The last 12 months have seen unemployment figures fall and job vacancies hit a high. In fact, advertised vacancies outnumbered jobseekers for the first time since the recession, with 936,596 vacancies to 887,771 jobseekers in October 2014. So the year has certainly ended on a high note. 

At Pure, 2014 has been full of exciting new projects and the development of ongoing initiatives. Plus, we’ve taken on our biggest number of new staff as business continues to flourish.

We’ve had many a proud moment and we hope you have too. Below are some of our golden ones from the year gone by.

 1.    Launch of Compare My Salary

In the summer we launched the UK’s first ever live peer-to-peer salary comparison website! Compare My Salary has already established itself as the most sophisticated and accurate salary data for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, London, Norfolk and Suffolk. More than 2,100 people across a variety of sectors and specialisms have contributed anonymous data, providing an up-to-date picture of what salaries, bonuses and benefits employers are providing. In such a buoyant job market, it’s very important for employers to look at what’s going on in terms of salary and benefit packages at the moment. It’s good preparation for pay reviews and for salary benchmarking. And job seekers can use Compare My Salary for salary negotiations for a new job.

 2.    Women’s Leadership Programme

We’d like to congratulate the first graduates of our Women’s Leadership Programme.  Running the initiative with People & Performance Ltd, we held courses in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk this year. It’s been brilliant listening to wonderful feedback from the female delegates, who are now benefitting from knowledge shared on the programme.  We look forward to seeing them rise through the ranks, as they use their new skills and work with mentors to break down barriers to senior jobs. For more information on the course email lucy@prs.uk.com

3.    Charity fundraising

Pure staff have again been raising money for local causes including EACH, The J’s Hospice, Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, Stars, Suffolk Mind, Christian Blind Mission UK and The Matthew Project. Since 2006 our fundraising total has reached more than £81,000!

 4.    Sponsor of regional employer awards

Once again, Pure was the proud sponsor of the Cambridge Evening News Excellence Award for Employer of the Year, this year scooped by Cambridge Building Society. We were also honoured to sponsor the EDP Business Award for Best Employer for the second year running – Norfolk firm Kinnerton Confectionery claimed this one. We are so pleased to see more organisations enter the awards with truly innovative employee engagement activities.

 5.    The Best Employer survey, seminars & award winners

More awards were handed out this year, but these ones were part of our Best Employer initiative, which we run with psychometric testing experts eras ltd. We launched our biennial survey in April, which saw organisations asking staff to give their honest opinions on how they’re doing as employers.

The survey led to regional seminars and awards in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk; local winners included Bidwells, LSI Architects, Beckett Investment Management and RehabWorks. The Best Employer awards for the entire eastern region went to Somersault Productions (for the small business category) and Benefit Cosmetics (the large business). For more information on the Best Employer initiative, please contact nadia@prs.uk.com.

 6.    Professional seminars

Our events this year again attracted experienced senior professionals looking to develop their skills and to network. Our seminars included the HR Employment Law, Future FD Programme, Senior Finance Forum and Wellbeing at Work. The calibre of the events is reflected in our event partnerships with firms including Deloitte, Birkett Long LLP and Grant Thornton. For a full listing of events, please visit our website’s events section.

 7.    We’re expanding!

Not only has Pure helped candidates and clients with around 1,900 job placements, but we’ve been doing some of our own recruiting. We brought on board 16 new staff members, launched a new IT division and we’ve expanded our executive division with two new recruits. Our new IT division is going from strength to strength, with numerous exciting vacancies in the industry across the east of England. If you are interested in a job in IT or need to recruit in this speciality area, please contact Scott Woodrow, who heads up this division: Scott@prs.uk.com.

 8.    And the survey said...

According to our recent client survey, 93% of our clients think our service is nothing short of excellent. Obviously, we’re thrilled to bits and we aim to exceed expectations again next year.

As 2014 closes, we’re feeling optimistic about the next year. Not just because we have our own plans - it’s also fantastic to see our clients and candidates doing well too. Everyone at Pure would like to wish you a peaceful Christmas and we look forward to working with you to make 2015 absolutely sensational!