Agencies and checking references
When I use an agency for recruiting permanent staff, whose responsibility is it to check references?
The better recruitment agencies will check references of their candidates either before forwarding their details to a client, or after an interview and before an offer is made, as a service to clients.
It should be remembered that if a reference is checked when a candidate first registers with an agency then that reference will be of a general nature only, and will cover standard categories such as dates of employment, general attitude, health and attendance, honesty and reason for leaving. It will not be related to any specific vacancy.
These references should be viewed as confirmation that the CV is correct and that they are suitable candidates for interview. They should not be used as a substitute for your own checks, when you can discuss the specific skills and qualities relevant to your vacancy with the candidate's previous employers.
For this reason an agency's terms and conditions will normally contain a disclaimer stating that, although they will make reasonable efforts to ensure the suitability of the candidate, they cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage that may be caused by the candidate.
I run a small guesthouse with a turnover of about £50,000 per annum. With the change of law, I no longer need my company accounts audited and frankly I can make just as good a job of preparing the accounts as my accountant. I asked him to return all my files but he is refusing, claiming there are unpaid fees. Can he do this and, if not, should I complain to his institute?
The question of whether fees are outstanding is one in which your accountant's professional body is unlikely to want to involve itself. However, there is another issue in this case and that is whether or not he is entitled to retain your files pending payment of whatever fees are properly due. There are strict rules governing this "exercising of a lien" and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, for example, covers this subject in some detail in its handbooks.
In the first instance, you may like to contact them to obtain an outline of the circumstances in which such a lien can be exercised, to ascertain whether you have prima grounds for complaint. The institute is unlikely to interfere in any dispute about the fee account itself, unless there is something manifestly wrong.
I run a small hotel and one of my major customers frequently holds sales training courses and meetings at my hotel. His business is lucrative and profitable and he has recently asked me to advertise in a business magazine featuring his company. Help?
Anyone in business knows what it is like to be rung up by a client or magazine asking for support.
You have three choices: refuse and lose the existing business; refuse but suggest you would rather put the money in your client's pocket through discounts over a period; or you can advertise. But make sure you don't waste the space by congratulating the company. Use it to tell everyone how good you are and how your client thinks so because he regularly books conferences and meetings with you.ne
We have just had a new directive from head office asking us to check that all our water-related equipment is fitted with a "class A air gap". Just how important is this?
It may seem like more unnecessary red tape, but this directive is very important. The class A air gap is a device approved by the local water authority, which prevents water siphoning back from your machines into the mains water supply.
It is now law that machines should be fitted with an approved air gap that fulfils this function. Siphoned-back water, which could be contaminated with detergent, food scraps and many other health hazards, could find their way into the drinking water. It doesn't take much imagination to work out how this could cause a problem.
