News and Press Releases
We've moved News - 23rd May 2008
Read the News pdf.It's a few weeks since we moved in and so far so good! We're enjoing the space and seeing a lot more candidates. Although we're only a few miles from the old office being very close to the M5 makes us a lot more accessible for candidates. Attached are some pictures of the new place.
Gallery's Expansion Press Release - 23rd May 2008
Here's our latest press release to promote the move to our new office.
New Talent at Gallery Press Release - 19th March 2008
New Developments News - 16th March 2008
We now have a moving date - the weekend of April 19th. We start fitting-out the new office this week, arranging phone lines, data cabling etc. There's plenty to think about, but we're all looking forward to working in a modern office with two and a half times the space. It's near the motorway but still has great uninterrupted rural views towards the Cotswold escarpment and Selsley.
The new address is:
Gallery Resources, 403 The Waterfront, Stonehouse Park, Sperry Way, Stonehouse, GL10 3UT
We’ll have a new local phone number but 0845 450 3200 will be moving with us.
And we have 3 new members of staff. Heather and Kelly are working as Researchers, helping the consultants and Lisa is giving great support to Sarah, helping with the administration and office management. Watch out for their caricatures coming soon!
Marielle has now gone back to Sweden, and we wish her and Chris well.
Galllery celebrates 10 years in business Press Release - 9th January 2008
Gallery was started 10 years ago this month. It will be a challenging but exciting year for the company with lots of developments planned.
Christmas Charity 2007 Press Release - 20th December 2007
We've chosen The Nelson Trust as our Christmas charity for 2007. See the press release for more details.
We're Moving! News - 29th September 2007
In the New Year we reach a milestone of 10 years in business and there will be a major change for Gallery as we are buying our own office and will be moving. The new building is twice the size of our beloved barn on top of the hill where we've been for most of those 10 years.
We'll miss the peace and quiet, the horses and the amazing Cotswold views. We won't miss how the snow and the fog descend rapidly in winter and the noise of the Spring lambs, and candidates will appreciate the accessibility of the new office, right next to the motorway (just 20 minutes from the Bristol area) and walking distance from a train station.
Expected move-in date is March 2008, assuming all progresses smoothly, and we'll update this page with developments on a regular basis.
On a sadder note Alison Hayward is leaving us, to move back to the big-city life. We definitely plan to keep in touch as we've really enjoyed working with Alison, and we think she's enjoyed working with us!
A New Face at Gallery News - 30th June 2007
It has been recruitment business as normal over the last few months and we're very busy with a record number of live briefs. Business is brisk across many areas with particularly high demand for digital specialists, marketing executives, data marketing professionals and agency account managers / executives (DM and B2B/IT sectors). As ever there's a steady demand for financial services marketing professionals with many roles being temporary or contract.
High demand doesn't mean candidates just walk into highly-paid dream jobs, as clients are not actually hiring until they find a candidate who meets a very specific set of criteria - skills, sector knowledge, reasonable salary expectations, and for creative people a really polished and relevant portfolio. The marketing world in our part of the country is optimistic but cautious, and that is demonstrated by the fact that salaries in some areas are barely higher than a couple of years ago and for many they prefer temp. to perm. arrangements to be sure a new recruit is the right fit before committing to employ someone.
Marielle, all the way from Sweden, has been with us for a few months and is really getting to grips with the recruitment business, helping the consultants across the range of day-to-day and planning tasks. We finally got round to going out for a company night-out to welcome her properly and also to mark Sarah's move to a 4 day week (we're a very modern employer!).
We enjoyed a meal at the Lamb in Eastcombe, as it has a great dining room and garden overlooking the stunning Toadsmoor Valley, and more importantly because it is walking distance from home for several of our number.
Amazingly, in view of recent weather, we sat comfortably outside until the early hours, disturbed only by some of the many bats that inhabit the area, and bizarrely, were introduced to a very friendly 5" long corn snake belonging to the landlady's son, who very kindly explained all about its diet of frozen mice.
Skills Shortage News - 18th March 2007
There have been various surveys and reports over recent months regarding the difficulty of recruiting skilled staff and in finding employees with a positive attitude to work.
Here at Gallery Resources we attract plenty of candidates, and bar a few amusing exceptions CVs are generally well-written and candidates are perfectly competent at presenting themselves to potential employers.
In some specific areas though we are currently struggling to attract enough experienced candidates, and through our discussions with clients we know that other agencies are in a similar position. For these clients direct advertising is not an alternative and we know of some expensive campaigns not producing a single relevant CV.
So what are the areas where there are skills shortages? On the account handling side it's in the specialist areas of DM / data and for people with automotive and retail experience. Designers and artworkers with brand packaging and retail / POS portfolios are currently in demand as are marketeers at a relatively junior level but with recognised brand experience.
To successfully recruit in areas where candidates are in high demand or short supply clients need to be flexible and decisive. Candidates can receive multiple offers so companies need to be willing to recruit quickly from a shortlist of one and also consider flexibility in areas such as salary and benefits.
Small organisations can prosper in these circumstances at the expense of larger companies whose recruitment processes can take several months and where it isn't possible for recruiting managers to agree to salaries and benefits outside of a pre-determined range.
Gallery Bowling Night News - 25th February 2007
In the absence of any serious news here's a run-down of last week's company visit to Stroud's newish bowling venue. Rumours that William would bring his own ball (c/w protective velvet bag), bowling shoes and bowling gloves proved unfounded, and this lack of professionalism was reflected in him only knocking down 7 pins in total in his first 6 bowls (throws?).
Rank outsider Alison gained an unlikely lead at the end of the first of two games, with Sarah and Ian also performing well. Mike, Joanne and Penny were struggling with an unsatisfactory lane that clearly sloped from right to left.
As the second game got underway the alcohol began to improve the men's hand-eye co-ordination, with Ian streaking through to second place and William coming from behind to take an unlikely overall lead, collecting the gold-coloured card trophy and a small radio that came free with our last stationery delivery.
Sarah played a solid game in the final quarter, and Mike, clearly inspired by the famous comeback of Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) in one of his favourite movies "Kingpin" made a valiant effort in the last few rounds, but his successful adoption of the "caveman" style of bowling came too late for him to challenge the leading "strokers".
New Legislation News - 21st January 2007
A couple of planned legislative changes look like having an impact on many of our clients and candidates during 2007.
Firstly, holiday pay. Currently agency temps. receive 20 days' paid holiday a year including Bank Holidays, or 12 days + Bank Holidays. The Government plans to increase this statutory minimum entitlement to 28 days, or 20 days + Bank Holidays.
It looks like the additional 8 days will be introduced in two stages, with an increase from 20 to 24 days in October this year, with the remaining 4 days added a year later. This is great news for temporary workers, as long as clients are prepared to pay the extra cost that will have to be passed-on in higher invoices.
Secondly, the rules under which Managed Service Companies operate are set for a shake-up as early as April this year.
Managed service companies (MSCs) provide contractors with a Limited Company structure, allowing them to be paid a mixture of PAYE income and dividends to minimise the amount of tax they pay. For this the MSC provider charges a weekly fee to the contractor, but at higher daily rates the cost of this is easily outweighed by the benefits.
From April, MSCs will no-longer be able to operate in this way as all payments made to a contractor (except expenses) will have to be subject to PAYE, meaning contractors who currently operate under these schemes will have to re-consider their options, deciding whether to work through an umbrella company, be paid on an agency's payroll, or set-up a personal service company or PSC (their own limited company).
In theory those currently operating through an MSC would be better off creating a PSC, but using an umbrella company or working on an agency payroll will continue to be attractive options, with insurance and administration all taken care of, and the great advantage of prompt payment without the need for credit control.
Contractors currently working under a MSC arrangement should consider their options early to be sure of making the right decision before April!
Christmas charity donation Press Release - 9th December 2006
We've added a page to our website to explain about our Christmas charity donation.
Intead of sending cards this year we're paying to establish and maintain a vegetable garden at a school in El Salvador, on behalf of all (well most!) of the candidates and clients we've worked with over the last 12 months. Thank you all for your support in what has been a very busy year for Gallery Resources.
Paris Trip News - 7th November 2006
A busy weekend for Gallery Resources, as we all went to Paris on the annual company trip, staying at the luxurious Hotel du Louvre and spending Saturday night at the Restaurant La Gare, an amazing underground restaurant in the setting of a former metro station at La Muette.
Mike makes a point of visiting as many libraries as he can whenever he's in France, just so he can ask the locals "ou est la bibliotheque". Others opted for more traditional ways of passing the time in the City of Light with the highlight being the Orangerie Museum in the Tuileries Gardens, recently re-opened after eight years of renovation.
Thick fog caused chaos at Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday night and we were told our incoming flight was being diverted to Ostend. After we were resigned to spending another night in Paris (a problem as there was no-one else to man the office the next day!) the little BA jet from Birmingham miraculously appeared through the gloom and we were away just 90 minutes late.
Website problems News - 5th October 2006
In case you noticed that our website has been out of action for a few days at a time and not updated regularly over the last couple of weeks that's because our web hosting company had technical difficulties which resulted in their service being suspended and then our website being deleted off their server! We do apologise and are now with a more reliable supplier.
Age discrimination legislation is now in force. We've had to change the way we write advertisements and don't ask for candidates' ages, but the real impact of the changes will only be known when there's some case-law on the subject. Watch this space!
New Website News - 5th September 2006
The most recent news – you’re looking at it. Our new website is up and running, the 3rd incarnation of www.galleryresources.co.uk in our 8-year history.
This is the most complex yet, with a proper search facility and as you can see a space for news. We can’t promise to update the news page every week, but will try to provide regular updates on what is going here, industry news etc. So keep checking this page.
If there’s anything you’d like us to feature or venture an opinion on just send us an email.
A new member of the team
Alison Hayward joined us in early August, working as a Senior Consultant. Alison has recently been working in recruitment for the retail sector and together with her early career as a Designer she’s a great fit for Gallery’s clients.
New Arrivals
Sarah, our Office Manager, had a couple of additions to her family over the weekend, and she was back at work the day after. We appreciate her dedication though and are helping out with collecting carrot-tops as fast as we can. Apparently baby rabbits like them above anything else!
Some thoughts on recruitment
It’s a busy market, particularly for freelancers, and we expect a very steady second half of the year. On the permanent side of things there is demand, but clients are insisting on very relevant experience for most roles. We do notice a definite and steady improvement in activity from the agency sector – Account Handlers and Designers.
It’s graduate time again. Unfortunately we rarely place graduates unless they have at least a year’s experience –our clients won’t pay us a fee for people they need to train from scratch. Graduates please help yourselves though - check the spelling on your CVs and make your interests believable!
Age discrimination legislation comes into force in October. At Gallery we’re Age Positive and this does benefit clients and candidates, so the new regulations are welcome and bring the UK up-to-date with other countries. We do hope, however, that the rules are implemented with some common sense. We’re told the words “dynamic”, “flexible” and “enthusiastic” in job ads. might imply that a younger person is required, as would the phrase “in tune with current thinking”. Can’t people over 40 be any of these things?
