This is our April newsletter

1. April Newsletter
Welcome to the fourth monthly newsletter of the year. We hope that you will
enjoy the following mix of industry trends, tech bites and comedy that have caught
our attention recently.
Contents
Click below to be taken to each section:
TECH BITE
Will Kano Plug the Programming Skills Gap?
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire…
Honesty is always the best policy
News in Brief
Monthly insight into the recruitment
industry.....
Deluded or Inspired – You
Decide…
One man's tactic to land his dream job
TECH BITE
Will Kano Plug the Programming Skills Gap?
Kano? What is Kano we hear you ask?
Well, you know when your six-year old takes your phone, iPad or laptop and knows
how to switch it on, bypass your security, play games and then proceed to spend

2. all your hard earned money on in-app purchases? Now, thanks to tech
entrepreneurs Alex Klein, Saul Klein and Yonatan Raz-Fridman, your cheeky little
scamp can put that tech knowledge to good use and potentially grow up to be the
next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates with the Kano Computer.
The Kano is a DIY computer kit you build using a step by step guide and which
then gives you the tools to learn basic coding skills through a combination of
hacking existing games such as Minecraft or changing code snippets in other
games such as Pong to alter the game mechanics. You can then share thes
changes with the other members of the Kano community.
Kano team with Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton
In November 2013, a Kickstarter campaign (with a target of $100,000) was started
to help launch the mass production of what Business Insider magazine described

3. as ‘a computer that’s as easy to build as Lego’. It raised over $1.5m, it remains the
site’s most crowdfunded learning invention and attracted investors such as Apple
co-founder Steve Wozniak and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler.
Named after Kanō Jigorō, the creator of judo (for his talent as a dedicated,
committed teacher), Alex and Yonatan were curious as to what the next generation
of computers would look and feel like and ‘wanted to know if it was possible to
make a computer kit that would be fun enough to hold kids' attention, but smart
enough to actually teach them something.’
It was...
The kit comes with a Raspberry Pi Model B computer, an SD card, an orange
keyboard with track pad, a plug, a wi-fi dongle, a speaker and the leads you need
as well as a case to make it look pretty. Then, you clip it all together – like Lego –
and you’re off and running.
At £78/$129, the company have already sold well over two million units and the
founders believe that the UK's tech future is dependent on kids knowing not just
how to use computers but how they actually work.
A new national curriculum for computing will require children aged 5-16 to learn
how to code. 2014 is the Government’s ‘Year of Code’, conceived to raise

4. awareness and also interest in computers and computing and with the Kano team
as advisors, they are working together to make coding, long seen as the ‘boring bit’
of tech, exciting and accessible to as many young people as possible.
The 21st
century is ‘the digital age’. Computers dictate more and more how we
consume and communicate and the next generation of Jobs’, Ives, Wozniaks,
Dells and Gates’ will grow up with tech we can barely imagine today and it may all
be thanks to Kano.
Will it plug the programming skills gap we’re experiencing today? Probably not, but
in a decade from now, the investment in young talent, the increase in on-site
training and the nurturing of your employees will pay dividends.
http://assetresourcing.com/

5. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire...
Honesty is always the best policy
We’ve all been there haven’t we? The odd porkie in an interview can’t hurt can it?
Somewhere between the submission of the CV and the interview, one can develop
a casual relationship with the truth, but generally speaking, the little fibs are just
embellishments rather than flat-out lies but still…
The thing is truth-stretching isn’t always from the candidate desperate to land his
or her dream job. It can also come from the employer. During the almost tribal
dance where interviewer and interviewee go round and round trying to impress,
information can get ‘lost in translation’.
Especially where sought-after candidates are being sized up for talent and
corporate fit, employers need to be 100% honest, even with the ‘little things’ such
as working hours, what to wear and team sizes. Starting off a relationship with a
sense of unease (and to take it one step further – distrust) does not bode well for
the future.
As an employer, what can you do to build the foundation of trust with new staff and
to make sure their work benefits your business?

6. 1. Is the job description accurate?
As an example, your IT guy hands in his notice because he’s been offered a job at
Google and you need to replace him immediately. You dig out his original job
description and ping it out to recruiters with the instruction to ‘get me the right guy’.
Unfortunately, IT is different today and many aspects of the original role are
obsolete. Before you start the hiring process, revisit the job description and make
sure it’s as up to date as possible. Only then will candidates know precisely what
job they’re being asked to apply for.
2. Can you rely on the CV?
In a word? No. You can get a good idea of what the candidate is like in terms of
qualifications and previous employment but what you can’t tell is whether or not
they will fit in with your corporate culture. If you’re mindful of the fact that you are
not simply hiring someone to do a specific job, you are bringing them in to help
your company grow, you are more likely to be as upfront about your expectations

7. as possible and you will commit more resources to finding the perfect candidate.
3. Trust and connections are vital
An employee on day one is sometimes referred to as ‘Goldilocks’. They don’t want
to come across as too hot or too cold, they want to be just right. They will be stared
at and evaluated by existing staff and it’s very important there’s someone in the
company who can be a sounding board as well as offering advice on how the new
hire can best contribute.
Be honest and you’ll get the people who will help you to grow your business. It
really is that simple.
http://assetresourcing.com/recruitment-vacancies/
News in Brief
Monthly insight into the recruitment industry
Here’s a selection of some of the recruitment stories making the rounds in the last
week or so. Have you read anything interesting, funny or newsworthy? Email us at
enquiries@assetresourcing.com or follow us on Twitter @AssetResourcing and tell
us. If it’s befitting our esteemed newsletter, we might include it next month!
Has the Social Media Bubble Burst for Executives?
Writing in this month’s Recruiter magazine, Colin Cottell argues that senior
executives are giving up LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter because they believe

8. they are too visible as well as regarding the sheer volume of information as
‘unmanageable’. A senior MD at an executive search firm told the magazine that
management are switching off because it either looks like they’re on the hunt for a
new job or they get inundated with unsolicited contact from recruiters. It’s called
‘digital detox’ and it’s becoming more and more popular. What do you think? Are
you too visible online? Does your life online interfere with your job?
Are ‘Male-Sounding’ Job Adverts Deterring Women from Applying?
A recent study by Professor Claudia Peus at the University of Technology in
Munich has suggested that women are being deterred from applying for certain
jobs that call for ‘male-sounding’ personality traits such as ‘assertiveness’,
‘independence’, ‘aggressiveness’ and ‘analytical’. The study found that women
were more likely to respond to job adverts that used softer terms like ‘dedicated’,
‘sociable’ and ‘conscientious’ whereas men didn’t respond to these words at all.
Have you ever decided not to respond to a job ad on the basis that it was too ‘male
sounding?’
Best and Worst Jobs of 2013 Revealed!
Take a guess! What do you think the best and worst jobs in the UK are? Job
search engine Adzuna studied over 2,000 job titles using criteria including earning
potential, working conditions, competitiveness, job security and unemployment
rates and the scores were added up to find the best and worst jobs of 2013. Let us
know if you agree….
WORST – Because of the high pressure, lowest income growth potential and long

9. hours, the worst jobs of 2013 were miners, couriers, sous chefs, electricians and
HGV drivers.
BEST – Based on high levels of job security, highest average salaries (over
£85,000/pa), increasing employer demand and outstanding income growth
potential up to eight times starting salary, the best jobs of 2013 were translators,
web developers and surgeons.
Deluded or Inspired – You Decide…
One man's tactic to land his dream job
We read a great story this week and we’re torn in the office as to whether the
candidate was a genius or a deluded fool. The decision is yours…
A candidate was invited for interview for a sales role at an American Fortune 500
company. The Sales Director conducting the interviews was so busy, he asked the
candidate to come in at 8am on a Sunday morning. At 7.55am on the said
morning, the candidate appears with three additional people. As he checks in at
reception, the receptionist asks who the other three people were. He said that the
job description specified he brings with him three references, and here they were,
standing next to him.

10. She calls through to the Sales Director who comes out and asks the same
question – who are the other three people he’s brought with him and the candidate
explains who they were.
The Sales Director takes the candidate into his office and says ‘if you’ve got the
sales skills to persuade three colleagues to come with you at 8am on a Sunday
morning to an interview, you are just the person we’re looking for’ and promptly
hired him on the spot!
Did the candidate misunderstand or was he that clever?
http://assetresourcing.com/recruitment-vacancies/

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