The public sector continues to experience a surge in popularity amongst jobseekers as the economic skies darken further. With unemployment numbers currently at 2.2million and the British economy in the midst of the deepest recession in 100 years the public sector is increasingly becoming an attractive career choice for many job hunters.

Recent figures published by the National Statistics Office reveal that despite growing unemployment across many industries in the private sector, growth in public sector employment remained strong in Q4 2008, with headcount increasing across central government (19,000 jobs), NHS (21,000) and the general public sector (15,000). Comparably the private sector jobs market has shrunk by over 13,000 jobs in the same period.

The latest independent audit of visitors going to leading careers site jobsgopublic.com marks a dramatic increase in visitor numbers amidst a crowded market and tricky economic climate, posting the largest visitor numbers in their 10 year history, with unique visitors up 48% to 598,236 per month.

The nature of the visitor traffic the public sector recruitment market is experiencing is one of the most encouraging aspects of the latest figures. A large number of private sector workers are turning their attention to opportunities within the public sector. 38% of visitors to Jobsgopublic in March 2009 stated they were from the private sector.

David Marshall, Co-founder of Jobsgopublic said;

“Our visitor figures come as no surprise given the current economic conditions and the interest we’re seeing from private sector candidates is encouraging for the sector. This is a perfect opportunities for public sector employers to exploit market conditions and acquire private sector skills and experience to the benefit of public services.

The sector has sometimes struggled to compete for talent but with remuneration and benefits packages improving in recent years it boasts many attractive career opportunities.”

With many experts expecting unemployment figures to breach 10% in 2010 it seems the tough times are far from over but Jobsgopublic are confident they have what it takes to continue prospering within a resilient public sector recruitment market. With budget restrictions affecting many public sector organisations the search for cost effective recruitment solutions has never been more intense.

David Marshall added;

“We offer employers superb value for money allowing them to post vacancies to our network of sites which supports the public sector way of recruiting. We stand out from other job sites as we don’t carry adverts from recruitment consultants. We realise the squeeze will continue but we are confident we can continue to offer real value as more and more job seekers look to change their careers and turn to the public sector.”

Register to receive jobs by email - https://www.jobsgopublic.com/account/register

London, UK: With many of the 2.2 million people out of work in the UK relying solely on the internet to find a job*, a new web TV channel will offer expert advice to jobseekers to help them find a job online, where a labyrinth of over 10,000 job boards and social networking sites dominate.

The CareersCast (www.careersiteadvisor.com), will launch on Wednesday June 3rd at 12:30pm, with its inaugural live videocast featuring experts from the recruitment, internet and social networking industries.

Following on from the success of the innovative website, Career Site Advisor, CareersCast will offer jobseekers a chance to learn directly from experts such as Luke McKend from Google about how to find a job online says Career Site Advisor co-founder Keith Robinson.

“The recruitment industry has undergone a revolution since the first job board launched in 1994, but many jobseekers are in this market for the first time and may never have looked online for a job before,” Mr. Robinson says.

Experts participating in the Career Site Advisor livecast include:

• Luke Mckend – Google: Finding the right job when searching on Google
• Andy Headworth - Sirona Consulting: Manage finding a job through networking
• Don Leslie – BLT: How to best approach a recruitment firm – what should you know
• Dave King - Shares his experience of being unemployed and online job seeking.
• Elaine Hewens - FinelyBalanced, providing advice on career development

Special thanks to JobsGoPublic.com who are sponsoring the fist livecast.

The website, Career Site Advisor launched in March and offers a single reference point for online jobseekers to search job sites, company career sites and recruitment consultancies in one directory as well as advice and links to online resources.

*National Online Recruitment Survey 2008

Leonard Cheshire Disability today (16 February) launches a new online resource to make it easier for employers to find disabled jobseekers with the skills they need.

Suitability, a partnership between Leonard Cheshire Disability, the Employer’s Forum on Disability and Jobsgopublic, is an online job brokerage initiative for registered jobseekers, employers and mentors.

www.lcdisability.org/suitability is backed by a team of advisers who identify the skills, talent and experience of disabled jobseekers and match them with employers.

Disabled jobseekers can contact personal advisors, connect with people with similar needs and goals, receive job alerts by SMS and access the Suitability CV Builder.

Employers can post vacancies online for free, recruit and hire staff, reach other companies through the Suitability Forum and sign up to virtual careers fairs.

Suitability builds on the success of Leonard Cheshire Disability’s Workability initiative, that supports 8,000 disabled people to (brief description of what workability does).

Jane Fletcher, Leonard Cheshire Disability’s Innovations Director, said: “Disabled people are already far less likely to be in work than non disabled people. With the job market in free fall, they will face even more barriers to finding work.

“Many disabled people do want to find a job, but often face the serious challenge of changing people’s perceptions of who they are and what they can do.

“Suitability aims to make it less exceptional to have a colleague who is disabled.”

Richard Tyrie, Jobsgopublic co-founder, said: “Jobsgopublic have worked closely with hundreds of public and not for profit sector employers to identify, attract and recruit a diverse talent pool for over 10 years.  Our partnership with Leonard Cheshire Disability will ensure that the public sector extends their reach even further by having access to their client groups.  We are confident this will have a significant impact on employers’ outcomes.”

Jobsgopublic are sponsoring the Public, Voluntary Sector and Education Virtual Careers Fair on Monday 17 of November when we will be hosting two chat sessions, focusing on Working in Local Government and the National Graduate Recruitment Programme.

The first session at 11am is focusing on “Working in Local Government” and will be hosted by Nicola McKeand from Cheshire County Council.

Working for a local authority and contributing to the delivery of local public services is both exciting and rewarding and the career choice of many. Nicola will be available to speak about her experience within Local Government as a career choices, recruitment processes and the benefits of working for a local council.

The second session will commence at 17:00pm on Monday 17th November and is hosted by two National Graduate Management trainees, Matt Skinner from the London Borough of Lambeth and Suzanne Toomey from the London Borough of Greenwich.  Their focus will be on the National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP), the application process and the types of roles and projects they have been involved in thus far.

We’re encouraging all graduates interested in working in the Public, Voluntary sectors or pursuing a teaching career to participate in the forums and view career vacancies on the jobsgopublic website.

View all Jobsgopublic vacancies.

Ex Notting Hill Housing and CABE executive joins talent management provider

Web-based HR and talent management provider JGP has appointed former Notting Hill Housing group corporate services director and CABE resources director Jayne Hilditch as chief operating officer.
Hilditch will assume responsibility for managing growth and profitability at the company as it continues its rapid growth in the public sector. JGP helps over 100 public sector organisations to build online strategies for changing HR needs and meeting the Government’s wider Transformation Agenda.

Before joining JGP, Jayne was group corporate services director at Notting Hill Housing Group. As part of a new executive “turnaround” team, she helped the group achieve Audit Commission “one star with excellent prospects” rating within first six months after previously indifferent assessments from the government watchdog. She was also instrumental in the rethinking and re-branding of the housing provider’s public image and its internal communications in the last couple of years.

Prior to her position at Notting Hill, Jayne was director of resources at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), the government’s advisor on urban design and the public space. She was responsible for the establishment of a new corporate infrastructure for CABE to help manage its growth from 32 to 90 staff during her tenure. This included setting up a resources team that drew on a variety of disciplines such as IT, Finance, HR, FM, compliance to meet organisational objectives.
Jayne Hilditch said: “The public sector is changing quickly – more quickly than people realise and JGP is helping many bodies address tough recruitment and cost saving challenges. It’s very exciting to be joining a social enterprise that has such impressive growth potential and genuine commitment to help both local communities and individuals.”

JGP co-founder Richard Tyrie said: “JGP is achieving rapid growth and we’re delighted to have someone of Jayne’s expertise and know-how joining our senior management team to manage and improve our corporate processes. She has a very impressive record in helping organisations achieve the flexible performance structures that enable them to hit demanding performance outcomes and growth targets.”
Jayne is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountancy (CIPFA) and has a BSc Economics from Warwick University.