst many recruitment agencies will charge a percentage of the salary offered to a successful candidate (or indeed candidates if more than one is employed)- a company who provide fixed or flat fee recruitment will charge a one-off set fee at the outset of the campaign, regardless of the salary of the successful candidate and the number of people taken on as a result of the recruitment drive. Not only does this form of recruitment cost considerably less but also ensures there aren’t any unexpected or additional charges involved with the process. At Blue Octopus we’re proud to offer an unparalleled recruitment service which ensures quality and incredible value.

Jobsites/Job Boards

Jobsites and Job Boards are one of the cornerstones of modern recruitment. These gigantic websites serve as a place where recruiters can advertise their roles and candidates can submit their job applications. Submitting a role to a job board can be incredibly costly when performed on a one off or intermittent basis – the cost of advertising a job on a number of these websites will generally cost considerably more than employing a flat fee recruitment organisation to do this for you as a part of their service. In addition to saving you money, a highly regarded company such as Blue Octopus will also have extensive expertise in wording jobsite adverts in the most effective manner to induce higher levels of interest and of course take the hassle out of the entire recruitment process.

Engage Technology

Engage Technology is our unique, powerful and easy to use family of web based recruitment systems. All clients of Blue Octopus are provided with full access to this useful tool – allowing them to effectively manage their recruitment requirements 24 hours a day. Engage Recruitment Technology has been developed to ensure that Human Resources Professionals can engage with the recruitment process as and when required and ultimately streamline their administrative tasks.

Octopus

An octopus is a bilaterally symmetric cephalopod mollusc (in the order Octopoda). They have eight tentacles and are proven to be amongst the most intelligent of all invertebrates. This isn’t however particularly relevant – to find out more about the Blue Octopus simply give us a call.

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Posted in Blue Octopus, Recruitment |

Recruitment Outsourcing: An Introduction

October 22nd, 2010 by Jamie Rock

Recruitment outsourcing is the utilisation of a specialist external organisation for the sourcing and hiring of staff. Their task is to perform all aspects of the recruitment process; from profiling through to the advancement of candidates to the interview stage. Increasing numbers of businesses are turning to external recruitment companies in order to recruit the best possible new starters to their organisation.

The task of recruiting was historically amongst the duties of the human resources department of an organisation, but many large companies are now looking to outsource this task so that the HR department can focus more upon business strategy and existing personnel management. Small businesses which lack a dedicated human resources function are particularly reliant upon recruitment outsourcing as a means of gaining the best possible new staff with minimum disruption to their day to day operations.

Utilising an external, specialist organisation to perform your recruitment for you brings with it a number of benefits:

Lower Cost

Advertising for a position yourself can be an extremely costly endeavour. Just having your job advert listed on one job board can cost several hundred pounds – and having an advert put into the local paper can cost considerably more. When utilising an external recruitment organisation, your job advert is pushed out through their carefully researched and highly effective channels as part of your fee. Flat fee recruitment in particular represents incredible value in terms of the total cost of the service.

Faster Sourcing

Given that a dedicated recruitment agency is an expert in their field and fully geared towards highly effective recruitment practices: they will almost certainly perform the task of recruiting for a role considerably faster than you could do so in-house.

Higher Quality of Candidates

Not only will a recruitment specialist be able to source candidates very quickly, but will also make maximum use of their experience, networks and contacts to find the best possible people for the job.

Improved Time Efficiency

Outsourcing your recruitment requirements avoids the need to allocate your own time or that of another member of staff to the task of sourcing candidates. If your company doesn’t have a fulltime human resources function then this is a particularly strong argument for bringing a recruitment company on board.

Whether you are looking to recruit regularly, on an ad hoc basis or indeed only very rarely; it is well worth considering outsourcing. If you would like to discuss your recruitment requirements with industry experts then please don’t hesitate to give Blue Octopus a call.

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Posted in Blue Octopus, Recruitment |