UKTECH at Recruitment2000, London Olympia

Recruitment 2000 – the National Recruitment Industry Conference and Exhibition – recently took place at the London Olympia with a clear message that online recruitment is the direction most companies are moving.

Representatives from leading UK recruitment companies as well as guest speakers Margaret Hodge MP – Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities and (had he shown MP Alan Johnson – Minister for Competitiveness) gave a series of presentations to a good turnout of visitors and delegates.

Over the event's two days, 16 presentations, various workshops and addresses to representatives from the industry, the number of times IR35 was mentioned (and I say 'mentioned' as opposed to 'discussed', 'debated', etc...) could have been counted accurately by a one-handed, two fingered man.

First to mention the legislation was TMP Executive Resourcing's Chris Herrmannsenn as she spoke of the fast growing number of programmers in Asia. "The foreign workforce in Asia alone," she said "is currently numbering around 115,000." She spoke of their CV's as "commodities on the net" in a reference to filling the skills shortage in the UK. "Jobs," she said "will look for candidates in the future in a globalised, $3 trillion marketplace."

Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities Margaret Hodge spoke specifically about the damage being done to the UK's senior skilled labour market by employers who were reluctant to recognise the value of the over-50s. However, she avoided the fact that the perpetrator dealing one of the most damaging blows to this sector was her own party's IR35 legislation. The Minister did not take questions after her presentation.

She spoke of "£16 billion being lost to the economy through a failure to exploit the talents of older people." She also voiced her fears that "Worklessness makes people ill... they will then become a burden on the NHS." Margaret Hodge also spoke of the Government's 'New Deal 50+' scheme, saying that it is able to "offer the older individual personal advice and support and has already got 20,000 into work." She concluded "If we don't grasp the issue, economic growth will be inhibited and will lead to greater social exclusion."

The exhibition itself boasted almost 100 different stalls which, uniquely this year, had all taken a dramatic turn to promoting their online capabilities with optimistic promises of limitless IT placement capabilities. Among the companies present were Personic, Jobpilot, Spring and LSM who announced their merger with IQX – developers of the PEARS recruitment software solution from their stand.

Also present was the Department for Education and Employment whose representative on the Customer Relations Team – Jeremy Turner, provided UKTECH with this interview regarding the sudden increase in foreign IT contractors being rushed through the UK visa system to fill the skill shortage in the UK.

Stephen Gorys – MD of Alexander Francis gave an informed talk about the placing of foreign contractors – in this case North American – into European positions and, after he had presented his paper, gave UKTECH this interview about the 'Godsend of IR35' for his business.

The new 'revolutionary' online recruitment start-up Tempz.com was represented by its founder Chris Leonard, who spoke of a system where "Everything is online - from the moment you register to the day you retire." A few visible shakes of the head could be seen among the audience whilst he preached the practicality of "recruitment without interviews" in a "virtual temping agency operating almost purely on the internet with a series of Skinny Branch Networks set to administer a human touch where necessary."

Amongst the doubters was Bernard Innes - MD of Executive Recruitment Services Plc., who believed that 'Such an initiative could never work with so little human interaction'. Mr. Innes' company had been adversely affected by the IR35 legislation and had suffered damages to his business as well as drastic effects on his workforce – read what he told UKTECH about it here.

The Forum of Professional Recruiters was represented by the MD of Joslin Rowe, Tara Ricks who, in contrast to Tempz.com's virtual method of dealing with contractors, spoke of "the importance of maintaining hands-on contact with clients and applicants." At the same time she told the conference: "Those who embrace the internet, embrace an opportunity but must be aware of the internet's limitations."

Ann Swain, Chief Executive of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo), and the only other person willing to address IR35, gave a talk which encompassed the contractor as a product and the growing power of the client in the IT staff marketplace. "Contractors," she told the conference, "are being treated as a product… the only way to grow your business is to have more product than your competitors. They must be different, cheaper, more unique and more deliverable products than your competitors." Read the full highlights of her talk here.

The remaining presentations dealt mainly with recruitment agencies' growing pains, financing opportunities and sourcing methods for staff. Although Minister for Competitiveness Alan Johnson was scheduled to speak, he failed to turn up and his emergency stand-in had to deal with a question regarding the government's quarantine period and the loss to the recruitment agency. You can read the question here. It highlights another strain that government legislation is placing on recruitment agencies trying to place IT contractors successfully and profitably.

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Richard Powell