Joanne Caine

Research published by the ONS last year revealed that a shockingly low number of autistic adults are in employment. Only 22 per cent of those with autism are in full-time or part-time work, the lowest employment rate of any disabled group.

Last month, we asked our clients to share details of their employee benefits packages, so we could review what's on offer to help employers with their attraction and retention strategies. 17 clients across several sectors (including professional services, manufacturing, automotive, technology and education) responded.

You’ve heard it a thousand times. And it’s true. Your people are the most important asset of your business. So when the time comes to hire, it makes sense to pick the candidates who are the best possible fit for your vacant roles. Not always easy. In sectors where demand for specific skills exceeds the supply of candidates, finding the right person for the job is a challenge. Job-seekers can play employers against each other, cherry-picking the best offer. The good news? A few tweaks to your recruitment process will put your business in the best position to snap up in-demand candidates, before your competitors do.

It’s not just prospective employees who need to give the best account of themselves at interview. Those on the other side of the desk should be striving to leave every candidate with a positive impression of your business. In fact, it’s crucial. And remember the recruitment process isn’t just the interview, it’s the end-to-end process. This means that your speed of response to applications; quality of your feedback; and overall engagement with candidates throughout the whole process also plays an important role in how your employer brand is perceived by candidates. Here are four reasons why.

There’s 5 tough interview questions, so we have the 5 answers. So be prepared, have a read and take the fear out of your next interview.

Exeter is expected to be the city with the fastest growth in Q4 2023 with resilience to the cost-of-living crisis recession, and 1.3% annual GVA growth forecast. This is up from 0.9% growth estimated in Q4 2022, and puts Exeter in eighth place on the city tracker table for GVA growth in that quarter. 

Over the summer, Clodagh and I decided we should use a bit of structure to get to know each other better.  We engaged the services of the wonderful Jo Redgrave who took us both through Insight Discovery Profiles.  So good was the insight we gained about each other, that we decided to roll it out to the SLT here at Cath Apps.  How very, very interesting!  Having worked with some of my team for more than 17 years I thought I had them fairly well sussed, particularly on what drives and motivates them, but I learnt a lot!  We all came together last week to share, learn about our colours and team build - it really was great. I can safely say it was the best team investment we have made (not just financially, but emotionally too) and we will be rolling this out to the wider team early next year.

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that the festive season is a time to pause, reflect and set goals for the year ahead. It’s been a turbulent few years, but the South West jobs market has remained strong, and it’s that drive and resilience that will see us through into 2023 too. We asked some of the team what they hope to see in 2023 – and without further ado, here’s what they’ll be wishing for this Christmas…

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the lowest unemployment rate across the UK for 48 years, at 3.6 per cent nationwide, and the lowest in the entire UK in the South West at just  2.7 per cent.

Employee benefits have always been important to employees, but since the pandemic shifted the way we work and the way we think about work/life balance, the benefits employers have to offer matter more than ever.

Over the years, having a degree has become somewhat of a 'standard requirement' for many jobs – and not just graduate ones! So, we conducted a survey on Twitter and asked Exeter-based employers whether or not they would hire someone without a degree... and the results are in!

More than 6.5 million workers are expected to quit their jobs in the next 12 months with many seeking out better pay, increased job satisfaction and greater work life balance. As a result, the number of open vacancies has also increased rapidly in the past few months.