It’s fair to say that interviews can be a stressful time for candidates and even for the person holding the interview at times. With this in mind, we take a look at some of the benefits of asking the odd curveball question.

Great news! Employment in the UK hit a fresh record last month, according to statistics from the Office for National Statistics.

In a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, it’s no surprise to see that 75% of employees say that the benefits package associated with a job is one of the most important factors. But don’t worry businesses; it doesn’t have to be expensive.

As recruitment training professionals, we believe the success to recruiting is simple – plan!

In a bid to try and attract the best talent, UK employers are increasingly offering unusual perks to employees. Would you offer these?

Now that we’ve all settled in to 2017 (just!), we feel the time is right to share, in case you missed it, the recruiting trends that LinkedIn reported on in their Global Recruitment Trends 2017 Report.

The historic decision to leave the EU hit has hit some UK businesses hard; however, recent economic indicators suggest the majority have been unaffected thus far.

Last year, there were 22.98 million people working full-time, 387,000 more than the previous year. The working environment faced by us workers today is markedly different to what we could have expected to experience 60 years ago.

With the upcoming referendum now only a few weeks away and the world’s media captivated by a potential Brexit, many voters are still none-the-wiser about the implications of their potential vote.

With competition amongst businesses as strong as well, diversity in the workplace could be the way forward for a company looking to find that competitive edge. A diverse workforce can help foster new ways of thinking and reach out to a wider range of customers, helping grow a business in the process.

Currently, a 20% pay difference exists between men and women across the UK. However, new government plans have indicated that companies that fail to address their gender pay gaps will be exposed in a new league table.

Candidates are becoming increasingly demanding when it comes to what benefits the company are offering and what they expect when they are offered a job. A benefit that is progressively becoming more important for candidates is the need for career growth. According to the recent Glassdoor survey which focussed on what jobseekers consider when they are offered a job, candidates have stated it as one of the top 5 considerations.

The turn of the New Year is always an exciting time for recruiters, as it allows them to reflect on the trends that have shaped the previous years and look to take advantage of the new opportunities that developments in technology and the market produce. With the growth of new technologies in recent years, the possibilities available to recruiters are becoming endless, but even recruiters are noticing that things are changing at such a rapid pace it is often difficult to keep up.

It seems that with each passing year, recruitment becomes ever more demanding and competitive. So, with this in mind and 2016 unbelievably nearly upon us, we thought we’d try and help you stay ahead of the competition by identifying the top recruitment trends for the upcoming year. Similar to 2015, much of the focus for 2016 still lies on the digital front. 2015 has seen a significant rise in the use of video by recruiters to source talent, and there are no signs of video taking a back seat now.

Unconscious bias plays a role each time we submit our CV for a job opportunity. It has long been recognised as an issue, for both the candidate and the employer, but is there anything either can do about it?

There has been a debate building around whether new technology is threatening the amount of jobs that are available within certain industries. Deloitte commissioned a detailed report, looking back over 140 years, which identified that technology had created more jobs than it has destroyed, but is this accurate? If it is, is it about to change?

Since the Equal Pay Act was introduced 45 years ago, it has been an extremely lengthy process to remove the pay gap that exists between men and women. Somewhat surprisingly for some, there is still a long way to go. With this in mind, we have put together some facts about the changes in the gender pay gap that we hope you will find interesting.

This fast evolving generation are certainly one to watch out for within the recruitment industry. Millennials, who are usually born between 1981 and 1996, are quickly transforming into the ‘yes’ generation.  According to a recent LinkedIn study, 64% of 18-24 year olds now classify themselves as having a ‘yes’ mentality – reluctant to propose an opposing opinion. This is in contrast to older workers, with only 24% of over 55s considering themselves to have a ‘yes’ attitude, the remainder feeling they’d be more inclined to stand their ground in the workplace.

With more devices connected to the internet than there are people, there is no surprise that social media has such a powerful influence on our lives. Research has found that 93% of recruiters plan to or already use social media to support their hiring process.  However, numerous recruiters are yet to incorporate social recruiting into their hiring procedure, and only 18% of recruiters consider themselves to be experts.

According to Professional Staffing Companies, professional recruitment firms now have 13% more vacancies to fill compared to 2014. A clear indicator of the growing strength of the jobs market.