April Newsletter Welcome to the fourth monthly newsletter of the year. We hope that you will

enjoy the following mix of industry trends, tech bites and comedy that have caught

our attention recently.

Contents Click below to be taken to each section:

TECH BITE

Will Kano Plug the Programming Skills Gap?

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire…

Honesty is always the best policy

News in Brief Monthly insight into the recruitment

industry.....

Deluded or Inspired – You

Decide…

One man's tactic to land his dream job

TECH BITE Will Kano Plug the Programming Skills Gap?

Kano? What is Kano we hear you ask?

Well, you know when your six-year old takes your phone, iPad or laptop and knows

how to switch it on, bypass your security, play games and then proceed to spend

all your hard earned money on in-app purchases? Now, thanks to tech

entrepreneurs Alex Klein, Saul Klein and Yonatan Raz-Fridman, your cheeky little

scamp can put that tech knowledge to good use and potentially grow up to be the

next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates with the Kano Computer.

The Kano is a DIY computer kit you build using a step by step guide and which

then gives you the tools to learn basic coding skills through a combination of

hacking existing games such as Minecraft or changing code snippets in other

games such as Pong to alter the game mechanics. You can then share thes

changes with the other members of the Kano community.

Kano team with Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton

In November 2013, a Kickstarter campaign (with a target of $100,000) was started

to help launch the mass production of what Business Insider magazine described

as ‘a computer that’s as easy to build as Lego’. It raised over $1.5m, it remains the

site’s most crowdfunded learning invention and attracted investors such as Apple

co-founder Steve Wozniak and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler.

Named after Kanō Jigorō, the creator of judo (for his talent as a dedicated,

committed teacher), Alex and Yonatan were curious as to what the next generation

of computers would look and feel like and ‘wanted to know if it was possible to

make a computer kit that would be fun enough to hold kids' attention, but smart

enough to actually teach them something.’

It was...

The kit comes with a Raspberry Pi Model B computer, an SD card, an orange

keyboard with track pad, a plug, a wi-fi dongle, a speaker and the leads you need

as well as a case to make it look pretty. Then, you clip it all together – like Lego –

and you’re off and running.

At £78/$129, the company have already sold well over two million units and the

founders believe that the UK's tech future is dependent on kids knowing not just

how to use computers but how they actually work.

A new national curriculum for computing will require children aged 5-16 to learn

how to code. 2014 is the Government’s ‘Year of Code’, conceived to raise

awareness and also interest in computers and computing and with the Kano team

as advisors, they are working together to make coding, long seen as the ‘boring bit’

of tech, exciting and accessible to as many young people as possible.

The 21st century is ‘the digital age’. Computers dictate more and more how we

consume and communicate and the next generation of Jobs’, Ives, Wozniaks,

Dells and Gates’ will grow up with tech we can barely imagine today and it may all

be thanks to Kano.

Will it plug the programming skills gap we’re experiencing today? Probably not, but

in a decade from now, the investment in young talent, the increase in on-site

training and the nurturing of your employees will pay dividends.

http://assetresourcing.com/

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire... Honesty is always the best policy

We’ve all been there haven’t we? The odd porkie in an interview can’t hurt can it?

Somewhere between the submission of the CV and the interview, one can develop

a casual relationship with the truth, but generally speaking, the little fibs are just

embellishments rather than flat-out lies but still…

The thing is truth-stretching isn’t always from the candidate desperate to land his

or her dream job. It can also come from the employer. During the almost tribal

dance where interviewer and interviewee go round and round trying to impress,

information can get ‘lost in translation’.

Especially where sought-after candidates are being sized up for talent and

corporate fit, employers need to be 100% honest, even with the ‘little things’ such

as working hours, what to wear and team sizes. Starting off a relationship with a

sense of unease (and to take it one step further – distrust) does not bode well for

the future.

As an employer, what can you do to build the foundation of trust with new staff and

to make sure their work benefits your business?

1. Is the job description accurate?

As an example, your IT guy hands in his notice because he’s been offered a job at

Google and you need to replace him immediately. You dig out his original job

description and ping it out to recruiters with the instruction to ‘get me the right guy’.

Unfortunately, IT is different today and many aspects of the original role are

obsolete. Before you start the hiring process, revisit the job description and make

sure it’s as up to date as possible. Only then will candidates know precisely what

job they’re being asked to apply for.

2. Can you rely on the CV?

In a word? No. You can get a good idea of what the candidate is like in terms of

qualifications and previous employment but what you can’t tell is whether or not

they will fit in with your corporate culture. If you’re mindful of the fact that you are

not simply hiring someone to do a specific job, you are bringing them in to help

your company grow, you are more likely to be as upfront about your expectations

as possible and you will commit more resources to finding the perfect candidate.

3. Trust and connections are vital

An employee on day one is sometimes referred to as ‘Goldilocks’. They don’t want

to come across as too hot or too cold, they want to be just right. They will be stared

at and evaluated by existing staff and it’s very important there’s someone in the

company who can be a sounding board as well as offering advice on how the new

hire can best contribute.

Be honest and you’ll get the people who will help you to grow your business. It

really is that simple.

http://assetresourcing.com/recruitment-vacancies/

News in Brief Monthly insight into the recruitment industry

Here’s a selection of some of the recruitment stories making the rounds in the last

week or so. Have you read anything interesting, funny or newsworthy? Email us at

enquiries@assetresourcing.com or follow us on Twitter @AssetResourcing and tell

us. If it’s befitting our esteemed newsletter, we might include it next month!

Has the Social Media Bubble Burst for Executives?

Writing in this month’s Recruiter magazine, Colin Cottell argues that senior

executives are giving up LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter because they believe

they are too visible as well as regarding the sheer volume of information as

‘unmanageable’. A senior MD at an executive search firm told the magazine that

management are switching off because it either looks like they’re on the hunt for a

new job or they get inundated with unsolicited contact from recruiters. It’s called

‘digital detox’ and it’s becoming more and more popular. What do you think? Are

you too visible online? Does your life online interfere with your job?

Are ‘Male-Sounding’ Job Adverts Deterring Women from Applying?

A recent study by Professor Claudia Peus at the University of Technology in

Munich has suggested that women are being deterred from applying for certain

jobs that call for ‘male-sounding’ personality traits such as ‘assertiveness’,

‘independence’, ‘aggressiveness’ and ‘analytical’. The study found that women

were more likely to respond to job adverts that used softer terms like ‘dedicated’,

‘sociable’ and ‘conscientious’ whereas men didn’t respond to these words at all.

Have you ever decided not to respond to a job ad on the basis that it was too ‘male

sounding?’

Best and Worst Jobs of 2013 Revealed!

Take a guess! What do you think the best and worst jobs in the UK are? Job

search engine Adzuna studied over 2,000 job titles using criteria including earning

potential, working conditions, competitiveness, job security and unemployment

rates and the scores were added up to find the best and worst jobs of 2013. Let us

know if you agree….

WORST – Because of the high pressure, lowest income growth potential and long

hours, the worst jobs of 2013 were miners, couriers, sous chefs, electricians and

HGV drivers.

BEST – Based on high levels of job security, highest average salaries (over

£85,000/pa), increasing employer demand and outstanding income growth

potential up to eight times starting salary, the best jobs of 2013 were translators,

web developers and surgeons.

Deluded or Inspired – You Decide… One man's tactic to land his dream job

We read a great story this week and we’re torn in the office as to whether the

candidate was a genius or a deluded fool. The decision is yours…

A candidate was invited for interview for a sales role at an American Fortune 500

company. The Sales Director conducting the interviews was so busy, he asked the

candidate to come in at 8am on a Sunday morning. At 7.55am on the said

morning, the candidate appears with three additional people. As he checks in at

reception, the receptionist asks who the other three people were. He said that the

job description specified he brings with him three references, and here they were,

standing next to him.

She calls through to the Sales Director who comes out and asks the same

question – who are the other three people he’s brought with him and the candidate

explains who they were.

The Sales Director takes the candidate into his office and says ‘if you’ve got the

sales skills to persuade three colleagues to come with you at 8am on a Sunday

morning to an interview, you are just the person we’re looking for’ and promptly

hired him on the spot!

Did the candidate misunderstand or was he that clever?

http://assetresourcing.com/recruitment-vacancies/

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