Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a great Christmas break. With three young children (and with their 3 birthdays over the same period) mine was anything but relaxing! It was great to spend time with the family though and, as tends to be the way with Christmas, I enjoyed the odd party and over-indulging on all the festive fare. Now comes the dreaded time though where I have to pay penance for my sins and think about the usual New Year’s Resolutions of getting fit, eating healthily etc. Probably a good job that I’m back at work and out of reach of the massive tin of leftover Quality Streets!

With today being the first day back at work for many we know there are a lot of people out there who have set themselves the New Year’s Resolution of finding a new job in 2010. This is why our adverts are going back onto TV from today to reassure those people who want a new job that there are plenty of opportunities out there for them.

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I’m getting asked a lot at the moment about my predictions for the next year but without a crystal ball I’m reluctant to commit too much as this year has seen so many unexpected twists and turns. In times of a recession it is very difficult to predict what will happen over the coming days or weeks let alone months but what has been interesting is watching how organisations innovate and diversify to achieve their aims. I think we’ll see more of this, especially in the early stages of next year, but I’m optimistic that things will start to improve throughout the year and with this I think we’ll see some companies returning to more proactive, dynamic activity, which will be exciting.

Interestingly, the research we run quarterly with brand tracking agency HPI shows an increase in the number of active job seekers in November 2009, who appear to be growing in confidence regarding finding a new job. This is mirrored by an increase in vacancies, which is likely to be playing a key role in the increased candidate confidence. The younger generation seem most optimistic about 2010 although this could be due to them having little experience of going through a recession or perhaps having fewer responsibilities than the older demographics.

It goes without saying that 2009 has been tough for pretty much everyone, particularly the recruitment industry, but this year was also one of the busiest in Jobsite’s history. We worked on widespread activity such as Jobs-by-Twitter, our Johnston Press partnership, launch of our news centre Insider and our behavioural targeting service. These projects and partnerships were all new ways for us to attract candidates, increase vacancy numbers and applications and make job hunting and recruitment quicker and easier.
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Has anyone else glanced at their calendar today and realised there are only 4 weeks until Christmas?

As usual, this time of year becomes a bit of a panic in the shops – realising I haven’t got all (or any) of the Christmas presents I need yet!

Well, at Jobsite we are making our own festive preparations too; but rather than buying presents, we are buying TV advertising space. Yes, January sees the return of our TV adverts starring Max Beesley, kicking off on 4th January 2010 in a nationwide campaign across terrestrial and satellite channels.

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Last Wednesday night it was the annual Jobsite RecruitRank Awards and I think I can honestly say it was one of the best years ever.

We held it at Jewel in Piccadilly Circus and invited the top performing recruitment agencies based on candidate feedback.

I’d just come from the quarterly DMGT board meeting, so after the seriousness of all that I was looking forward to the evening ahead (and the free bar!)

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The title of this blog may sound like I’ve been collared by the police and am now serving my penance but it’s far more innocent than that. Sorry if that’s disappointed you but at least it got your attention!

It actually refers to some great stuff we’ve been doing lately with various groups in the local community. As a Hampshire based company we’ve always been proactive about getting involved where we can. For example, we provided the lifeboat to the Portsmouth & Southsea Voluntary Lifeguards, sponsored the Havant cricket team, the Chichester under 8s rugby team and the Havant Lip-reading service to help local people to learn how to manage their hearing loss, plus we work with local schools to provide practical career advice.

The recent activity we’ve been getting involved in is through our sponsorship of Portsmouth FC, which has been fantastic in helping us identify community projects that we can help with. In the last few weeks we’ve partnered with the Portsmouth Supporters’ Club – Main Branch, which is made up of over 1500 dedicated Portsmouth fans. We’ve provided them with some funding to help with their newsletters, website etc. Their Chairman is landlord of the Newcome Arms pub in Fratton, so it would have been rude not to share a pint with some of the members!
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