Hi Rebecca

If you are looking for an agency in the south-east, a good place to start is the
Recruitment and Employment Confederation's (REC) web site. It has a large database of recruitment companies in all different sectors all over the UK.
You can find it at www.rec.uk.com
Gerald Morgan

this post edited by DeskDemon editorial staff

Edited by andream on 23/09/03 04:10 PM.

Hi

You can reach Thomas International at http://www.thomasinternational.net
I'm not familiar with their products, but there are many psychometric tools out there - many of which can be used for as little as a tenner a go.
The DISC test  (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance) is probably the most widely used in recruitment, and would seem to be a pretty good indicator of the personality type and how a person would fit  into a team etc. For a thorough explanation of DISC I suggest looking here:
http://www.discusonline.com/UDISC/
Discus Online allow you to buy 1-off tests via the web - so its pretty convenient.
PS: I'm not associated with any of these companies ;-)
All the best
Gerald
tempz.com ltd

Hi

Have you considered MapPoint from Microsoft?  It can fully integrate with ms office and is very capable. I think it's a couple of hundred pounds, but will definitely do what you need and more!

Take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/office/mappoint/faq.asp
to see if its what you need
All the Best
Gerald
Tempz.com

Hi

just caught up on this thread. If you use multiple IM services (yahoo + msn + icq for example) - it may be worth looking at Trillian. Trillian can communicate with yahoo, icq, aol and MSN. I've not tried the "pro" version, but the basic version is a free download and seems to be free of spyware etc. I use it primarily because it allows me to use 1 program to communicate with all my IM contacts which saves pc resources (memory  / processor) for other tasks. The security issues mentioned are still applicable - but your IT people should be able to provide adequate protection via a good firewall and up-to-date anti-virus/trojan software.
At Tempz we use our own private ICQ messaging server. It's based on an early version of ICQ and allows us to run up to 200 users on our own server - great for communication within our company (i work 180 miles away from my head office). It can be made as secure as you like by using a VPN over the internet.  Your IT dept would definitely have to be involved for this one - but I think you can still download it free from www.icq.com (look for "ICQ Groupware").

Gerald

Hi

Many of the BBC radio 4 programmes make the transcripts available for free as a pdf download on bbc's website. If the report you want isn't there you can usually request a transcript from the BBC information office. There is a charge for this service though -  their phone number is 08700 100 222.

I hope this helps
All the best
Gerald Morgan

Edited by countrigal on 31/03/03 04:12 PM.

No probs Cassier!

I'll look forward to your registration...

If you have any other questions on registering as a temp (or even as a client if you need other temps for your organisation) I'll be happy to help.

Have a great weekend!

Gerald

Hi

I am the CTO and the co-founder of tempz.com limited. Deskdemon were kind enough to alert me to your post and have given me an opportunity to answer any questions you have.

I think the most important thing to put across is the situation regarding your security and privacy. As Andrea has said, any reputable agency would respect your rights with regard to who gets your CV, and Tempz.com is certainly reputable! The "FAQs" and "ABOUT US" sections on our site are working and explain who we are and our industry "credentials"

In fact we have had to go a few steps further in this respect because all of our processes are on-line rather than branch based. Firstly, although we do accept cv's, we work more on a "profile" basis - you register and login via a secure (SSL) connection - and can add/edit your work history, skills etc online. If your skills, experience, location and availability match a job we need to fill, we will contact you by your preferred means (phone, email, fax or text message (SMS)) and ask if wish to be put forward for the job. Only then will an "anonymous" cv be generated and forwarded to our client. You can monitor what we are doing on your behalf when you login to our site (for instance you can see if we have contacted your referees, when they replied, and what the outcome was).

On the topic of "how good" we are: that is a matter for you to decide. Temps and employers like the unique way we do things, but the temp market in the UK has been very much tougher this year - with more temps chasing less vacancies. So I would register with several agencies (including us ;-) and see what you think. If we find you the right job at the right pay then I'm sure you'll be happy. If we don't manage that straight away, you should still have a satisfactory experience with the majority of the big High St recruiters.

I'll be sticking around the forums - so if you have any further questions please fire away and I'll do my best to answer them. (I would also be interested in any feedback or suggestions)

Gerald