December 2015 - Astute Financial

Here at Astute Recruitment we are not afraid to show our mistakes. I’m sure you have seen our corporate videos on our website and we’re not afraid to show our human side. So we have included our outtakes from our corporate videos for your amusement.

Enjoy!

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The Biggest Headache MD’s Face & How We Solved It!

The Problem

We thought using Sage was the only answer for SME businesses to achieve our accounting and reporting goals. Like most business owners we bought into the trust and sheer popularity of the system – surely if something is taken up by so many companies it must be a safe option?

We used Sage for a while but struggled with accessing log-ins on different machine. We also struggled to extract simple management information easily.

Our Eureka Moment

Here at Astute we specialise in financial recruitment and regularly speak to Business Owners and Directors. One conversation about IT generally and its value to a company led to a recommendation of Xero. We hadn’t heard of it before – but liked the idea of being able to access our accounts any time of day or night and from any location.

Our Solution!!

After contacting Xero and hearing more we implemented it and have just gone live. In a short space of time, it’s already made a big difference.

Our Accountant can log in from another PC remotely – he doesn’t have to be in the office.
We get updates as soon as any online invoices are opened – no more claiming they didn’t arrive!
If you click on ‘OK’ to reconcile it even sorts out your latest bank transactionsWe want this post to create some thoughts and lively debate with you and your team – it may raise some questions.
All this and more means we can get on with the important job – running a successful and growing financial recruitment business.

Am I using the best system for my company and I?
Is it the smartest accounting IT partner for my company now?
Is it the most cost effective and efficient system out there? Please let us know your thoughts and for more posts on other useful business topics please visit www.astuterecruitment.com

In the last 3 days I’ve personally witnessed the power of people to make things happen, create positive change, raise profile regionally and nationally and I’m going to share this with you.. and what made these things happen…

There are 2 types of people – WATCHERS and DOERS

WATCHERS read social media, news, current affairs often agreeing about the things they’ve read, heard or seen. BUT THAT’S IT.. THAT’S ALL THEY DO – OBSERVE…

DOERS will observe but then:-

Ask themselves “How can I help?”
Give their TIME
PARTICIPATE
BE the source of new ideas and share their thoughts
OFFER help then FOLLOW THROUGH and do what they say they will do
COMMITTING to ACTIONS and then DOING THEM!

My two examples from the last 3 days…

Serena Humphrey’s Survive and Succeed campaign to raise over 100,000 signatures on their petition by February so April’s 7.5% increase in dividend tax for business owners can be debated in parliament and a fairer solution reached

And

Nottingham Trent University’s annual £10 Student Charity Challenge in collaboration with the Institute of Directors (IoD) of which I’m a member

FIRSTLY – The Dividend Tax Rise … I first heard about this 4 months ago, logged the importance but I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING.

THEN a week ago:-

I decided I wanted to help as an SME business owner of an accountancy recruitment business who would be directly affected
Attended the next event
Actively participated and Shared some ideas
Met Serena the Campaign leader

Since that event with 35 or so other business men and women, MPs have been approached, extra support from myriad business organisations have pledged to help and one star managed to gain time with Mr David Cameron himself!

An extra 500 people have signed the petition since Wednesday’s breakfast meeting and the campaign itself has been re-energised.

THE DIFFERENCE? 35 people decided to DO SOMETHING – not just watch…

So are you a DOER? Do something – take that first step and find out!

To sign Serena’s petition and make change possible please click on ….

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106525

SECONDLY – the £10 Challenge… Last year I’d read about this. “That sounds great” I said to myself – then forgot about it.

THIS YEAR:-

I put myself forward as a student mentor for the challenge
Met a super bunch of students who I’ve gotten to care about and will continue to support
Motivated, guided and provided encouragement to my team and others
Attended the awards night
Was proud to be part of an event that raised an EXTRA £10,000 from last year’s total for the John van Geest Cancer Research Centre in Nottingham.

The difference?

I changed from being a WATCHER to a DOER with 50 other Business Owners and Directors. I pushed myself from my snug, cosy comfort zone on the sofa ‘watching’ to actively DOING SOMETHING.

I hope this has inspired just one of you to do something. Let me know. I have other blogs on my website www.astuterecruitment.com

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Mike

16:04 13 Mar 23

Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.

C R.

10:45 27 Jan 23

Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊

Christine

10:32 20 Dec 22

Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!

Helen Pinegar

16:19 18 Dec 22

Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!

Lisa Leigh

11:56 30 Nov 22

I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.