Tesco plans to create 2,000 new jobs in Scotland during the current year as it expands its supermarket empire, Britain’s number one grocery chain has revealed.

The UK’s biggest retailer by sales has a staff of more than 25,000 people in Scotland, and is one of the country’s biggest private sector employers. It has about 150 stores north of the border, ranging from small, corner-shop operations to massive superstores that sell a variety of goods as well as food.

Tesco, which operates in the UK, Ireland, France, Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States, also said its newest Scottish supermarket will open in Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre early next month, creating 100 full and part-time jobs.

The company also has a number of other stores in the planning stage, including a controversial superstore and residential development in Glasgow’s Partick district, and intends to modernise older supermarkets.

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Leading international hotels group Pan Pacific has appointed Stanley Ng as global sales director. Ng will work from the organisation’s headquarters in Singapore.

Ng will be charged with the task of handling key account management as well as handling the acquisitions of new accounts and markets.

Mr Ng has a wealth of sales experience in the hotels industry, having worked for Starwood Hotels and as sales manager for the Shangri-La hotel in Singapore.

Pan Pacific’s Chief Executive, Patrick Imbardelli, commented on the appointment:

“Stanley’s 13 years of sales experience in the industry and impressive track record will lend itself to achieving our sales goals and targets.”

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Despite UK companies reverting back to outsourcing call centre operations abroad, most customer facing roles are likely to remain in the UK, according to Mark Conway, director at Contact Centre Partners.

The latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)/KPMG Labour Market Outlook shows that nearly one in 10 (9%) private sector companies plan to offshore jobs in the 12 months to June 2011. Of those planning to offshore UK jobs, 65% intend to offshore to India, a third to China (36%) and to Eastern Europe (29%). The most common functions outsourced by employers include call centre jobs (55%), IT (51%), and finance (49%).

“Most of the companies that we deal with are looking to keep customer service staff in the UK, but they do tend to move back office processing functions or non-customer facing roles overseas. Some clients have moved roles where customers interact through text chat to cut costs.

“We do have a number of clients that have operations overseas, and people will always outsource to save on costs but most large organisations keep their staff in the UK wherever possible because there is a significant increase in the level of service provided by those call centres based here in the UK.”

The CIPD/KPMG report also shows that 45% of the 600 employers surveyed say that vacancies are hard to fill, with 21%, saying they are recruiting migrant workers for engineering vacancies, and 18% for IT and accountancy/finance positions respectively.

Consequently, 17% intend to recruit migrant workers in Q3 2010. In the past quarter, 21% of employers surveyed recruited migrant workers with 37% of these workers being hired from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Gerwyn Davies, CIPD public policy adviser and author of the report, says: “The study highlights the complex juggling act the government now faces. The proposed introduction of a migration cap comes at a time when many employers are still struggling to fill skilled vacancies; despite the high unemployment rate.

“The training of local or British workers to fill skilled jobs currently occupied by migrant workers will not happen overnight. And despite our efforts to educate and train staff for shortage occupations, there is no guarantee that they will go on to progress in that career; as we have found with engineers.

“If a cap is to be introduced therefore, it has to be gradually phased in to avoid harming UK competitiveness. Employers running global operations will be forced to offshore skilled jobs to other countries if the right skills mix in the UK cannot be found.”      

Malcolm Edge, KPMG UK head of markets, adds: “Our own research shows that UK businesses are increasingly optimistic about their prospects. In moving forward, businesses need the right people with the right skills.  Increasingly, they are looking overseas to address this skills gap recruiting people to the UK or deciding to offshore both work and jobs. If the Coalition government do decide to introduce a cap, they will need to work closely with business to ensure that there is a correct balance between investment here in the UK and abroad.”

Source : Recruiter

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Can you imagine living the life of a successful car salesman? You get to dress nice, you make 100K a year and you drive a brand new demonstrator car. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? It’s not a pipe dream it’s reality for many car sales professionals. There is only one thing standing in your way and that is a car salesman education. No I am not talking about a college course or a trade school, I am talking about an on the job education that involves selling cars.

Getting out on the sales floor is by far the best way to learn auto sales. The car salesman education you receive by getting in trenches is superior to any other method. Of course you need to start with the traditional car sales training, but typically all sales people start with that when they start to work for a car dealership. What I am talking about is fending for yourself. No sales equal no money (or maybe a draw check). When you get out on the sales floor and working with customers you will start to learn the lessons quickly.

The Hard Lessons of a Car Salesman Education

Some dealerships are better than others about helping, mentoring and fostering the car sales education of their new auto sales people, but for the most part you are on your own. Of course the sales managerwants their sales people to sell cars and be successful because they also get paid according the amount and profitability of sold cars. However the sales manager usually has their hands full performing their regular duties and therefore the new sales person shouldn’t expect too much help from them in the way of teaching them the finer points of selling cars.

So the next place for the automobile salesman to look for help with the lessons needed to sell cars is their co-workers. Sorry, but traditionally the successful auto salesmen are not very helpful. They may throw you a bone (tip) now and then, but for the most part they are usually tight lipped. For one thing they have seen many sales people come and go so they often feel like it is a waste of time. On the other hand they are worried that you might be very good at selling cars and then become their competitor. I hope you are catching on to the fact that a car salesman education does not come easy.

Now your co-workers that are average or below average auto sales people might help you out, but do you really want advice from a salesman that ranks at the bottom of the sales staff. Of course you don’t, you want to learn and know what it takes to be at the top of the heap.

The Bright Side of a Car Salesman Education

I hope I haven’t turned you off on selling cars for a living so far, it wasn’t my intention. However I did want to open your eyes to what you can expect when you first start out as new automobile salesman. You will learn the lesson you need to learn by working on the sales floor and paying attention to everything that goes on around you. The first 30 to 90 days of your car salesman education is probably the hardest part. This is what causes some Newbies to dropout, but they are making a big mistake.

After you graduate from your initial car sales education things start getting easier and better. You can move the process along quicker, but it’s a matter of how quick you can catch on to the business. Some sales people can pick it up in thirty days and others take months. I have seen some take months to catch on and become great car sales women or men and I have seen others catch on in a matter of weeks only to be gone in a month or two. Don’t make a mistake by dropping out, give it time, and learn the lessons so you can live the life of a successful car sales professional.

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Home furniture giant Ikea is to create up to 15 new jobs at its Belfast store as it claimed buoyant sales despite the opening of a second outlet in the Irish Republic last year.

The furniture superstore is recruiting between 10 and 15 permanent sales staff for its Holywood Exchange branch near Belfast.

There were concerns that the opening of a new branch at Ballymun, outside Dublin last summer would harm sales in the Belfast store.

However, Ikea has insisted that the island is able to sustain two stores.

Cristie Gregg, Ikea marketing manager for Belfast, said: “We always knew that a second store was on the cards. There was an inevitable drop in visitor |numbers from the Republic because of the Dublin store opening last year but the island of Ireland can sustain two stores.

“We are very happy with the sales performance and compare well with Ikea UK.”

Ms Gregg said the new jobs had been created because the company had identified a gap in the sales force at the Belfast store.

The Dublin store was due to open ahead of Belfast but was delayed due to planning issues in the Republic.

The job creation comes as the British Retail Consortium reported a slow-down in sales.

Retail sales grew 0.5% on a like-for-like basis in July – a steep fall from 1.2% in June.

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Online job seekers are searching for sales jobs over any other sector, new research reveals, proving the popularity of the career choice.

Marketing firm Greenlight’s Recruitment June 2010 report found that sales jobs accounted for four per cent of the overall job search volume, although there was an eight per cent decline in recruitment-related searches compared to May.

The report also revealed that London-based job searches increased by ten per cent, while queries for careers advice also rose.

In March there were 14,800 searches for careers advice, but this went up to one million in June.

Simon Hollingsworth, lead researcher at Greenlight, commented: “The surge in career advice may likely be explained by the influx of recent graduates researching career information online.

“In addition, the recession, which resulted in job losses, has seen people look to pursue new career paths and acquire skills enabling them to apply for roles beyond those they have traditionally worked in.”

The study also monitored how popular a recruitment website was on social media pages including Facebook and Twitter.

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Business outsourcing company Oceans Connect, is creating 200 jobs on Merseyside with the relocation of its existing North West base and its London HQ to Speke.

The firm, founded by Indian entrepreneur Adarsh Sethia, is currently based at The Heath in Runcorn, but is moving the short distance to Speke after receiving a £1.3m Grant for Business Investment from the North West Development Agency.

Oceans Connect is a leading outsourcing provider, offering call centre and other functions to its customers.

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Bupa Health and Wellbeing UK has announced the appointment of Tony Wood to the position of sales director.

In his new post Wood takes on responsibility for sales to personal, SME and corporate customers.

He joins Bupa UK from Bupa Australia, where he has held the post of sales director for the last two years (since the MBF merger).

Previously, he spent five years with MBF as national sales manager, prior to which he worked for AMP Group.

Bupa Health and Wellbeing UK Managing Director Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald has warmly welcomed Wood, praising his wealth of experience and stating it would prove invaluable in his new role.

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Aviva says it is “not ashamed” of its multi-distribution approach but insists IFAs remain its “lifeblood” and claims direct sales will never account for more than 10% of business written.

The insurance giant caused a stir last year after sending out new terms of business to advisers outlining situations where it deems it acceptable to market directly to their clients.

It said it would only do so if customers first requested advice from Aviva and, second, if they had not been serviced by their adviser for a “significant” period.

Aviva intermediary director Simon Badley says a number of advisers now ask him if the provider will push its direct sales channel.

“This industry needs a healthy IFA sector, just as it needs bancassurance and direct sales channels, but direct sales will always be less than 10% of what we do” says Badley.

“If a client gets in touch with us direct, we always say their first port of call should be their adviser. Otherwise, we direct them to (adviser search portal) IFA Promotions.”

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Ladbrokes will this week unveil a radical initiative for employees in its betting shops to act as call centre workers during quiet times, in a plan to maximise the efficiency of its staff.

The scheme, which is on trial in 180 stores, will be rolled out across many of Ladbrokes’ 2,000 betting shops and will be announced on Thursday alongside half-year results.

Rather than relocating call centre staff to Gibraltar, as rival William Hill announced plans to do last week, Ladbrokes is retraining shop staff to take bets over the phone, as an extension of the 300 staff based at its betting call centre in Rayners Lane, northwest London.

During quiet times when there is more than one member of staff on duty, phone bets will be routed to the stores. ‘It’s just a sensible use of resources,’ said a company source.

Ladbrokes closed its call centre in Liverpool earlier this year, but has no plans to shut the London site ‘in the foreseeable future’.

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