The recession may be having an adverse affect on most of us but for the UK tourism industry it’s a godsend!

The schools have broken up and it’s time to take the annual summer holiday but where do you go? With the decrease in the value of the pound and the continuing worry of job security a lot of people are turning their back on the foreign hotspots and opting for a staycation instead.

For anyone not in the know, the word staycation refers to staying near home for your holiday and the word has gained popularity as the economy worsens. So much so that it is now included in the latest edition of the American Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

According to the Daily Mirror, up to 12 million staycation Brits will shun flights and ferries abroad this year to holiday somewhere on the UK mainland.

We’ll spend £27billion on holidays at home this year – and we’ll be joined by foreign tourists, too.

Seaside resorts are doing particularly well, partly because of the good early summer weather. Internet searches on Devon and Cornwall's coasts were up by 75% in June compared with the same period last year. Blackpool, Brighton, Bournemouth, Torquay and Newquay are among the resorts that have been doing well, according to the site, while wilder places such as the Northumbrian coast and the Western Isles of Scotland are also attracting interest.

National Trust properties in the south-west have also been welcoming growing numbers of visitors. Across the country, visitor numbers are up 20% this financial year compared with the same period last year.

There is similar good news for the Eisteddfod, that celebration of Welsh culture, which is reporting ticket sales up by 22%. Its box office puts that down to the staycation trend. Meanwhile the Edinburgh festival has seen a 20% boom in ticket sales for record box-office takings.

We’ve got so used to the holidays abroad that I think a lot of people have forgotten just how beautiful the British Isles is. The scenic Lake District is a perfect place to enjoy some fresh air and get some exercise at the same time. The sandy beaches in the south west can be just as appealing as their foreign counterparts, providing the weather obliges. And if hiking or lazing on the beach don’t have the right appeal, at least the kids will be content with the attractions available in Blackpool!

Are you planning a staycation this year? Where will you go and how do you think this year’s holiday will differ from those of previous years?

This is a must for anybody interested in the current state of the Management Consultancy market.

We recently undertook a survey of consultants and consultancies to discover exactly what is happening within the MC sector. Quiet? – definitely, improvement imminent? – possibly with hope now pinned on a September start.

One interesting fact to come out of the survey is that consultancies are still finding it difficult to attract all the hires needed to service assignments in certain sectors and functions – although they are unwilling to drop the bar and recruit less well qualified/skilled consultants, or hike up pay levels.

From a remuneration perspective, firms see no need to pay improved salaries, and apart from those consultants who are out of work and not cushioned by redundancy packages, consultants are turning down offers from consultancies because salaries are barely above current earnings.

Read the Management Consultancy – Market Review at July 2009 and listen to Don talking about the survey results on our YouTube channel:

Sir David Walker has published his proposals for the future of corporate governance in the banking and financial industry.

The wide-ranging proposals will make significant changes to the way that boards of banks and other large financial institutions operate, with a particular eye to the treatment of risk, remuneration, the role of non-executives and the part of institutional shareholders.

Amongst his key proposals he calls for non-executives to receive better training and business awareness sessions and believes that NEDs on all bank or financial institution’s boards should be prepared to give a time commitment of between 30 to 36 days a year.

As part of their role as members of the unitary board of any bank or financial institution, NEDs should be ready, able and encouraged to challenge and test proposals on strategy put forward by the executive. They should satisfy themselves that board discussion and decision-taking on risk matters is based on accurate and appropriately comprehensive information and draws, as far as they believe it to be relevant or necessary, on external analysis and input.

The initial proposals by Sir David Walker on improving banking governance have been warmly received by the business community.

‘We are very pleased to see that the Walker Review not only gives strong emphasis to the role of the board in setting the company’s risk appetite, and highlights the role of the company secretary in helping the directors discharge their role, ' says David Wilson, ICSA’s Chief Executive. 'We are also glad to note that appropriate boardroom behaviours have been identified as a key element of best governance practice.’

This view was shared by Peter Montagnon, the ABI's Director of Investment Affairs, who agreed with the ICSA that non-executive directors needed more help in their roles, 'We support non-executive directors devoting more time to their role, having better induction and training, and being subject to rigorous performance evaluation.’

However, Mr Montagnon warned that the role of non-executives should not be expanded:

'Some areas need further consideration and clarification. In particular, we do not believe that the remit of non-executive directors should be extended into areas that should be performed by management. And care should be taken that in strengthening the chairman's role and requiring greater day-to-day involvement, it does not become too dominant.'

You can read the full consultation report HERE.

What is your view on the role of NED’s. Do you think that their role should be expanded or do you share Mr Montagnon’s view?

Although the current financial crisis has caused a wave of redundancies amongst the city whiz kids, it has opened up a wealth of possibilities for compliance/risk officers. Companies now need to comply with tighter government regulations and monitor closely their transactions to ensure this situation does not recur. This is obviously good news for Company Secretaries.

Taxation is another area that is reasonably recession proof. Companies still need to manage tax risk, deal with VAT and comply with new government tax regulations.

Much has been said recently about the renewable energy sector and the government’s ambitious plans to create 1.2 million ‘green’ jobs by 2020 will require personnel across all disciplines including management consultancy.

This means that for our candidates at least, the future is looking reasonably good.

How do you rate your own personal job security? Would you consider a complete career change or move to a different sector if it guaranteed more job security? We’d love to hear your views…

I would like to share some hints with you if you happen to be searching for a job:

• 1.) Always tailor your CV for each position you apply for. It might be time consuming, but otherwise you won’t draw the reviewer’s attention to your suitability. Write a long CV ‘template’ where everything is included, then cut ‘n’ paste a shorter, job-specific version every time you apply.
• 2.) Always attach a job specific Cover Letter to your application
• 3.) Upload a new CV weekly on job-boards (for example Monster, Top-Consultant), because it will stay near the top of the page, and so recruiters can find it more easily when searching the database
• 4.) Give your CV to friends who are working for an organization where you’d like to work also
• 5.) Start networking – talk about your job-search to as many people as you can.
• 6.) Update your profile on LinkedIn – it’s like your publicly available online CV – and spend time regularly revising it
• 7.) Check out the career sites of companies you are interested in
• 8.) Read industry specific publications relevant to your career; learn more about the companies you’d would like to work for, or seek job advertisements
• 9.) Be different! Find something which makes you special and showcases your skills set. Gain additional skills and experience. Develop yourself personally and professionally. (You might consider joining organizations such as AIESEC or JCI)
• 10.) Why would a company hire you? Work out five reasons and keep them in mind. This question will be definitely asked of you, and you must have a compelling answer.

We will share more advices later on, check out our blog regularly for future posts.

BLT hosted a great event in the dungeons of BLT Towers this Tuesday. BLT partnered with the London branch of JCI and AIESEC alumni. A panel shared tips and suggestions for coping with the poor jobs market. Some common themes emerged:

- if you are out of work, admit it, don’t hide it

- it’s important to keep up ‘in work’ habits, eg. getting up at the same time and spending normal office hours job searching

- socialize and network as much as you can – everyone you meet has the potential to help you.

The audience had the chance to put networking into practice, quiz the panel on their views, and repair to the pub afterwards to share experiences over a light ale.

There’s a slide pack available on Slideshare for anyone who’d like a copy.

And if you belong to a professional group and would like to partner with BLT on a career-related event, contact Tamas.

Oh, and see and hear more about the event on YouTube:

This new title for what has more traditionally been known as the Not-for-Profit or charitable arena reflects a new focus, rising profile and growing significance of this market, as well as its increasing alignment with other business sectors.

On Thursday 9th July CSS attended the ICSA’s Charity Secretaries Group seminar at the ICSA’s offices at 16 Park Crescent.

Key speakers David Wilson (New Chief Executive of the ICSA,) George Levvy (Former Chief Executive of the Motor Neurone Disease), Lindsay Driscoll (Chair Code Steering Group) and Louise Thomson (Head of Policy Not-For-Profit at the ICSA) spoke on some topical areas of corporate governance including:

The Report on Proportionate Governance prepared for the Leadership & Governance National Support Service.

Developments in the Voluntary Sector Code of Governance
Behavioural Governance and what lessons can be learned in the current economic climate.

This was an insightful and well-attended event; creating not only a forum for lively technical discussion but also an excellent networking opportunity.

CSS’s hectic diary of summer parties continues unabated! Last week the CSPPG was our host at the Bombay Sapphire Dusk Bar at Somerset House. As affiliate members of this networking group for Chartered Secretaries specialising in the professional practice arena, we enthusiastically sampled cocktails and canapés with old friends and new contacts. Great fun on all counts!

For more info on the CSPPG and how to join please visit the ICSA website.

The recession has led to increased scrutiny of expenses claims, according to research by consultancy firm Croner. The survey of HR directors and managers revealed that 43% of employers have become stricter on personal expenses since the beginning of the economic downturn, with many willing to dismiss employees for persistent fraudulent claims.

Moreover, 98% of the companies surveyed have stricter expenses policies in place than those for MPs, with 73% saying their policy does not allow unreceipted claims and 43% having at some point asked an employee to pay back an unjustified expense claim.

This news comes after new research from uSwitch.com recently revealed that UK employees make an additional £503 million every year by exaggerating or lying on expenses claims. According to the research, almost 16% (2.8 million) of UK workers have made an average of £200 each per year by submitting false or exaggerated expense claims.

Adding extra mileage to petrol expenses claims is the most common way to bump up expenses claims whilst over 832,000 admitted to asking for blank taxi receipts to allow them to submit extra claims.

Companies regardless of their size are looking to cut costs and it makes sense to tighten the rein on personal expenses. As Andrew Walker, Head of Reward, Croner comments “Expenses should be a reimbursement of costs enabling an employee to carry out their job, rather than an alternative source of income.”

From an employer’s point of view, it would be extremely time-consuming for somebody to sit and scrutinise every single petrol and taxi receipt and determine whether the claim was legitimate. They are entitled to expect their employees to be honest and yet these results show that the trust that has been granted to some of them is being abused.

Why do employees fiddle their expenses? Is it to because they feel genuinely underpaid and need to boost their salary or is it simply because they believe nobody will find out? And regardless of the motive, what should employers be doing to curb this dishonesty?

Are you shy when it comes to negotiating salary and benefits with a prospective employer? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone! A lot of people are less than confident when it comes to discussing this all important subject and yet most employers expect some form of negotiating to take place.

Especially in these turbulent times, we all need to be realistic in our expectations but that doesn’t mean we have to sell ourselves short.

If you’re seeking work through an employment agency, help could be at hand. Recruiter’s tend to be great sales people with good negotiation skills. The good ones will have a vast knowledge of the market and know exactly what people are earning in similar positions in your chosen industry and location. They should also know whether clients are prepared to negotiate on advertised starting salaries, and more importantly, by how much.

Armed with the above information they are perfectly placed to do the negotiating on your behalf.

Have you asked a recruiter to negotiate on your behalf and where you satisfied with the results? Or do you believe salary negotiations should be the responsibility of the individual?

The CSS sponsored AWCS Summer Party at the Bankside Gallery was a perfect setting for pink champagne, strawberries and canapés over which 150+ members and guests mingled. We met up with old friends and made new ones. The generously donated raffle prizes were the icing on the cake for several lucky winners.

Wimbledon is over for another year and for once the weather stayed fine. Unfortunately for the British supporters, both Murray brothers were defeated in their respective semi-finals.

Andy accepted defeat in good grace, posting a message on his Twitter account saying 'Roddick played a great match today. Thanks to everyone for the great support the past two weeks. It was amazing.'

It seems like everybody's got the Twitter bug these days. Such is its popularity that even after Andy's defeat an additional 3,000 people have started following him bringing his total followers to over 65,000. He also has his own website, Facebook group with over 40,000 fans, blog and of course you can watch him on YouTube.

It's amazing just how much things have changed since the Internet first came into being. It makes you wonder how the world ever managed to function without it! And since the advent of Web 2.0, the amount of Social Media sites that have sprung up is astounding. The ability to connect with a vast amount of people at the push of a button and at little or no cost seemed impossible until quite recently. And yet we're now at a stage where you can get job notifications sent directly to your mobile phone.

BLT have long recognised the importance of Web 2.0. tools in order to keep our pioneering role in engaging with clients and candidates. Our methods are so successful that Don was invited to speak at the ONREC conference about our communication and marketing strategy and innovations. So what have we done?

• We created a Facebook group which we would encourage you to join.
• You may all know that we've been Twittering for a while now. But now you can find all our roles posted on there! Do check out our Twitter page and follow us!
• As you can see, you'll find regular updates on the industry, our engagements and achievements on our blog.
• Were you aware that we post videos on YouTube? If not, don't hesitate to visit our YouTube channel and watch our consultants talk about current job opportunities and give you an update on the market.
• Our LinkedIn group welcomes members to generate discussion, read about us and engage with our consultants. Make sure you join our group!
• And last, but definitely not least, our website brings you the hottest job opportunities in this extremely sunny, recession time.
• Get our latest consultancy jobs via RSS directly into your mailbox: you can now get the latest BLT consulting jobs via RSS (or "Really Simple Syndication") meaning that you can have them delivered to your iGoogle home page, email, web browser and so on. RSS link here.

The latest Graduate Management Admission Council report confirms our own findings on the lack of opportunities in management consultancy for MBAs. Nearly half of all consulting firms said the global slowdown had a negative impact on their business in 2008, and this is expected to rise to 75% in 2009. Respondents expected a ‘significant reduction’ in graduate school hires in 2009.

BLT’s experience has been that MBAs completing their courses between September 2008 and now have found it more difficult to secure a consulting post than at any time since the 2001-3 slump. We’ll be suggesting ways to winkle out the opportunities in consulting for MBAs when we tour business schools. See details of my Annual Tour of visiting Business Schools.

The Evening Standard of 23rd June ran an article on internet profiling with the above headline, and I contributed some thoughts.

The recent fuss over the Facebook page of the new MI6 head is a new example of old news. Whatever’s out there on the web about you can be found and used to profile you. We’ve blogged about it before.

Paul Harrison of Carve Consulting warned about the dangers of new software such as Radian6 in this Evening Standard interview. “There are social media analytical tools which can track every mention of you – tweets, blogs.... I think eighty percent of companies are now checking online.”

BLT’s involvement with Twitter was mentioned in the same article. We’re using Twitter to find and follow clients and (potential) candidates who have demonstrate thought leadership in our market sectors.

In this case we’re not background checking for some professional indiscretion, but seeking out those who have something new and insightful to contribute. We see it as yet another channel to connect with people we should know about in our industry. You should think about including it in your professional profile building, if you haven’t done so already. We look forward to following you.

We don’t need to be reminded that the world is in recession and companies throughout the world are looking to streamline their business. This is of course understandable but are they tackling the problem in the right way?

Rather than getting rid of Management Consultants, they should be using them more! MCs help organisations solve problems, improve efficiency and manage change. Companies might bring in management consultants to provide particular knowledge or skills that they lack, to provide a fresh viewpoint on their problems, or even to help save a struggling business. They can advise on planning and strategy, finance and improving productivity and processes
The Financial Services sector in particular has cut expenditure on Management Consultancy at the moment as firms wait to find out the government’s plans to prevent a repeat of the current crisis. But once new legislation comes into force, there should be an immediate need for consultants.

In both of these scenarios a lot of companies may still be reluctant to commit to a long term spend on consultancy services. There is however an option.

Interim Consultancy could be the solution for a variety of reasons. There are several highly qualified consultants available, and many of them have previously worked for major consulting houses. Interim Consultancy also offers clients a very cost effective solution to a short-term need. And an Interim consultant can be in place in a matter of days as opposed to the weeks/months it can take to negotiate a contract with a permanent consultancy firm.

The latest Monster Employment Index has increased by 2%, the second monthly rise in the last quarter, indicating that the UK jobs market is beginning to stabilise. Education and healthcare workers accounted for the lion’s share of the growth, and interestingly the management and consulting sector rose by 13%, indicating that the market for interim executive contractors is growing.

As recruiters at BLT we should encourage our Management Consultancy and industry clients to consider the use of skilled interim consultants to help generate growth. We should also make sure that the Management Consultants who currently are without permanent employment hone in our there specific skill set in order to align themselves to these interim positions.

The TUC is urging employers to relax office dress codes and cool down their overheating offices, to make work more "bearable for staff" in the high temperatures. The current weather spell is the hottest since July 2006, with Tuesday the hottest of the year so far at 31.8C (89.2F).

The union believes that the best way for staff to keep cool inside during sweltering heat is for them to be able to wear less formal, more casual clothing, and come into work in short sleeves and shorts.

The TUC added that it would like to see the law changed so there is an absolute indoor maximum of 30˚C, with employers forced to introduce cooling measures when the outside temperature hits 24˚C.

Before everybody rushes out to buy shorts, the end is in sight as Britain's hottest week in years could end in a wash-out with some parts of the country at risk of flooding, forecasters warned.

I can see nothing wrong with the idea of short sleeved shirts, but should we really be turning up in the office dressed for a day at the beach?

On a similar note, spare a thought for people like the police who spend long hours outside in high temperatures. What message would it spell to the public if they started pounding the beat in shorts?

What are your views? Should we relax dress codes during hot spells or do you think it takes away the professional image?