I love my job and I am passionate about helping employers find the very best people that they can for their business, to ensure their business has stability and can grow and reach its objectives.  I am passionate about helping job seekers find a new job, a job that will fulfil their career ambitions, and make a difference to their life.  I am passionate about developing the careers of my team and creating more Project Resource success stories, as we continue to grow and expand in the UK and overseas.  I am passionate about working with valued suppliers that can improve the Project Resource business and helping them grow alongside us.

Passion, it really is a secret ingredient to success, and most importantly continue success.  I hope you enjoyed the post and video, and I wish you every success in all that you do.

You need to be pro-active, creative, different and most of all persistent to shine bright to potential employers.

Tip 2

Always follow-up an application for a job by calling the contact name

Now this sounds obvious, however, Project Resource on average will receive 300+ CVs every month, so getting yourself noticed is paramount.  Astoundingly from this 300, only 2-5 of these applicants call us (that’s 1%).  It’s those pro-active people who normally get the interview, and in many cases get the job with us.

So, pick up the phone and give me a call (01628-477744), be pro-active, sending your CV alone is not enough.

What are you prepared to do to get the job?

More Career Advice here.

Previous subjects include:

• Coaching and mentoring

How to spot your top performers

How to maximise performance

• Paralegal presentations

AWR regulations and the implications they will have on you

• Master classes by industry experts

Fee negotiation

We aim these events at white collar professionals who will typically be working within: Quantity Surveying/Commercial, Planning/Project Controls or Design Management/Design Engineering roles.

The purpose of my post today is to ask the question…how can I help you?

Is there a particular subject or event type that you feel you and your colleagues could benefit from? What would grab your attention and be a valuable seminar/course for you to attend?

Please feel free to post your feedback below, or alternatively contact me on an individual basis via e-mail c.prince@project-resource.co.uk or phone 01189 522240.

Over the 6 weeks I have worked at Project Resource I feel I have gained a good degree of insight into the industry that I now recruit for. Since my first week it has become apparent that civil engineering businesses  across the regions I recruit in, The Midlands and East Anglia, are consistently taking on more staff, particularly in the water sector. The contracts division in the Birmingham office took me on board because the freelance work had been coming in thick and fast and it still is! Surely the level of recruitment for an industry serves as a good reflection of the buoyancy of that industry?

It came as no surprise to me that the construction industry was hit hard in the recession and with the double dip recession confirmed you might think that my outlook would be bleak. However, it is apparent from talking to numerous Quantity Surveyors that the future is looking brighter; after all, the first to fall will be the first to rise. I have come to understand that Project Resource have dealt with these hard economic times by building strong relationships with employers and job seekers to help weather the storm, this is most definitely reflected in our current work load.

I also feel that this couldn’t be a better time for me to begin my career at Project Resource; I was delighted to make my first placement, with a top 5 contractor no less, after only 11 days and I’ve a feeling there will be many more to come.

What I gather from working at Project Resource, is that the recession is something that has already happened, a past tense, the buoyancy of the market I cover is a reflection of the increase of work across the Midlands and East Anglia and in turn is adding to the consistent growth of our company… Australia here we come!

If you are a quantity surveyor or commercial manager or are looking to hire these professionals then please feel free to call me on 0121 712 6600, email me or connect with me on LinkedIn; I would be delighted to assist you in any way that I can.

After 10 years of very successful trading and growth within the UK we are now in the process of planning to expand overseas, to Australia.

Since we specialise in the supply of white-collar professionals with specific construction and engineering skills and focus on a quality led recruitment process, we feel that there is a good opportunity for us to develop relationships with the top foreign and domestic employers and job seekers in the Australian market.

I am very keen to hear from you or any of your friends, colleagues or company if you are involved in any work in Australia.

To this end we have produced an employer survey that I would be very grateful if you could complete. The survey will help us to improve and tailor our service to you, not to mention help us to highlight future potential candidates that may want to work for you, and it only takes 5 minutes to complete.

I am trying to build an Australian network of reputable employers and specialist job seekers, given the competition for talent in some core markets.

To complete the employer survey please click here.

I really appreciate in advance your help and can assure you any answers will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with any 3rd parties, ever.

You may also be interested to know that I recently conducted a job seeker survey of over 27,000 job seeking professionals from our database here in the UK and have had a phenomenal response of over 1500 applicants (and counting) who will be actively looking to live and work in Australia moving forwards (some are already there!).

Please feel free to pass this blog post url on to anyone that you may know who would be interested in employing staff and/or working in Australia.

I will continue to keep you updated on developments here at Project Resource, and until then I wish you the very best and thank you once again for your response.  You can also keep up to date with my work by following me on Twitter or connect to me LinkedIn.

As I hope you are aware, the professions that we are best known for supplying are:

More news soon…

The Markit/ Cips purchasing managers index (PMI) reported strong new orders and a rise in employment during April as growth fell back only marginally to 55.8 in April from 56.7 in the previous month.

Markit data shows much of the boost to output came from an upsurge in commercial building and civil engineering during the spring which is expected to continue through the summer months.

Commercial building expanded by 57.7 while civil engineering activity hit 56.5.

However, much of this activity is in London and the south-east where the Olympics, Crossrail and the development of King’s Cross are in full swing while projects like the Westfield shopping centre in Bradford remain on the drawing board.

Economists are divided over the conflicting data, with some believing the Office for National Statistics is overly gloomy while others argue the Markit data fails to pick up the downturn affecting smaller firms in the north and west.

So another positive report, reinforcing what we have been saying in previous posts.  Business is still challenging for those companies working in the construction industry, but it’s looking up and we believe that this trend will continue.  Recruitment demand is up and supply is again becoming more difficult.  All good.

To read the Guardian article in full click here.

A lot of Peter’s observations and thoughts I agree with, however, it seems a little on the pessimistic/ cautious side for my liking, positive mental attitude outlook and what many of the companies that we are working with are showing, through their recruitment activity.

My experience from the lows of 2009-10, is that 2012 is going to be a much better year for UK Construction and UK Infrastructure than the 3 years prior.

I think the current government are doing a good job in difficult circumstances.  They acknowledged in their 2011 Autumn statement and again in the 2012 budget that money is needed for large capital projects (construction and infrastructure related) and that the health of the UK Construction market has a direct correlation to the health of the British economy.

These are interesting and no doubt challenging times, but those that are positive, focused and determined will ultimately come out of these trying times the strongest and most fit for purpose.

We are excited about the growth of our business, growth and development of our teams, expansion opportunities for our UK offices and new Overseas offices.  Our business strategy is clear, the opportunities limitless.  We are recruiting constantly for great people to join us and become part of our success story.  We have more and more jobs in those professions that we specialise in supplying.  It’s all good and getting better.  For your information those jobs that we currently specialise in supplying are:

• commercial & quantity surveying;
• estimating;
• planning & project controls
• design management
• design engineering; and
• Construction Management.

That’s all from me for now.  Peter’s article is worth a read, but remember it’s an overview, an opinion, and not everyone has to have the same opinion. There are always opportunities, you’ve just got to be looking for them and know the difference between a good or bad one.

We strive to be the very best business we can be, so we expect our suppliers to have the same attitude to their business and customer service.  With this in mind we have recently added Sprite to our preferred accountancy services companies that we recommend all contractors that work on assignments via us, to speak with and work through.

Personally I have spoken to 50+ companies in the last 24 months, so I am well placed to know which companies contractors should and should not use. We are very selective in which companies we choose to endorse and recommend to the contractors that we help find work.

Sprite can assist contractors who choose to work through either an umbrella company (Sprite Consultancy Limited) or through a CIS solution (Sprite Construction Limited) which applies as an option to those working in the construction industry. Either way they will look after your accounts and ensure that you are paid the maximum you can achieve, whilst ensuring you pay your taxes and contributions in line with UK laws.

From my meetings with the many contractor service companies, we have three carefully selected contractor service companies that we endorse and work with.

Why did we select these companies to work with?  We choose these companies over the many others that exist due to their high level of customer service, their professionalism and their understanding of our business.  There was also synergy between our businesses as to what we were all trying to achieve and our dedication to high standards.

Sprite is focused on delivering great service and results for it’s customers, they take pride in their work and reputation.  Sprite are proud members of APSCo and accredited by Professional Passport which demonstrates a high standard of service and compliance within the Professional Staffing Industry.  Jay Pittaway is our contact, and if you have a query, or need advice on working through an Umbrella company or CIS solution, give Jay a call or email him.  Make sure you mention that you found out about Sprite through Project Resource.

If you are currently seeking a contract job, then make sure you register on our website to received job alerts that match your job search requirements.  I hope you found this information of interest.  I am happy to assist you further if you need any advice.

Thank you very much if you read my email (sent to our registered job seekers) and filled out the job seeker survey.  If you didn’t get a chance yet, then feel free to click on the link here, as the survey is open until Friday 11th May.

If you have completed the survey then I wanted to let you know that we have had a fantastic response of over 1500 survey completions (so far!) and will be working through the responses over the coming weeks and months.

If you feel that your situation is more urgent and you want us to contact you sooner than I wanted to suggest that we speak in confidence, so perhaps you could email me directly.

If you are in no hurry then don’t worry, we will be in touch in due course.

Employer Survey

Now if you also recruit staff for Australia you may want to take a look at our employer survey which I hope will help us to shape our service to you in Australia. I realise that we are both employers and job seekers at various points in our careers and so I really value any feedback from you and hope that we can help you in either capacity.

The survey is going out by email later this week to employers registered with Project Resource, but if you already are or soon will be looking for staff in Australia, then please click here to complete our short survey. It only takes 5 minutes and will have a huge impact on our ability to get things right for you.

Also, please feel free to pass this email on to any colleagues in Australia or the UK for whom it may be relevant as the better the response, the more we can all help each other.

PS – I noticed from my last email that a few of you questioned whether we are moving or expanding to Australia; its expansion! – we are as committed to the UK recruitment market as we have been for the last 10 years, and our offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading are continuing to develop our service offering in the UK, with 30% growth in the last year alone – sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

I will continue to keep you updated on developments here at Project Resource, and until then I wish you the very best and thank you once again for your response.  You can also keep up to date with my work by following me on Twitter or connect to me LinkedIn.

As I hope you are aware, the professions that we are most interested in hearing from are:

• Planners, Planning Engineers, Planning Managers. (View our UK jobs)
• Project Controllers and Project Controls Managers. (View our UK jobs)
• Commercial Directors, Commercial Managers, Partner, Associates, Quantity Surveyors and Cost Engineers. (View our UK jobs)
• Estimators and Bid Managers. (View our UK jobs)
• Design Managers.  (View our UK jobs)
• Design Engineers.  (View our UK jobs)
• Mechanical Design Engineers (View our UK jobs) or Electrical Design Engineers.  (View our UK jobs)
• Construction Managers, Site Managers, Programme Managers and Project Managers.

If you are looking for jobs in the UK for the professions that we specialise, then please visit our website.

More news soon…