the Darkside.tvwww.

Happy New Year?....

Inside this issue:

How to escape the2012 doom & gloom

(page 13)

Selling Up! Part DeuxDevelop a Press ReleaseMeet SSG’s New Girl

3 Ways to SYOBPAYE & NIMaking the most of SKYPE

:::

Your

Bes

t Fr

iend Bob made the break and he

is doing well. You try to be pleasedfor him of course, but as Morrisey

might sing ‘we hate it when ourfriends are successful’.Tough to watch. It should have been you.

BLAST OFF!Feb

2012

Why not call ‘The Samaritans’or Bob (ask him for a job?)

You

from

Hom

e!

Happy, content & safe inthe knowledge that whatever you

acheive will be for you and your family.Never did the phrase ‘work for

someone else’ sound so silly, you’re motivated & progressing your life

BLAST OFF! VerySoon

Why not call David on01442 200944 to chat through

how to break free

RU ?

NEXT

JAN

UA

RY

2012

PhD inEntrepreneurship

www.SSG-PhD.tv

PE

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

to be able to successfully trade without the vendor!

Groom a Company properly and who the hell needs the guy that started the business?

TRIAL RUNSBelieve it or not, it is not that hard to trial run a due diligence process.

There are lots of lists and pro-forma grooming packs which can be used to have a DIY test run.

Deep down most vendors of a business already know what is wrong with their business.

As a test, just ask yourself if you would feel happy that your business could survive for 6 months were you to decide to raise money for charity by cycling around the World on a tandem with your Mother-in-Law.

What would you want to have in place before you left on that magical journey?

Would you feel happy that your ‘Management Team’ could manage without you?

Did you ever have time to finish that disaster recovery plan?

Are the accounts up to date and did you ever organise that Insurance renewal?

No, I didn’t think so.

So, what does Chubby do?

Easy really – just pay for an external firm to come in and complete a mini-DD (due diligence) report.

It might seem expensive for someone to tell you stuff that you already knew deep down, but in forcing you to address the key areas involved in successfully grooming your business, you might make hundreds of thousands more as part of any sale.

How does the old saying go? Ah, yes – I remember now!

‘’If you think that getting expert advice is expensive, try selling a

business without it’’ (Red Adair – Oil Safety Expert).

A smile will add thousands to the valuation of your business.

Make sure that you are sincere, even if you fake it!

Just think about it – when you buy anything, don’t you respond to how the goods are presented, how the salesman reacts, if the parking is easy, if the shop is clean?

WHY BOTHER?

‘Why bother?’ Chubby asked, exhausted by the whole idea – ‘What is wrong with just making money?’

Well, of course Chubby was both right and wrong at the same time.

Making money (profits) is essential to successfully sell a recruitment venture but it really isn’t enough.

Most purchasers firmly believe that as soon as Chubby has his millions, dear old Chubby is off – almost immediately in a metaphorical sense but quite soon too in a physical sense.

A ‘Trade Sale’ of a Recruitment Business would normally require Chubby to enter into two agreements (as part of the sales process).

The first would be a Service Contract and the second a Restrictive Covenant of some kind.

Typically, vendors like Chubby would have no real problems with agreeing to a Restrictive Covenant (who wants to work in that Recruitment market again once they have their money?) but a Service Contract might require Chubby to hang about for a year or two once he has sold the business.

That is not such a great prospect.

The reason that purchasers are so insistent that the due diligence process of followed so carefully and the reason that a vendor ought to be so careful with the grooming of their business is that most participants will agree that the longer a Service Contract is, the less chance there is that it will be adhered to.

That means that we all want a Company

NEXT STEPS

Let’s assume that you are now convinced that you want to sell your business.

You have completed all of the preliminary work – the mini-DD, the grooming process, the external expenditure.

The next thing is to is to find a buyer!

You would have thought that this would be the tricky bit, but interestingly enough; this is the one part of the process that you ought to feel supremely confident!!

Next time we will look at how to identify the guy with the cash to make your dreams become reality!

Sometimes, the next step is fairly obvious.

DON’T FORGET

If you want to chat about any of the process of grooming your business for a sale, just pick up the phone and give SSG a call.

We will either be able to help immediately or will know someone that can.

11

Jane Fisher - Business Launch ManagerI’d like to introduce myself. I started in January as the new Launch Manager at SSG.

We are confident that our ‘tried and tested’ launch process is very slick and professional and it has, until now, been managed by Clare Armstrong.

At SSG we understand both the importance of the launch and the need for ongoing client support.

So that we can maintain our strong service with the ever-growing number of new clients, Clare will look after existing clients whilst I will concentrate on getting the new ones up and running.

We hope that this new arrangement will give all our clients the best possible service.

My background

In a nutshell, I’m a board level PA with a creative edge!

I’ve worked as a senior PA, mainly in Sales & Marketing, for the last 8 years.

Prior to this, I worked at Ernst & Young in the company secretarial department.

My time at E&Y gave me a good insight into the process of launching a company through to the required on-going compliance with the Registrar of Companies (Companies House)

I have worked as a senior PA for several Managing Directors. From 2004 to 2007 I worked for the MD of Sales & Marketing at OAG (part of the UBM Group and provider of all airline data to airlines, airports and the air transport industry).

In 2007 I moved to the Facilities Services Group in Aylesbury as PA to the Executive Director of a busy facilities management company.

After the Executive Director was replaced, I left and took on the role of PA to the Group Finance Director and the CEO of Adelie, a busy ‘Food to Go’ company supplying coffee shops, supermarkets, garage forecourts and the airline industry.

During my years as a PA, I’ve produced board packs, reports, newsletters, presentations and have also coordinated two company websites from start to finish.

For both websites, I produced an initial draft text and then encouraged the directors to check, write and re-write their respective pages.

Creation of the web-sites was particularly enjoyable as it included project management, briefing designers, copy-writing, proof-reading and organising photo shoots.

Event coordination is another area in which I’ve had a lot of experience.

Someone New

I’ve organised conferences, corporate days, team meetings and board dinners and, my favourite of all time, a themed staff Christmas party for 400 people with a nice healthy budget!

Unfortunately, to my great disappointment, I’ve never been asked to organise a corporate day at Wimbledon although I did manage to get tickets in the ballot for the men’s final last year.

On a personal level, I love swimming and pilates.

I’m also a real foodie – highlights of last year were going to Heston Blumenthal’s new restaurant ‘Dinner’ at the Mandarin Oriental in March and watching Michel Roux Jr. cook live at the Masterchef Live show at Olympia in November.

I’m looking forward to getting immersed in my new role and will be working closely with Clare at all times.

Jane FisherOur latest New Recruit!

Even as a girl, Jane loved to cook!

Jane Fisherjane@supportservicesgroup.tv

12

Doom and Gloom

DOOM & GLOOM IS FOR LOSERS!Let’s have a happy 2012

It would be easy to allow the ‘prophets of doom’ to be right! 2012 is going to be tougher than 2011 - which was worse than the Lehman induced crisis of 2008/09 & we are facing the worst global conditions since the 1930’s.

OK, let’s not ‘kid a kidder’. There is no doubt that things are not easy and nor are they likely to be throughout 2012.

We are after all, regular recipients of economic data and employment ‘updates’ confirming what we already know – recruitment is not as easy as it once was

But, let’s also get this in some sort of reasonable perspective.

If you are an owner of a small recruitment business (or a lone Recruiter) you have (empirically) faired a lot better than the big boys (both ‘Corporate’ & multi-site independents) since the 2008 downturn.

Although we budding entrepreneurs have seen tougher times and more significant mental challenges than we are used to, we have (apparently) continued to make placements and our income has not suffered quite as much as others

within the wonderful World of Recruitment.

It is true that we might worry more than we did, but we are not financially worse off and we are proving to be more resilient than others.

It might just be that the old clichéd arguments about the business agility of a small firm will always respond better to tougher economic climates or it might be that end-clients prefer to deal with a Recruiter for whom it is obvious that their account is a huge priority

Whatever the reasons, our own evidence (based on the actual placements numbers achieved by over 130 independent recruitment businesses) in the years 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011 show that far from incomes failing, they have risen year on year.

Yep, that’s right – fee income has increased every year since the big crash.

The Eurozone, the plunging stock market, the rise in unemployment, the increase in inflation, the fall in manufacturing, the rise in competition, the threat of Greek default, the awful dress sense of Chancellor Merkel – nothing can stop Bob, Sally, Raymond, Clare, David, Terry or Peter from making a placement in Essex, or in Surrey, or Birmingham or anywhere else it would seem.

Using 2008 as our base, the following figures represent actual fee income per recruiter client

I may be worrying more now,

but I still look cool

You always know which way you

ought to go!

In other words, if the average Recruiter working through SSG was electronically tagged at ‘100’ in 2008, are they going the right way (more than 100) or the wrong, recessionary, doom & gloom way (down) year on year?

2008 - 100

2009 - 103

2010 - 107

2011 - 114

So, what do we actually know from these facts and what can we learn from the Recruiters themselves?

What are they doing that we all ought to do?

WHAT DO WE KNOW?

A placement is a placement whether it is made during a recession or a boom.

The Eurozone does not stop you from CV Searching or Emailing a CV.

If you get out of bed and make a phone call you are significantly more likely to identify a vacancy than if you hit the snooze alarm.

Every temp’ placed by a Recruiter was approached by the Recruiter who placed them.

The harder Recruiters tend to work, the luckier they tend to get.

There is no such thing as an easy year in Recruitment.

Employers want to know that you need their business.

Candidates’ always want to get a better job.

13

Click your fingers & be who you want

to be!

All the tools you need to do your own

thing

Don’t follow the herd.

Sheep rarely know which recruitment market is likely to generate fee income.

Do your own market research and be aggressive in what you believe.

Whatever level of success (or difficulty) you enjoy (face), improve. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, just take something very simple and make it better.

Focus on process not inspiration but always record your improvement – 6 months of tiny weekly improvements will pull though real income.

If you don’t get out of bed, you will not make that call. If you don’t make that call, then you won’t get the vacancy.

If you don’t get the vacancy, then you won’t set up the interview.

No interview = no offer. No offer leads to zero placements.

Simple facts – just get out of bed and get on with it. Simple.

PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE

ONE IMPROVEMENT A WEEK

DO THE BASICS

A poor metaphor borrowed from the regular cliché of footballers everywhere I know but don’t dwell on success or failure. Just do what you do and move on.

PASS & MOVE

ACT INTO A NEW WAY OF

THINKING

COMMUNICATE

LET’S ALL LEARN SOMETHING

What would our super Recruitment Training Guru (Mike Walmsley) suggest that independent Recruiters should do, especially in trying times?

If it works, you still need to look for new business.

If it doesn’t work, you still need to look for new business.

This is where you define a geography & a job type and SSG run a search of millions of job boards & end employer web sites so that we can return to you an excel spreadsheet with the vacancy details.

It is easy of course but it can also provide you with the spur to look at a new employment market.

If you are struggling in one discipline then look at another.

It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that really.

CANDIDATES: JOB BOARDS

Even if you feel short of applicants for your own specialist market (& before you give up, why not chat with SSG to see if we can provide additional access to useful job boards?), why not use the multi-disciplinary nature of the job boards to recruit either your specialist candidates types across a wider geography OR why not use the multi-disciplinary nature of the job boards to recruit new candidates types for your existing geographical market?

NEXT STEP

When you get to a cross road where you can go either way, choose the way that you know that you will to eventually have to take. Don’t agonise. Just ‘screw the nut’ as they say in the Army.

At the end of the day, it is better to work for yourself and generate 4k per month than it is to work for someone else and need to generate 10k.

Value the freedom, enjoy the challenge and make the most of the support, the opportunities and the experience of those around you.

2012 ought to be a great year & if it isn’t, it will be at least a good year!

If you are not the person (Recruiter) that you want to be – just click your fingers and pretend that you are. Do it now – in an instant.

Don’t plan; just start behaving the way that you believe that an ideal Recruiter (person) would behave. Superstars start by pretending to be Superstars. Idiots always act like idiots.

Do not sit alone and feel sorry for yourself. What a waste of time. It will achieve absolutely nothing. If you need to chat, want help or want to share good news then you need to force yourself to communicate. Telephone, email, text, tweet – whatever, but just get in touch with family or friends or your support buddies at SSG. Talking makes you money not wastes your time.

If you communicate, you will learn.

If you learn then you earn!

A FEW TOOLS

Ok, apart from the bleeding obvious (i.e. that you need to actually do the job), all that is required to make money in recruitment is enough vacancies and enough applicants.

That being the case, it is especially fortunate that SSG can provide you with both...

VACANCIES: INNOVANTAGE

You must know all about this fantastic ‘Vacancy Spider’ by now?

14

Expenses

SSG clients often ask what they can claim back on expenses and what they cannot and the reply is claim for everything and we will amend the forms accordingly.

Although it may be easier for us to do this, it doesn’t help you gain an understanding of what is allowed and what isn’t.

In this article I will do my best to address the subject of claiming expenses and hopefully, by the time you have reached the end, I will have enlightened you somewhat.

Travel and mileageWhen using your own car for business purposes, SSG advise their clients that from a tax point of view it is best to use an Inland Revenue approved scheme called the Fixed Profit Car Scheme rather than just including petrol receipts.

You can claim 45 pence per mile per round trip up to 10,000 miles in your personal tax year 6th April, 2011 to 5th April 2012.

If mileage travelled exceeds 10,000 miles during this period then the claim drops to 25 pence per mile.

VAT can only be claimed back on 13 pence of the mileage travelled, for example, if you are claiming 32 miles to your destination and back, then the sum is 32 x 45p = £14.40.

The VAT element is 32 x 0.13 x 1 ÷ 6 = 0.69 pence.

When using this scheme, you can claim for travelling to meetings with clients and candidates, visits to the shops for stationery, office equipment, etc. However, you cannot claim mileage to and from your place of work.

You also cannot claim ‘on top’ for the MOT, service, insurance or tax.

The mileage claimed per month includes the running costs.

Please always back-up your claims by providing fuel receipts for the month the claim covers just to show that fuel was put in your car during that period.

If meetings or conferences have been attended by using rail, aeroplane, car hire or taxi, the cost can be claimed back. However, no VAT can be reclaimed.

SubsistenceYou can claim back the cost of meals, drinks and accommodation including the VAT element whilst away from the office on business trips.

Working lunches, coffee/tea etc., for the office can be claimed for, but no VAT element.

RentIf you have an office in your home, you can claim ‘Licence for use of room’ which is a cost you invoice your company on a monthly basis. This is calculated on how much you estimate it costs you to run an office utility wise, i.e. heating, lighting, etc. However, there is no VAT element on this to claim back.

Business Entertaining and GiftsIn general VAT cannot be claimed back on business entertainment or gifts.

However, you can claim back the costs of dining with your clients, providing hotel accommodation, tickets to concerts or the theatre, sporting events and clubs, etc.

Gifts can be defined as wine/spirits, chocolates, flowers or retail vouchers.

Employee entertainment Entertainment provided to employees as an incentive or rewards such as staff parties, team building exercises and staff outings, etc., can be claimed back with the VAT element.

Business telephoneThe costs of running a business telephone both landline and mobile, can be claimed back in full as long as the bill is in the company name. Should any bills of this nature be addressed personally, than only a portion of the bill can be reclaimed. Usually, 25% of the whole bill.

UniformsThe only uniforms for which the cost can be claimed back on are for staff you provide who may need protective clothing, preferably with company logo, for the role they are undertaking on your behalf.

You cannot claim for a new suit or dry cleaning of suits.

Other ExpensesThe costs can be recovered for any stationery purchases, postage, insurance – public liability, and any equipment bought for the business.

Charitable donations can also be reclaimed.

Finally, please note that although I have attempted to explain the type of things you can claim for and what you can’t, there is no exact science when it comes to the subject of claiming expenses for your particular business.

The general rule is if you can justify that the cost of an item you are claiming is for the good of your business, then you should recoup the cost.

Should you have any queries or would like to know more, then please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Darren.

Gill Miles

If in doubt, claim for it!

To Claim or not to Claim?

15

Still unsure about PAYE & NI?

?CALL US TODAY!

0845 475 9449

The Voice of Vikki

PAYE & NI (Pay As You Earn &

National Insurance)

This is the system HMRC uses to collect Income Tax & National Insurance Contributions from Employees who “pay as they earn“.

As an Employer, Employing people to work for you, (Employees) whether Temporary or Permanent, you will “collect” Income Tax and National Insurance from Employees each pay period to pay to HMRC on their behalf.

You need to make your payment to HMRC either monthly by the 19th of the month following your pay period or the 22nd if paying electronically or quarterly by arrangement with HMRC.

If you are late making payments or haven’t filed a “nil” return by the due date, HMRC could charge you interest!

Right, in the next few paragraphs I will try to explain a little of the finer things relating to PAYE & NI!!!!

If you Employ anyone within your company you will need to be registered for PAYE & NI.

SSG Recruitment Ltd will start this process for you, registering your Company with HMRC.

HMRC will then send details of your PAYE

Office Number, usually 3 numbers followed by your PAYE Reference usually

2 letters and 5 numbers so your Reference may read 107/KB22553.

HMRC will also send your Accounts

Office Reference which may read 107PV10866788 you will need to quote this reference when making your payments to HMRC.

PLEASE NOTE : Clients can get confused with a few similar payments made to HMRC for VAT, Corporation Tax & PAYE & NI as some of the bank account details are the same, so I’d say double check the reference for each and every one of these as an error could relate to you receiving a charge for late payment!

PAYE - Pay As You Earn

When you as an Employer, Employ a new recruit to work for your Company they will ideally provide you with a P45.

The P45 will show all the Total Pay to

Date and Total Tax to Date.

It is important that these details are entered onto your Payroll system as this

carries forward your Employees Totals for the Tax Year.

The P45 will also show the Tax Code which should be entered onto your Payroll system, this currently stands at 747L meaning you can earn £7,476 a Tax Year before paying Tax, this allows the system to work out how much PAYE & NI to take from each Employee.

At the start of each tax year HMRC may send details of new tax codes for your Employees, these codes will need to be adjusted on your payroll system as this affects the Tax taken.

If however a new Employee doesn’t have a P45 they will need to fill out a P46, ticking the appropriate box which relates to them.

As when an Employee starts working with you they “leave” your Employment you will need to issue them with a P45 as well, which they will take forward to their next position.

At the end of each Tax Year you will need to supply each and every Employee with a P60 which summarises their pay and deductions for the year, to be given to them by the 1st June following the Tax Year.

You will also need to supply all Employees with a payslips of sorts.

If you do not supply an itemised payslip to your Employee they could complain to the Employment Tribunal!

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16

Keep paying your National Insurance!

There are rates of NI according to how much you earn and the Class of NI.

So for instance if you are paying Class 1 NI Contributions the rates are:

Pop’s Pantry

Ok, so your Employees ask you how much Tax the Government will charge them on their Salary, the following Income Tax Rates apply:

Tax bandwidths:

Basic Rate @ 20%

£1 to £35,000

Higher Rate @ 40%

£35,001 to £150,000

Additional Rate @ 50%

£150,001 and above

(should they be lucky enough to earn

this amount they may wish they didn’t

as the Tax is very high!)

This Tax is taken out of the Salary and the Employee receives the “Net” pay recorded on their payslip.

NI – National Insurance Contributions

From the Age of 16 each person is issued with a NI Number which will be similar to BB 33 44 55 C.

This is your personal account number and makes sure that any contributions made by you are recorded on the system to the correct account.

This number is with you for life and will never change!

Your entitlement amount of any future benefits which include - State Pension, Job Seekers Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Employment & Support Allowance - will depend upon the amount of contributions made so it’s important to keep paying NI.

Contributions are taken from Employees in accordance with how much you earn and whether you are Employed/Self Employed.

Any Contributions taken are “collected” and used to build up your entitlement to certain state benefits, including state pension.

When you reach your State Pension Age you will not pay any further Contributions.

Some people may choose to pay “Voluntary” Contributions, they may choose to pay them if:

Fascinating stuff I am sure you will agree. Want to know more or need help in getting all sorted / up to date? Just get in touch with me via

As an Employer (‘ers) as well as paying any Class 1 NI Contribution to HMRC for your Employees (‘ees), you will pay Class 1 NI Contributions as well to HMRC. This is calculated at the same time you calculate your Employees pay for the period and paid altogether when you make your payment for the month.

PAYE&NI@The-DarkSide.tv

Conclusions:

PAYE & NI Contributions (Employ ‘ers & Employ ‘ees) to be made by the 19th of the month following pay period

When making payment to HMRC choose correct reference relating to PAYE & NI

Enter Tax Code using P45 details from New Employee

In a large saucepan, heat up 8 pints water with 1 leveltablespoon sea salt and bring to the boil

Add the pasta to the boiling water and stir once, then let itboil briskly for 10 minutes

Now while the pasta is coooking, the rest of the ingredients are piled into a processor with a teaspoon of salt, then one big whiz till the herbs are chopped and that’s it.

Now drain the pasta and return it quickly to the saucepan with the sauce and mix the two together.

Serve in warm bowls with a little extra zest sprinkled over each one

Enjoy.... Yummy!

450g Dried Pasta

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 level tablespoons fresh lemon zest

12 whole peppercorns, lightly crushed

40g fresh basil

25g fresh mint

50g fresh rocket leaves

5 spring onions, trimmed

2 cloves garlic, peeled

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

You earn more than £139 per week and less than £817 per week you will pay 12% of the amount you earn between £139 and £817.

You earn more than £817 per week you will also pay 2% of all the earnings over £817.

not working and claiming any benefits

haven’t paid enough contributions in a year to count for state pension

live abroad an want to maintain contributions

Remember, if you have missed any of the great articles already created by Vikki (or any of the team at SSG), you don’t need to ‘beat yourself up’ too much – we do have a library which you welcome to scan!

So, to re-visit, re-call or just re-enjoy any of Vikki’s wonderful creations, please:

& there you are!

Just by showing a little patience, you have saved the Bunny from almost certain death (or at the very least a very bad headache).

If you would like any help in retrieving past editions / articles or just want to talk through what might be stored somewhere safe, please contact Carly Hastings on 01442 200 946

www.the-Darkside.tv

Click on the ‘Recent Editions’ Tab

Click on the miniature version of TDS

This will open the latest version of TDS

Look to your left & click on ‘View Archive

Don’t Pull

That Trigger

Just Yet....

Lemon Pasta with Herbs and Cracked Pepper :The How:The What:

Comfort Food for Fed-up Recruiters

17

Did you know that really as a Recruitment Owner you ought to focus on three things when trying to get your ‘name out there’?

Apparently, it is not enough ‘these days’ to simply hope that clients and candidates will say great things about your business and that the word will ‘get out’ that you are a serious business.

Apparently, you need to have a specific, well rehearsed and consistent approach to promoting your business.

You need to do more than your competitors.

There is a theory that a poor, well publicised business will always make more than a great business, based in a quiet town in the sleepy County best known for not a lot!

So, what are those three things that you ought to be doing to promote your business?

1st Thing:

Advertise: Yep, you guessed it. This is not just about plonking your requirements on to the job boards (tempting though it is!), but more about using the adverts themselves to communicate your core values as a Company.

The way in which you write your advertisements will say an awful lot about how you behave as an organisation.

It is hard to be so careful & precise (we know!) but obviously you ought to try to avoid grammatical and spelling errors, inaccuracies, complications and so on.

Good News is like Jam....You need to spread it thick!

Getting the ‘word out’ is a massive task

Why not emphasise the brilliance, integrity and thoughtfulness of your process?

2nd Thing:

Publicise: You need to think carefully about how you promote your Company.

This is not necessarily about telling everyone how ‘great’ you are & how many placements you have made.

It is not just about LinkedIn (although Social Media is increasingly important these days) and it is not just about producing a one-off Company Brochure (although a brochure is good – PDF or hard copy).

Publicity is an on-going, relevant and evolving feast. Why not think about a stream of Press Release articles for example?....

3rd Thing:

Network: As Mike Walmsley (Mike is the ‘Recruitment Trainer to the Stars’ who works alongside SSG, as you probably know) might say, the 3 most important things that a Recruiter can do is to network, network and then do a little networking.

This really means developing a proper Referral and Networking strategy not just issuing a few random ‘invitations’ on the internet!

Today, I would like to waffle on about how to develop a Press Release.

This is about communicating to anybody who may be interested in something that is news worthy concerning what you and your Company might be doing.

We are going to look at the 7 golden rules that you have to follow when physically generating your Press Release and then we are going to briefly talk about the options for getting that news ‘out there’.

I am not really going to try to convince you that you should ‘do it’.

What we know from working with 130+

Start-Up recruitment ventures is that the truly successful Recruitment Companies target themselves with all sorts of KPI’s which are apparently nothing to do with making a placement.

The difference between being a great Recruiter and a good Recruitment Business Owner is really about how you target and monitor your activity.

A great Recruiter will focus on interviews, offers, acceptances and so on, but a good Recruitment Business Owner will then look at how much ‘Speculative’ work they do for the business, with how much ‘Intensity’ they work and what they have done for the business that they did not have to do this week (please set aside your enthusiasm for our views of business KPI’s until next time – please see the back inside cover of this issue for more on this exciting topic!!).

Anyway, let’s agree a route map for generating a PRESS RELEASE, before we then look at the two primary methods for actually getting these news stories to your audience (we will also point to a sneaky third option!).

THE MAGNIFICENT 7

We are not referring to the Cowboys of the great 1950’s film or indeed to Snow White’s famous little buddies.

We of course mean the 7 sections that constitute a solid Press Release:

1. The Headline

The Headline must be a ‘grabber’ of course. This grabber might be an achievement, a news event or a new product for example.

How to develop a Press Release

“Read All About It!”

18

Did you know this image is really a metaphor?

Don’t sit on the sidelines - Be part of it all!

The headline is usually written in bold and with slightly larger text than the ‘body’ of the press release.

Best thing to do is to identify the key word in your release and use that (e.g. EXPANSION or GROWTH or NEW).

2. The Body Copy

Your first sentence should concisely say what the release is about.

The next couple of sentences should expand on the lead and then you ought to launch into the body-copy – i.e. short, sharp sentences avoiding jargon & repetition. Then, deal with facts, figures and the like.

3. The 5 W’s & the H

Make sure that your press release always deals with the obvious 5 W’s:

What is the news?Why is this news?

Who are the people involved?Where is this happening?

When did this happen

Then deal with the H: How did this all come about?

Remember, what you have to say needs to be ‘news-worthy’ – not just to you but to your target publication.

Ask yourself, ‘why would Magazine X, Y or Z want to know’ what you have to say?

4. The Company Info’

You need to say who you are & what your Company does (briefly!).

Make sure that you also point to your Company Web Site.

5. The Tie

Can you then tie it all together?

Can you provide a nugget of extra information that will support your press release?

For example, is your news relevant to the broader national news?

For example, has your business grown in a sector that has recently suffered from cut backs or recession?

6. The Contact Info’

If your release is news-worthy, then the journalist may want to get in touch.

So, always give the following information at the foot of your press release:

Company’s official name: Media Contact (or you if you don’t have one!): Address: Telephone / Fax: Mobile Numbers: Availability times: E-mail & Web Site Address.

7. The End

To look professional and to signal the end of your press release, you should centre directly underneath your article with 3 x the hash (#) symbol!

WHAT NEXT?

So, you have a well constructed news-worthy article which you would like to get ‘out there’.

What do you actually do next?

I guess you have two main options – pay someone else to do it or DIY.

OPTION 1: HIRE A PR AGENCY

Sounds fancy, but actually a lot of PR Agencies are actually one-man bands that work very hard on small retainers to promote equally small, cash-tight organisations.

Typically, a small Recruitment Agency would need to commit to an initial 6-months contract costing around £500 p.m.

For that money, you would be expected to work with the PR Agency in developing the following:

OBJECTIVES:

For example, objectives might include the obvious such as to raise your Company profile within your chosen market, to drive traffic to your web site to engage with your client base and so on.

ROUTE MAP:

This is really about defining how these objectives will be met.

Typically, an Agency will discuss a range of solutions involving Press Release articles, White Papers, Expert Articles, SEO work & Social Media.

Please note that we will look at what these terms actually mean in the next issue of TDS.

It will then be the responsibility of the PR Agency to generate a schedule for you of what will happen & when.

This will often involve a targeted plan (roll out) of what the agency will get into the press.

For example, a classic schedule might be as follows:

In addition, a proper PR Agency will provide you with monthly reporting designed to physically prove to you that their work has achieved its objectives.

They will often waffle on about the amount of PR they have achieved and how much it would have cost you to pay to have that promotion in the relevant magazines.

It is worth it? You might ask?

It can be yes but this it is not a passive thing for you – the amount of work and

2 Press Releases per month.

1 Expert Article per month.

On-going Social Media exploitation (i.e. they will update a BLOG and TWITTER account for you).

2 White Papers over a 6-month contract.

19

SIX

OF

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BES

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input that you need to commit will sometimes seem that you are doing the job of the PR Agency.

In their defence, all PR guys will affirm that if they work with half truths, inadequate information or poor basic ideas the results will be worse than hopeless.

You would need to commit to the process.

If you want more help with choosing a PR Agency, just get in touch and we can help.

OPTION 2: DO IT YOURSELF

Don’t want to spend the money but want to make a start on ‘Promoting’ your business to the Recruitment World?

Well, it can be very simple:

Step 1 is to generate your PR Article. Step 2 is to identify which media you might like to see your article published and Step 3 is to present the article to the right contact at your chosen media.

Simple ah?

For example, let’s say that your business has just won a contract to supply Temps to a big client in your local area.

You might write this news worthy article and think ‘who is this article of interest to?’

Your answer may well be that the local press might like to know of good (local) economic news & you might also assume (quite rightly) that the mainstream Recruitment Trade Press might like to print some good news too!

So, now that you know to whom you want to issue your PR, all that you need to do is to generate a fax front sheet (normal contact information) and send the article for the attention of the Editor of both the local press & the trade press.

It really is that simple – if you don’t get a response, do not be too down hearted.Just try again and again and again. It will happen.

A THIRD OPTION:

Understandably, you may want to avoid the fixed cost expense of a PR Agency but also feel that it would be helpful to have a third party involved?Well, perhaps you could investigate the following web site?

www.prweb.com

As you will see, these guys offer a free trial, a free version and a paid version of their PR Service.

You create your article, they distribute your article and then they track the results. Why not take a look?

FINALLY:PR can work and successful businesses will take the idea of promoting their business seriously – probably more seriously than most of us do.

PR ought to be a third of your effort (& expenditure) – remember the three bits? Advertise, Publicise and Network.If you spend £1,000 a month on adverts, what ought you be spending on PR?

Maybe that is a question for next time but the answer has to be ‘something at least’.

To talk through any aspect of this whole PR thing, please get in touch. We can help.

Recruitment & PR?What a combination?!

I.T.

Nat

ionw

ide

With 15 years experienceof working the technical

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Experienced Recruiterpreviously working ona self employed basis

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her own canoe.Crazy to build thebrand of another

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e R

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Another SuperstarRetail Recruiterdemonstrating

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using her outstandingexperience of

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20

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For more information please visit www.recruitmentfinance.co.uk

or call 0800 55 00 22

Starting your own recruitment business can be a daunting prospect, especially in these challenging financial markets, but the Recruitment Finance Division of Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance is here to help.

We’re highly experienced in the recruitment sector, providing facilities to some 1300 recruitment business clients, representing some £5bn of Recruitment business’ UK turnover.

Our clients range from start up businesses to multi-million pound organisations using either our payroll finance business, Cash Friday, or one of the Invoice Finance solutions, Factoring and Invoice Discounting.

We pride ourselves in our understanding of our clients’ business, the sub sectors in which they operate, and the challenges associated with those sectors, with a team of support staff looking after the administrative aspect of the relationship who specialise in recruitment businesses.

The Recruitment Finance Division has a strong client retention record, with over 85% of our clients happy to recommend us as a source of business financial solutions. Our solutions are flexible and grow inline with you and your business; some of our clients joined us as start ups and are now multi-million pound corporations and we’re still funding them.

STUART TALBOTSENIOR CLIENT MANAGER

21

Recruitment SoftwareCompany VideosBrochure Design

7/10

WORTH A READ?

OTHER WORK:

WANT ONE?

DISLIKE:

RATING:

KEY LESSON:

WHY BOTHER:

OVERVIEW:

AUTHOR:

IN A NUTSHELL:

TITLE:

Don’t Forget .......

Ask SSG about

Catherine 01442 200945

Innocent: Our Story and some things we’ve learned

This book tells the story of three friends who always wanted to work together and so started up their own company, “straight from the horse’s mouth”. After coming up with an idea they embarked upon the “Innocent” business with no experience of the industry.

It charts their roots, their initial ideas, getting the company started and how they keep themselves motivated, original and, their most important business rule: keeping things ethical. They are now one of the most successful and ethical companies in the UK, selling over 2 million smoothies and other Innocent products, a week.

“I’m in recruitment” I hear you cry, “what can these juice makers teach me?” Well to this I say: This book can teach you something, simple as that really.

Whether you own your own company, in the middle of start-up or just thinking about going it alone, this book teaches you realistic lessons about doing so, about problems encountered and things to watch out for but it does so in such a way that it does not feel like “learning” you are simply enjoying their story.

But when you have completed just one chapter of this book, I can guarantee you will want to implement or test out one of their little ideas.

This is difficult because there are a lot. This is a business which has been running from 1999 to the present day after all, so there are lessons on every page. To put this all back into context and relate it to the recruitment world and even more specifically, to starting up your own company, I think the key thing I took away is the need to be excited about what you are doing, to keep yourself motivated and excited every day.

There is genuinely not a lot to dislike about this book; it genuinely had me gripped and laughing out loud.

However this is more of a motivational read than a: “I-want-to-start-a-business- what-do-I-do-next”. This won’t give you that, it charts a success story in a fantastically unusual and educational way however.

Personally I don’t have a high enough rating for this book and I genuinely recommend it to everyone reading this and have done so to family and friends. However SSG provides a business start-up option and so the books we recommend should correspond with this and offer you something useful in the area to which you are obviously interested in.

With this in mind I must deduct a point for lack of relevance to the industry and to the business world in general, and not enough detail regarding start up.

The authors themselves have written nothing else however there are two recipe books by “Innocent”. Providing simple, healthy recipes and promoting the use of organic fruit and veg.

Published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-718-15317-5, RRP £16.99 (and worth every penny)

This book is clever, very funny, quirky and extremely original. It keeps you interested all the way through with anecdotes - most of them amusing, always teaching a lesson - rules the company work by and other little lessons they have learned from beginning to now. There are a million thought processes and procedures which can be utilised in the start up and running of a new company and it keeps you inspired the whole way through.

Written by Richard Reed, Adam Balson and Jon Wright. (With probably a little bit of help from those clever folk at Penguin Books) Ja

ne

from

Aber

dee

n

£50JOKER!

WINNER!

Q:

A:

If a Recruiter and an Estate Agent fell off a building, who would hit the ground first?

The Estate Agent - the Recruiter would have to ask for directions!

Eve

fro

m L

ondon

£50JOKER!

WINNER!

Q:

A:

What do NICE Recruitment Consultants and UFO's have in common?

You always hear about them but never see them.

Edw

ard

fro

m N

ewca

stle

£50JOKER!

WINNER!

Q:

A:

How do you sink a submarine full of Recruiters?

You knock on the door.

22

SELLING A BUSINESS – PART 3

As you know, in this issue we have been looking at the second stage of the long-winded process that might one day lead you to sell your business for lots & lots of lovely money!

So far, we have seen that Part 1 of the process was to understand ‘Some Basics’ (Page 14 – November Edition of TDS) & then we looked at Part 2 which is all about ‘Grooming’ (Page 9 – January Edition) the business, ready for purchasers to come and try & knock down the price they might pay.

Next time in Part 3, we will be looking at how one might actually start to ‘Find a Buyer’ – which sounds like the tricky bit! Now, why would you want to miss that?

THE DREADED CASH FLOW FORECAST CONNUNDRUM

I doubt that there is a single recruitment business ‘out there’ which hasn’t worried about cash flow. I bet that there is not a single business supported by SSG which hasn’t worried if there will be enough money available to pay the bills every month & it is almost inconceivable that at some point, Recruiters everywhere will have sleepless nights hoping that an invoice will be paid by some cheeky end-client before the end of the month.

Now, this all being true, it makes one wonder why we don’t all utilise some easy tools to generate accurate and reassuring FORECASTS – well, now there is no excuse!

We have developed what we believe is a great set of tools to be able to drift off at night without the aid of your good friend Jack Daniels!

PR – THE NEXT STAGE!

In this issue, we made a start on how one might properly promote (i.e. brand) your Recruitment business through the use of different forms of Press Release.

Well, now we need to take it up a gear and start to look more formally at what a press release actually looks like (i.e. examples) & how we might more formally approach the media in general but OUR Trade Press in particular.

No jargon, no complications – just examples, addresses & contacts!

THE TRAINING LIBRARY – You Tube!

As you know, SSG works very closely with the superstar Trainer that is Mike Walmsley.

His DVD Library is available to all SSG Clients and we have nothing but respect for Mike and his great Recruitment Training ideas and facilities.

However, there is more to running a Recruitment Business than Recruitment! So, let us demonstrate to you where (& how) you might find great, free and easy to understand training materials.

The clue of where we start is found in the title of this précis!

23

One message Bletchley Parkshouldn’t need to decode....

Why not make 2012 the yearthat you made “that call” ?...