I love that I am in a creative environment and that the Directors are as approachable as everyone else. They go out of their way to talk to everyone, to know their names - I find that makes a massive difference to the feel of an organisation. I also love that I am left to get on with my role without being watched over. The guys I work for are fun and friendly and my weeks fly past.

What are the three things you couldn't do your job without?

1. I have a bible which was left by the PA before me, without that I would have been lost.

2. My blackberry it means I know what is happening and when it's happening whenever I need

3. My own notebook - It has everything in it - including my to do list

What do you think makes a good PA?

Someone who is friendly, approachable and organised. You have to be willing to do anything asked of you without being offended or pointing at your job description. I think someone who enjoys talking to people and building relationships.

What's in your handbag right now?

My purse, my phone (personal and work) my Kindle, some make up and my keys.

What's your lunch time routine?

I try to be good and make my lunch so I will have that whilst finishing off the metro that I didn't have chance to read on the tube. I will try at least once a week to leave my desk and go out for lunch.

If you could live forever with any 5 famous people who would they be?

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando and Martin Scorsese.

What do you do after a stressful day?

It's a tossup between a nice glass of wine with my friends or a session down the gym - depends how tired I am.

What are your tips for being a top PA?

Have patience, be friendly and open but willing to work hard and put the hours in. Have fun whilst you work, make friends with everyone and write lists - a good list will sort out any problem.

What is it? Auto enrolment is a scheme which was established to try and encourage people to save more money for their retirement. Employers are required to enrol much of their workforce but employees do have the right to opt out of the scheme and have their membership cancelled. Larger employers have to enrol first and they have been doing so from 2012, the smallest organisations will start from April 2017.

Challenges: Heineken's Head of Pensions[1], Carol Young said a key challenge she found was drawing together all the different stakeholders who work on pensions together to ensure they were all working to the same agenda and timeframes.

Rachel Brougham, Head of the Auto-enrolment team at Mercer[2], pointed to the importance of payroll data being kept up to date and that employee data has been cleansed in general. The change in pension scheme can flag any discrepancies in employee information and such irregularities can really slow down and complicate the changeover in general.

Some companies have pointed to the difficulty in interpreting the rules around the new legislation even when enlisting the services of specialist consultancy firms. The Department of Work and Pensions is probably the best port of call for any queries.

Another key issue is the time involved in overseeing the changes. End to end it took Heineken 18 months to overhaul their pensions offering, most experts suggest a ball park estimation for most businesses would be 9-12 months. It's important to not give in to the temptation to simply put off the process and it can take a lot longer than you initially think.

Employee Engagement:It's also important that the process is communicated effectively to employees. Not only to ensure you are keeping up with your business' legislative obligations but so that a confusing and complex subject matter is explained to people with as much clarity as possible.  John Lewis set about creating an engagement campaign, which involved conducting an international marketing campaign and internal survey.  This was all done with the view of changing the way people think about pensions and to ensure they understood how the changes would affect them positively. Dinesh Visavadia, Head of Pensions at John Lewis said "If you engage with the workforce in a positive way, with a positive experience, you will get a positive outcome and very low opt out rate". Another idea is to hold pension forums and liaise with trade unions to help people understand the changes. Communication really is the key in ensuring people embrace the change.

Compliance: is another key concern, it's important to keep records which allow a full audit to be undertaken if necessary. Guidance offered by the DWP offers advice on the practical implementation of the scheme but companies should ensure they protect themselves and in-build compliance into their implementation.

More broadly, it offers businesses a great platform to showcase their other benefits to staff and ensure they are getting the most from the company's reward scheme. Employees should be offered the appropriate channels to consult outside of your organisation, for example the Money Advice Service for any queries they may have. This should enhance engagement in the scheme as people are more likely to trust the advice given as it would be impartial and not associated with your company. This should be taken as an opportunity to think about your pension offering in general and what you want to achieve from them. This could be a chance to review your services and get a better deal for your employees and conduct a broader audit on benefits in general.

Final Top Tips:

• Find out what proportion of your staff auto-enrolment will apply to, this will require analysis of the workforce's age and salaries
• Establish when you need to begin the process, what timescales will you be working to? The Pensions Regulator will write to you 12 months before. Remember you will need to write to staff informing them of any changes
• You will need to establish what contributions will be. Your company may need to undertake extra budgetary procedures in order to facilitate the extra costs involved. Costs are 'phased in' and you will need to know how much you will be contributing over the 4 years that auto-enrolment is introduced.
• Research pension schemes and check your current one meets the new criteria.

Auto enrolment is here to stay and it's better to prepare for such challenges fully.  Hopefully some of the points raised will help you make the switch over as painless as possible.

Julia Sandler, Owner and Head of HR Division

Zuma

http://www.zumarestaurant.com/

Exquisite Japanese food where every mouthful is a taste sensation!   A vibrant Knightsbridge based restaurant with a great bar for pre and post dinner.

Nick Evans, Owner and Head of Permanent Support Division

Scotts

http://www.scotts-restaurant.com/

Set in the heart of Mayfair - this place is a must for all seafood lovers!

Charlotte Miller- Candidate Manager

Clos Maggiore

http://www.closmaggiore.com/

I like this as the food is amazing and also it has been voted the most romantic restaurant in London. I loved the white linen table cloths and cherry blossom trees in the dining room. If you ever want to impress a girl take her here!

Jessica Fowler - Office Manager

The Breakfast Club

http://www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com/content/spitalfields

Funky environment , caters for a quick nice coffee but also a great for brunch  & best of all a secret bar  downstairs and you have to go through an old school fridge to get to it J

Natalie Satchel - Senior Consultant, HR Division

Balthazar

http://www.balthazarlondon.com/

Amazing food that reminds Natalie of New York

James Baybutt - Senior Consultant, Finance Division

Polpo

http://www.polpo.co.uk/

Immense Venetian tapas, excellent service, good value, chilled setting. Happy days!

Bradley Murphy - Senior Consultant Temporary Division

Balans

http://www.balans.co.uk/site/index.php/london/soho/

It's cosy, affordable, has a great atmosphere and filled with lovely people!

Sam Stock - Head of Temporary Division

Hawksmoor

http://thehawksmoor.com/

This place is for all meat lovers out there - the Steak & Cornflake Milkshake is a must!

Rebecca Evans - Senior Consultant Permanent Support Division

Nobu

http://www.noburestaurants.com/

Gorgeous sushi, yummy cocktails and celeb spotting. What more could a girl want?

Jan Thepprastis - Consultant, Permanent Support Division

Big Easy

http://www.bigeasy.co.uk/v1/index.aspx

I love it because of the vibe and they have live music from 9am plus the most delicious selections of seafood and who can say no to unlimited ribs on a Monday...





On a catch up call with one of our clients they recommended someone in their team to us who had just been made redundant.  He was an HR Manager with fabulous experience within the media industry and we were happy to help.  We successfully found him a role within one of the world's leading communications agencies within two weeks.

We cannot guarantee it will always be this quick but we recognise great people know other amazing people and that this is the key to finding the best talent. We also believe you should be rewarded for this!

So if you know anyone looking to move - please get in touch today and Refer A Friend!

I was recently approached by a candidate who had seen a position with a company advertised directly and wanted to explore if we could represent her for this instead of applying direct. This got me thinking, there are many reasons why a candidate would prefer to apply for a position through a specialist agency rather than direct and here are some (hopefully!) interesting things to consider.

Sometimes it's very difficult to be dispassionate about your own experience and know what is reasonably achievable for your career. When chatting about your career, friends/relatives may not want to hurt your feelings but a 3^rd party, who doesn't know you personally can offer you some tips on what is practical for someone given your experience.  Sometimes this kind of feedback can be tough to hear but it is my firm belief this is the only way for people to make informed decisions in their career and not waste hours of valuable time applying for jobs which are not appropriate. Or on the flipside of that, constructive feedback can equip you with knowledge of what you need to be doing to move forward with your career.

Recruiters can offer candidates a unique insight into the companies they recruit for. This kind of insider information should go above and beyond what can be found on the website and provide meaningful insight into the 'unofficial' side of a company. Often Consultants know things like - does the company do drinks on a Friday? Have they got a really inspirational CEO? Do they take part in charitable activities? All these 'softer' things can really bring an organisation to light. This can help candidates decide whether they would fit or not and whether this would be somewhere that excites them. This is where a Recruiter can really add value, in bringing a proposition to life.

Often Recruiters have worked with a company for many years and could offer significant insight on the role you will be interviewing for or the characters within team. This can give precious detail on the quirks of a role, why previous people haven't worked out, what the biggest demands on this person are and how the role fits more broadly into a company's strategy. All of this helps candidates feel assured they know what they are walking into and allows them to make the best possible choice.

From a process point of view Consultants play an essential part in ensuring the recruitment experience is as painless as possible for everyone. When in the running for a potential role the agency is there to explain each stage as fully as possible, the rationale behind interviews and what's next.  Once an offer is put to the candidate the Recruiter manages this process fully for them, including negotiating salaries and making sure the candidate's interests are looked after at every stage. 

Using a Specialist agency really is a win win situation. You get the services of a Career Coach, someone to explain all the tricky bits to you and act as your biggest advocate within your job search. They can ensure you are party to as much information as possible and take much of the mystery out of the process. It is important to remember that changing jobs is one of the most stressful things which can happen to you, as with everything - wouldn't it be nice to have someone to help?

Often Classified as employees who are 33 years of age and under, Forbes has claimed that Gen Y will make up 75% of the Global workforce by 2025. As a member of Gen Y (by this definition) and as someone who is involved in recruiting future talent my role is to help employers in the process of finding and engaging with promising young talent. So what are the key traits of this generation, how do we go about engaging them and what are the implications for the recruitment process?

A common question mark around developing millennial is around their loyalty. Although disloyalty is often quoted as a key trait of this generation, research actually shows the contrary… Kenexa published research in 2011 that found Gen Y to be the most excited about their work, with the highest levels of company satisfaction.  A key motivator that was highlighted was an interest in seeing a positive societal impact from the work that they do as well as a high notion of personal responsibility. So when do Gen Y show loyalty? After extensive research, Edelman found that 86% of Gen Y will show loyalty if the company they work for represents quality products and services, authenticity, social purpose and moral integrity. Are these the traits of a disengaged population?

This research also has several implications for the recruitment process. As we have learnt from Paris Brown's story, the attraction process has started looking earlier and earlier into candidate's lives and in some cases will also involve delving into their Social Media presence.  One of the most significant differences between Gen Y and previous generations is that they have grown up with the internet and social networking. If you grow up on social networks you are used to putting your opinion out there and having it judged by peers - this has inevitably created a different set of expectations.  Candidates are more highly networked and have greater exposure to information across the world, they can contribute and be judged and therefore value and want continuous feedback more and more. Regular communication throughout the recruitment process is therefore key in attracting and engaging this generation.

Hiring the right talent for your business is essential but developing and retaining future talent is the key. Engaging Gen Y is all about fostering the potential of future talent. As we can see from Paris Browns story, a part of being young is about making mistakes and learning from those. In order for companies to engage with this generation they need to encourage the new perspectives they bring in an ever changing economy rather than viewing them as an irreverent force of change….  Whether or not you agree with their approach or appreciate their attitudes, Generation Y will one day be the leaders of some of the largest organisations in the world and now is the time to develop an engage with them. 

All you need to do is take a picture (with your phone) of the view from your desk and send it to: jan@impact-london.com