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When your business is buckling under the weight of its own workload, you may feel the urge to hire. But taking on new employees is not your only option.

There are lazy stereotypes. Then there are really lazy stereotypes. Many folk would have you believe that a career in accountancy is about as exciting as the hum of a fridge.

The www is crawling with tips designed to help hopeful candidates nail their job interviews. But come on. How about some assistance for the people sat on the other side of the table?

Just 9% of the engineering workforce is female. In HR, only one-in-five staff is male. There are plenty more examples of professions where gender imbalance is rife. So what is it about these professions that seems to predetermine which gender is most likely to work in it?

Recruitment: it can be a costly business. We’re not talking simply advertising costs either. The hiring process can be time-consuming to set up. Not to mention all the further time taken out of the working day to train new staff.

Exeter had the tenth highest growth in private sector jobs in the UK last year, a new report has revealed. The Centre for Cities Outlook 2018 report shows an increase of 3,000 jobs in Exeter – a 5.1% increase on the previous year.

Sharper increases in permanent placements: There was a marked rise in permanent placements in January, with the rate of expansion highest since April 2015. In contrast, growth in temp billings softened to a 10-month low

Permanent placements expand at softer, but still marked, pace: Permanent staff placements continued to rise across the UK in February. Though sharp, the rate of expansion moderated slightly since the start of the year. Temp billings meanwhile rose at a faster pace midway through the first quarter.

Graduates are disappearing from the south west. And we’re not talking about the odd few thrill-seekers swapping green fields for the bright lights of the big city. You expect a few of those. This is a more serious desertion of skills from our region.

When it comes to interview questions for managers, knowing what to ask isn’t always straightforward. The stakes are high. But with our ideas, you can’t go wrong.

Perm placements rise sharply, but temp billings growth eases: March data signalled a further sharp increase in permanent staff placements across the UK, with the pace of expansion edging up fractionally since February.

Softer rise in perm placements contrasts with steeper increase in temp billings, growth of demand for staff picks up for first time in nine months, steeper decline in overall candidate availability leads to sharper rises in pay.