IF Recruitment

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  • IF Recruitment – AWS Summit

    IF Recruitment – AWS Summit

    Chelsea Nunn, Cloud and Storage Associate Director

    I love to talk Cloud.  ( And I love to talk…)  Some might say a perfect combination for a Cloud and Storage Recruitment Consultant… But the best part of my job is listening to our clients and candidates discuss their passions for Cloud Technology.

    I’m super excited to attend another fantastic event at the ExCeL – The AWS Summit.  I’m heading down tomorrow ( 10th May 2018) to meet lots of new faces and hear about the advances in technology. Because lets face it, in the “Cloud World”, you need to keep up to speed!

    I’m really proud to support some the of AWS Summit’s sponsoring organisations with their recruitment requirements and can’t wait to see them show off their capabilities. This helps me understand their business even more so – so i’m not complaining!

    I’m very much looking forward to making some new connections and would welcome the opportunity to grab a coffee should you like to discuss recruitment, cloud, or anything else for that matter!

    Please feel free to get in touch –  drop me a message on LinkedIn or an email – Chelsea@ifrecruit.com  – I’d love to meet!

    https://aws.amazon.com/summits/london/

  • IF Recruitment Exhibits at BT Innovation 2017 Event

    IF Recruitment Exhibits at BT Innovation 2017 Event

    IF Recruitment were proud to be part of Innovation 2017 event hosted by BT at Adastral Park during June 2017. 　The Event was to celebrate all the Innovations that are taking place at the Park, members of Innovation Martlesham, the established cluster of over 90 high-tech ICT companies located at Adastral Park, were also exhibiting.

    For more than a century now, BT has looked to innovation to bring new products and services, improve customer experience, efficiency gains and to unlock exciting new opportunities. BT’s very origins can be traced back 180 years to an entrepreneurial fusion of business and innovation. On June 12th 1837 William Fothergill Cooke (an entrepreneur and business man) and Professor Sir Charles Wheatstone (an academic) filed a patent for the world’s first practical electric telegraph. These collaborators were excited by the commercial potential that the recently discovered phenomenon of electricity and magnetism could offer for communications

    The event show cased over 100 demos, presentations and exhibition stands hosted by award-winning technologists, scientists and innovators and covered a range of key innovation topics.

    The event was a huge success with approximately 1000 attendees per day from all over the world.

    IF showcased our Virtual Reality demo. Consultants were on hand to discuss other Tech Innovations as well as some free advice on:

     

    　　　　　　　　 Attracting Talent – making your organisation an ‘employer of choice’

    　　　　　　　　 Hiring on ‘Intelligent Adaptability’

    　　　　　　　　 Agile Recruitment

     

    IF Recruitment were thrilled to be part of such a successful event and to have the opportunity to meet such a wealth of forward thinking organisations. In addition to further cementing relationships with current IM companies partners and BT.

    Please do contact Kelly for further information on Kelly@ifrecruit.com or 07525 045168.

  • Skills Gap or Wage Gap – Two Separate But Heavily Entwined Issues

    Skills Gap or Wage Gap – Two Separate But Heavily Entwined Issues

    Jim Marshall responds to TechEast UK recent Twitter post "Do we have a tech skills gap or a pay gap?" - http://bit.ly/2tctTD3

    Skills Gap? No, Wage Gap @TechEastUK

    Pay Gap

    For years I have also been working with customers to set realistic expectations around the costs for skilled and talented people. The salaries and contract rates for Developers in particular have stagnated over the last 10 years in a period of high demand.

    I agree with much that has been said:

    • Offshoring and Outsourcing has reduced the perceived value of Software Development. Whilst we look at Costs as day or hourly rates rather than overall Project Cost set against quality and timeliness of delivery then this will often appear to stack up.
    • Too many employers are referencing a ‘skills Gap’ when they are just not willing to pay the market salary for a skilled Software Engineer, or
    • Too many employers are:
      • Not willing to invest in the training and development of the next generation (higher education establishments are often blamed for not having ‘industry ready’ coding graduates, but we need to look at other industries and the in-house industry training programmes for Accountants or Solicitors or Architects – the expectation there is usually to build a career, not to simply ‘plug in a resource’), or
      • Not willing to retrain talented IT professionals that require refresher courses on the next generation of languages and technologies

     

    Skills Gap

    …. having noted all the above ….

    In my experience a high proportion of individuals return to live where they grew up or where they were educated.

    If we are not able to persuade our young talented people (of @TechEastUK) to join the tech sector then our region will most likely experience a more genuine Skills Gap. So that even with reasonable Post education salaries we are simply not able to generate enough supply for industry demand.

     

    What are your thoughts on this provocative subject? We’d like to hear them on our social media streams or via email – info@ ifrecruit.com.

  • Investigatory Powers Bill and how it could affect UK Tech

    Investigatory Powers Bill and how it could affect UK Tech

    The Investigatory Powers Bill, controversially nicknamed the Snooper’s Charter, passed into law in late November 2016, giving the government unprecedented level s of access to state surveillance in the UK.

    Critics have been very vocal about the bill calling it an ‘absolute disgrace to both privacy and freedom’ in a petition asking the UK government to repeal its new Investigatory Powers Act which amassed more than 206,300 signatures.  Despite a large proportion of the public finding the legislation to be a gross invasion of privacy, and a potential victim of a data leak or hack waiting to happen, the government insists the bill is required to fight terrorism.

    The chairman of the Internet Service Provider’s Association (Ispa) spoke to the BBC last year about his concerns, “you can try every conceivable thing in the entire world to [protect it], but somebody will still outsmart you.  Mistakes will happen. It’s a question of when. Hopefully it’s in tens or maybe a hundred years. But it might be next week.”

    The bill will act as a replacement for the expiring Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (Dripa), passed in 2014, which had often been misused in the past.

    An FOI request made by the Liberal Democrat’s shows councils have previously used the act for trivial information, such as, car clocking, dog fouling and even dog barking. The Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Brian Paddick said: ‘Spying on the public should be a last resort not an everyday tool.’

    ‘As with any legislation, there is a significant risk that authorities will use powers in a way that Parliament never intended. That is why it is vital we have proper oversight in place that ensures any surveillance is targeted and proportionate.’

    What does this mean for you?

    • Web and phone companies (CSPs) will be required to store the browsing history of all customers for 12 months for access by police, security services and other public issues upon issue of a warrant. This will come into force before the end of the year and will detail the date, time and duration of these actions. The act has faced fierce opposition and backlash for enabling public bodies to grant themselves access to details of internet usage and telephone calls without suspicion of crime or independent sign-off.
    • Blogger Chris Yiu compiled a list of the 48 organisations and departments that will be able to access the browsing records of individuals without a warrant. This list includes various police, military, and government departments as well as Food Standards Agency and the Gambling Commission.
    • Security services and the police now have new powers to acquire and analyse large quantities of data in bulk, such as, NHS health records, in some cases without a warrant.
    • For the first time, the law will allow security agencies and law enforcement to hack into computers, phones and networks to eavesdrop on communications with a warrant.

     

    What can this mean for the UK Tech sector?

    When the bill was first introduced by Theresa May in 2012, it saw a strong pushback from modern tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo who proposed to  “reject any proposals that would require companies to deliberately weaken the security of their products via backdoors, forced decryption, or any other means.”

    The bill has retained the legal basis to force companies to create a backdoor to encryption for services, such as, WhatsApp, iMessage and Facetime. Apple has openly criticised the bill cautioning that “a key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys. The bad guys would find it, too.” The government is, nevertheless, required to gain a warrant in order to obtain access to any such back doors. However, the bill has shed no light on exactly how the government plans to tackle end-to-end encryption. Theresa May said in a statement to the House of Commons that the government has no intentions of weakening or banning encryption, but the law will place requirements on tech companies to hand over the encrypted date when necessary in an unencrypted fashion.

    Tech Companies have voiced their concerns about the extraterritorial nature of the law, which will force foreign companies with British consumers to comply, even if their home countries have conflicting laws, as the US currently does.

  • Ada Lovelace day: A celebration of women in Tech

    Ada Lovelace day: A celebration of women in Tech

    Tuesday 11th October, also known as Ada Lovelace day, is an international day of celebration for the achievements of women in science, engineering and maths. The day aims to increase the profile of women in STEM, create new role models for women and encourage more girls into STEM.

    But who is Ada Lovelace and why is she so significant? Credited as the founder of scientific computing in an era when the participation of noblewomen in intellectual pursuits was not widely encouraged. She collaborated with Charles Babbage, identifying his calculating machine for its potential to manipulate symbols rather than just numbers, foreshadowing modern computing a century in advance.

    Here’s our top 5 pioneering Women in Tech who have made an impact in the technology world:

    1. Sheryl Sandberg
    The Chief Operating Office of Facebook, a company made up of only 33% women and 67% men (with only 17% of women in technical roles) is arguably one of the biggest and most well known tech companies in the world. Sandberg is powerful not only as a top executive for the world’s fifth most valuable brand, but also as a voice of female empowerment in the workplace.

    2. Joan Clarke
    Largely forgotten and overshadowed in history, Clarke worked alongside Alan Turning as a fellow cryptanalyst and codebreaker in Hut8 during WWII at Bletchely Park, and received an MBE in January 1946 for her contributions during the war. Clarke succeeded as a female cryptanalysis at a time when intelligence wasn’t really appreciated in women.

    3. Shafi Goldwasser
    A two time Nobel Prize winner in theoretical computer science, Goldwasser helped pave the way for other women in the technology industry. Her biggest and most noted achievement to date is her work on interactive and zero proofs which serve to allow secure transmission of information over the internet.

    4. Sister Mary Kenneth Keller
    From Cleveland, Ohio, Keller was the first woman in the United States to receive a PhD in Computer Science in 1965. Keller founded the Computer Science Department at Clarke College in Iowa, establishing a master’s degree program for computer applications in education. Her vision extended beyond education and reached toward artificial intelligence, intrigued by the mechanical stimulation of the cognitive process.

    5. Radia Perlman
    Sometimes dubbed as the “Mother of the Internet”, Perlman is most famous for her invention of the Spanning-tree protocol (STP) which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges. Her work transformed the Ethernet protocol from using a few nodes over a limited distance, into something able to create large networks.

  • Come along to our Storage event

    Come along to our Storage event

    On Thursday 6th October IF Recruitment will be hosting another storage-focused event, hosted by our key storage consultants, Chelsea and Penny. We firmly believe networking to be one of the most valuable tools in an IT professional’s arsenal and are keen to continue to provide platforms for our contractors to continue to grow their contacts.

    The event will feature some top tips from IF Recruitment and plenty of opportunity for those operating in the IT storage environment to network with peers and discuss future plans and aspirations. We find these events hugely valuable in continuing to further develop existing relationships as well form new.

    We have chosen a very interesting venue for this fun and informative event – the historic Lamb Tavern located in Leadenhall Market in the heart of the City of London.

    If you are interested in the storage/cloud transformation area and would like to attend, please contact penny@ifrecruit.com for further details. We encourage you to bring along friends or colleagues, who you feel would be interested too. The more the merrier!

    We’ll soon be organising events such as this for all of the areas of IT we work within, so stay tuned for further details.

    Event details:

    Storage-focused Event
    Lamb Tavern
    Thursday 6th October
    5.30pm

  • Ringing the changes – a view from the long term and from the new

    Ringing the changes – a view from the long term and from the new

     

    In our fast paced, ever evolving industry, change is inevitable. Our business is no exception and, since we were established back in 1987, the tech we work with and the way IT recruitment works has changed considerably. Two of our recruitment consultants talk about their time at IF Recruitment and what drives business for them.

    The long view

    Working with the company since 1998, Melanie Bosley is one of the longest serving members of our team and she certainly knows her stuff.

    She joined as a researcher and resourcer after completing her BA (Hons) in Business Studies, followed by a year within the CMU team at BT. She’s seen our business evolve and expand ever since.

    “I’m looking forward to this next phase in the IF Recruitment journey. When I started working here, we were predominantly placing candidates for roles working with Unisys. Tech moves on rapidly, though, and over the years we’ve made some big changes to reflect that. The tech areas we place candidates into changes regularly and, at IF Recruitment, we always aim to be one step ahead to ensure our candidates and our clients get the very best service.

    “One of the first of those changes in tech happened internally, and just after I joined, we digitised our database. This became electronic in 1998, opening up great efficiencies and possibilities for us. That database is at the core of everything we do and it has grown every day since.”

    As the company has evolved, so has Melanie’s role, and she is now an IT Recruitment Consultant working in both the contract and permanent markets. Having built up a wide and well managed network, Melanie’s expertise lies in understanding each client’s business needs, their culture and their values, and sourcing hard to find candidates to slot into the roles for recruitment.

    About Melanie
    22    Juggling her career with being the mother of two children – Abi and Zack – no two days are ever the same for Mel. Mirroring this, her success in placing candidates is largely down to her positive ethos and openness to change. Her ability to forge relationships with clients, taking the time to understand how they work and knowing the right person for the job is critical. To this end, Mel enjoys the personal side of her career, meeting and remembering people and finding that perfect fit that will benefit her clients and candidates.

    Recognising the need for constant evolution in the tech industry, Mel also takes an active approach to her personal career development. She can regularly be found out and about at different events and meet-up groups. She also takes time out to stay ahead of the game in her understanding of new tech, making sure she has up to the moment knowledge for every new enquiry.

    To find out more about working with Melanie, please contact her at melanie@ifrecruit.com

    In with the new

    Luke Farrow is new to the team, having worked at IF Recruitment since 6 June 2016. He’s no stranger to IT recruitment, though, and has worked in the industry for over two years. Starting his career recruiting for Fintech in the City, Luke has a great network and an easy manner with both clients and candidates.

    “I’ve joined IF Recruitment at a really exciting time and I’m looking forward to being a part of the next phase in the company’s development. Meeting the team after I was approached about my role, I immediately felt at ease – everyone works together to a common goal and there’s a great culture of sharing. That’s set to get even better with our new company direction.”

    One of our growing team of Recruitment Consultants, Luke works proactively to build his network of clients. He gets a great buzz when successfully matching candidates with clients’ role requirements and he is passionate about expanding his knowledge of new technologies.

    About Luke
    14    Before moving into the recruitment arena, Luke took some time out to travel and to work in another arena he is passionate about. He trained as a soccer coach in America, working with children aged between between 5 and 15 and teaching them the basics of ‘the great game’.

    Moving back to the UK to start his career, Luke found that the skills he used on the soccer pitch are just as relevant in recruitment.

    “Working with people – whatever their age – requires good communication skills and the ability to empathise with a situation, to seek out each individual’s true strengths and to match those with a team need. Understanding and taking control of a group is just as important, and it’s these skills that have stood me in good stead in my career to date.”

    To find out more about working with Luke, please contact him at lukef@ifrecruit.com

  • On board with IF Recruitment

    On board with IF Recruitment

    Along with our new name, look and feel, the IF Recruitment boardroom has also seen some changes.

    Meet Joseph and Kelly Hathiramani
    21    In October 2015, Joseph and Kelly Hathiramani took to the helm. Joseph and Kelly are no strangers to the recruitment world – they already head up a leading independent recruitment consultancy supplying the construction, technical, military infrastructure (MoD) and building services sectors, both nationally and internationally.

    They have come on board with plans to expand business here at IF Recruitment and they have made great progress so far. Our turnover has already increased and our business has expanded, with many new faces joining the fold.

    19Joseph, our Managing Director, is an experienced recruitment consultant with over 17 years in the sector – he brings a lot of knowledge to the company.
    Kelly is our Finance Director. Also with many years in the sector, she knows her way around just about anything to do with finance and contracts.

    If you would like to speak to Joseph or Kelly, please email them on Joseph@ifrecruit.com or Kelly@ifrecruit.com or call on 0203 362 4159.

    Introducing the Chairman – Tony Seager
    20    Our Chairman, Tony Seager, is an exceptional trainer and coach in the recruitment field. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the company and has actually aided the team for many years.

    Tony started his recruitment career in the late 1980s and has enjoyed much success as a consultant ever since. He is well regarded within the recruitment arena, and we feel very privileged to have him on the IF IT board.

    If you would like to speak with Tony, please email him at Tony@ifrecruit.com

    Connecting with our Sales Director, Jim Marshall
    13    Jim remains as our Sales Director. With over 12 years’ experience of technical recruitment, Jim has a wealth of knowledge and is well respected in the industry.

    Jim predominantly works within the financial services (insurance, and retail banking) arena and he has well-established, strong relationships with both clients and candidates.

    If you would like to chat with Jim or if you have any questions, please call him on 0203 362 4159 or email Jim@ifrecruit.com

     

  • “Brand” New Direction

    “Brand” New Direction

    With a modern and vibrant new brand direction, IF Recruitment is shaking up the marketplace to deliver its proven industry specific recruitment service and a fresh and exciting competitive edge.

    Spend just two minutes in the company of Kelly, Joseph and Tony – the new board at IF Recruitment – and you’ll be as enthused for the new brand as they are. Their passion for the business and for the future of the recruitment industry is clear.

    The trio joined IF Recruitment just 12 months ago, bringing with them a vision that has captured the imaginations of the whole team. Their plan to develop and grow the business includes everyone within it. The existing IF team members are all still on hand, including Jim Marshall as Head of Client Services, while new faces have also been carefully chosen for their specialist knowledge and expertise – all allowing the company to expand into new and exciting areas of the ever changing technology marketplace as well.

    The new board’s belief in the strength of the organisation and its people is also unmistakable when looking at the direction they have taken for the new name and the brand behind it.

    “Our new name, IF, takes the heritage of the business, building upon its positive image and opening it up to future possibility. We’re really asking the questions ‘What if…’ and ‘If you…’ to deliver boundless possibilities for our clients and our candidates, as well as for our own company.” said Managing Director, Joseph Hathiramani. “With clients that include many of the top brands in the banking and finance sector, focusing on the service we deliver – both to them and to our candidates – will cement our position as leaders in the IT recruitment sector.”

    With this in mind, the IF Recruitment teams are revolutionising the way they work, restructuring to focus on their specialist areas, while the company has moved to larger, open plan offices to allow a joined up, solutions based approach as well.

    So whether you need a specialist candidate in cyber and information security, Fintech or mobile development, or if you have a project spanning many different specialisms, your IF Recruitment experts are on hand with the candidates and the technical know-how to help.

    To find out more about the new look IF Recruitment and how the business is changing to support your own, please contact info@ifrecruit.com or call 0203 362 4159.

  • Finding careers in Fintech

    Finding careers in Fintech

    Financial Technology, or Fintech as it’s now more commonly known, is a rapidly growing market. It’s also one of the more exciting – and possibly one of the more intimidating – areas in the banking industry. This can include services such as: money transfer, equity funding, P2P lending, mobile payments and trading platforms, to name a few.

    It’s estimated that people linked with Fintech now make up around 40 per cent of London’s workforce. And, including traditional Fintechs, such as First Date and Paysafe, as well as emerging Fintechs, such as Transferwise and Zopa, the industry has an annual revenue of around £20bn in the UK.

    Fintech – a brief history

    Fintech isn’t a new industry – in fact it has been around for many years. Traditionally consisting of large, yet basic, bespoke database solutions, the bottom fell out of the market in the financial crisis of 2008, while smart phones and tablets were just making it into mainstream at the same time.

    These changes made way for today’s Fintech companies – delivering innovative solutions that allow the financial sector to stay ahead of the technology curve, with innovation at their core.

    What IF…working in Fintech

    While many Fintech companies are start-ups, the industry is certainly not restricted to small business and many large organisations are investing heavily in their own Fintech teams.

    Recognising the need to recruit in the Fintech arena and understanding the very niche position Fintech has, at IF Recruitment we have our own resident Fintech expert.

    Luke Farrow joined the IF Recruitment team in June 2016 with several years’ experience working in London – the hub of the UK’s financial technology sector.

    Luke comments: “The IF Recruitment recruitment approach works well in the Fintech industry, building relationships and a unique understanding of our clients’ businesses and the niche they have carved for themselves. Using this knowledge, we are able to match candidates to fit perfectly within a team, as well as in the industry.”

    To find out more about Fintechs and our approach to recruiting in this exciting industry, please contact Lukef@ifrecruit.com