The new National Living Wage came into effect in April 2016, replacing the National Minimum Wage for all employees over the age of 25.

Around six million people in the UK now receive new National Living Wage, but how do you find out whether it can benefit you and what do you have to do to make sure you get it?

Our Q&A with Priority Appointments' Business Director Tracy Welch tells you all you need to know:

Q: How do you apply for the National Living Wage?

A: You don’t have to apply for it. Your employer, or your agency if you work as a temp through Priority Appointments, will automatically check if you are eligible for the National Living Wage.

Q: I work part-time – will I still get it?

A: If you pay National Insurance, have a contract of employment or you are a contractor paid via an agency like Priority Appointments. you should be eligible. If your work is completely flexible, you may not be, as you will be considered to be self-employed. You can check if you will be eligible using this calculator.

Q: I am not yet 25, so what do I get?

A: You continue to receive the Minimum Wage until you are 25. There are different rates for over-21s; 18 – 20 year olds; under 18s and apprentices. You can check the current rates on the UK government website.

Q: Is this the same as the Real Living Wage?

A: The 'Real Living Wage' is a voluntary pay structure promoted by the Living Wage Foundation. This is not run by the Government and is not mandatory for employers. However, more and more companies are signing up to the scheme all the time, so it would be worth asking your employer if they are a member.

For information on local jobs at excellent rates of pay, please contact Tracy Welch.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has published a useful infographic which clearly explains the rights of Agency Workers.

An ‘agency worker’ is defined as someone who is engaged by an agency and supplied to work under the supervision and direction of another business, so temps and contract workers will all come under this heading

You can download a copy of the infographic here.

The way you write your CV can have a huge impact on whether it is read, let alone whether it gets you that all-important interview.

So here are some tried and tested do’s and don’ts to bear in mind when you’re writing your CV:

DO… Write your CV with your potential employer in mind. Look at the advert or specification and think about what the job involves and what the employer needs. Find out about the main services the employer provides.

DON’T… Hand-write your CV. This looks unprofessional and old fashioned.

DO… Tailor your CV to the job you are applying for. Your CV shouldn’t detail your life story but it should be adjusted to suit the job you’re applying for, focusing on the skills you have that are important for that particular job.

DON’T… Include negative information.  Failed exams, divorces, unsuccessful business ventures, driving bans etc don’t need to be mentioned. Don’t lie, but don’t give the interviewer any reason to discard you at this stage either.

DO… Make sure your CV is clear, neat and tidy. Ask someone to check your spelling and grammar (remember your CV is selling YOU, so don’t affect your chances by making careless mistakes). It should be easy to read with space between each section. Don’t include too much information – keep it short and use left-justified text as it’s easiest to read.

DON’T… Make your CV any longer than two pages – you can leave out information that is less important. You don’t need to include referees – just state they are available if required. Don’t go into detail about all of the jobs you have had since school, just the relevant ones. Add information about your most recent qualifications, but summarise the rest.

DO… Place the important information (personal statement and work history) at the beginning and include experience and educational achievements in reverse order. Talk about experiences and interests that might be of use to the employer: IT skills, voluntary work, foreign language competency, driving skills, hobbies and interests that show you’re a team player and have organisation/leadership skills.

DON’T… Don’t bother with the list of schools you went to with results unless you are new to the job market.  Also, don’t include a long list of hobbies, or an overly-detailed work history. Think about demonstrating what you have achieved by applying the skills you have worked at, and explain the benefits your clients have enjoyed as a result of your work.

DO… Use positive and friendly language.  Describe your work achievements use words such as ‘launched’, ‘managed’, ‘co-ordinated’, ‘motivated’, ‘supervised’ and ‘achieved’. Include specific outcomes to prove your claims. For example, ‘This reduced the development time from 7 to 3 days’ or ‘This improved the company’s internal structure, and enabled us to reduce overheads from £35,000 to £23,000 per year’.

DON’T… Use jargon, acronyms, technical terms and internal phrases unless essential. And of course, be truthful – employers have ways of checking what you claim is accurate.

DO … Ensure that the relevant information on your CV matches your LinkedIn profile as many employers will check this.

Once you’re happy with it, send it over to us to have a look at – we may have the perfect job for you!  Click here to send us your CV.

Find out How to Wow at Interviews by downloading our short guide to securing that dream job!

An interview is your opportunity to sell yourself, to find out more about the position you’re
applying for and the company as a whole. Priority’s guru Emma Chamberlain, Lead
Consultant for Commercial, shares her experience on what makes a great interview.

When you attend an interview with a prospective employee, they want to find out
about you: what motivates you, whether you will fit in with their team and, of course,
whether you have the skills they are looking for.

An interview is a two-way process and is as much about you finding out whether the
job and company are the right fit for you as it is about selling yourself to the employer.
So whilst it’s important to always be yourself at interview, there are some simple rules
that you can follow that will help you to wow the interview panel and stand out from
the competition.

We take a light-hearted look at the intriguing development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for the recruitment industry

There is no doubt that a growing number of HR executives believe that Artificial Intelligence will transform their talent acquisition capability.

But what will this mean for recruitment consultancies that rely on human intuition, knowledge and skill to help them fill jobs?

Here at Priority Appointments, we have been having a bit of fun imagining a future where robots with artificial intelligence could take over the recruitment process completely.

Here are some pros and cons of relying on a machine, rather than friendly, human recruitment consultants, to help you find your next staff member.

Voice Recognition
If your robot recruiter had the same unreliable level of voice recognition capabilities as most of our mobile phones, its interpretation of your brief about the type of staff you’re looking for could result in some interesting interpretations! It’s one thing to end up with the wrong sort of pizza topping, but just think what could happen if it mis-heard ‘we need an experienced packer and picker’!

Interaction with Humans
Robots would probably need considerably less tea than some of our team members, just a squirt of WD-40 every now and then and a software upgrade once a week. But would they be as effective spending time on the phones and in face-to-face meetings finding the perfect candidate to suit your vacancy?

The Personal Touch
Artificial intelligence might potentially offer a higher level of consistency than the average human, but it seems like a high price to pay. We know that our clients would sorely miss our personal approach if they had to deal with R-74B-Z instead of Lucy, Emma or any of the rest of our friendly team!

Body Language Cues
An area that industry observers are watching with great interest is the potential for machines with AI to ‘interview’ candidates. An AI-based service could collect, process and analyse huge amounts of unstructured information from a job interview and compare thousands of applications in just a few minutes. However, without a real live human to pick up on subtle cues such as somebody’s body language, tone of voice or eye contact, it would be easy to get lured into choosing someone whose answers were spot on, but whose personality meant that they would not suit either the job or your working environment

Looking at the subject rather more seriously, there is no question that AI is a technology that is on the rise.

Research by Deloitte Human Capital Trends in 2017 showed that 33% of employees expect their jobs to become augmented by AI in the near future.

It could well make sense to include an element of artificial intelligence in the recruitment process as it becomes more widely accessible. For now, however, the best way to make sure that your new employees fit well with your team, business culture and values, is by having a friendly, experienced and human consultant to help you find new staff!

As a professional recruitment consultancy we’ll continue to be alert to AI opportunities within the recruitment industry, but for now we’ll just paraphrase the famous line from RoboCop:

“Excuse me. I have to go. Somewhere there is a new job vacancy happening.”

Priority Appointments is a professional recruitment consultancy based in Basingstoke, Hampshire.  We help companies find people and people to find jobs in Basingstoke, Camberley, Andover, Farnborough, Aldershot, Winchester and the surrounding areas within Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire.  If you’d like us to help handpick your next employee please call us on 01256 334575.

85% of HR decision-makers admit to having made a bad hire according to REC, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

Of those, one in three who hired the wrong person as a manager, director, or in a senior official role think it cost their business nothing.

However, the true cost of hiring the wrong person is actually higher than you would expect.

REC have produced an infographic that shows that the aggregate cost of taking on the wrong employee at a salary of £42,000pa could actually lead to losses of over £132,000 to the business.

A single bad hire can create a domino effect: poor performance, coupled with strife within the team, will affect productivity and potentially damage your business’ reputation.

REC estimates the costs to the business of a bad hire are estimated as:

• £28,000 in wasted salary out of the total annual pay of £42,000
• £1,500 in wasted training
• £9,730 spend on recruiting and training the new employee
• £9,625 on lost productivity of the individual
• £29,160 on lost productivity of the wider team
• £54,000 in staff turnover as a result of dissatisfaction in the team

However, there are steps that hirers can take to ensure that the next is the right one who will contribute to growth and profit, rather than someone who seems like a square peg in a round hole:

1) Understand exactly who you need right now: Don’t just dust off the last job description when the time comes to recruit again. The job role may well have evolved and you need to regularly review the criteria for success to ensure you attract the right kind of candidate. Also, consider the overall balance of your team and build a flexible and inclusive workforce that can adapt as your business grows.

2) Check the salary band is correct: A professional recruitment consultant with good knowledge of employers in the local area will be able to advise you if the salary you have in mind is appropriate for the role you are recruiting for. 

3) Consider soft skills: No amount of technical ability will compensate for a lack of soft skills which are essential if a candidate is going to integrate with your culture successfully. Good communication, leadership and collaboration skills can often mean the difference between a good and bad hire.

4) Onboard new recruits effectively: If there are problems, they usually rear their head in the first few weeks of joining. By having a clear induction process and giving responsibility to other members of the team to show the new recruit the ropes, their chances of a smooth and trouble-free integration are much higher.

5) Partner with an experienced recruitment consultant: According to REC, 40% of companies state that their staff do not have the correct interviewing skills to find exactly the right people.

By choosing a local, professional recruitment partner, you can save time by relying on the consultancy to screen candidates and propose a short-list of people. They can also advise on the types of questions to ask in an interview.

With careful planning and the right support from an expert, professional team, you can face a future free from the cost of a bad hire.

To find out how we can help you find the Perfect Match for your team, call us today on 01256 334575.

The new levels of the National Minimum and National Living Wage come into effect from 1st April 2019. The UK's minimum pay scales are governed by two different sets of regulation:

• National Living Wage regulations were passed through parliament in 2016 with the goal of ensuring that all over-25s will be paid at least £9 per hour by 2020.

• National Minimum Wage regulations have been in force since 1999 and apply to employees under 25.

The rates from April 2019 are:

• £8.21 for people aged 25 and over (rising from £7.83)
• £7.70 for 21 - 24 year-olds  (rising from £7.38)

Penalties for employers who flout the regulations are punitive. If an employee can prove that they have not been paid correctly, HMRC can issue a fine and insist that employers pay any arrears. If these monies remain unpaid, the employment tribunal could impose fines of up to £20,000. You can find out more about your reponsibilities as an employer on the ACAS website.

Voluntary ‘Real Living Wage’ Scheme

In addition to this mandatory scheme, there is also a scheme known as the ‘Real Living Wage’ run by the Living Wage Foundation, which is based on the cost of living.

There are currently around 4,500 accredited employers who support the scheme which, according to the Living Wage Foundation, helps them attract the best staff.

As a reputable consultancy with some 20 years experience, we understand the nature of the local job market, which means we can offer you guidance on the optimum hourly pay rates and salaries to attract the best candidates.

For more information about setting appropriate pay rates, please contact Tracy Welch at Priority Appointments on 01256 334575 or email us.

As every employer knows, in the last budget, Philip Hammond announced a higher than expected increase to the National Living Wage (NLW) – the statutory national minimum wage for those aged 25 and over.

NLW will go up by 4.9% from 1st April 2019, rising from £7.83 to £8.21. This is equivalent to a pay rise of around £690 for a full time worker currently on the National Living Wage.

This increase sits against the backdrop of rising employment levels and a significant drop in the number of applications across all job roles – factors which are all likely to fuel rises in pay levels in 2019.

In this increasingly challenging candidate market, companies are doing all they can to retain their skilled workforce, and we have seen a marked increase in counter-offers this year.

The search for suitable candidates is certainly taking longer and, with a marked reduction in the number of applications per job, more time is needed to attract passive candidates.

However, if you want to secure the best people, you do need to be quick off the mark with prompt and efficient interviews and feedback.

If you want to attract people who may not be actively looking, you need to think about what you could offer to attract someone out of their current role. It’s not only about salary: candidates are looking at factors such as their daily commute, working environment, benefits, progression opportunities and – increasingly – whether there is a degree of flexibility on working hours.

Many of our clients are reviewing their current benefits and taking steps such as increasing their holiday allowance to attract the very best talent.

It’s also the ‘softer’, non-tangible things that are important – a positive working environment, extra incentives, training and feeling valued all help candidates to decide who they want to work for.

Here at Priority Appointments, we look at more than just CVs: we also provide advice on salary benchmarking and creating attractive benefits packages. Do give us a call on 01256 334575 – we’d love to help your business get off to a flying start for 2019.