A recent piece of research by Bristol based Recruitment Consultancy Just Adlib has probed into our happiness levels at work with illuminating results. An interesting read, the research was conducted by people living in the west of England and working in the Digital, Marketing, Advertising and Creative Industries.

Just Adlib found that, 37% of participants said job satsifaction was the most important factor to ensure their happiness at work, closely followed by the people they worked with (17%) and a nice environment to work in (12%). Surprisingly being well paid only accounted for 5% of the responses and additional benefits only 1%.

I can’t help but wonder if the results would differ if respondants were asked the same thing in London or Manchester? I suppose there’s one way to find that out!

By Harry Fowler - Group Digital Recruiter for AMV Group.

Since 3GSM has recently finished in Barcelona and I never made it, again, I thought I’d give you my user experience on mobile recently.

It’s taken a while, but eventually Orange and T-Mobile are finally getting round to it.

Recently I signed up for Sky Sports TV via my N95 whilst I was sitting on a train heading to Edinburgh. £5 per month, cancel any time you want - not a problem you think. Then you get to the quality. It’s shit. Now I was on a train admittedly so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and tried it again when in a fixed position and with full connection - still shit. The sound is brilliant, but the picture morphs between static players and that really trippy bit from the end of Space Odyssey 2001. Not exactly the premiership quality I wanted (and not the bottom end of the league you understand)

I can’t work out whether it’s the machine or the signal but neither seem able to keep up with the pace - and as the old joke goes - “he/ she has a great face for radio” - let’s hope the digital radio stations are better quality (hoping the GCap haven’t ditched all of them by then)

Must remember to cancel that Sky mobile subscription.

Moving swiftly on Android looks like it has the capability to stretch even the most brilliant tech genius. If you are technically gifted then please get your head round this and maybe, just maybe people will start building applications into phones that we, the customer, the consumer and the payer of bills actually might need.

And they had better work properly.

MMS…….more like FFS

By Harry Fowler - Group Digital Recruiter for AMV Group.

Thanks to all who made it to the discussion last Tuesday (29th Jan) - the above title may give those of you who didn’t make it a wee taster.

Ok, moving forward.

I was recently on a panel at the Deloitte Fast 500 which recognizes Telecoms, Media and Technology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of annual revenue growth in EMEA during the past five years.

More than half of the companies surveyed said they plan to expand their workforce by more than 25 percent, with the vast majority wanting to grow organically, but the biggest challenge to these companies is “finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees”.

So it’s not just digitally led agencies in London (oh sorry and other places like Bristol) – a small consolation no doubt.

So, is this then a grass routes issue?

Educational bodies cannot keep their teachings in line with the advance of technology and therefore one could assume that we will always have difficulty in delivering resources in the numbers that we require?

Doing some research at graduate level – via Prospects website - there was some interesting reading. We may need to face the reality of being priced out of the market for top class talent.

Average starting salaries are higher in the following areas: Banking, Legal, Consulting, IT, Science, Engineering, Accounting and Financial Management.

We need to start getting ahead of these, or at least start competing on a more even keel.

There are opportunities to work on world changing products and services here, and I’m not going to disparage any of the aforementioned sectors, they’re all interesting in their own right, but why are we still not getting the volume of talent we need if our industry is apparently so cool and trendy?

We also need to do a lot more to promote the industry overall, from career progression and training to competitive salaries and working environments. Does job security become a factor? Successful paths must be made available to prospective employees. Does the outside world actually know what we all do for a living? I doubt it.

Should we look at developing a recognised body to further promote our sector within educational bodies? Is this something that we should discuss with the IAB, BIMA, D&AD to champion on our behalf?

I for one, am off to speak to them and see whether they have any thoughts on the matter.

harry

Chinwag have teamed up with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) to help them assess their UK ICT Marketing Strategy. This is a rare and exciting opportunity for our industry to really make a difference to how the government spends our money and promotes our industry abroad. By completing the survey, you will also get automatically entered into the prize draw to win an iPod Touch 8GB, brilliant eh?

The UKTI’s purpose is to encourage the best overseas companies to invest in the UK and to help UK companies take full advantage of opportunities overseas.

The Government is committed to selling the UK proposition, but why should foreign companies set up here and why should our companies be the partners of choice in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)?

For the chance to have your say and win an iPod Touch 8GB please take 3 minutes of your time to fill out the survey