CM July and August 2023 digital

‘‘It was such a pleasure to join this event and to meet so
many of our CICMQ clients at our first face to face session for
several years. Huge thanks to our hosts, Clarke Willmott for
arranging a fantastic day.’’ – Karen Tuffs FCICM(Grad)
there is no necessary contradiction between
a foolish optimism that something will turn
up and dishonesty. Specifically, it is perfectly
possible for a businessman to practice
deceit in order to keep his business alive, in
the unreasonable hope that things will come
right in the end.”
Stars of tomorrow – talent recruitment
initiative?
Natascha Whitehead of Hays Credit Management
gave an overview of an initiative aimed
at supporting employers on recruiting new
talent to the credit and collections industry.
The scheme, Stars of Tomorrow, is a joint
initiative between Hays Credit Management
– a national specialist division of Hays dedicated
exclusively to the recruitment of credit
control and accounts receivable professionals
– and the CICM.
Natascha provided advice on attractive job
adverts and interviews, as well as outlining
winning strategies in the race for talent.
She said employers need to factor in rising
inflation and salary creep when pitching offers
and pay rises, to move “at pace” due to
high job flow numbers and to “flex the brief”
on what they can offer, for example, hybrid
work arrangements.
“Whilst business confidence is high, the
same cannot be said for candidate confidence.
Hence employers need to present a
compelling narrative to tempt candidates to
join their organisation,” said Natascha.
“Could you offer part time, job shares or
flexible working to entice the economically
inactive population back into work? Alternatively,
could you hire more junior candidates
and upskill them?”
Natascha said there are currently 1.1m live
job vacancies in the UK, so candidates have
a lot of choice.
“Continue to hire on potential, rather
than skills,” Natascha advised. “Skills can be
taught.”
CICM Professional Standards – the key
to CICM Accreditation
The event also saw the CICM’s Chief Advisor,
Debbie Tuckwood, introduce a new publication
designed to help organisations to embed
best practice within a team and ensure
continuous professional development.
Developed in conjunction with over 100
credit and collections professionals, ‘CICM
Professionals Standards – the key to CICM
Accreditation’ provides a guide to the key
knowledge, skills and behaviour for people
working across all sectors of credit collections.
What’s new in CICMQ?
The closing session of the Best Practice
Summit was hosted by Karen Tuffs FCICM
(Grad), the CICM’s Head of Accreditation.
Karen provided an overview of CICMQ, the
credit and collection industry’s accreditation
for best practice, which Clarke Wilmott’s
debt recovery team achieved in November
2021.
The session closed with an introduction to
CICMQ from assessor Barry Durham, who
has over 25 years’ industry experience and
held consultancy and interim positions in
more than 50 companies.
Karen said it was a very successful Summit:
‘‘It was such a pleasure to join this event
and to meet so many of our CICMQ clients
at our first face to face session for several
years. Huge thanks to our hosts, Clarke Willmott
for arranging a fantastic day.’’
Imogen Wollastan is Business Development
Executive at Clarke Willmott.
“In the context
of a tortious
(negligence)
claim, what
constitutes
fraud may in
fact involve a
smaller degree
of wrongdoing
than one might
imagine.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2023 / PAGE 41