Even though I've done one live interview for the BBC before, on Working Lunch, it was still really nerve-wracking and completely outside of my comfort zone. Put me in a board room of 20 MDs talking about Jobsite's business model and I'm fine, but talking in front of cameras is a different matter. I have ultimate respect for people that can make this look effortless. The 'green room', where you sit before you go on, reminds me of a dentist's waiting room as you're filled with trepidation about the unknown!

However, I really wanted to do this interview as it was about giving advice to people who had recently been made redundant, or perhaps face redundancy in the near future. This can be such an anxious time and I was keen to help reassure people by offering practical tips to help them find a new job.

I always think one of the most important things to remember is that it's not you that is being made redundant, but the job which is no longer available so try not to take it personally. The other key thing we discussed during the interview was the importance of being prepared in the current climate. If you've already been made redundant then it's generally all systems go on the jobhunting but if you haven't, it's probably still worth taking some tentative steps so that if the worst happens you're ahead of the game. This means updating your CV, registering online for Jobs-by-Email so that relevant vacancies come direct to your inbox and brushing up on your interview technique at BeMyInterviewer.

It's also worth having a good think about your skills and seeing which are transferable into other roles. Just because you've been an IT Project Manager for years doesn't mean that's the only job that you can do. I know lots of people who have found jobs that they enjoy more, and are better at through redundancy. So if you have recently lost your job try to stay positive and hopefully the same will be true for you.

James Caan from Dragons' Den was the awards' host and joined me on stage to hand out the awards to the winners - he went down well with everyone there and had some interesting insights. As a fan of Dragons' Den, it was great to meet James, although when I told my 4 year old son that I was going to meet a dragon in London he was a bit concerned that I was going to meet a fire breathing, winged dinosaur.

James gave some great advice which was relevant to all businesses in tough times not just recruitment; particularly cutting out anything from our business plans which isn't absolutely critical.

It's always a great night of the year as it is Jobsite's chance to say thank you and well done to those recruiters who have worked really hard at delivering fantastic customer service to their candidates.

So congratulations to all the winners and finalists and hope to see you at next year's awards!

This is BeMyInterviewer's second award nomination this year, and the first time Jobsite have been nominated for the PR Week Awards. The competition was stiff, with the likes of the RAF, Cadburys & the World Economic Forum.

We were pipped to the winners post by Cadbury's 'Bring Back Wispa' campaign which also won campaign of the year. However, as I'm pretty partial to a Wispa myself I was happy to come a close second to them.

If you haven't seen the Jobsite TV ads by now - then you must have a broken TV set. I caught the ad myself this week while watching X Factor at home. Having seen the ads so many times in board meetings and corporate screenings, it was watching it at home in my living room for the first time that made it all seem real.

We've also got Jobsite radio ads playing across popular stations such as Absolute Radio (used to be Virgin Radio), Capital, BRMB and Real Radio Scotland. They're on throughout October so hopefully you'll hear them if you listen to the radio on your way to work.

You may also hear our series of 4 career advice podcasts which are being aired on Absolute Radio throughout October and early November looking at key jobhunting areas such as writing a great CV, getting a pay rise or handing in your notice. These are also on iTunes which is another place I never expected to see Jobsite! Last time I looked these were no.8 in the business charts there which is fantastic.

The TV ads have been live less than two weeks and we're already seeing them have a massive impact on Jobsite so I can't wait to see what effect the radio and podcasts have.

The adverts took two days to film on location in Notting Hill, London. I've been in front of the camera before but never behind (much less nerve racking), so it was something totally different for me, here's a couple of shots I got on my camera while we were filming.

We were up against the elements with the unpredictable British weather and time constraints were tight - so when it started to pour down I thought the worst. But Gazebos and umbrellas shot up faster than you can say 'action' and the director Jeff Stark used the weather to our advantage; including the rain in the footage. Jeff's energy was truly infectious and eventually brought the sun out.

The ads feature actor Max Beesley (from Hotel Babylon) Max was great to work with, and kept morale up between takes. If you want to see a behind the scenes look at the shoot, we made a special 'making of' mini documentary.

This campaign marks an exciting new era for Jobsite. It's the next logical step in our progression and part of our long term commitment and goal to become the UK's best known online recruitment brand. The first TV ad will premiere during the ad break of Coronation Street tonight - watching Corrie with a glass of champagne will be a first for me! But if you can't wait until then, click here for a sneak preview of the ads before they launch on TV this evening.

I'm often asked how and why we started to take a hugely successful multi-sector job board and introduce a niche strategy into this fold. Well it all really started one year after the launch of Jobsite (1995) when we launched a separate job board for Engineering which went on to become Engineerboard.co.uk. In those early days there were mainly only IT and Engineering people on the internet and it seemed sensible to provide a route to Jobs specifically for those audiences, rather than forcing them to use the same Job board as each other. The strategy worked very well indeed.

Following an acquisition of CityJobs.com in 2002 we accelerated our niche "build and buy" programme to build up over 30 sector specific niche sites. Most of our sites are "Pay per vacancy post" with the exception of Productionbase.co.uk which is a directory for TV and Film people. The niche element tends to be based around industry sectors but we also have some very successful regional based niches such as the famous "ThisIs" sites, plus Londonjobs.co.uk and ScotRecruit.com.

Apart from building new sites, acquisitions have very much become a way of life for me now. Since we have been part of DMGT we have acquired six companies (around two per year) and I seem to be constantly looking at potential others with our team. I even recently helped my wife purchase a home based internet business www.ampalian.com, so the acquisition bug certainly doesn't seem to stop when I get home! At Jobsite we have set a criteria for acquisitions which involves assessing key factors such as right fit, critical mass and strength of management team and we are always looking for other opportunities. If we feel we need to get into a sector or region and there is limited availability to partner/acquire then we look to build.

When we think about why niche sites work so well in recruitment we compare using the internet to shopping in the high street. We liken a multi-sector recruitment site (such as Jobsite) to a department store. Some people shop in department stores but some shop in boutiques (the niche) and some people in both. What we do get from our boutique shops (our niche sites) is a very high quality focussed footfall. When a company advertises on CityJobs.com for example, they know that mainly only "Banking, Finance and Insurance" people are looking and applying for their jobs. This is compelling to both recruiters and jobseekers, which is what we are trying to achieve.

As an example, this week we announced our new partnership with The Evening Standard, Metro (London) and LondonLite newspapers. It's collectively known as RecruitLondon and means that advertisers' job vacancies from those three newspapers now also appear on Jobsite.co.uk.

This means our candidates will benefit from access to new vacancies and our recruiters will see their vacancies placed in front of new and different jobseekers from within London and across commuter areas. We also get branding and advertising within the papers which helps us to inform other people about what Jobsite does.

This new partnership is part of our on-going vision to make jobhunting quicker and less frustrating and also to cover the entire country's recruitment needs, in any sector or market. Watch this space for more announcements soon as we continue to make Jobsite even better for you.

My part of the program was set up like an actual job interview with the presenters grilling me like an interview candidate; it put an inventive angle on the report as the guys from Working Lunch often do. It was good fun - though I know what side of the interview chair I prefer!

It wasn't the only bit of television attention that Jobsite got that day either. BBC Breakfast News carried two reports on BeMyInterviewer. The report was based around the research we carried out from 5000 candidates on their preparation for interviews.

Our candidates tell us that it's one thing to find a job that matches your skills and experience, but quite another to be able to sell yourself in an interview chair. With 13.4 million people looking to change jobs in 2008, we have created BeMyInterviewer.co.uk for everyone that wants to be successful at interviews.

We are all really excited about BeMyInterviewer and have had some great feedback. As well as giving users a chance to get a feel for the interview situation and what they can expect, candidates gain genuine insights from real business leaders into how they interview and what kind of answers they look for. Like it or not, interviews are a fact of life and unless we get better at them we'll continue to miss out on pay rises and promotion.

Launched in 2000, OilCareers.com is an important part of the oil and gas industry, appealing to both UK and International jobseekers. We believe it's a really exciting fit for Jobsite and will help us continue to increase the number of relevant jobs we as a group can bring to UK job seekers.

This is the eighth acquisition I have been part of at Jobsite. From a business perspective the performance and profitability of each business joining our group is important for me, however as important is that culturally the businesses share the same values that we do at Jobsite - very much like a job seekers finding an employer that they want to work for. So what for me are the key criteria?

As a business group we spend a lot of time planning and working closely together, so it's important that we all share a common ethos and have a mutual respect for each other - unfortunately we have yet to invent the Jobsite Personal Profile for company's to help speed up the process! Though I may put this on our innovation list. (To find out more about how Jobsite helps to culturally match candidates with employers visit our Jobsite Personal Profiles).

So for us, as for candidates it's a process of on-going interview meetings and research before we make the right decision and having the confidence to ask the right questions. For example I want to know whether they have a long term vision and where do we fit in? How do they solve problems? Do employees seem happy and content and most importantly do I think we will both benefit from working together. As candidates checking out a future boss and workplace you will have a slightly different list from the one I have when investing in a business. But remember preparation is always key and it's a two way process - you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

....And if you want to check out some very exciting developments around interviews look no further than the Jobsite home page or visit our new Jobsite service BeMyInterviewer.co.uk where you can practise for your next job interview with interactive videos of real business bosses - a UK first from Jobsite. More coming soon....

More than a third (35%) of workers will take their mood out on their partner and just over one in 10 (13%) will pick an argument following a tough day at work.

In contrast, workers are twice as likely to avoid fast food and twice as likely to take exercise - whilst smoke and drink much less after a good day at work.

With one year old twins, I know how important family time is. So the statistic that really struck me was that 68% of parents with children return home after a good day at work to spend quality time with their kids, from helping with bath-time and homework to reading bedtime stories. After a bad day at work this decreases to just 36%.

I personally really enjoy my job as there are always new challenges and I always make sure that if I'm at our HQ in Havant, I get back to help with bathing and putting the kids to bed.

Most jobs bring their own stresses and strains but this experiment really hits home the impact of having a good and bad day at work. Close to a quarter (24%) of UK workers are currently unhappy with their job; we are urging you to make sure you are happy at work because there are repercussions on your diet, well-being and happiness if you are not.

We have teamed up with a leading psychologist to put together a simple test to help you assess how happy you are and how your work life impacts on your home life. As well as giving you personalised feedback, the test also identifies areas that may be causing you the most unhappiness - from money issues to stress - with positive suggestions showing what you can do to change them.

If a good day at work is a rarity and a bad day is happening all too often we would encourage you to take the Jobsite Happy Days test and take some action.

Two years ago we asked you what you thought about the job seeking process and you answered in your thousands. And it was pretty dis-heartening. For the most part you felt frustrated and isolated during the job seeking process, however your main grievance was the lack of communication by the recruitment agencies. I remember my own days of Job hunting when I was an IT contractor all those years ago and pretty much disliked the process. We felt that something needed to be done to raise the bar and encourage better customer service in our industry so we launched RecruitRank.

RecruitRank is the industry's first candidate feedback tool (you can find it on the home page) which allows you to feedback anonymously to agencies on the service you have received.

Today over 200,000 thousands pieces of individual feedback have been received by RecruitRank. It is updated dynamically every day allowing agencies to understand where they might be able to serve you and other candidates better. Hundreds of agencies have taken this feedback on board and many have modified the way that they work as a result (click here for examples of how they have used RecruitRank feedback to promote best practice).

Last Thursday our second RecruitRank industry awards took place based on feedback from nearly 45,000 job seekers over the course of the year through the very act of using RecruitRank.

With several thousand recruitment consultancies eligible for inclusion in the RecruitRank awards, I would like to personally congratulate all the finalists and the winning agencies who have done a brilliant job of impressing you, the job seekers. Click here to find out more about the winning agencies.

Coming soon, we have lots more exciting developments taking place with RecruitRank. In a couple of weeks time we will be introducing a new function which we hope will provide even more insight by allowing the recruiters to respond to your comments, moving RecruitRank on from just feedback to a proactive dialogue hopefully solving more and more of the issues raised.

So keep on feeding back. Not only are your comments being taken on board, but you can also help your fellow job seekers work with the best of the best!

Working with our friends at the Student Room, the UK's largest student community, we recently surveyed 3,500 students to understand ambitions, aspirations and most importantly where and how they intend on building their careers. The research revealed some startling findings.

Close to one in three (30%) current students, equivalent to half a million UK graduates, are planning to move to London after graduating in search of better jobs and higher salaries. Across the UK, East Anglia is the worst hit with just 28% of students staying in the region whilst Newcastle was the least affected, with many students choosing to stay in the region to build their careers.

We believe that this talent migration could have a significant knock on effect in other cites, particularly as it's the most ambitious and brightest graduates who are most keen to make the move.

In reality however, skilled university leavers are in high demand across the country with high growth employment in many areas outside of London such as Manchester and Bristol that students should consider. At the same time employers and local governments need to do more to promote and attract home grown talent and encourage students to look beyond the traditional lure of London.

At jobsite alone, we have nearly three thousand graduate jobs currently advertised on Jobsite spread across the country. Whilst, across the total job market a steady 5% of jobs are graduate positions - whether based in Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester or London.

The launch of our survey seems to have struck a cord with many media, educational institutions and employers, and is currently being debated in a series of forums from the CIPD to E-University so keep a look out for it!

If you're a student, graduate, employer or other interested party, it would be great to hear what you think of the research findings and what challenges you anticipate this presenting, if any.

Last week, we launched a new campaign to specifically help Scottish candidates and recruiters. Scotland is an incredibly buoyant market at the moment and there is real demand by recruiters and employers to find the best talent.

To help raise awareness of some of the great job opportunities in Scotland - from finance and marketing, to the somewhat more unusual roles such as beat keepers and ship's captains - we launched a four week advertising campaign on Radio Clyde, Scotland's oldest and most listened to radio station across Glasgow and West Central Scotland.

Jobsite also proudly sponsored the first ever Scottish Recruitment Forum, which focused on the current employment issues, influences, and opportunities in Scotland. As part of our presentation we explored the continuing challenges of matching the right people to the right jobs, and what currently influences people in their job seeking including the increasingly influential role played by social networking sites.

In that vein, I am also delighted to let you all know that Jobsite is now working exclusively with Friends Reunited to power www.FriendsReunitedJobs.co.uk. This is a fantastic partnership for us, as it aligns Jobsite with one of the UK's most well respected social networking brands and we hope it will attract a greater number and variety of interesting and exciting job opportunities for our jobseekers.

As if that wasn't enough for one month, Jobsite has also entered the world of Facebook. We have both a job search application called 'Job Match', and a forum group on Facebook called 'Find me a Job!' So come and visit us and join in some of our debates!

Prior to its official launch this weekend, our boat 'Jobsite 1' was already making headlines on the south coast following the rescue of three teenagers during it's trial run with the lifeguards. The boat's actual official launch took place this Saturday, where a large crowd of onlookers, fellow lifeguards and press gathered on the beach to watch me officially name the boat.

Jobsite came to the aid of the PSVL earlier in July by providing them with a brand new rescue boat after theirs became damaged beyond repair. PSVL are a charity which receives no funding from the local council. So we bought the new £8,500 boat for the organisation outright.

We believe Jobsite 1 will become vital to local communities along the south coast during the months of April to October; patrolling the shoreline all weekends and seven days a week during school holidays. It also provides lifeguard safety cover for local sea swimming, extreme sports and public events such as the annual pier to pier race, Zapcat Southsea Grand Prix and Paratrooper spectacular.

Having been on the receiving end of valuable life guard assistance before whilst out with friends on the South Coast, I am personally delighted that Jobsite is now is a position to support and re-invest back into this fantastic organisation. As managing director of local business, I believe its vital that local companies put something back into the community. At Jobsite we are proud to work with local schools, local cricket and rugby clubs and now with the local rescue service to ensure we are investing in good local initiatives.

Hello and welcome to my first blog - not just for Jobsite, but for anybody. I last kept a diary when I was about 10. That was mainly about girlie stuff. This blog should deal with some weightier issues - but be no less interesting for that, I hope!

First of all, I ought to explain who I am and tell you a little bit about the organisation I run. I've worked in recruitment for over 25 years, and I am currently CEO of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo), which is a body that represents the technology recruitment industry.

ATSCo has many functions, but an aspect of its remit which is likely to be of most interest to you, the candidate, is that it expects recruitment companies who are members should treat candidates to a high standard.

Similar to Jobsite's own RecruitRank which launches its 2007 awards this week, ATSCo is also committed to creating a great job seeker experience, encouraging greater communication and feedback.

Whilst RecruitRank is doing this through its own Trip Advisor approach, identifying the top recruiters every day in the UK based on confidential feedback, ATSCo has its own clear code of conduct which sets out the following rules in relation to how recruitment agencies should treat candidates. Our key principles are:

• Candidates should be informed when references are taken up. Only referees provided by the candidate may be contacted


• ATSCo members shall make reasonable efforts to ensure work seekers are kept informed of progress in finding them work


• ATSCo members shall return work seekers' call, emails and other correspondence as soon as is reasonably practicable


• ATSCo members shall not misrepresent pay rates, contract terms etc


• ATSCo Members shall pay all temporary/contract workers promptly in accordance with their contract


• ATSCo members shall not unfairly prevent a candidate from pursuing other opportunities


• ATSCo members will not impose a restriction on any temporary/contract worker they have previously engaged from obtaining work by withholding or refusing to provide any information, whether in a reference or otherwise, that is reasonably requested by another employment agency/business or hirer in respect of that temporary/contract worker unless they can objectively and lawfully justify their decision for refusing to give such information in any particular case.

I would be really interested in hearing you thoughts on what you believe sets a good recruiter apart from a great recruiter