Bad News Travels Fast

What do our CVs represent to us? Who we are, what we have achieved, our hopes and aspirations, and how we would like to be perceived. Who will we trust with it? Not many people ideally.

Only the most credible recruiters should get a sniff of it. Not just because our CVs lay us bare – which they do – but because often, when we send it out, we are already in a job. We do not want our leadership team to know we are looking to leave until we have found something better. We want our CVs in secure hands. We have all heard the story of a job hunter’s CV ending up on their current manager’s desk and that, for most of us, is the stuff of nightmares.

Brand trust and reputation are so important for recruiters because we trust them with our precious livelihoods. This is why IT security should be a serious priority. Success, in the long run, will be based on being known as a trusted and credible ally for candidates and, besides, new legislation is coming into place which insists that certain levels of compliance are met.

For example, at a recent event focused on recruiters in the education sector, it was confirmed that providers of supply teachers will soon have to comply with a government tender framework to bid for business. Curiously, what was omitted was the fact that every provider will have to be cyber essentials certified.

According to Matt Hancock, Minister for Digital and Culture, this is likely to permeate across public sector procurement. More will definitely follow.

Another regulation – they can be found listed as a part of the GDPR – is the requirement to report and explain data breaches. This should send fear into the hearts of any recruiter who isn’t getting their ducks in a row because it doesn’t take a genius to realise that a data breach will be bad for brand and reputation.

What can be done?

It is imperative that the necessary security is in place to ensure that these breaches don’t happen. The data protection challenges that this bill will bring means recruiters will require the internal skills to support compliance and the IT solutions which ensure that happens.

The loss of revenue from non-compliance should never (in today’s technology marketplace) outweigh the cost of getting everything into place, so that all new regulations are met. We’ve certainly never been involved in a project of this kind at Blue Saffron where that’s been the case.

Yes, it is a pain. We know that. However, in some ways, it is also an excellent opportunity to get yourself into a brilliant position. By improving efficiency, organisation, automating tedious manual tasks and keeping your data will keep your bottom line safe.

Benefits.

There are many benefits of embracing the new changes and what new tech solutions allow. These include

• easier methods for employees to collaborate on filling roles and placing candidates.
• safer, quicker ways to share files
• secure remote working on any device without fear of a breach of security. Also, without staff downloading valuable company-sensitive information.

We know that many recruiters work out of hours to talk to candidates who work 9-5 or to interview prep or negotiate packages. Wouldn’t it be great if they could do this safely on any company-agreed device and easily be able to access the most up-to-date files and documents they need?

Every successful recruiter I have met is a people person: passionate, lively, task orientated. They want to speak to clients and candidates and marry the correct ones up. They have fire in their belly to do their job, earn their commission and be the go-to person for career changers. They don’t particularly relish admin and process – there is only a small percentage of individuals in the world who do and thank goodness for them because we need admin and process to meet these regulations. Without them, recruiters may find that they are blocked in the future from bidding for tenders or holding certain critical information on candidates.

This GDPR is a chance to optimise workforce efficiency by allowing recruiters to work to their key strengths and introducing safe, secure and robust IT solutions to do the rest. What are you waiting for?

Further Information

• More about IT Security & Compliance
• More about IT for Recruitment Consultants
• More about Blue Saffron
• Contact us