Jump IT Blog

Very occasionally a placement doesn’t work out. When it does, it’s a valuable learning experience. This happened recently, and I have got to say, it’s quite gutting personally. We had worked hard to find this person, and despite going through interviews and a test, it just wasn’t right. The client

Contact Roger Wood at Jump IT Recruitment. What does 35 years’ IT/Technology recruitment experience get you? Well. In my time, I have. Placed candidates in every single type of IT/Tech/Marketing & Management role you care to mention (from Junior entry roles to IT Director/COO and everything in between) Recruited successfully

Please excuse this indulgent nostalgic post, but I was walking the dog earlier this morning and started thinking about the first 5 years of my recruitment career. Here are some key moments – if anyone remembers the businesses or that far back generally😊 I started in recruitment in the very

There often seems to be an overwhelming argument for recruiting directly. ‘It saves us money’‘We always find someone ourselves’‘Recruitment is so expensive’‘The last recruiter we used was awful’‘The recruiter we had was really pushy; we felt he was only interested in his commission’ We get it completely. I would feel

A day when so many young people experience the angst of finding out their grades. Whatever grade you got. Well done – you most likely did far better than I ever did! You completed the exams. You showed up. You have no doubt learned a lot (not just on the

Are young job seekers of today entitled? My response whenever this comes up is the same – NO – they aren’t entitled at all. Quite the opposite. They are growing up in a world with fewer opportunities, more competition for those roles, and greater expectations to get better grades and

I often tell job seekers to utilise the power of social media and LinkedIn to maximise their visibility when looking to find work. Don’t just stick to the same routine of putting a CV on a job board, sitting back, waiting for calls and expecting results. The job market has

Today’s message. We often complain about our jobs – Be grateful you have work. Many of us are complaining about the heat. Be grateful it is only for a few weeks, not months. Appreciate how lucky you are. Be grateful.

Someone asked me last night what the last things a recruiter ever wants to hear from a client when you’ve started recruiting for them. So here goes: ·        We’ve decided to go with another candidate ·        We are going to pause our recruitment (after you’ve found some great candidates) ·        Your candidate is

Despite a tricky job market, we regularly come across candidates who have decided to leave their current job WITHOUT a job to go to. My default answer to anyone considering this is… DON’T DO IT. STAY PUT. If you are unhappy where you are currently, look for a new job

One simple piece of interview advice for you. If you have an imminent Teams, Zoom or phone call for a job interview. Always check in advance if the tech works. We have all experienced this at some point – For me, it wasn’t quite a Wi-Fi fail, but I got

There have been so many changes from technical advances to how we search, but the one most noticeable thing for me has been 1 simple thing. Communication. Or more specifically speaking to each other. When I started in recruitment, everyone was in the office and had a landline. Everybody would answer their phone. Arguably,

From a recruiter/hiring manager’s perspective, the counteroffer can be the most frustrating thing that happens in a recruitment process. Particularly when a candidate decides to stay put. Now, ultimately, if you are looking for a new challenge, you should never feel intimidated by a recruiter or employer to take a

Today’s CV tip may seem innocuous enough, but please read on. It could make a difference. Your email address can be quite revealing. A good 90% of candidates we speak to will have a simple email address they use for personal and job-hunting purposes. Usual format of name, year of

This is something I see every single day when I read a CV – acronyms. Now, not all of them are bad, and I am not advocating that everyone start writing Structured Query Language for SQL, but too often we see acronyms that send me searching Google for their meanings.

Now, this has been based on genuine research, of asking candidates over the last 3 months for their specific reasons. This may not come as much of a shock, but the main drivers are: 1.      Salary2.      Flexibility3.      Personal Improvement4.      Pension5.      General benefits6.      People they work with Admittedly, the vast majority of candidates asked have been IT-based, so not sure

We’re not able to help every candidate who contacts us, as we tend to have a limited number of roles to offer. However, if a candidate calls us and asks for help or advice, we’re happy to share our expertise. It can result in them finding employment via another recruiter

A few things I personally take from this article. Firstly, how would you react to being interviewed by an AI robot? Personally, I would walk out. Secondly, OK, so we all use AI in some way as part of our daily role (it’s checked my spelling). But recruitment and hiring

If you’ve used a recruiter in the process, then hopefully they will have a good relationship with that client or hiring manager and will know already what might be possible. Not used a recruiter and gone direct? Well, remember to do some research on your skillset, the job market and

It is a question I am regularly asked. So many of the clients we work with like longevity in CV employment history, especially if there has been career progress, too. If you have stayed with the same employer and the tech stack hasn’t changed, then YES, it could seriously impact

This is a 100% unabridged message we have just received. It’s from the new CEO of a key client we have worked with exclusively for several years now. I was worried that (despite our continued success) with a new CEO, a ‘new broom sweeps’, and we might lose this client

My daughter graduates this year. As a parent, it is scary seeing your kids grow into an uncertain, more polarised world, and an increasingly tricky job market with long-winded interview processes and assessments. Competition and frustrations are high. At times its felt like she is applying to lead the International

I was asked the other day. “What’s it like working in recruitment? Don’t you just send a few CVs over and charge a load of money?” Yeah, right, it’s that simple. I mean, everyone seems to know someone who works in recruitment or has tried recruitment and given up. 1.

Want to know what the most common question I ask candidates who contact me for CV reviews or LinkedIn tips is: ‘Why haven’t you done a post on LinkedIn to tell your network you are looking for work?’ Most say it’s either down to a fear of putting themselves out

It’s always such a good feeling to see a message in your inbox from someone who previously called in for some career advice (FREE by the way), takes your suggestions on board…and then sees a positive change to their job search. Not a Google review for all to see, but

It’s a question I was asked very recently. When we speak to a client about their role, we are 100% on their side. Our job is to source, speak to potential candidates and shortlist those that match the client’s requirements as best we can. We don’t want to get the

Having worked in recruitment for years, I have been fortunate enough to have had some quite interesting client visits. (These events mostly occurred more than 8 years ago) I have had client meetings in buildings over 400 years old; I have been to rooftop offices with 360-degree views around London

In Tunbridge Wells, we have another 36 hours (and counting) without water before our water will be turned back on. 1000’s of us will believe it when we see it. I count myself lucky. We have a car to drive to water pickup points; 2 water butts; and a good

Why are we helping people with FREE CV REVIEWS and FREE LINKEDIN TIPS? Bottom line, we are not your usual recruitment company. We like helping people. Whether that be with a job we have ourselves, or by offering FREE advice that may help someone secure a job elsewhere. Why do

Over the years in recruitment, I have been the attempted victim of at least 2 well-known recruitment scams. Years ago, it was a company from Europe approaching you for help with numerous contract staff requirements. The idea was that fake candidates who were a perfect fit would contact you for

Over the last 5 years, Jump IT Recruitment Solutions Limited has lost several good recruitment accounts. Yep, really good key accounts to us. The first time it happened, I was gutted. We had delivered for several years. Placements we made from 20 years ago were still in the business and

WOW. How fun and rewarding was that! A morning’s volunteering selling Xmas trees at Aspens Charities in Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, with Karen Burke Have helped, supported at events before, but never formally volunteered alongside some of the very helpful residents to manage us! Not the busiest of days, but

Do you know what 90,000 hours is? It’s how long the average person spends working during their lifetime! About 13 years of your life. I’m 30 years into my recruitment career, and only just found this out. 90,000 hours is an awful long time, so make sure you are happy

Today, the news focus seems to be on the budget and its possible impact on business, money and finances. Early this morning, I bumped into a small business owner like myself. We often talk, but today I detected, he didn’t seem his normal happy self. I asked why. His brother

Interested to know, in your opinion, what has been the most transformative or important technological advancement of the last 35 years? What have I missed? All have played their part in how we work, rest and play but interested to see if there is one clear winner? Please comment below,

I try and do one small positive thing each day to improve my life and business. For outside of work, it is not always easy, but picking up some litter on a dog walk is my small thing. It helps keep the place I live (pictured below earlier today), a

Steve Jobs never hired people to tell them what to do. He wanted to employ smart people to come up with solutions to help grow and improve his business. It seems to have worked out well. At Jump IT Recruitment Solutions Limited, we would never tell you how to run

Does your business, employer or boss ever advertise a job on a job board? If your answer is NO, we use a reputable recruiter whom we trust – good answer, you win! You are already saving yourself time sourcing relevant people. Advance to GO! However. If your answer is YES,

My 35-year recruitment career has been devoid of awards (probably rightly so) Could 2025 finally be the year? There is shelf space alongside my personal trophies 2 x League winning football team trophies 1 x Darts league winner 1 x Tunbridge Wells tweeter of the year (2023, and 2024) Haven’t

When we talk to candidates, we always ask why they want to leave their current job (or why they left). It is an important question for a new employer to at least know. Sometimes candidates will tell me that they like their existing company and role; they just feel undervalued

It’s a really important question to consider. Job benefits can be key to staff retention and staff attraction. So, when was the last time you looked at your benefits package? Talking to my colleague, we noticed that certain companies we work with have far greater success at hiring staff than

The classic recruitment story that I must have heard so many times before (luckily, very rare from the clients we work with!). Is there anything more frustrating than if you are looking for work, go through a process, only to receive this feedback? Why does it continue to happen? Surely

When I started my first recruitment business – TDR – I was young, naïve and had no idea what I was really doing. I had left my previous job of 9 years through my own choice, and enjoyed recruitment (despite suffering from severe stress from the pressure I was put

I love it when someone new contacts us for help with their vacancy, and we add value pretty quickly. This company has struggled to find the right skills / fit for 3 months now, using their existing recruiter. We asked to speak to them before starting our search and made

As a business owner, I accept that I will sometimes have to reply to emails, messages out of hours. It’s not what I originally signed up for (rather naively, perhaps), but it’s become normal. I receive emails/texts/WhatsApps and calls on weekends, bank holidays, and even had calls on Christmas Day

Don’t worry, this isn’t a post about work-life balance, how lucky, why you work for yourself, etc. Anyone who knows me will know that I always talk to everyone. No one is safe from me talking to them. Be that the person next to me on a plane/train, the random

To be honest, I don’t know. All I can say it was a very nice comment to read on a post I wrote this week! “I have been lucky enough to have been both a candidate successfully placed by Roger and have had numerous quality candidates provided by the whole

This may sound odd after 20+ years of owning a business, but today I finally realised what my business USP is! I love the very early morning walk I do several times a week on my own: just me and the dog. I say ‘Good Morning’ or smile at everyone

Recruiters are often viewed as an unnecessary evil and an added business expense. However, if you choose wisely and engage with a reputable recruiter, there are huge benefits to be had. ·        No Win, no fee – Only pay for success.·        Specialist recruiters will often have a network of good candidates not

If you had asked me 30 years ago what the future would be like for work, technology and recruitment, I would have been completely wrong in any of my guesses. Not even close. If you had told me 5 years ago, when I was sitting in an office 5 days

These are two 100% genuine interactions I have had in the last 24 hours! The Phone call. Me: ‘Good morning, Jump IT Recruitment Solutions Limited, how can I help you?’ Caller: “Hi, can I speak to X?” Me: ‘Who is speaking, please?’ Caller: “It’s Y’ (first name only) ‘Hi Y,

I am so fortunate to have grown up and live where I do. 𝐓𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 is a lovely, safe town with loads of green spaces, independent shops, a thriving cultural scene and tons of restaurants to enjoy. Yes, it’s hilly, yes, it has its fair share of charity shops, high-priced

Whenever I look back over my career, I don’t have regrets, but there were missed opportunities. For example. 1.      I wish I had been allowed early in my career to visit every client I engaged with (in the 1990s, it was relatively easy and pain-free to directly call IT Directors/hiring managers

You can probably tell from a lack of posts that I haven’t been at work. 1st time back in Paris in 20 years, and I’ve got to say, the first time I’ve enjoyed it. Probably because we weren’t there for tourist sites and spent our time experiencing some lesser populated

Not so long ago, we were writing a CV & cover letter to go with our job application. We would advertise in a physical newspaper, and pop a CV in the post. We would contact Personnel about recruiting staff from our network, or search manually through physical files of CVs

This is a post I’ve been really waiting to write for a long time… My longest ever hunt for a candidate is finally over!!! Yep. In 30 years of recruiting, I finally did it. We found someone for a critical role that’s been open since June/July 2024. Just about a

Let’s talk about one of the most contentious things in recruitment…. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬/𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?(𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) This is the age-old question that is asked about recruiters and recruitment. In an ideal world, it would be great

When I started in recruitment, it was hammered into us that the secret to success in recruitment was hard work, working longer hours than other recruiters, visibility in the office and effort. Now I know, after 30 years… The real secret to success in recruitment is… You need a rather

I spoke to someone on Saturday who had worked in the same job for 16 years. He had never been late. Never let his employer down. He loved the work. He loved the customers. He absolutely loved his job. I am not sure if I’ve ever met someone who loved

This is definitely my favourite interview question to ask a candidate to get a bit more depth and insight into them. Candidates are mostly well prepared for their interview and can use AI to give them questions to rehearse / perfect. I find that by asking this, you can get

One simple piece of advice If you have an interview today, next week or whenever, please, please, please prepare! This is critical. It doesn’t matter if it’s through a recruiter, direct, for a friend or whoever. Prepare! I am always surprised that in 2025, some candidates (for whatever job it

Things have changed a lot since I started in recruitment, my first ever placement (print staff at Printronic in Wimbledon, my first IT placement – an Ops Analyst in the Old Kent Road for a company that made cigarettes) to our current open vacancies (including a Tech Director role just

With over 30 years of experience recruiting, I thought I’d share some thoughts. Recruitment, Headhunting, Executive Search. Whatever you want to call it, hiring talent is tough. How do you keep ahead of your competitors to get the best candidate for your business? Looking back through the years, here are

I was surprised to receive this email from a candidate late yesterday: “Great – thank you for confirming the call and all the additional info/guides you have sent over! Best service I have come across so far!” said the candidate. ‘Really?’ was my reply All I had done was book and

In recruitment, we do not always get everything right. Life is not perfect, and no recruiter is (despite what many recruiters may think of themselves) We are human after all. However, choose the right recruiter to partner with your business, and we do serve a very valid service. Hiring the

How many unanswered calls would you make to a business before you thought? ‘Am I wasting my time here?’ There is one sales call that has tried to get through to Jump IT Recruitment, 24 times since the 7th April 2025. The call has never been answered or replied to.

I have been very quiet this last week on LinkedIn, as I had some out-of-office time Key observations. Jump IT Recruitment Solutions Limited, can and does carry on just as effectively without me looking at 1 single work email for 4 days.. Spending quality time with friends is always a

Looking to hire the right person for your team or business? Don’t just believe me, here are genuine quotes from candidates we have helped. With years of experience,e we are perfectly placed to help you hire the right talent to support and grow your business https://lnkd.in/gD972tnK

There are several points in the UK calendar where everything seems to grind to a halt. The Easter bank holiday weekend is top 2 in terms of things slowing down in respect of candidates calling, clients responding etc. Even incoming spam sales calls have dropped. A big thank you to

Today’s example is not a typical call into us (thankfully) but shows, at the end of the day, it’s a job that involves people contact. Sometimes someone somewhere may be having a bad day… The phone goes.. ME: “Good morning, Jump IT Recruitment, how can I help you?” A rather