Jobshout pioneered the Cloud Based Computing

• Jobshout is designed from ground up to run from a hosted server and database system in a data centre on the internet rather than in-hosue hardware and servers
  
• Jobshout can save unnecessary costs as Agencies do not need to buy hardware, servers, database licenses, and in-house IT resource to keep up with the ever changing Internet technology
• Jobshout is a framework designed to keep the costs down and develop systems efficiently and faster
• Jobshout maintains the technology and business logic in a central repository so that all Jobshout clients can always work with the latest technology without having to worry about upgrading and developing systems in properietry technologies
• Jobshout uses many technologies combined to keep the systems available and secure, example: 4D, PHP 5.3.x, NGNIX, MySQL, JQuery, JSON, HTML, XML
• Jobshout is run and powered by the fastest servers available at the World's best dedicated hosting company Rackspace - Server is managed and hosted by Rackspace in their World class Datacentre in Slough, UK
• Jobshout technicians have access to Rackspace support 24/7. It means if their is any problem with the server Jobshout technicians work with Rackspace Support in partnership to keep the downtime to not only minimum but zero
• Jobshout servers are managed by maintained by Rackspace and regularly go through preventive meintenance procedures
• Jobshout technicians fix technical issues with the hosted job boards and web based applications before many of our clients even notice
• Jobshout client sofware applications can access information from the cloud securely in various open formats such as JSON, XML and SOAP web services

Online Christmas shopping rush to help fuel SEO jobs market in 2010 report CV Screen

With Online Shopping expected to grow by up to 20% this Christmas, specialist IT Recruitment Agency CV Screen anticipates continuingly high demand for SEO skills in 2010.

With CV Screen’s IT Jobs index showing that demand for SEO / Online Marketing skills increased by 40% over the last year. At the same time there is upward pressure on salaries with the average salary for an SEO specialist in the UK now just over £30,000.

Managing Director of CV Screen Matthew Iveson added “With online retailers such as Amazon, ASOS and Play.com phenomenal growth, it is clear that more and more companies will be looking to bolster their online presence as we move in to 2010.”

Iveson then stated, “We have seen the number of SEO Jobs increase dramatically over the last 6/12 months with employers finally beginning to see the benefits of employing experts in house rather than relying on SEO agencies."

When questioned about what specific SEO skills are in demand Iveson added “Clients are being very demanding in this area and are looking for candidates with experience of implementing SEO strategies, running Pay per Click (PPC) campaigns and also a full understanding of Social Media. This means that candidates must understand the benefits of running a company blog and also how sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can be used for business advantage."

In conclusion, Iveson added “Our belief is that the most in demand candidates in 2010 will be those who offer a mix of SEO, Online Marketing and web development skills who have the ability to formulate and implement online strategies in this rapidly expanding area.”

About CV Screen Ltd

Established in 2000, CV Screen is a leading IT Recruitment Agency which recruits for organisations throughout the UK.

As one of the UK's leading IT Recruitment Agencies, we have an impressive client base including Links of London, Essex County Cricket Club, Hackett Plc and Easy Group.

With fees of 12.5% of the basic salary for permanent recruitment, our service enables our customers to reduce their recruitment costs without compromising the quality of candidates they recruit.

As one of the UK’s leading recruitment agencies, we also have new specialist divisions focusing on Accountancy Recruitment and Marketing Recruitment

For further information, please click the following link - CV Screen or call 0845 200 8170 or visit http://www.cvscreen.co.uk

CV Screen has recently launched two new job boards focusing on SEO and PHP. Click here to learn more about SEO job board. 

For more information about Jobshout, call or e-mail Balinder Walia: 01442 381434, balinder.walia@jobshout.co.uk

Free domain name and unlimited email addresses with Pro account

Who hosts the job site?

We do normally host your domain, but we can automatically send the pages to your own server if you prefer.You can also buy domain names from us. Jobshout offers free DNS with every domain name and DNS management is all done online with easy to use admin control panel. Jobshout also offers unlimited email accounts hosting with 1GB mailbox storage space per account and with unmatched support for emails and domain names. Please click here to register new domain name. Please note you can also transfer your domain name to us using our online easy to use tools.

What will the domain name url or web address of my job site be?

By default yourname.jobshout.co.uk. You can also use an address which is a subdomain of your existing website (like jobs.yoursite.co.uk).

A relevant domain name is really important for your SEO. If .com or .co.uk domain name is not available please contact us and it might be that the .jobs domain name is available. We provide free consultancy on choosing the right domain name. Please contact Jobshout consultant for a discussion now.




Note: If you run a Job board using Jobshout Pro we will give you a free domain name and unlimited emails. You have to actually buy the domain names and email hosting first and if you are Jobshout Pro customer we will credit your account with the amount you have spent. If you are not a Pro customer yet you can still lock your domain and and keep the receipt safe to claim your credits back. Please email support@jobshout.co.uk for more information. Subject to our terms of business - Please click here to see Terms and conditions of business

Story of Jobshout

Jobshout began it’s journey about two and half years ago at Workstation Solutions Ltd when I was working on some other CRM software projects. I noticed publishing jobs and content online for administrators was a nightmare. We were missing lot of opportunities as not every new job was posted on the site as it was practically not very easy to do so as it was laborious process. Also there was every chance of making technical errors as every page needed to be tested and working on all Internet Browsers. There was no meta data on these pages for best SEO. So chances of finding our site by new visitors on the web using Search Engines was nil. There was not a single readymade system available of this kind to manage jobs and CVs online on a branded web based system . And if the online brand changes all the site content would have to be re-developed again. As you can imagine it was quite an effort to post a single job. I had some web development experience and everyone in the company supported this new idea and I was commissioned by Steve and Nathan to write something which will allow them to run their business efficiently.

Since then Jobshout has evolved and we started offering Jobshout to external clients as a service. Idea worked really well as there was no hardware to buy, there was no database license to buy and there was no need for big budgets to start online presence. Workstation’s new job board started to attract 1000 unique visitors a day from UK alone. It was quite a big jump from about 10 visitors a day.

Anyway, It will be wrong for me to take all the credit for writing Jobshout as I could have never done it without Workstation’s support and trust in myself. I will be always grateful to Steve Gibson, Vivien Gibson and Nathan Mayatt for creating opportunities for myself and others.

I would like to also take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Rollo Carpenter @ Icogno Ltd for his excellent SEO ideas and work done on Jobshout. And Kevin Williams for his contribution to Email job alerts and broadbean integration.

What is a community job board?

Just recently we've been doing a bit of thinking about Jobshout and its potential for niche market recruitment and business generation.

We've come to the conclusion that, given the formidable array of tools available in JS, its application is even wider than it was when we launched it a couple of years ago. WE came up with the idea of "community job boards". I don't know whether anyone has used this phrase to describe the sort of service we are talking about, but coincidentally a couple of recent signups were thinking along the same lines. We think we are onto a great idea here.

On the web, as in real life, people form communities. In other words they share interests. Community job boards provide a great, often badly needed, service to these niche areas.

A community job board might publish ads for your own town or city. Or it could be that you decide to set up a job board for ads relating to a business sector in which you already work. This is actually a great way to enhance your core business.

Let’s suppose (to give a silly example) that you provide admin services to apple pie manufacturers. You have website attracting hits from people interested in apple pies. You want to get more customers, more traffic to your site, and more income.

You decide to set up a job board for the apple pie manufacturing community and offer it to your clients. They now have a specialist place to advertise for suitably qualified staff and are suitably impressed that you have had the initiative to do this. You, on the other hand, are getting lots of apple-pie-related content going on your site. So it performs better in apple-pie-specific searches and gets more apple-pie-interested visitors as a result. Your business now has greater prominence in the apple pie sector, you get more enquiries and so win additional clients in the apple pie sector. They too advertise positions on your site and you get even more apple-pie-relevant content on your site for Google and other search engines to index. There’s no reason why it can't go on getting better and better.

Your clients are delighted. Jobseekers spread the word. Search engines love your site. You are getting more business. And, if you want to charge for this service, you have an additional income stream.

And it's quick and easy to do.

That’s what we call a Community Job Board. Jobshout enables you to get one online using your own domain name with minimum hassle and expense.

We'd like to know what you think about this in the comments.

If you don't yet use Jobshout and would like further information, email info@jobshout.co.uk, call us on +44 (0)20 7736 8220, view our demo site , just sign up for a trial .

Twitter Job search XML feed URL

Twitter Job search XML feed URL

If you run Job board using Jobshout, and you wish to upload all current jobs onto http://www.twitterjobsearch.com/ using XML feed then read on.

Jobshout server automatically creates the necessary XML feed of current jobs ready to be fed into Twitter job search system. XML output is compliant with Twitter API mentioned here: http://www.twitterjobsearch.com/static/add-jobs

Please checkout links below to see Jobshout XML feed output.

http://jobs2.workstation.co.uk/twitterjobsearch.xml

http://yourcv.jobshout.co.uk/twitterjobsearch.xml

If your Job board runs using jobshout.co.uk domain XML feed link is for Twitter Job Search is simply:

http://{Your Jobshout Account Code}.jobshout.co.uk/twitterjobsearch.xml

If your Job board runs using your business domain XML feed link for Twitter Job Search is simply:

http://{Your domain name}/twitterjobsearch.xml

example:

http://jobs2.workstation.co.uk/twitterjobsearch.xml

Enjoy!

Job Application Confirmation Email to Applicants

Overview
Each recruitment business is different and has different business process, requirements and goals. Jobshout was designed with exactly this in mind so Jobshout has built-in macro language ( or scripting tools ) which can customise Jobshout functionality for each unique customer requirments. Sciprts can be added quickly and many times without making a change in the system.

For example:
A client wants to send an automated Job Application acknowledgement email to applicants who applied for one or more jobs from their Job board using Jobshout.

Example of Email setup by non-technical person:

Hi <*--JobApplicantName--*> → ( At the time of sending email <*--JobApplicantName--*> will be replaced by the actual applicant name )

This is an automated response to thank you for sending us your latest CV and for applying for the following job(s).

Jobs your applied for:
<*--LoopForJobsInApp--*> ( Jobshout loops through no. of jobs in the job application )
Thank you for applying for our job ref: <*--JobRef--*>, <*--JobLink--*> → ( At the time of sending email <*--JobRef--*> will be replaced by the actual job reference and <*--JobLink--*> will be replaced by the actual job details web page )
<*--EndLoop--*> ( Jobshout ends the loop )

We will contact you if we need further information or to discuss your applicationin in greater detail. If you don't hear from us within the next two weeks then unfortunately, on this occassion, your application has been unsuccessful.

Please continue to check the available jobs we have using the following link as we review and update the website frequently.

http://jobs.jobshout.co.uk

In addition, we welcome applications from any of your friends / acquaintances with similar skills.

Please keep us up to date with your employment / job seeking status.

Thanks again from the Company name Team,

Tel: XXX or XXX
Web: demo.jobshout.co.uk
Email: jobs@jobshout.co.uk

Registered in City, Country. Company Number XXX.
Registered Office: Company name and address.

Signature and other terms and conditions can be added here.

Just by adding this email template online and setting to automatically send when ever applicant applies for job(s) and or register a CV will engage applicant and also give good impression. This is just an example. Email templates can be setup for almost any event and mostly by the non-technical person.

See more at http://www.jobshout.co.uk/job-application-confirmation-email-to-applicants

Get smarter by staying online

Far from atrophying the grey matter, using the Internet helps boost brain power, research suggests, according to the BBC.

1 network = 30% of ALL spam???

According to this article in the New York Times on the shutting down of a major international spam network probably 90% of all email traffic is spam. That certainly is my experience every morning. And this gang, says the NYT was probably responsible for 30% of all spam, using 35,000 'zombie' computers, whose owners never knew they were being used that way, in an international 'botnet'. Mindboggling!

So will you shortly be seeing a sharp reduction in daily spam? What do you think?

Five reasons every niche site should have a job board

Here's an interesting angle: Julian Stopps on the bornpodcast.com blog says that all niche publications should run a job board. We agree - and it is something that Jobshout can be easily configured to do.

A few of his arguments equally apply to agencies and medium-sized companies upwards. It's cheap to implementm, it gets your site found and so can drive traffic to other parts of the site and it's yet another tool to combat the global talent shortage. And of course there are quite a few additional arguments which apply - the kudos it gives, the sense of professionalism that it imparts and, if your job board is really well search-engine-optimized (which Jobshout does as a matter of course), the tremendous web marketing tool it can be - probably the most cost-effective marketing tool you will ever find.

I will now leave my soapbox.

Finding keywords for your site

Creating keywords for your site is by no means an easy task. Understanding exactly what you think candidates and clients search for is about putting yourself in the mind of the user. There are tools to help you with this but there offer no guarantees. I have put together a short list of ways to go about creating keywords for your website.

Firstly creating keywords is a never ending task and should be reviewed as often as possible, depending on the goals and results you require.

Don’t just use general keywords

It is important that you still use the main keywords that people will search for as search engines will still recognise them. However these keywords are extremely competitive, using phrases of about 2 to 4 words are more useful then say competing for the word “furniture”. By using “art deco furniture” you are aiming to attract more specific users searching for those particular words. The trick is to keep your keywords relevant and popular enough that users will search for them but not too popular that no one searches for them at all(I never said doing this was going to be easy).

Checking on competitors sites

Checking your competitor’s sites and seeing what terms they are using and whether they are getting found in search engines is very important. Maybe you are not using those keywords in your site. This type of research is a long process but it can improve traffic to your site. If you can find keywords that your competitors are not using, you might be able to rank higher with less competition. One way to do this is if you type in Google “allintitle: keyword”. This will bring up all the sites that have chosen to use that keyword/s in the title of their website.

Use the tools that are available on the internet

Google have given webmasters many tools that allow them to refine their SEO to help them improve rankings. All of these tools are free and are very easy to use. Google have a service called Keyword Tool where you can analyse your website and it gives you keywords which are calculated from the content of your site. It will not guarantee if you use these keywords you will get more traffic to your site but it is worth having a go and seeing if there are any words or phrases you have not thought about. There are a couple of others such as Wordtracker and Wordze but these are not free services but it is worth checking out.

We know keywords are important but we must remember it is not the only way in which SEO can be improved. There are many other ways to do this but just remember to keep it ethical because after all this work, the last thing you want is to be banned from search engines altogether.

Jobshout is fully equipped to help with getting your site optimised using keywords and other various ways. To find out more click on Jobshout.

EU Agency Workers Directive

The next major step in this protracted process has now been reached. Here is what the REC has to say about it:

An agreement on the EU Agency Workers Directive was reached late last night by EU Employment Ministers in Luxembourg. This decision means that the Directive, which gives temps the right to the same pay as an equivalent permanent worker, could come into force in the UK by April 2010.

Commenting on the agreement, REC Chief Executive Kevin Green says: “Whilst yesterday’s agreement is significant, there is still a substantial amount of detail which needs to be decided upon. Although new regulations are unlikely to come into force until 2010, the next few months will be crucial in influencing the detail of what equal treatment provisions in the UK will look like.”

The text agreed yesterday in Luxembourg confirmed that there will be some level of flexibility in terms of how the new EU regulations will apply in the UK. This has been a key element of the REC’s campaign and, for example, means that equal treatment will only apply after 12 weeks of an assignment rather than from day one. As discussed at last week’s REC Agency Summit, one of the key issues is to ensure that the scope of equal treatment provisions is tightly defined and does not cover a full range of employee benefits and occupational pensions. The initial feedback from yesterday’s meeting in Luxembourg indicates that we could have a positive outcome on this issue, as well as on the definition of who constitutes a ‘comparable permanent employee’. One of the other positives is the focus on finding alternative dispute resolutions to limit the number of employment tribunals that could result.

There is still plenty of scope for disaster here: the devil as always will be in the detail. REC's press release actually has more teeth than their statement above, sent out to member, and deals with the subject pretty well.

It's an ill wind...

Good news for temp agencies - according to a survey conducted by the REC one in four employers expects to increase their use of temps, mainly because of economic instability. It comes at a time when good news for recruiters is in rather short supply - though it won't be such good news if your main business is perms, which presumably is going to shrink as a result.

Blogshout

Here's my selection of what's interesting in the recruitment blogosphere:

1. Perriam & Everitt's survey of the industry is not a pretty picture.
2. Broadbean's Dan McGuire video interview on how to write good job adverts and the best time of the week to post jobs.
3. Recruitment 2.0 on the impact of fuel costs
4. Sirona says there are ten things that employers have to understand
5. Now here's an idea to bring a smile to your face, courtesy of Louise's blog
6. Enhance Media say that now you can bid for your competitors names on Google Adwords.
7. OMG, Gordon's using Twitter now. Why can't he just stick to phoning voters at 6am? The heart sinks…
   

Agency workers update

Here's what Anne Fairweather of the REC had to say yesterday prior to the announcement of a deal between the TUC, CBI and the government:

…the move to 12 weeks is a significant change in direction from the Government who once declared that temporary workers did not need any further rights (in the DTI publication Success at Work in 2006). REC does not believe that there has been sufficient evidence presented to justify equal treatment provisions and is very disappointed that the Government appears to be changing its position on this matter. We will therefore emphasis this disappointment in our press line if a final agreement between the CBI and TUC is reached.

The point about the government moving from its stated position in 2006 is a good one. As I posted a week ago, it is really symptomatic of the weakness of the government that it has buckled under pressure from the left of the PLP and the unions. The REC can 'express…disappointment' at the lack of 'sufficient evident' and the government's volte face (u-turn to you and me) as much as it likes, but since when did rationality and consistency win against raw politics?

CBI hails agency workers deal as "least worst option"

Hardly a ringing endorsement, but probably true under the circumstances - the deal is that protected rights begin at 12 weeks employment. It's long enough to protect labour market flexibility (arguable - not all analysts agree), but gives the unions and the government's left wing what they have been agitating for.

There's a good summary in this BBC article.

More AWD news

As I posted yesterday, the government is pushing ahead with the union-inspired agenda regarding agency workers. Here's part of a statement from the REC summarising the situation:

As expected, The Prime Minister’s draft legislative programme announced today includes a specific mention of more regulation on the agency sector. The full statement on agency work is as follows:

“We are committed to both flexibility and to fairness in the workplace and we will do nothing that jeopardises jobs and businesses taking on workers. But most people agree that it is not fair that even after months in the job, agency workers can currently be paid less than the staff they work alongside ---- and as a result permanent staff can feel they are being unfairly undercut. So My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary for Business plans to bring forward legislation - subject to an agreement between employers and employees, and in Europe - that will for the first time ensure new rules for fair treatment of agency workers here in Britain.”

This statement suggests that there will be a swift move, under the next Parliament (roughly Nov 08 - Nov 09) to implement the Agency Workers Directive. The REC has consistently held the view that the EU Directive holds more chance of a workable outcome than the Private Members Bill on Agency Work that is current being debated in the House of Commons. The work of REC Recruitment Champions has played a key role in ensuring that this Bill is unlikely to go forward. As discussions now move over to a possible outcome in Brussels, REC members can play an equally important role in ensuring that any new EU Legislation is workable in the UK. The Prime Minister himself made it clear that the intention was not to jeopardise jobs and opportunities and the REC will be working with Government, the CBI and other stakeholders to ensure that this is the case.

Today’s announcement by Gordon Brown suggests that there could be agreement on the AWD at the 9th June Employment Council, or perhaps shortly after the French take over the Presidency in July. Any agreement between Ministers in Council would then have to go to the European Parliament for a second reading. If the Parliament accepts the position of the Council, with no amendments, it is possible that the final text of the AWD would be available around 6 months after agreement in Council. This is a very tight timetable if legislation to implement the Directive is to be introduced in the next Parliament.

In addition to this the Government is pushing forward with its planned Agency Work Commission. The Commission would be made up of representatives from the CBI and the TUC. The TUC have yet to confirm that they will sit on the Commission, but it is thought that this is becoming more likely.

If everything comes together the recruitment industry could see new legislation on the pay and conditions of agency workers by April 2010. The framework of the legislation will be the Directive. It is thought that the Agency Work Commission would be allowed, under the terms of the Directive, to set a derogation period after which equal treatment rights are implemented.

Will the Agency Workers Bill really relaunch Brown?

You always know when a government is in trouble: it decides to "relaunch" itself. The more relaunches, the greater the trouble. Having been thoroughly underwhelmed by the sight of Gordon's arse on TV sofas recently, and his admission of "mistakes" and commitment to "long-term decisions", I was idly waiting for a ferry today when my reverie was interrupted by news of another Brown relaunch, on Radio 4. The theme, it seems, to be announced tomorrow, in a pre-announcement of the next Queen's Speech, in which Her Maj announces the things her Government are going to announce over the months to come to an excited nation, is "fairness". A vital plank of this imposing edifice is, it seems, to be the AWB, guaranteeing "fairness" to agency workers.

It is hardly surprising that he should throw such a delicious morsel towards the left of his party. Buying off the unions and their supporters is going to be essential to our beleaguered PM over the next few months, and of course the AWB is close to the heart of the unions. The passage of this Private Members Bill through the house is reminiscent of Blair's decision to ban fox-hunting by allowing a PMB through the House, another "dog-whistle" measure in an hour of need.

If you want to find out what "fairness" means to the unions, check out the T&G's horror story.

Is legislation is going to get rid of illegal, immoral and incompetent practices in a minute percentage of recruitment agencies and their clients? That seems to be the T&G's pitch. If you are a desperate Labour MP faced with the prospect of finding a proper job some time soon, you might hope so. But the rest of us who work in the real world know that agency workers, overall, bring dynamism and flexibility to the labour market and that, despite the dire conditions of some, they very often have an "unfair" advantage, by opting for a bit of uncertainty in return for higher rewards and the chance to stay in control of their own working lives - when they work, for whom, and on what.

Gordon thinks that it will endear him to the public. Like me you may disagree and think that it will just be another bureaucratic restriction imposed on business and free movement of labour. Unfortunately he's the relaunching PM - for now.

Google have added another search box!

Looks like Google are trying to refine their searches even further. They have added an internal search box for some web sites that allow users to search more in depth for that web site. Try and type in UK government and you will see an internal search for the web site.


This does seem quite a useful idea and I know I have used it and found it very useful. There are however problems with this because there are arguments saying this can be unfair, we just want to know why do some web pages have this feature and others do not. If you type in US government into Google, this internal search box does not appear for them (at least when this posting went out). I do not understand how Google actually works out which web site deserves this feature or not. All we know is that they use their complex algorithms and metrics to work this out. Is this a way that Google is dominating the search engine world or is it actually designed solely for the users. I guess we are going to have to wait and see what happens. I welcome any thoughts you may have about this or any opposing views.

Targeting passive candidates

Jobshout brings you the best and most relevant CVs for your job. Because using Jobshout you can post your jobs on targeted niche sites, you're less likely to get unqualified and irrelevant job responses and more likely to reach qualified, passive candidates.

Besides, automated world class and effective natural SEO, an integration with Broadbean - Jobshout can be setup really easily to post jobs on other sites for example indeed.co.uk, Google base using SOAP, XML and RSS technology. It can even be further extended to meet needs of different industry sectors and we are open to make
this process even easier to mash up and share the information on different and relevant websites as per different needs.

For example, if you publish IT jobs in a specific industry or skills we can customise Jobshout to publish jobs on niche sites relevant to that industry. Now doing it all from central place saves time, remove chances of errors, and increases productivity. And in this way, Jobshout will keep your staff happy.

Try yourself by clicking Jobshout trial! or drop us an email info@jobshout.co.uk to find out more about Jobshout.