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Rewarding time for recruitment organisations
YORKSHIRE'S FINEST Leading lights in Yorkshire's recruitment industry celebrated the best in innovation and excellence at a glittering awards night at the Hilton Hotel in Leeds.
The first ever Yorkshire Post Newspapers Yorkshire Region Recruitment Awards, in association with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), was organised by the Yorkshire Post's Hannah Richards and Lindsey Jackson, and was attended by the cream of the region's recruitment organisations.
Hosting the event, Dawn Sweeney, Advertisement Director of Yorkshire Post Newspapers, said: "As the publisher of the region's premier recruitment media brands in the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and Jobs Today.co.uk, we are proud of our heritage within the marketplace.
"From our own relationships with the recruitment industry, it is clear that our thriving region is a hotspot of innovation and excellence, and we believe that your talent and commitment deserves recognition."
Guests were welcomed by a champagne reception, sponsored by the Private Health Partnership, one of the UK's leading private healthcare and employee benefits companies.
PHP manage the REC medical insurance scheme for recruiters and the recruitment industry, which forms part of the REC membership benefits package. They have been associated with REC for more than eight years and were a founder member of Recruitment Industry Partnership initiative.
Following a delicious four-course dinner, winning tickets for the raffle were drawn, with a host of fabulous prizes up for grabs. More than 800 was raised through the raffle, which was donated to Yorkshire Cancer Research.
The evening's co-host, Jules Blundell, director of Bluewave International and the Yorkshire Regional Director for the REC, thanked the Yorkshire Post for hosting the awards to recognise and reward excellence in the private recruitment industry.
"On a national level we have seen Government perceptions of our industry evolve substantially over the last few years. In fact, the DTI confirmed earlier this year that there was no case for any further regulation on our industry.
"Even over in Brussels, the external relations managers work arduously to ensure that new EU legislation does not restrict or change our industry and the word from the European Commission is that it is not their intention to damage 'the UK jobs machine'.
"Another area where the REC have forged ahead is in regards to equality and diversity. There is a real opportunity for recruitment professionals to take a positive lead on diversity and equality issues and it is no surprise that over five hundred recruitment agencies have already signed up to the REC/JobCentre Plus Diversity Pledge.
"There are many more aspects in which the REC is making a considerable impression to make sure our industry remains strong and I believe that with the appointment of Marcia Roberts as CEO and Gary Irvine and David Winterburn as the Chair and Vice Chair of the REC board, there are going to be some exciting changes that we can all look forward to.
"On a regional level, Helena Arcangelo, Mark Hathaway and myself have worked as ambassadors for the REC in the Yorkshire region for the past 12 months and we believe that we have begun to make inroads into helping raise the profile of the industry across Yorkshire.
"Some of our key successes so far have included:
l We have had more than 300 recruiters join us at one of our local events.
l We have gained considerable interest from local newspapers receiving the greatest press coverage for our sector that Yorkshire has even seen.
l We have forged working partnerships with key players across the region who directly, and indirectly deal with employment and they endorsed our philosophy of raising the profile of best practice in recruitment.
l We have met local MPs and MEPs to help bring them closer to the issues that our industry faces and how legislation can affect the way in which we operate.
"While we have made considerable progress there is still a lot of work to be done. We have huge ambitions for next year, but we can't do it without your assistance. Next year we will hold 12 local events in Leeds, Hull and Sheffield, we will have greater representation at regional events such as careers fairs and employers expos, we will hold our regional awards once again and we will continue to raise the profile of "best practice" in recruitment.
"It is true that the recruitment industry has not always had the best press or reputation and I believe the only way we can change this perception is to do all of the above but, more importantly, we need to change the perceptions amongst the wider population of job-seekers and employers.
"Working collectively with head office, we will be focusing a substantial part of our work on getting our message over to client groups, we will be developing a regional website which will be promoted to employers and job seekers across the region, we will forge relationships with job boards to promote standards to job seekers and we will continue to engage key players across Yorkshire to help us deliver a persuasive message – that there is a genuine and sustained drive for higher standards and increasing professionalism within the industry.
"I would like to celebrate both where we are now and where we are heading, and to invite you to join us on our journey."
Judges for the awards were David Winterburn, managing director of Harrrison Winterburn Associates Ltd, vice-chairman of REC Board of Directors and chairman of the Institute of Directors, West Yorkshire; Gary Irvine, managing partner of Diamond Recruitment Group and chairman of REC Board of directors; David Wood, partner, Iris Associates; and Ev Mascarenhas, sales director for Hallam FM and Magic AM.
THE WINNERS
Magnetism
Winner – Tate
Highly Commended – Select Appointments
Best Campaign
Winner – TCS – First Direct
Rising Star
Winner – Cassy Gill, HQ Personnel
Highly Commended – Lucy Clarke, Language Finders
Highly Commended – Mark Tobin, SVB Recruitment
Best Website
Winner – NHS Recruitment Ltd
Highly Commended – Jarvis Johnson
Best Manager
Highly Commended – Mathew Bewley, Bromak
Winner – Matt Barrett, SVB Recruitment
Unsung Hero
Winner – Adele Gilbert, Stafforce Recruitment
Best Advert
Winner – The Book
Best Consultant
Winner – Nicky Keller, Education Resourcing
Best Team
Winner – Arc Recruitment
Highly Commended – Spring Personnel
Highly Commended – Network Marketing
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Friday 25 May 2012
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