Reer*itnrent Diary Peter Whiteheadl} lnle,rims Following last week's coverfeature on interim executives, RussamGMS, a UK provider of interimmanagers, offers its latest six-monthlysnapshot of the market. lt sees "somepositive signals in a no-growtheconomy". with overall interim activityincreasing by 3 per cent in Decembercompared with a year earlier, butfalling back by 1.5 per cent on thenumbers for June 2012, always a busymonth. lt says assignments are mainlyfocused around growth and averagedaily rates for December fell slightly tot593 from 9619 in June.

O Apprentices Barclays celebratedhiring its 5OOth apprentice last week,with 500 more to be recruited byJune. The bank says its project ishaving an impact: 86 per cent ofapprentices taken on were previouslynot in any form of employment,education or training and 37 per centjoined with fewer than five GCSEsgrade A-C. Barclays reports strongretention levels and performance

ratings, and line managers have alsopraised the apprentices' excellent workethic and attitude. The 500thapprentice, by the way, is RossMcMahon, aged L8, from Milton inGlasgow, who will be working in thebank's Glasgow city centre branch.

have notOAdvice Jobseekers whohad to "market themselves" for sometime might heed a warning lromSimon Gray, director of recruitmentfirm Cherry Professional. He saysthose leaving long-term posts are in asimilar position to prisoners afterserving a lo-year stretch: "Theirsurroundings are unfamiliar, and time,people and technology have moved on.It's no wonder they're confused. ln myexperience, jobseekers react in twoways: they try to pretend nothing haschanged; or they try to understand themodern job market and how best toplace themselves within in it." Hedescribes how to do this in his bookSuper Secrets of the SuccessfulJobseeker, published by Harriman

House. His advice includes: understandwhat a future potential employer isthinking, and how you can tailor yourskills and experience to theirrequirements; remember who thecompetition is and differentiateyourself from it; read newspapers, talkto the professionals and do yourhomework on the local business scene.

Gteadership Since the financial crisis,a new range of challenges hasrewritten the leadership skills andstyles required of the best Europeanexecutives, according to a study byKorn,/Ferry lnternational, the executivesearch and talent managementconsultancy. lts interviews with morethan 100 senior executives in theEuropean Union finds the mostimportant skill is now the ability to"deal with ambiguity", a trait thatdidn't even make the top 1O five yearsago. Perhaps it was called somethingelse then - I thought negotiating theunknowns of economies and marketswas always a leader's job.