I'm honestly not sure if this weeks confession is actually a cry for help from someone needing to be rescued from their office ....

"I used to work with a recruiter who tried on his wife's dresses when he brought them back from the dry cleaners and strutted around the office in them. He also had his copy of Playboy delivered to work so his wife wouldn’t find out".

If you want to get something off your chest or want to share an inspiring story from your recruiting life, please email Louise with all the details.

• Doing our bit for Recruiter’s #WearAHatDay 2014
• Magnificent Seven at the UK Recruiter Showcase Event
• 8 free tools that will make you a smarter, more effective recruiter with Johnny Campbell – #RecHangout
• Recruiters; ready for April 6th? Here are your top Five concerns #2
• LinkedIn Intelligence Alert Tool
• Want to get more retained business? Training for Recruiters
• How big a role could BYOD play in hiring the right staff?
• Win dinner for two in the UK Recruiter Technology Showcase Prize Draw

• Problem Looming
• Database CRM
• How often can you email a prospective candidate?

• Competition for jobs has dropped by over a third (35%) year-on-year. There are now just three UK jobseekers competing for every two advertised vacancies.
• Job vacancies increased 19% year-on-year, with 800,614 advertised UK vacancies in February, a 4.2% monthly increase on January.
• In the nine best cities to find a job in the UK, there were more vacancies than jobseekers. Cambridge – the best city to find a job – boasted five jobs to every job seeker.
• But advertised salaries sunk 4.4% year-on-year to £32,023 in February, a real-term fall of £2,077 over the last twelve months.
• Salary stagnation hits hardest in London (-6%), East Anglia (-5.3%) and the South East (-4%), while the North West sees moderate salary growth (2%)
• Youth unemployment heading for crisis point, with long term unemployment for 16-24 year olds doubling in the last 6 years. Current youth unemployment sits at 19.8%, approximately 3x the overall UK unemployment rate.