Accountancy firm appoints estates chief

JOHNSTON ­Carmichael has appointed Douglas Baxter as head of landed estates.

Mr Baxter joined the ­accountancy firm as a director earlier this year, and his farming background has helped him contribute to the development and operations of its rural practice.

Based in the firm’s Perth office, he brings experience of working with some of the largest landed estates across the country.

Chief executive Sandy Manson said: “We are delighted to announce Douglas’s appointment, which comes at a time when we have seen considerable growth in the work undertaken by our landed estates team.

Partner boost

SCOTTISH accountancy firm Scott-Moncrieff has appointed Mark McRae as a partner within its business advisory group.

Mr McRae, pictured, who will be based in the firm’s Glasgow office, joins from Haines Watts, and has more than 20 years’ experience in the business advisory field.

He is said to have a strong reputation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and owner-managed firms within the retail, leisure, regeneration, renewable energy, housing association, manufacturing and technology sectors. He has worked for Deloitte in Scotland and London. Stewart MacDonald, managing partner at Scott-Moncrieff, said: “Mark is a key addition to our successful Glasgow practice.”

Click here to find out how s1jobs performed in June 2014.

In previous market updates I have largely focused on how the market is behaving but also changing, referencing both s1 statistics and the wider online market.  Since I firmly believe that the market is developing I thought it only fitting to update you on some of the changes s1 has been making to optimise the connection of jobseekers with the best employers in Scotland.

During the course of 2014 s1 has been moving towards relevance, and for good reason.  The number of users on site have been increasing (See June Insights) coupled with the number of jobs on site being at their highest levels since February 2009, and rising.  All this increased activity could make the task of finding your ideal job or company harder.

Rooms at the top of hotel group

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has announced the appointment of Kerr Young and Neil Milligan to key roles in the company.

Mr Young joins as a director, based in Edinburgh, working across the UK, with a particular focus on the hotel markets in both the North of England and Scotland.

And Mr Milligan, above, who is based in Glasgow, has been appointed surveyor and joins from a senior position within HMRC’s Valuation Office.

Alasdair Humphery, lead director in Scotland, said: “We’re thrilled to announce these appointments, which show our ambition to continue to grow across the country.

In today’s workplace, it often arises that employees feel under pressure to return to work before they are fully recovered from sickness. Job insecurity has left the Scottish and wider UK workforce scared to take time off in the first place, while the average number of sick days taken has fallen every year since the 2008 recession. Heavy workloads, the financial implications of being off sick and fear of victimisation from managers all contribute to an anti-absence culture that seems to be increasing all the time.

Paterson goes east

Stewart Milne Group has hired Lorraine Paterson to be its new sales director for east central Scotland.

Ms Paterson was most recently sales and marketing director for Quartermile Ventures, which included responsibility for various aspects of the Quartermile development in Edinburgh.

Before joining Gladedale in 2007, she was sales and marketing manager at John Dickie Homes and previously held marketing roles at Kenmore Homes UK and Cruden Homes (Scotland).

Diageo signs up Sheriff