Yesterday a colleague asked me what was the best place that I had worked. The answer was Chase Zander. The reasons are as follows:

1. Authenticity. In a recent interview the real Belle de Jour (Brooke Magnanti) defended prositution on the basis that in other fields of work, people prostitute their minds and their bodies, but it is socially acceptable. I have felt that I am prostituting myself with other employers at times. Chase Zander has a moral / value compass, which it expresses in its professional dealings and through its internal recruitment. I was recruited partly because I was aligned to Chase Zander’s values, I found that I didn’t need to put my work hat on to go to work, I could be myself.

2. Values. Chase Zander was built up from a set of values, which are sacrosanct. The core focus at Chase Zander was always to do good things, produce real value and then the rewards would come. I think this has helped to create a strong brand. Retrospectively I see my time at Chase Zander was the only time in recruitment, where the business’ brand opened doors. Many recruitment businesses have a converse top line focused origin. Clients and Candidates quickly pick up on this and can become defensive.

3. Learning and development. There is a commitment to continual improvement and development. This is expressed through financial investment in external training courses and in investment of time. The entire team would gather round every Friday with Fish and Chips and pick a topic, such as “how can we provide the best service” or “what would be the best interview technique” As a team with GENUINELY no hierarchical nonsense we would create what we deemed to be best practise.

4. Fun. There is endless value in the Managing Director’s cheesy music tastes and suspiciously late allegiance to a successful football team and the devastating impact of him imbibing more than a thimble of beer. There were many non business related challenges, 50KM jaunt’s in the Pennines, 10K runs. All completed as a team and for the benefit of others.

I worked with Chase Zander for almost 3 years and it still remains the best company I have ever come across for a number of reasons. The ‘work hard, play hard’ ethic is often sold to prospective employees as a company USP yet never delivers when you’re a week into the job, but with Chase Zander this is not the case. After a hard week or exceptional month you will be rewarded with anything from a bottle of champagne and a pat on the back right the way through to a night out on the tiles and an extravagant meal.

Teamwork rules at CZ, and if you are under-confident or lacking in some sort of training that you know will make you better at your job – you can utitlise your training budget to help better yourself and get further qualifications in your field. All along the way you will receive support and coaching from an exceptional Director in the shape of Adam Tallamy who is only made to look better by the calibre of the team he seeks far and wide to employ.

Despite leaving Chase Zander for pastures new along an altogether different path, they remain friends and associates that I am and have been proud to recommend to people who are looking to be employed or employee specialist recruitment services themselves. I have learnt many valuable lessons from Chase Zander which have helped me become successful in my life both from a business and personal point of view, and I would never hesitate to recommend them as one of the most vibrant, invested and exciting specialist recruitment companies I know.

The IT recruitment market continues to enjoy growth as the financial services sector continue to recover. Insurance remains a robust market with many large IT transformation projects and programmes supporting this, driven by regulatory requirements such as Solvency II, continued spend in the aggregator/price comparison market and joint venture and white label deals.

Developers with .Net (ASP.Net VB.Net C#) skills continue to be in high demand, with C# being the most sought after skill as many companies turn their backs on legacy VB and VB.Net systems.

The Java market remains consistent, whilst the number of requirements in this space continues to be overshadowed by many companies drive towards more supportable MS C# Software/Systems development, the number of good Java candidates in the market has also fallen in line with the number of requirements, meaning that good Java candidates are still very much in demand.

We have put together another informative video presentation packed with hints, tips, ideas and advice on what to do and what not to do in your next interview!

see more job seeker guides and tips

Chase Zander is proud to announce that we have been shortlisted for two prestigious national online recruitment website awards following the launch of our new website earlier this year.

The National Online Recruitment Awards (NORAS) today confirmed that Chase Zander is one of 7 shortlisted companies for the small recruitment company website of the year and one of only 5 shortlisted for the Best Small Employer website of the year award 2010. We were also the only company nominated for both.

With the award winning websites being announced at an awards evening in London on the 4th November everyone here is excited to see whether we can scoop one or maybe even two awards but regardless of the outcome on the night the whole team here is really proud to have got this far as so much work has gone into our new website and our whole online approach. Wish us luck!

We have put together an informative video guide packed with hints, tips, ideas and advice on how to get yourself prepared for your next interview.

see more job seeker guides and tips

The Top 5 things to look for in a contractor contract

Before signing any contract we would recommend that you read it thoroughly first and if necessary take proper advice from a solicitor or a relevant body such as the Professional Contractors Group with expertise in the relevant area. That said to get you started we have listed the top 5 things we believe that as a contractor you should be looking out for in a new contract. Some of these points are common sense and some refer to what makes a contract IR35 friendly or not.  

1. Right of substitution – does the contract give you the right to substitute someone else who is capabale of fulfilling the role in your place? If the answer is no then this would require further exploration.

2. Control - does the contract imply you are under the direct control of the client or does it suggest flexibility in your working arrangements which would indicate you are working as a consultant rather than a paid employee which is one indicator that you may fall under IR35. 

3. Hours you are working – are you being paid by the hour or is your working time stated in the contract as being a professional working day? The latter is more IR35 friendly.

4. The level of insurance you are required to have on acceptance of the contract. This can vary depending on the nature of your role and whilst the chances of you needing to claim may be small there have been some high profile instances where contractors have been sued and for the sake of a few hundred pounds to avoid potential bankruptcy is good value.

5. Opt-out or opt-in form – as a contractor you shuold have the option to opt-in or opt-out of EAA regulations. This is an in-depth subject and we would recommend you read up on this at contractor UK.

If you have found this article valuable then you may be interested to read some of our other job seeker help guides including some great video guides starring members of the Chase Zander team!

Top 10 things to consider when you start a search for your next job

1. Write a list of the things that you have liked and disliked in your career to date as this will help you define what you want in your next role. Also consider what your absolute ideal role would entail?

2. Consider whether you are qualified to get a job like that and if not what sort of training or additional experience you need to get first? Then create a plan of action to get you there. It may be that your ideal role is a step too far in which case look for a role which will offer you the right training and progression to achieve it.

3. Consider the overall direction you want to take your career in and why. Don’t just take ‘another’ job unless circumstances force you to. Research shows that the most successful people tend to have a clear long term career plan. Follow both your head and your heart!

4. Touch base with all of your industry contacts and colleagues as early as you can before you resign. Ideally do this regularly as a matter of course and not just when you are desperate for a job. Well connected people normally find a job more easily and can reference possible companies more easily to help them find the right cultural fit. A personal recommendation is also a great way to join a company

5. Update your CV and get it proof-read by several people including a specialist recruiter in your field and incorporate all feedback to make it the strongest possible tool to sell you for the role you want

6. Start applying for the type of jobs you are interested in and gauge feedback on your CV relative to your competitors. Do what you can to differentiate yourself positively

7. Send your CV to the reputable and relevant agencies in your field and articulate what you are ideally looking for ideally in the CV itself as cover letters often get separated.

8. Consider posting your CV to relevant job boards as this is a great way to let jobs find you. Be aware however that your current employer’s recruitment team may use these boards to find new recruits so it may pay to disguise your current employer etc.

9. Set yourself up for job alerts on the relevant job boards and websites of the leading recruitment agencies in your field.

10. Get some interview practice under your belt even if it is just with a friend or your partner so that you are ready to interview for the job you really want!

Good luck and feel free to contact the team at Chase Zander if you want any further tips or advice on what to consider when starting your search for a new job.

If you have found this article valuable then you may be interested to read some of our other job seeker help guides including some great video guides starring members of the Chase Zander team!

Chase Zander is pleased to announce that it has joined Facebook.

We want to create a vibrant and interactive online community to reflect our real world one and we see Facebook as one of the main elements of our strategy to achieve this.

You can find a mini photographic history of Chase Zander online and see how the company, team and locations have developed and changed over the years to make us what we are today – “an outstanding and successful recruitment business with our brand values at the heart of what we do.” We will continue to post updates on the company to Facebook and tell you what’s new to keep you up to date.

We want to hear from our clients and candidates on this forum and Facebook offers an easily accessible vehicle to do this and we hope will complement Feefo, the independent customer feedback company, to let you tell us how we’re doing, what you would like to see more of and what you love about Chase Zander.

Further to that we will be posting all of our new jobs onto Facebook direct from our website so it offers people an alternative way to find their next role which might just be easier to do in an office environment than trawling through job boards.

To join our Facebook community, to see what’s happening at Chase Zander and to keep up to date with all the roles we are recruiting for click here. Alternatively, you can simply click on the Facebook icon in the footer of the new Chase Zander website  to follow us on Facebook.

Chase Zander is pleased to announce that it has joined Twitter.

Our intention is to post short pieces of information onto Twitter designed to add value to and provide useful information to our clients, candidates and potential employees helping them all achieve their goals in the most efficient way possible and thereby helping us achieve our business goals.

We are also keen to add tweets on the state of the recruitment market, on hiring trends, salaries and who is doing what, where and when! We want to keep it light-hearted and interesting to grab your interest and make you want to read more. You, yes you are key to this whole project and as such we would love to hear what you would like to hear about to make sure we are meeting the needs of our community so feel free to contact us with your thoughts.

To join our Twitter community and to follow our latest tweets click here or you can simply click on the twitter icon in the footer of our new website to sign up.