Ecom Recruitment Blog

Word of mouth

Posted by Dan de Lord.

Word of mouth drives everything these days.  Whether it is a literal spoken word or whether it is something emailed or tweeted to you, other people influence the perceptions we as individuals have and the decisions we make.  It is also something Ecom, as a company but particularly as a service partner, relies heavily on to be successful.

Marketing messages are prime candidates for being spread in this way, between relevant and connected network members.  So when an award-winning creative director (whom we knew by stellar reputation) approached us (who he knew as being clued up on anything and everything digital) about putting together our own viral campaign for Ecom we couldn't help but jump straight in.

Have a look at the first instalment of our series below.  It's a light-hearted look at at what we all do and getting people to talk about that.  For us as a company too it's about talking to people about more than just the next job role; we're always keen to get closer to the work our contacts do and also to our contacts who do that work.

So feel free to comment on it, link to it, let us know what you'd do next, but most of all just talk about it with anyone you want!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgZUAKdzCc

.

Are Recruitment Consultancies in trouble?

Following on from Annabel's previous post about a candidate finding work for himself using Twitter it leads nicely to the question: In these days of Social Networking, why do we need Recruitment Consultancies?

Recruitment agencies pride themselves on being able to offer their clients access to databases jam packed with talented individuals looking for work. Whilst for candidates there is the opportunity to gain access to companies offering work.

Now that everyone has a presence on at least one, if not all of the famous Online Networks; Facebook, Linkedin & Twitter...now that we are all connected to everyone in the world it seems through the power of linking & following...now that clients can easily find candidate profiles on the internet & people looking for work can search to find companies who are on the look out for employees….

If it isn’t a question of facilitating access to loads of talent because our clients already have direct access? If it isn’t a matter of simply being able to offer introductions to a list of successful businesses because individuals can make contact themselves? Where does that leave Recruitment Consultants? What is it that they offer?

Clients

CV Filter

We submit the most suitable candidates for the role.

Shortlist Individuals who are actively looking for work, not just connected on a social network but actually in the market for a job right now.

Submit Candidates that have already been interviewed with their skills & experience assessed

Personalities that are a good fit for the client’s particular culture & environment

ID & visa status that has been checked

Freelancers that are reference checked who have often worked for other clients of ours means we have a good grasp of their strengths & weaknesses   

Payroll service for all Freelancers saving time, money & hassle for you the client     

Quick turnaround; we are speaking to specialist digital candidates all day/every day which means we have immediate access to the best Digital talent that is available now when you need them!!!  

Candidates

Job Filter

Clients that we have already met so we can help you decide where you are best suited

By working with us, candidates are offered a selection of roles with several companies from one point of contact.

Consultancy & advice, saying this is not right for you can be as important as shouting this is the perfect role!

Freelancers get paid by us quicker, it’s then down to us to collect the money from the client.

YOU get paid even if the client doesn’t pay us! In these days of controversial prepack administration, we have had several instances where our clients have put themselves into administration owing us money for freelancers that we have already paid. We take the risk!

Quick turnaround, by keeping in touch with the leading names in Digital all day every day, it means that we can get your job search up & running immediately. Whether you’ve been let down at the last minute by a cancelled freelance booking or if you’ve been unfortunate enough to be made redundant, one call to us & we can brief you on a multitude of roles all in one go…no need to send multiple applications, or spend hours searching job boards, or firing out countless messages to your Linkedin connections or Twitter followers in the hope that one of them just might have a job for you right now when you need one!

Recruitment is about people not online connections. Building up a massive network on Linkedin is not an end in itself, although you could easily think that there are recruiters out there whose focus is building up connections for the sake of it rather than focusing on bringing together talent & business.

 

Yes we can & should use digital channels to facilitate the recruitment process but it’s about how we use it that counts…it’s the combination of technology & the human touch that works best.

 

Recruiting is about relationships.

 

It’s about people.

Original Celebri-Tweet Lily Allen turns Q-Witter

By Annabel Deacon

Twitter, the micro-blogging service that divides the country (in a Marmite ‘You either love it or hate it’ way) has been rocked by the news that one of the original ‘Celebri-tweets’- Lily Allen - has left Twitter!

With just 6 words; “I am a neo-luddite, goodbye”, that was it . . . . all over! Now, admittedly this did happen almost a month ago, so why have I only just realised now? Not being a follower of Miss Allen myself, I have failed to be directly affected by her absence, but being semi-obsessed with all things Twitter, I actually find this fascinating. In example of alleged Twitt-addiction, in one Twitter fuelled afternoon, I signed up for Twilerts across 10 key searches! Well, several months later and an email folder currently containing 884 unread Twilerts, I have concluded that that was perhaps an adventure too far!

Anyway, back to the topic in hand; so, why the sudden change of heart? If the Daily Mirror is to be believed (!) she has not only quit Twitter (a Q-Witter, perhaps? One for the Twi-ctionary I hope!), but MySpace as well! The writing was on the wall with her profound Tweet of September 24^th, “and I've shut down the blog, the abuse was getting too much”. Surely not . . . . . . !

I end this musing, by simply asking Why?

Is Lily about to quit modern communication as we know it and spearhead the return of the Fax Machine?

Is this the shape of things to come?

God forbid we lose the daily thoughts of Philip Schofield and Stephen Fry . . . the original Super-Twits! I guess only time will tell . . . . .

And one final thought (just to bring some intellect back to this piece), for those of you not in the know, Neo-Luddism is a personal philosophy against technology! How apt Lily, how apt . . . . . .

Top 100 confirms the rise of Social Media

Last week saw the release of the coveted NMA Top 100 – the UK’s leading interactive agencies ranked according to their income from Digital over the last 12 months. The guide (as well as being a healthy selection of the Ecom client base) indicates which agencies are billing well, which clients they’re working with, and what work they’re doing. The last point is of particular interest, as companies are asked to provide a breakdown of their business split (creative, technical , marketing, Ecommerce etc). What these innocuous-looking numbers ultimately reveal is that Social Media is here to stay, with most companies attributing around 5 to 15% of their income to it – in some cases the figure is as high as 35%. Certainly this is something we’ve all taken on board here!

 

Away from the ECOM office, how significant is the Top 100 to those working in the digital space though? It’s clear that from an agency point of view, the rankings represent a vindication of their hard work – many of them rightly draw attention to their success, and clearly the positive publicity is an added bonus. But are our candidates as fussed by a company’s ranking? Do people scan the top 100 when considering whether to apply to an agency? The problem with ranking agencies purely on the basis of their billings is that it is a very reductive way of doing things – particularly in a market that prides itself on innovation and creativity. This isn’t to say that the companies near the top aren’t producing great work but it’s easy for the smaller boutique-y companies to get lost in a deluge of numbers!

 

Regardless of your personal take on the NMA Top 100, it’s sure to provoke discussion within the industry. Since ECOM cater for agencies of all shapes and sizes, we’ll undoubtedly still be thumbing through it for several months to come. Roll on 2010’s top 100…

Web Design and The Recession

The recession is apparently over and Web Design has taken a hit but, in comparison to other industries, it has fared well and seems to be bouncing back faster than we would have expected.  There’s always going to be a need for advertising to create revenue and digital is seen as a cheaper way to do this.  Digital is a constantly evolving industry; there are always new ways to reach out to consumers, new web trends and agencies have no choice but to keep up with the latest trends.  Over the last year we’ve seen a boom in ecommerce, social media and mobile.  These are areas that consumers are investing their money in and clients don’t want to be left behind...just yesterday it was announced that Apple had broken the 2 billion barrier for downloaded apps.

Obviously it’s been a difficult time for all.  Clients have reduced their ad spend and this has had a knock on effect throughout the industry.  Mass redundancies have been made; agencies are now left with smaller, but stronger design teams.  In some cases they have sorted “wheat from chaff”, in other cases really top creatives have been left without work as there hasn’t been the same amount of demand for senior level creatives.  However, some agencies have actually benefited from the economic downturn by picking up clients where other agencies have gone under.

Compared to last year there are definitely fewer jobs around particularly permanent briefs. However, compared to 5 or 6 months ago there is a huge amount more.  Since we saw mass redundancies at the beginning of the year agencies are less able to manage things in house and in turn we’ve seen an increased demand for freelancers.

The last few months have really picked up speed.  A lot of recruitment freezes are thawing out and, having tightened their belts for the first two quarters, agencies and companies are ready to expand their teams to meet demand from their clients.  There is a sense that any redundancies that are happening at the moment will be the last wave.  Let’s hope so anyway!  Certainly we are way busier now than at any point since last Summer.  There’s plenty of work out there if you have the right skills and know where to look.

We’ve seen a massive increase in demand for Information Designers over the last year; web user interface design is on the up as it ties in with ecommerce, social media and mobile.  We’ve also seen an increased demand for designers with a range of front end development skills, things like Content Management Systems and Wordpress design experience have also proved popular and there has been a steady increase in demand for Motion Graphics designers, again with a range of skills like Max/Maya and Cinema 4D.  If you have the skills that are in demand then you’re in a much better position money wise and salaries won’t be affected that much.

We aren’t seeing the same sharp jumps in salary as we did two years ago.  Generally salaries have experienced downward pressure with mid-weight and the top end being most affected.  However if an individual is supremely talented or skilled with emerging technologies then they may find that they can negotiate an increased salary!  Some of our agency clients are offering attractive packages like performance-related benefits, share options, your choice of benefits in order to cut costs, employers are also more conscious of checking out current salaries before making an offer to make sure that they are not paying over the odds.

So all in all the outlook is pretty positive, the recession is bottoming out, digital has fared well and there is always going to be a need for great design skills and creative flair.  There is an increasing amount of digital creative roles available but the competition is hot - certain skills are in huge demand, we can help you find what you are looking for though so don’t forget to keep in touch at creative@ecomrecruitment.com and keep up to date with the latest freelance creative roles at http://twitter.com/ecomcreative. 

And if you want to hear more about web design and the recession you can catch me in this week’s Web Designer Mag “brightening up” Chris Wright’s article on the issue!