• Over 50% of world’s population under 30
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s largest
• A new member signs up to Linked in every second
• More than two-thirds (69%) of all Internet users going online through mobile devices
• More people own a smartphone than a toothbrush
• 90% consumers trust peer recommendations through web and social media whereas only 14% trust advertising

The changing face of marketing, the web and social media – it is about people and relationships.

Investing in E commerce

Businesses that can sell online should be doing so, early ecommerce adopters are reaping the benefits.

Tips for successful ecommerce sites:

• PPC – pay per click and Google ad words
• Needs to be fully responsive, or thumb and small screen friendly
• Smart design and consistent site navigation
• Simple no distractions checkout process
• Free delivery on orders over e.g £50 – expensive delivery most common cause of basket abandonment
• Options of payment methods
• M-commerce – shopping though mobile technology

 Add to your bottom line through Linked in

The people you need to be speaking to are more accessible now than they used to be. Through social media it is easy to find out who’s who, who does what within a business and then get in touch.

• Invest in paid for Linked in accounts

-        £12.95/ month gets you a business account and allows you access to 300 new profiles, contact 3 targeted new contacts per month through in mail

-        A business plus account is £29.95/ month and allows you to contact up to 10 people per month and access 500 profiles

-        An executive account at £48.95/ month allows you to contact up to 25 people and search up to 700 profiles

• Advertising through Linked in

You can target your ads to meet log in or user criteria of your potential audience. For example if you want to target Barclays – you can have ads that appear when Barclay’s staff log in to their Linked in accounts. It helps warm up leads and introduces your brand before you try to contact.

Mid-market private equity firms, like Gresham PE, look to invest in profitable and proven businesses with an enterprise value of between £10-100 million.

These investors can vary by sector and how involved in the business they are and provide development capital for product/service development or market expansion , management buyouts either to aid management teams acquire their own business or to provide partial cash-out for founders allowing them to de-risk some of their investment or capital for buy and build strategies.

Key advantages and disadvantages of private equity:

• Advantages of private equity finance

-        Introduces a formal board process with more thorough structure, details and targeted KPIs

-        Help and advice from external experts and specialists

-        Help with businesses development to facilitate growth and expansion

-        If required private equity professionals can help with the day-to-day business and with acquisitions

• Considerations for Private equity finance

-        Can be a strain on personnel and operations especially during the investment process

-        Deals can include bank debt and private equity loan notes which place additional financial constraints on the business

-        Unless properly communicated, the perceived timescales of between 3-5 years can create an era of uncertainty within a business

When considering raising private equity finance all advantages and disadvantages need considering.

A clear and coherent business plan needs to be agreed and forecasts need to be realistic and demonstrably achievable.

Oswaldtwistle Mills
Clifton Mill
Pickup Street
Oswaldtwistle
Lancashire
BB5 0EY

MOCK EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL & EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

Any HR Manager who has attended an Employment Tribunal will tell you that it can be a daunting and incredibly stressful experience, especially if you’re called as a key witness in the case.
Perhaps you would like to know what actually happens inside an Employment Tribunal so you’ll be fully prepared should you ever
need to defend a claim in Tribunal?
Maybe you attend regularly but would like the opportunity to hear from an Employment Judge who will take you through the hearing
process and explain how a Tribunal formulates its judgment?
Our Mock Employment Tribunal, hosted by the Employment team at Taylors Solicitors and 9 St John Street Chambers, will cover the key
elements of a hearing, including cross-examination and judgement by Barrister and Employment Judge, Ed Morgan.

The session will begin with our ever-popular review of the important recent developments in Employment law, which will be delivered by Emma Swan, Senior Associate at Taylors Solicitors. The Employment team from Taylors will then be joined by Ed Morgan, Barrister and Employment Judge from 9 St John Street Chambers in Manchester. Ed sits as an Employment Judge on the Leeds and Sheffield circuit so, along with the Taylors team which comprises experienced employment tribunal advocates who regularly appear representing clients, this session will be as close to a genuine Employment Tribunal as you’ll get!
As always, delegates will have the opportunity to network, as well take part in a group discussion on the Tribunal case, before Judge
Morgan delivers his judgment!

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE
Don’t miss out on this session – places are strictly limited so book today to avoid disappointment!
Visit www.thehrexchange.co.uk to book your place online.
Alternatively, complete and return the below attached form.

This is a HR Exchange event that you cannot afford to miss!

]]> http://www.afrconsulting.co.uk/the-hr-exchange-lancashire-june-20th/feed/ 0 http://www.afrconsulting.co.uk/the-hr-exchange-manchester-may-9th/ http://www.afrconsulting.co.uk/the-hr-exchange-manchester-may-9th/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:27:43 +0000 admin http://www.afrconsulting.co.uk/?p=8965

The Cadishead Lounge
Salford City Stadium
1 Stadium Way
Eccles
M30 7EY

MOCK EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL & EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

Any HR Manager who has attended an Employment Tribunal will tell you that it can be a daunting and incredibly stressful experience, especially if you’re called as a key witness in the case.

Perhaps you would like to know what actually happens inside an Employment Tribunal so you’ll be fully prepared should you ever
need to defend a claim in Tribunal?

Maybe you attend regularly but would like the opportunity to hear from an Employment Judge who will take you through the hearing
process and explain how a Tribunal formulates its judgment?

Our Mock Employment Tribunal, hosted by the Employment team at Taylors Solicitors and 9 St John Street Chambers, will cover the key
elements of a hearing, including cross-examination and judgment by Employment Judge, Brian McCluggage.

The session will begin with our ever-popular review of the important recent developments in Employment law, which will be delivered by Will Clayton, Head of Employment at Taylors Solicitors.

The Employment team from Taylors will then be joined by Brian McCluggage, Barrister and Employment Judge from 9 St John Street Chambers in Manchester. Brian sits at the Birmingham Employment Tribunal so along with the Taylors team which comprises experienced employment tribunal advocates who regularly appear representing clients, this session will be as close to a genuine Employment Tribunal as you’ll get!

As always, delegates will have the opportunity to network, as well take part in a group discussion on the Tribunal case, before Judge
McCluggage delivers his judgment!

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE
Don’t miss out on this session – places are strictly limited so book today to avoid disappointment!
Visit www.thehrexchange.co.uk to book your place online.
Alternatively, complete and return the below attached form.

This is a HR Exchange event that you cannot afford to miss!

Before the credit crunch the deals market was buoyant, even racy, with companies regularly buying and selling businesses, conducting mergers and making acquisitions.

Looking at the statistics is a good way to illustrate the severity of the change the recession has had on the market, which as you would expect has slowed right down.

In 2007 there was a peak in q2 of 1,400 deals done in Europe topping £160million but by the end of 2008, early 2009 this was down to a record low of just 200 deals conducted at a value of £20 million.

Another big shift in the market is the profile of the buyers. Back in 2007 40% of businesses were being bought by private equity firms, whereas now it is half of that, with private equity houses erring more on the side of caution looking for demonstrably high quality businesses with strong assets.

The number of buyers from overseas, particularly economies not experiencing the recession quite as we are in the UK has also increased from 24% to 35%.

Over the last 18 months we are seeing a gradual improvement in levels of debt, a definite improvement in the prices that businesses are bringing and a tentative, increased positivity in the market.

We are now expecting more businesses than ever wanting to sell, with owners who’d been told to sit tight over the last 5 years now seeing the signs of positivity.

Business owners have more realistic aspirations of their businesses value than perhaps 5-7 years ago but now it is much less common practice to put business for sale on the general market.

Instead sellers and advisers are choosing to preselect groups of potential buyers and conduct pre marketing to gauge interest, a large proportion of recent deals through KPMG have been carried out this way.

Many business owners are open to approaches to be bought even if they are not in a formal selling process and the advice to buyers is to actively target and approach businesses you are interested in, before someone else does.

To summarise;

• The M&A market is (very) slowly returning
• Deal volumes will pick up in 2014
• Owner managers are generally more receptive to approaches
• Expect more narrow, tailored sale processes this year
• Trade should still out bid PE but for stronger businesses they want
• Due diligence has become and will remain thorough
• Banking is the  major transaction risk
• There are good opportunities to acquire strategic assets for an acquirer with funds

• North West Finance Director of The Year, 2012
• Quoted Company Awards – Finance Director of the Year
• HOT 20 FDs in TMT

who shared his experiences of growing businesses.

 GB Group are identity management specialists who can verify 3 billion individuals globally to know your customer (KYC), anti- money laundering (AML) standard as well as age verification.. In his role as FD Dave has led the company to increase market capitalisation from £17m to over £100m in the last 4 years.

Dave’s motto to achieve success in growing a business is “Perform @ Ur Best” which he went on to break down to the key areas to focus on to achieve business growth and success.

• Perform – Maximise your peoples strengths

-        Performance

-        Expertise

-        Recognition and rewards

-        Focus and fun

-        Operational performance measures – bonuses, incentives

-        Reins off – allow people to perform, encourage accountability

-        Monitor to achieve mastery – manage, monitor, measure

• @ UR – Business tool kits

-        Activity based management  – spend your money on areas that customers are prepared to pay for or add value

-        Utilisation – invest in technology, resources, automation

-        Resources (technology and people)- optimise your resources

• Best – future into actionable present

-        Budgets / Forecasts – Forecasts should be used for decisions making, and cautious enough always to be beaten if only by £1, Rolling determine where the business is going.

-        Execution

-        Strategy

-        Targets – set 3-5 year targets for revenue and revenue growth, and operating margins (and operating margin %)

 With his 27 years international and operational board level experience, predominantly in Technology, Media and Telecoms Dave’s credentials speak for them self and his take on how he achieves growth was insightful for fellow FDs and business owners at the event.

Beyond the recruitment process, it then helps employees understand their responsibilities and helps you evaluate their performance.

The job description allows you to showcase the job and is your opportunity to attract the most appropriate candidates so include as much as you can as well as the usual role, responsibilities and qualifications.

We have compiled a few tips to help you write the role you want to recruit;

• Don’t just write what the person in the role currently does, but what you would like that position to be able to do – consider the businesses current situation as well as looking ahead to growth and development.
• Bear in mind the job you describe must be achievable – make sure that you’re not creating a job that very few people could fill.
• Be specific where possible but think responsibilities rather than individual tasks.
• Try and develop a standardised approach to job descriptions across company/ department

The typical structure of a job description template is as follows;

• Job Title
• Location
• Reports to
• Job Purpose (ideally one sentence)
• Responsibilities/ Duties (8-15 bullet points)
• Essential and desirable criteria
• Company/ team overview
• Application information

Having a well written job description will help you generate more relevant interest and is beneficial for recruiters sourcing and briefing target candidates.

Sample job descriptions for all levels of finance roles we recruit can be found in our specialisms section on the website www.afrconsulting.co.uk/specialisms/

Remember, the best candidates will have more than one opportunity to choose from, so to ensure that yours is their favoured role and attract the top talent you need to sell it through the job description giving potential applicants a great impression of your business.

The CV is the crucial starting point, it is the first representation of you to an employer or recruiter and so you should be completely happy with it.

It is a tricky balancing act between keeping it brief and to the point whilst really selling yourself, your experience and skills.

AFR host workshops for candidates on CV writing and some of our top tips are below:

• List career history, educational achievements and qualifications in reverse chronological order – current or latest first – and always explain any gaps
• List achievements and responsibilities – including more detail on the most recent and relevant. Include computer skills, languages, training, and any relevant awards
• Avoid superfluous, personal stuff like; age, religion, sex
• Quantify your achievements: Don’t just say “Reduced costs”, “Increased efficiency”, for example, always give tangible evidence of your skills and competencies. Describe the job or task you did, and then back up with demonstrable and quantifiable results.
• Don’t write in the first person – start sentences with verbs “developed; generated; reduced; exceeded; invented; rejuvenated”
• Avoid jargon and the use of too many acronyms
• Keep your hobbies & interests to a minimum – consider relevance
• Referees can be provided on request’ – consider testimonials on Linked in
• Use relevant job specs as a guide to what of your experience is most relevant and highlight accordingly.

Something else which we strongly recommend for our candidates is building a strong Linked in profile – it is a tool which is becoming increasingly well used by recruiters and companies recruiting with financial services is in the top 3 professions using it (for more information check out our blog on how to get the most out of Linked in)

At AFR when we register a candidate we check and  format CVs into a standard template before presenting them to a client but it is still important to remember that you need to make a good impression from the off, as we will be representing other candidates as well and you want to stand out.

For when it comes to the next stages, all candidates are interviewed by a consultant before being put forward for any roles, which gives opportunity to draw key elements from the CV for discussing. Our consultants will coach you through linking areas of your experience and CV to relevant job descriptions.

For September – December 2012 unemployment was at its lowest in 18 months, dropping to 2.5m -the equivalent to 7.8% of the adult population aged between 16 and 64.

Interestingly the increase of people working part time continues to rise. In quarter 4 2012, 190,000 more people were reported to be working part-time compared to in the same period 2011.

These general figures are mirrored in the financial services job market, AFR started to see the emergence of people looking for part time roles and businesses looking for part time financial support early 2012.

Phil Scott, Director at AFR Consulting said; “The part time working trend could be attributed to businesses reducing hours of existing staff or only recruiting temporary or part time contracts.

“However our experience suggests that professionals at all ends of the spectrum – from employees to directors are looking for greater work-like balance.”

“Many older and more senior finance managers, directors and controllers have reached their career peak and are choosing to look for less hours and a varied portfolio of work.

“Equally finance professionals at the younger end of scale are keen to accommodate more traditional family care commitments.”

Phil added: “In response AFR Consulting launched www.parttimefds.com specifically for top level finance professionals looking for a new career direction.

“In today’s climate, many businesses require strategic finance direction to steer them through difficult times or to help them grow to the next level but do not necessarily have the workload – or budget to accommodate a full time member of staff and struggle to make the jump from having just a book keeper or supportive accountants.

“A short term contract or part time basis has lower short-term costs which prove preferable amid the uncertain economic outlook.”

The most popular scenarios that effect supply chain efficiency include;

•  Elements coming from many different suppliers
• No spare parts or reserves of stock
• Changes in customer specification
• Letting one supplier dominate – always have reserve options at all levels
• Always have a contingency plan
• Legal processes
• Financial stability of your suppliers and their suppliers
• National disaster

When it comes to mitigating risk in the process, many FDs suggested that making yourself valued to your suppliers was key – becoming an important customer to them was an effective method for ensuring efficiency. Whether that is the size of your order, the margins, paying on time or just developing a favourable working relationship.

Some FDs discussed scenarios where it became necessary to buy a supplier or buy large amounts of reserve stock from them as a safety net, citing considerable down time if anything were to happen to that part of the supply chain.

The ideal scenario means a business always knows the competitors of their suppliers at all levels and has a backup plan in case of incident.

When looking at how far the supply chain needed to be considered, most FDs in the room suggested through to the smallest supplier or most minor element to the process as any interruption can cause massive disruption and significant cost implications.

It is beneficial to identify integral elements of your supply chain and work to make them more like strategic partners than just suppliers.