Dear Mr Cameron...

This is an email I received which gave me a real good laugh and I hope it might bring a smile to your face too!

Dear Mr. Cameron

Please find below our suggestion for fixing the UK’s economy.

Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them £1 million each severance pay for early retirement with the following stipulations:
1) They MUST retire. Result: Ten million job openings – unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new British car. Ten million cars ordered – Car Industry fixed.
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Housing Crisis fixed.
4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university. Crime rate fixed.
5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week …..And there’s your money back in duty/tax etc.

It can’t get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances.

Pensioners and Criminals

Let’s put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They’d receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they’d receive money instead of paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, fitness room, spiritual counselling, eight-ball pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ’s and legal aid would be free on request.

Private secure rooms for all with an outdoor exercise yard with gardens.

Each senior could also have a PC, TV, radio, games console and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. It would be lights off at 8pm and showers once a week. They’d live in a tiny room and pay £600 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.

Actions
If you agree please forward to David Cameron and perhaps we will experience strength in numbers, if you don't agree then perhaps you're part of the problem?

We can't quite believe it but we're 2 year's old!

Time flies when you're having fun, that's for sure! We're celebrating in a couple of weeks time so details to follow on that, but in the meantime we thought we'd let everyone know that we're recruiting again as a result of new business development success in the past 3 months! So, what are we looking for? We're most definitely not looking for a Recruitment Consultant! Well, not in the traditional sense of the word anyway! We’re looking for someone to join us in our quest to “Turn Recruitment on its Head”. We want to empower you to spend time getting to know your Clients’ businesses, understand their staffing requirements inside and out, allowing you the head space and the opportunity to find your Clients the best staff you possibly can. You will be given the freedom to manage your candidates however you think is best, you will be able to meet them where you need to, when you want to and spend real time listening to them and learning about their career aspirations and job requirements. This is no ordinary recruitment consultants job, this is the opportunity to join an innovative recruitment consultancy specialising in permanent and contracts placements within the Creative, Digital, Marketing, IT and PR Industries. We are so proud of our reputation for being honest, open, approachable and commercially aware. Everyday we’re shocked and delighted by the volume of recommendations we receive from Candidates and Clients alike, they tell them they send them to us and tell other people about us because they know we really do care about their futures. So we need someone who’s going to care too. There’s no getting away from the fact that this job has an element of sales, but again, not in the traditional sense of the word. You might be paid by commission, but your focus naturally needs to be on maintaining the high levels of quality customer service we have become renowned for. The money that comes in as a result of the good work we do is a by product and a bonus for doing what we love doing, helping people! You don’t need to have recruitment experience in order to help, but it might be a bonus, especially if you have done lots of networking in order to build relationships with candidates and potential clients, because that’s exactly how we’ve built our business! But, if you love doing recruitment in the old fashioned way and you love cold calling, then this might not be the job for you. It’s not about sales calls, targets, high volumes and treating candidates like a commodity. So, please think carefully about your application. Only apply if you have genuine passion for the industries we recruit within, you live to do a good job for your Clients and you love nothing more than helping your candidates progress their careers. Obviously if you work for us you’ll get all the mod cons you need like a smart phone of your choice, a fab little laptop, cloud based secure recruitment software and access to advertise your jobs wherever you need to get them seen. We’re based in prestigious offices within central Newcastle close to St James’ Park, we work flexi-time, we have duvet days (we’ll explain those later) and we have lots of fun doing what we do! If all of this is inspiring you then this might just be the job for you and you might just be the one for us, so, without further ado, we look forward to hearing from you! Please email laura@sharperecruitment.co.uk attaching an up to date copy of your CV and a short covering email explaining why you think this is the right move for you to make at this point in your career.

Happy New Year!

I wanted to say a belated Happy New Year to everyone, having spent most of this week (like most people) recovering from the flu and for the most part I was reflecting on 2010 and planning for 2011.

Well, what can I say about 2010? What a rollercoaster year of high’s, lows, ups, downs and adrenalin thrills!
This year has cemented for me the fact that working for myself is really what I should always have done. (Although I had always denied this to myself, having grown up in an Entrepreneurial household experiencing said rollercoasters year on year throughout the 90s!).

Whilst I can’t deny all the lessons learnt, great teachings, both good and bad and the friends I’ve made throughout the previous decade in employment have made me who and what I am, I just know for sure this is where I am meant to be and where I’m going to stay for at least the next decade!

So I started the year off continuing the flurry of networking from 2009, adding some exciting new events in to my already bustling calendar including Supermondays with Ross and the fabulous Sailor Girls and The Entrepreneurs Forum.
Attending the Codeworks Think and a Drink events throughout 2009 and 2010 led Herb Kim to kindly ask me to sit on the panel at his Next Gen Conference at the Sage in March which I thoroughly enjoyed. Giving something back and inspiring the up and coming talent throughout the region is one of the most rewarding parts of my job! I also felt this when I was asked to give a talk to 2nd year Web Design Foundation Degree students at Newcastle College by their favourite lecturer Elizabeth Gardiner she asked me to give them advice and guidance about putting their CVs and Portfolios together.
This led to further guest lecturing at Sunderland University and Teesside where I also felt my words of wisdom being soaked up and put into practice by those keen to find work placements in order to assist their chances at finding a full time job after studying. I hope to continue these lectures in 2011 by visiting other Universities in both the North East and Yorkshire.

On a personal and professional note I was delighted to be involved in the North East’s 3^rd TyneTwestival, where I sold raffle tickets to the masses like there was no tomorrow. It was great to see how Li, Aoife, Leeanne, Paul, myself and many others worked together like a well oiled fundraising machine, raising almost £3k for @Concern! I look forward to being involved again this year (if they’ll have me after the complaints about my blackmailing techniques to force raffle ticket sales!)


As ever, the event on everybody’s lips in May was Thinking Digital, I had a Livecast Lounge ticket which meant that not only did I get to join in with all the fun parties and gatherings surrounding the conference but I was also lucky enough to feel part of it as I tapped away on my laptop in my comfy seat listening to the awesome speakers on the big screen in front of me, they were next door in the Main Hall but it really did feel like they were in the room talking directly to me. I came away buzzing with ideas and information about new technologies I am now using as part of my daily routine like they’ve always been there. Here’s a pic I snapped of the Codeworks team as I was leaving, what a lovely bunch they are and what a grand job they did again!

I also joined WIN later in the year and was impressed by their variety of speakers, desire to inspire us and willingness to help and support our growing business. I would recommend to all the women in business in the North East to try and get along to one of their events in 2011.

At the end of the Summer Julie and I had our first taste of organising an event ourselves, this has deepened our respect to all of you involved in this everyday of your working lives, it’s stressful, time consuming and sometimes frustrating, but overall extremely rewarding! We talked about recruiting and retaining the right staff alongside the lovely Jules Rutherford of UTUrnTV who delivers highly commendable workshops around management training and team building and our friend Justin Turner of CarrotMedia who put his own lighthearted and comedic twist on his own insights into the subject. We hope to deliver more workshops like this soon, so do please get in touch with ideas on subjects you would like us to cover.

October saw the launch of Sharpe Recruitment in the Yorkshire and North West region, to date we’ve already attended some great events including TedXLeeds which was part of the Leanne Buchan who did a grand job organising the Festival and many others who I think really “get” the Sharpe Recruitment ethos of building relationships, getting to know one and another and seeing where talking takes us in business. So watch this space, there will be more jobs coming through from these regions in the near future I’m sure.

As the year drew to a close the real highlight came when I found out we had been nominated as Best Newcomer in the UK MARA Awards, thanks to all the kind words and volumes of votes from our wonderful Candidates and Clients! The awards ceremony took place in the swanky Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, what a fantastic venue, we felt so spoilt! Julie and I scrubbed up as best we could, which wasn’t at all bad, even if I do say so myself! We were greeted by a champagne reception and found ourselves starstruck by the headline speaker for the evening, the one and only James Caan who gave a really positive speech about the future of recruitment and the areas of opportunity for specialists like myself. After the awards were given out I was lucky enough to catch James’s attention and have a quick chat with him, we exchanged cards and hope to continue the conversation throughout 2011. Exciting times indeed and you can see some pics of the night on our Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=281455&id=80776309591
Please don’t forget to “like” us while you’re there, if you haven’t already!

I’m sure you’re thinking that must be all she could possibly manage to fit in to her year which is over and above the “day job”, but no, you’d be wrong! In between Christmas and New Year, on New Year’s eve in fact, a good friend of mine Jamie Wilkinson, who’s “offof” the radio asked me to join him in the BBC Tees studio to discuss the popular New Year’s Resolution “I’m going to get a new job”. I talked about job hunting, CVs, Interview Techniques and all the things I love to discuss that makes every day worth getting out of bed for. After appearing on BBC Look North in 2009 it was a great honour to be involved with the media again, it’s such a buzz and something I hope to do much more of in 2011! In case you missed my radio debut you are most welcome to listen again on You Tube just here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zriw2MiIkzY

Somewhere in the midst of all that, often into the wee small hours I toiled away filling jobs too would you believe! I have continued to work with my fantastically loyal and supportive Clients from the previous year, whilst meeting new Clients with exciting projects and expansion plans, all without making a single cold call in over 21 months in business! Through word of mouth and recommendations employers across the region have come to us with a need for staff and as a result I was privileged to meet lots of lovely Candidates and place some of them in fab new roles, which they continue to be thankful for and seem to be settling in marvellously!

So, to sign 2010 off as another fantastic year for Sharpe Recruitment, I believe the only thing left to say is:

“Thanks Mum, I couldn't have done it without you!”

How Good Looking Are You?

We really enjoyed the Service Network Summer Social this month at the Baltic where they got Jim Lawless up to talk about his 10 rules for Taming Tigers.
Jim's presentation was brilliant, funny, engaging and informative.
Julie and I have been trying to follow the rules and so far we've seen some great successes!

One of the challenges we set ourself after seeing Jim's talk was taking the bull by the horns and organising our own seminar around recruiting and retaining talented staff, it has taken some organising but we've managed to do it!
It will be taking place after work on Thursday the 19th of August at The Live Theatre in Newcastle. It's entitled "How good looking are you? Successful ways to attract and keep talent within your company".

We are excited to be hosting this event with Jules Rutherford of UTurn TV and Justin Turner of Carrotmedia. We were also very pleased to have our invitations accepted to join our panel by Herb Kim of Codeworks and Michael Ord, a trusted and experienced Employment Lawyer based in the North East.

Our aim is to inform and inspire business owners and managers about their Employer Branding, Staff Searching, Employee Engagement and Team Motivation.
We look forward to hopefully seeing you there.

Please click here to find out more about our seminar and book tickets.
Please also feel free to comment below if you have any questions about it.

Events, Seminars and Debates!

We've been busy at Sharpe Recruitment attending and organising and taking part in various events throughout June, July and upcoming in August. So we thought we would keep you informed and tell you a bit more about them here...

This week is going to be a very busy week for events, firstly we are heading out to the SuperMondays SuperUX event tonight at Gateshead College, looking at the speakers they have lined up it will be an interesting and informative evening for sure.

As part of the Entrepreneurs Forum Nurturing Pool that we were invited in to at the end of last year we will be attending their event at Brewin Dolphin tomorrow night entitled "Surviving Through a Recession: The entrepreneur's viewpoint"
Hopefully we will learn a lot from this and glean lots of useful hints and tips to drive our business forward in the coming months and years!

After a night of rest and relaxation on Wednesday we are lucky enough to be part of The Digital Generation event being organised by Newcastle University at The Tyneside Cinema on Thursday, where we will be on hand to offer students (past and present) useful advice on careers within the Digital Industry.

You must be thinking "surely that's all they can possibly squeeze in over the next few weeks?!" Oh No! We are proud to also be sponsoring the TellyNet Summer Party at the Pitcher & Piano on Friday the 6th of August, which will be a relaxing evening for all those involved in broadcast and digital media to get together for a catch up over a few drinks and some lovely BBQ food! Tickets are just £10 and include food and a drink.

Phew! We feel tired at the thought of it all but also very excited to have so much going on. We also wanted to say a big thank you to all those helping and supporting, it will be worth all of the hard work for sure. Wish us luck! :-)

in urgent need of experienced B2B Telemarketing Execs for a Client's job near Sunderland http://ping.fm/oPfl7

Are you attending Thinking Digital 2010 at The Sage?

We've got our tickets, have you?
The Thinking Digital Conference takes place on May 25-27 2010 at The Sage Gateshead and will include a great variety of conference activities and World renowned Digital Industry speakers.
Although the conference is sold out, they do have places left in their Livecast Lounge. The team at Codeworks piloted Livecast Lounge last year and it was a big hit, with a few people even choosing to spend the entire conference in this space. Given the popularity, they’ve expanded the space this year to allow them to expand the conference. It’s going to be a great place to watch the conference streamed live from the main hall with more comfortable seating, tables to set your stuff down, laptop power and wifi. Also you can bring food & drinks to your seat which you can’t do in the Main Hall. Finally, your ticket doesn’t limit you to Livecast. You can get access to the Main Hall from 5 minutes before each session if seats are available.
We've got our Livecast Lounge ticket and we think you should too! Here's where you can sign up:
http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/book_now/northern_rock_foundation_hall.php
Sroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see where you can buy the Livecast Lounge tickets.
All the info you might want about the conference can be found on their main site here: http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk
Look forward to hopefully seeing you there!