I've read some interesting articles over the past few months but Im not sure I understand where the betting industry is going next.

Logically, I thought we would be moving towards the hand held device but I also get the sense that the US market for online could be the explosion waiting to happen - will the super casinos be buying up the European online giants, for example??

Or is it a lot more simple than all that. Could it just be the development of technology, the focus on fraud & security, or improving customer acquisition, retention ond service? Will there be a revival on the high street for betting shops in the UK. The further integration of leisure and gambling?

Please let me know your thoughts as to where the gambling industry is going in the future. Feel free to comment on local or global issues, sector specific ie poker, spreadbetting, casino etc or any back office challenges.....

My email is gavin.chase@cnaint.com

Thank you for your time!

Recruitment Franchise Open Day

Learn about owning your own executive search recruitment franchise! Low entry level funding required and the banks will lend up to 70%.

Have you the potential to run your own business and generate a wealth creating operation. Could be just you or a team over time. Its your life, your Choice!

Why don't you get in touch and I'll invite you to an Recruitment Franchise Open Day in Castle Donington, UK

REC calls for more focus on equipping jobseekers with basic skills

There couldn't be a better time to invest in an executive search (recruitment) franchise. Lets see why!

The UK Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) has responded to the CBI’s annual audit of the nation’s skills, which showed more than half of employers were not confident they could find enough people with the right skills for their business.

Commenting on the result of this survey, REC Director of External Relations, Tom Hadley, said: “Evidence from REC research has well as the anecdotal feedback from members confirms that skills shortages and the lack of basic skills such as oral and written communication skills are a major concern and will often preclude jobseekers from accessing the labour market.

“The REC has welcomed the employer focus on training and qualifications that are provided to jobseekers but it is also crucial to continue focussing on ensuring the education system equips people with the necessary basic skills to integrate the world of work.”

The REC has continuously pointed out that recruitment agencies are uniquely placed to comment on where the demand for workers does not match the skills available.

Because of this, the REC is committed to working with Government and other key stakeholders to enhance the opportunities for jobseekers and to ensure that we have a 21st century workforce that enables the UK to compete in the global economy.

The REC is a member of the CBI and is represented on a number of its committees and working groups.

Among the key findings of the CBI/Edexcel Education and Skills Survey were:-

- 53 per cent of the employers survey said they lacked confidence in their ability to find enough people with the right skills for their business

- 40 per cent had serious concerns about employees’ basic literacy and numeracy skills

- 40 per cent said poor basic skills was having a serious impact on customer service while another 34 per cent said it had led to lower productivity

- 56 per cent said they were concerned about employees’ IT skills

- 59 per cent of firms employing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-skilled staff say they have difficulty recruiting with a low take-up of these subjects at university being part of the problem

- 36 per cent of larger firms are looking to recruit STEM graduates from India and another 24 per cent from China while 35 per cent of firms say they will look to Europe to recruit in the next three years.

So, its clear that industry faces a challenge around recruitment. My experience over the last 18+ years in recruitment demonstrates that it is times like these where talent is sought after, but is limited, a search consultant comes into their element. Businesses don't take a lot of persuading to engage our services as they know they have to or their business suffers....

In the UK there are 3 players, CNA International, Antal and MRI Network, who offer recruitment franchises and can demonstrate a track record in this field. With substantial profit margins and low initial investment compared to the general franchise community, now may be the time to look at investing in your own wealth generation programme!

Credit crunch, economic down turn = disaster for recruiters?

You would think that we were all in for a rocky ride but lets see what the REC say..


New research from the REC's Research Unit has shown agencies are beginning to pick up most of the strain generated by the current uncertainty within the jobs market.

The Key Recruitment Trends 2007 report, which contains the key findings of last year’s monthly tracking research, identified the fact that agencies were acting as “shock absorbers” in providing the labour market with flexibility during the present economic period.

Overall, the review results showed 2007 was another strong year for the recruitment industry with most indicators of satisfaction, performance and efficiency generally ahead of those recorded in 2006.

However, towards the end of the review period, significant changes in some of the data recorded signified a possible slowdown after a sustained period of economic growth.

Roger Tweedy, the REC’s Head of Research, said of the findings: “With the Unit’s tracking surveys in place, commentators and analysts will be able to monitor closely how the ‘agency model’ works to support the economy during a period of uncertainty.

“The results so far show that the agencies are acting as ‘shock absorbers’ in providing the labour market with flexibility that both cushions immediate impact and enables prompt recovery. This will be examined and assessed over the coming months.”

He added that at this crucial time when agencies will be playing a critical role in economic progress, policy-makers and legislators should think very carefully before adding any extra pressures on agencies when they may already be starting to feel the “commercial heat.” Key trends identified in the 2007 review include:

Employers continuing to use the same average number of agencies (2.5) as in 2006 although usage increased slightly towards the year’s end
Employers were less likely to “always use” an agency than they were in 2006, which was the case across most sectors and regions, especially among SMEs. Again there were signs of this trend reversing towards the end of the year
During 2007, employers across most sectors increased the use of temporary agency workers as a proportion of their overall workforce
Employers in most sectors were significantly more satisfied with their main agency in 2007 – a 20 point increase - compared to the previous year
The number of workers registered with agencies increased over the period while the number on assignment per branch remained broadly static
The number of workers registered with an agency varied considerably by sector and region
Agency workers generally found it easier to find work except in London
The average length of individual assignments reduced over the period
Agency workers’ satisfaction increased across all sectors and regions
The proportion of agency workers who were looking for permanent roles continued to decline throughout 2007 to less than 50 per cent by the end of the year.

So on the face of it we should probably be more confident than the media would like us to believe. Remember, there will always be a place in recruitment for agencies who identify the top 10% of industry talent consistantly. Its the job board CV chasers that will find the future tough. Indeed I have heard both Hays and Alexander Mann Solutions say that agencies engaged with them in RPO are failing to supply quality CVs.

Thank heavens for search based recruitment consultants!

Is your life ticking by? Ceate wealth via a franchise...

In times of economic uncertainty and ever increasing personal taxation do you get a sense that your hard earnt salary is worth less than ever before? Certainly it must be true that working for someone else limits your ability to dramatically affect your income whereas running your own business could allow you to benefit directly from the effort you put in.

Im sure many people think of working for themselves but in the back of their minds enjoy the stability of receiving a pay packet every week or month. The challenge must be one of risk versus reward and it would be wrong of me to suggest that working for yourself is right for everyone. What I do know as someone that has worked for themselves, is that it can be very lonely even when the cash is rolling in!

I was an early owner/manager of a recruitment franchise, back in the 90's, at a time where the concept was new to the UK. Whilst it taught me a lot about running a business and indeed the executive recruitment industry, frankly, it was not an experience I enjoyed as the franchisor was learning themselves abou how best to deliver support to the franchisees. I left the association after 2 years feeling let down and misguided.

Now however the franchise market is mature and I have been highly impressed with the professionalism it demostrates. So if you believe that taking control of your own destiny and earnings could be a way to get out of the rut of watching the clock tick by I would recommend you take a look at the franchise family.

The British Franchise Association (BFA) can help you identify credible franchise opportunities and in my view recruitment is a fantastic high margin business where there are a number of well established franchisors. We have CNA International, Antal and MRI who can guide you towards wealth generation. The UK recruitment industry is worth £26bn and set to grow to £29bn by 2010. Imagine owning just a small percentage of this market!

With the right training, which a franchisor will provide, you could be on your way to determining your own salary and, if you have the desire, building a substantial business.

Tick tock!

Time for an open network to share Recruitment Consultants!

Well what can I say about rec to rec companies.... they don't half make it difficult to believe that they understand the quality side of recruitment! How many false promises are made about the quality of candidates they will provide based on the their own in depth knowledge of what makes a recruiter tick, because of course they were a top performer themselves in the past.

They certainly talk a good fight when engaging with you and appear to understand your business needs and expectations around the role..... and then you either get a CV sent to you which misses all the key skills and experience you are looking for or they never call you again, probably because you have been too clear that you will not interview candidates unless they fit the bill!


Or maybe we have just been unlucky in the providers we have historically dealt with during my time at CNA International.

So, I have a plan. Its not radical and certainly not new in concept. However, like most good ideas you are trying to introduce to a community you need to sell it to the community first and then hope it snow balls.

Now I do understand that the recruitment industry is always looking to employ talented people and that the talent at the moment (and this is a fact based on my many conversations with recruitment company owners) is thin on the ground, so the willingness to follow my idea could be challenged before it gets off the ground.

But this is the idea anyway!

Instead of fighting for talent between us we should be willing to share talent that comes our way but does not fit our needs. It could be that we would love to hire someone but realistically travel to work would become an issue, or we may feel that although talented the chemistry with the team would not work, or that the recruiter's market specialisation would not seamlessly fit into our business, or, or or...

It sometimes happens when I phone my competetors, quite openly and ask a Manager if they can help me, that they provide me with the name and telephone number of a candidate they have met - not to stitch me up I might add! Yesterday it was a case of travel distance from my CNA International Birmingham City office which would be more suited to someone who interviewed well with a recruitment business in Dudley 20 miles away...

Now Im not saying that this caring sharing attitude could not and would not be abused but you would all soon know who the selfish fools were trying to abuse the community without any regard for the project. And yes rec to rec recruiters would try and steal a march in some way as their livelihoods may be affected.

Im not suggesting for one minute that the plan will solve the shortage of quality recruiters available to your business as ultimately the candidae will chose who they want to work for!

How to take this forward? Well Im thinking about it!

I'll let you know when I have an implementation concept...

Its just a numbers game with candidates and job openings

277,922 registered vacancies on Reed's job board today and Ive put 5 on for good measure, all for the same roles, slightly differently worded, a different job title together with 5 clear questions as to what the person will need to have to be considered etc etc AND I paid £50 + VAT to ensure that my job stays at the top of the list with a guarantee to receive CVs, or I would get £100 worth of CV credits.

So I sit back in eager anticipation of seeing my first applicant. In essence Im after a Team Leader or Manager to take on a new resource team for our finance sector team who need a rapid turn around of candidates for the major banks who's PSL we are lucky to a part of.....

Couldn't be easier using these popular job boards. I was confident and so were the other agencies who were amongst the 14,566 vacancies also in the Recruitment Consultant Sector.

Here it is - an email from reed.co.uk saying "You have an applicant"

I open it with excitement.

Bloody hell she is good.

If........ I was looking for someone to open Franchises for a UK cosmetics company or to place her in an admin role at the local council.

Why oh why do we bother trying so hard to nail the advert, the sector, the questions et al to get someone with high aspirations (which in some small way I applaud) only to be sent something blatently wrong. I wouldn't mind so much if the 1st applicant had come from the promise made by the job board, as I paid my fifty quid! But no it took 3 hours and was someone with a dream and time on their side.

Now I am almost convinced that the time has come for a recruitment job site specialising and remaining true to the core values of a market they are trying to support well. If I want a Rolls Royce I don't go to a car supermarket and expect to find one exactly the way I want it, if any at all. So why should we expect it of Monster, Reed Total Jobs etc.

I must admit I didn't search long, but I have found a job board that has all the markings of quality and focus Alpha Executive Jobs. The thing about Alpha is that the site deals with Executive Jobs for professioanls so you know the calibre of candidates you are going to find. Not much use for me today as my role is not an executive job but I have to say I was impressed with their focus

Well done Alpha Executive Jobs!