The dust has now settled and feet have recovered from the annual recruitment industry get together that is Recruitment Agency Expo. The event, which is generally viewed as the one that means New Year is done and dusted and the recruitment events calendar is officially open, is a firm fixture in many recruiters and recruitment suppliers’ diaries. It was no different this year when over 3000 people descended on London’s Olympia over 2 days, to network, learn, get out of the office and catch up with their peers. What was different and what did we learn from this year’s Rec Expo? In some ways, if you’ve done Recruitment Agency Expo before then you know what to expect. The tried and trusted format of industry suppliers looking polished in their stands are vying for your attention while the seminar theatres and training areas dotted round the edges promise jam-packed learning sessions. Seminar Programme The seminar programme didn’t disappoint. Recruitment attendees were hungry to hear what the experts had to say. From our vantage point on the ISV stand, right outside Theatre 1, we could see it was standing room only for the likes of Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the REC, similarly for Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo. ISV’s Managing Director Amanda Davies, took to the speaker’s podium on Day 2 asking ‘Does Candidate Testing Work for Today’s Recruiter?’ The audience for this talk wasn’t allowed to just sit and listen. Amanda had them up in their seats to illustrate how our unconscious biases come into play when it comes to judging candidates. Show delegate and friend of ISV, Chris Howard from SEC Recruitment gamely stepped up to help Amanda demonstrate the difference between knowledge and mental agility (if you’re curious, then get in touch!) To download a copy of Amanda’s presentation, head here. Psychometric Testing is still a ‘thing’ It is still an everyday challenge to source and identify the best candidates. If skills are in shortage, as we heard in some of the seminars, then what other means can we use to identify top talent? The ISV stand was a hive of activity as we launched our new Personality Questionnaire. Following on from our seminar on candidate testing, recruiters were keen to hear more about how this self-assessment tool can help identify work behaviours. Recruiters could also try out the Personality Questionnaire on an iPad or tablet device whilst they were on the stand. Contact us for more information and if you would like to try the questionnaire. GDPR and Cyber Security is a hot topic (still) The buzz around GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation) started last year and, with the regulation becoming enforceable in May, it is still a hot topic for recruiters. Our colleagues and stand neighbours from Voyager Software were busy all day with delegates enquiring about their CRM and the security of candidate data. From the ISV perspective, people were keen to hear about our online Cyber Security Training and GDPR test. Feel free to take the test yourself to get a steer of how well you understand the regs. A burst water main 2 miles away can cause chaos One of the main talking points of Day 1 of the show was the burst watermain in Hammersmith, nearly 2 miles from the venue. Not only did the problem cause the roads around the area to flood, resulting in closures and traffic problems but it meant many places were without water…. Olympia included. Imagine a few thousand recruiters, fuelled by endless cups of coffee without bathroom facilities and running water! Toilet stops had to be planned with a good amount of leeway to either head out of the venue or track down some of the working facilities over in a leisure and tourism exhibition. Credit to the Olympia staff though who took it all in their stride, even when they accidentally locked one delegate in the ladies. But what’s a recruitment event without a little drama hey?! See you all again at Recruitment Agency Expo next year. ***** ISV.Online is the leading supplier of skills testing software and services to the UK Recruitment Industry. Used by 9 of the top 10 UK agencies, by number of offices, and 7 of the top 10, by revenue, ISV.Online offers candidate skills assessment and evaluation software and online training tools, allowing agencies and in-house HR/recruitment teams to validate the skills of potential candidates and existing employees across a wide range of areas.
