Information Project Manager - Current Vacancy

Our client (a mental health NHS organisation) requires an Information Management professional with proven Project Management experience. You will have technical knowledge on Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Data Migrations and preferably have worked with RiO before. This role will involve providing expert Data Management advice to the organisation as part of their Datawarehouse project and provide high level Project Management support (Prince 2 environment). Due to the nature of the role and the timescale involved the role would initially be part time (circa 2 days a week), would become full time and then become part time (circa 2 days a week) again. The client would consider taking two people, 1 Data Management expert and 1 Project Manager. This is an excellent project opportunity, so please do send through a technically detailed CV ASAP. G & G Recruitment are working as an Employment Business.

G & G Website Update

G & G Recruitment have added 12 new pages to their website. These pages are designed to give candidates and clients an idea of what G & G do and how they do it and is line with their policy of open, honest and transparent service.

The pages give information ranging from recruitment fees through to how we resource IT and Information Management staff. I have listed the information now available below: -


Terms and Conditions
The Recruitment Process
Recruitment Advice
Online Recruitment
Recruitment Policies
Meet the Team


Please do have a look through the pages and content and contact us with any questions or comments regarding them.

Internet Resources for Job Seekers

For any job seekers out there seeking some advice on how to find work or where to look. Try the UKRecruiter website. They also give information on how to find agencies etc.

G & G Recruitment, who focus on IT and Information Management recruitment, also has a candidate section so do check out our website. If you have any questions, do contact us on info@ggrecruitment.co.uk

Temporary Workers - Recruiter

Andrew Miller’s temporary and agency workers’ Private Member’s Bill has been withdrawn.
The Bill’s aim was to afford the same provisions for temporary workers that permanent employees enjoy. It had sparked fear in the industry that the move could be to the detriment of the UK’s agency work model.
The death of the Bill was inevitable following the government’s announcement on Tuesday that there had been an agreement between business leaders and trade unions to give temporary workers equal pay and conditions after 12 weeks in the job.
But the government will have to persuade MEPs in Brussels to amend the European Agency Workers Directive, possibly at 9 June Employment Council or soon after the French take over the presidency in July, before any legislation is agreed.
Any agreement on the Directive, which has been blocked by Britain for years, would have to go before the European Parliament for a decision, which could delay the new law for more than a year. * - Article from Recruiter.

G & G Recruitment are still concerned about the possible implications of giving temporary workers equal rights to permanent works on the market. Will it mean that clients will be less willing to use temporary workers? Will it mean, in the IT and Information Management sector, that temporary workers must have their pay brought in line with permanent workers, which would usually mean a decrease? Shouldn't consideration be taken for the different markets in which these temporary workers work? Will it force the small recruitment agencies to close as they cannot cope with even more red tape, rules, regulations and processes? Will client's choice of agencies be reduced?

Should you have any thoughts or questions, please do contact us on info@ggrecruitment.co.uk

Agency Workers - Recruiter

The following article comes from the Recruiter: -

Agency workers endure much lower levels of job quality and are paid less than permanent staff, according to a new report.
Conducted by academics at universities in Bradford, Leeds and Kent, the ‘Agency Working in the UK: What do we Know?’ study found that, on average, agency workers are paid £7.80 per hour contrasting with an average £11.47 for permanent workers.
Two out of three agency workers are employed in clerical, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, while only one fifth are to be found in managerial and professional occupations.
Dr Gary Slater, senior lecturer in economics at the University of Bradford and co-author of the report, said: “The CBI has called for equal rights to be limited to agency workers with tenure of one year or more. Our study shows that almost three-quarters of agency workers would be excluded from coverage if such a restriction were to be put in place, which surely runs counter to the aims of the Bill [Andrew Miller’s Private Member’s Bill] to provide equal treatment.” Dr Chris Forde of Leeds University Business School and the report’s other co-author, added: “Agency working has grown in importance over recent years. Our figures, drawn from nationally representative data, provide a reliable basis for comparing the experience of agency workers with other groups in the labour market.”

G & G Recruitment acknowledges that in the clerical, semi-skilled and unskilled areas this report and the Agency Worker Directive may have a point. However, within professional and niche sectors, like IT and Information Management, the candidates often earn more and any move to give them equal rights with permanent employees would severely hamper the market and effectively ruin the job variety and experiences that temporary work gives these candidates. It would also hinder the economy as a whole as outside skills would not be sourced as often to come in and aid projects or departments. Temporary workers within these professional and niche markets are not only essential to their markets, the economy and the clients but, offer a great experience for candidates and a great earning potential.

Information Officer - Current Vacancy

Information Analyst skilled with Access, Excel and Word is urgently required.
You will have proven skills, knowledge and ability in manipulating, analysing and providing meaningful interpretation of data and reports, proven know-how and skills in presenting information visually and formatting documents/entering data. You will also have advanced skills in IT systems - Excel, Access, Word - have familiarity of working across an organisation in order to achieve goals and ideally, knowledge and skills regarding providing information for contract monitoring returns. Finally you will have delivered and managed training programmes on the data systems you work with.
This is an excellent opportunity to work within a friendly organisation within London. Please do send through a detailed CV asap.
G & G Recruitment are working as an Employment Agency.

The Hunt for Candidates

The secret to successful recruitment is finding the right candidate first. With there being so many agencies now (a reputed 1500+ in the London area alone) it really has come down to the ability to attract the best candidates. There are the usual methods - advertising in the news papers, advertising online on job boards, word of mouth, candidate recommendation and head hunting.

Nowadays, online appears to be the way forward with more and more people opting to hunt for jobs online, or just to make their details available online. So much so that SEO, social networking sites and key words are all the craze now in sourcing that 1 candidate who will get the role. Even more so that most of the candidates are apparently passive - ie, they aren't actively looking for work.

Here at G & G Recruitment we would love to hear from any IT or Information Management candidates (be it permanent staff or contractors) on how they conduct their job hunt and what they look for in agencies, adverts or even just that first approach, phone call or e-mail.

Im sure in about a year's time it all will have changed again but, that is unfortunately the nature of the beast of the industry which we work in.

VOIP - Good Idea?

We are about to move to a VOIP telephone system at G & G Recruitment. Having searched through all the different options available to us and listened to the different advantages and disadvantages we chose the VOIP option.

Not without some trepidation though. VOIP, according to some, has poor line quality. However, from the large number of clients I call, who are on VOIP lines, I cannot say I have noticed this. One thing is clear - the cost benefits. An initial outlay for us will be made back within a few months due to the smaller number of lines we require and the number of minutes we get included in our package.

Well, the decision has been made so only time will tell if it is the right one.

Next up for review is our Broadband provider. If any of our clients or candidates have any thoughts on this, which i am sure you do as you work in the IT and Information Management industry, then please do let me know.

Candidate Ideas

G & G Recruitment Solutions are continually looking at ways to improve our services, not just to clients but, to candidates as well. In todays ultra competitive market, it is just as important to ensure that candidates feel all their needs are being met, that the agency they are using knows what they are looking for and that should they require any job hunting advice that they can get an honest and helpful answer.

G & G Recruitment Solutions knows that are consultants are always willing to help out and offer advice. However, we are currently looking at ways to improve the communication lines and see if we can't improve our service.

We are currently looking at implementing an instant messaging system that would enable all candidates to ask a question to a consultant and receive an almost instant response. Any comments regarding this idea, or any other ideas you may have, please do contact us on 0844 800 4984 or info@ggrecruitment.co.uk. We really do want to improve our service, make sure we stand out from the crowd and ensure we rise above the traditional view of a recruitment agency.

G & G Recruitment Solutions specialises in sourcing IT and Information Management staff for the Public and Not-For-Profit sector. So should you be looking for work in these areas, please do forward your CV through to us.

Managed Service Providers - Not what they're cracked up to be

Ive written on this subject before in the recruiter but, here i go again. It still annoys me to see how more and more companies and organisations are signing up to these managed services thinking they will save them time and money and bring in the quality candidates.

Well, so far, in my experience it has done the opposite within the niche area of IT and Information Management. Not only do MSPs (Managed Service Providers) cut out the chance of working with a number of agencies due to the small mark ups Agencies have to sign up to, but they also cost the agency more in interest as payment takes longer to reach them.

We have had the great experience of a MSP forgetting to add a contractor of ours onto the system. This meant that payment was delayed initially by 2 months. It then took them a further month to clear the invoices for payments. This meant they had simply passed the invoices onto the client, who has a 30 day payment period. So 4 months down the road and we are still waiting for payment. What is even more annoying is that we worked with this client direct before the MSP, charged the same mark up and had absolutely no problems. Sometimes a middle man doesn't help!

Another common experience we have is the re-released job. On another MSP agreement we have jobs get released time and time again. Obviously delivering the quicker more efficient recruitment the MSP promises!

Before you ask, we have stopped actively chasing these MSPs unless they come in at a client where we have worked before. Then we try and make them work but, i have not seen one client benefit so far!

Right, must now go back to work. Im urgently looking for a Helpdesk Analyst, Database Analyst, E-Learning Developer and Systems Analyst. So if you fit one of these titles, please do send me your CV ASAP.

New Financial Year finally taking effect???

After a slow start to April it finally looks like the New Financial Year budgets have been sorted as several ICT vacancies have begun to filter through. Despite the credit crunch and all financial doom and gloom we are hopeful that in the Public and Not-For-Profit sector there should not be too much of a down turn in recruitment for IT and Information Management professionals.

Should you be looking for any kind of work in the IT and Information Management sector, please do have a look at our website, www.ggrecruitment.co.uk, or send us your details on info@ggrecruitment.co.uk.