Case studies

Uncertainty can lead to Temporary Solutions

As we have seen in previous economic downturns and times of business uncertainty the hiring of full-time employees is hit significantly. What has been show time and time again however is that temporary staffing levels rise, particularly as the recovery process begins. Although the Coronavirus crisis has and will have a very different affect to the economy if we look at how the last recession affected employment then statistics revealed that the number of temporary hires continued to increase for more then 40 consecutive months after the recession ended (Bureau of Labour Statics)

This shift will cause some very unique problems for both hiring managers and recruitment agencies alike. Currently in the main technical and engineering sectors redundancies are not happening, largely due to the government's furloughed worker scheme, so the skill shortages are still there, it's a case of the business is on hold. So as we hopefully move out of the crisis where is the additional labour going to come from that will allows companies to push on quicker and harder in order to drive work in and out as quickly as possible and put themselves back on a firm footing?

You also have to consider what this crisis will do to current employee's who were potentially open to hearing about alternative career prospects. Are they going to "sit tight" now, just in case another outbreak happens?

Mix the above factors in with employers uncertainly (will we have another outbreak) and we have the temporary marketplace massively increasing in demand.

But still the question remains – Where can I find these skilled people?

Working with specialist Recruitment agencies can assist. Proven databases of temporary and contract engineers of all levels of experience are invaluable. However as is the case with supply and demand its important to act as quick as possible once some or all of the current restrictions are lifted.

Telephone 01254 781300 for our Temporary or Contract Recruitment Team

www.serlimited.com

** Register a Requirement here **

The vetting process and in particularly the temporary staffing process has been given a slight lift of red paper due to the government's relaxation of the Right to Work checks. Timing wise this could be a massive help in the coming months as companies look to bring orders back in line and ramp up output to close the supply line short falls.

In the first instance the changes are temporary and come about due to the coronavirus and the effects it is having on interviewing face to face. The drive is now video calls which obviously means seeing and copying "hard" documents difficult.

The changes mean that during the coronavirus outbreak prospective workers are now able to submit scanned documents, rather than originals, to show they have a right to work.

However, the government added that checks continue to be necessary and it is an offence to knowingly employ or let property to anyone who does not have legal immigration status in the UK.

The change has gone as certain sectors such as food production and food resellers now need to hire people on the spot and get them onto the front line in record speed. With the old process the on boarding could take weeks with right to work checks and DBS checks out of recruiter's hands to a great extent. This said we must remember that the amendments are for checking documents via video and the reminder of the process in still the same.

Its great practice to currently hold video interviews and on boarding chats via video, and use the Employer Checking Service when possible and of course gain the potential employees permission to do these checks. If possible record any video chats, and certainly any on boarding process were the employee can hold up their right to work documentation which can be clearly seen and then record in their personal file that the check was made via video. Further back this up by photo copies that can be sent via email, sms or apps such as WhatsApp.

As these adjusted right to work checks are temporary, recruitment agencies and employers will need to make sure they conduct the normal full checks once the temporary measures come to an end. The end date is not known, but employers and recruitment agencies should continue to check the government website and guidance for this announcement.

Importantly, once the temporary Covid-19 measures end, employers and recruitment agencies will need to carry out full retrospective checks within eight weeks of the measures ending for all staff that were checked by the temporary right to work checks. Both the temporary adjustments and the full right to work checks should be kept for recruitment agencies and employers records.

The government guidance has also made clear that the Home Office will not take any enforcement action against any employer that carried out an adjusted check in line with the guidance and then followed up with a full retrospective check. If a recruitment agency or employer discover upon the retrospective full right to work check that the employee does not have permission to be in the UK then they absolutely must end their employment without delay.

With many employees being made redundant, furloughed or put on short-time working, even small steps to help employers take on new staff are important. This is particularly the case given that many employers who are in a position to take on new staff now will be doing so to help deal with coronavirus-related issues eg. the supermarkets hiring more shelf-stackers. Any steps the government can take to speed up this process will be welcome to hard-pressed employers in the current emergency.

Interested in Temporary Hiring ?
SER Ltd
01254 781300 / info@serlimited.com
www.serlimited.com
National Service Provider in temporary staffing solutions

Low Cost, High Return Adverts

£150 per online advert that will get your advert onto all the leading online job boards including:

• CV Library
• Indeed
• Reed
• Totaljobs

There are many different recruitment methods that can be used. Each method of course has its place and what works for one position won't always work for a different position.

Online advertising is a great example. If done correctly it will almost always provide you with a number of candidates to consider. They may not always be the top performers, but it will always give you a good cross section to consider at a fraction of the price compared to some other recruitment methods.

What are the Benefits?

Time: Simply email us a copy of the Job Specification or Job Advert, we will amend if required and then post onto the leading online job boards. Saving you significant time compared to having to approach each job board individually, agreed a price, pay and post your advert.

Money: Our cost of £150 per advert is significantly cheaper then if you were to go to each job board directly.

Organisation: All the responses come to us and each day we send you one single email with a zip file attached continuing the last 24hours worth of applications received.

Guarantee: If your advert doesn't deliver over 12 applications then you get your money back. No ifs No buts, straight back. Obviously we can't control the quality of applications, so if you are looking for a Pink Unicorn then this may not be quite the right recruitment method for you.

30 Days Payment: Our standard payment terms are 30days so no need to pay upfront.

To Place a Advert
Email – info@serlimited.com
Call – SER Limited - 01254 781300

Reference – Place a Job Advert

Cheers Linkedin!

Like so many online platforms the business and career networking platform Linkedin has seen a massive boost in traffic to the site as a direct result of more people working from home across the UK. Linkedin have released a stat saying the increase in conversational activity between connections has risen by 55%, therefore to further enhance and provide what they feel is going to be a demand within their site, Linkedin are introducing new features specifically built around their job hunting and searching sections.

Firstly, essential businesses such as Warehousing, Supermarkets and Healthcare will be able to post job adverts for free on the site. Supporting companies to attract the people they need in this crisis in a cost effective way.

These jobs will also be given a new "urgent" status, giving them top exposure and appearing top of any search results, a model used extensively by the Indeed platform but at a sponsored click charge.

These free ads will also link up with an expanded Recruiting for Good program to help bring in more people to work with non-profits in both volunteer and paid roles. And those doing the recruiting will also get three months of free access to LinkedIn's talent insights tools to figure out where their (free) ads are best placed around hiring trends and more.

This incentive is another demonstration of how tech companies are providing what support they can to companies in these crisis times. Maybe not in the same way as Google's fast track testing, but certainly beneficial to the right organisations.

If you are interested to hear how SER Limited as a recruitment partner can help you attract staff in these difficult times then please drop us a line at info@serlimited.com or call our recruitment team on 01254 781300

We are working with companies across the UK:

• Reduced introduction fees
• Better rebate periods
• Temporary staffing via quick registration process
• Greatly extended payment terms
• Flexible working guidance

Case Study: EE
ICT Recruitment: Telecoms

About EE

The largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, EE also commit themselves to being the UK's most trusted digital communication organisation.
Trust builds from people and ensuring that they are represented by the right people is as important to EE as any company, whatever size.
They understand that the key to their success is that their employees are happy, motivated and engaged, and achieving this helped them gain awards:

• The Sundays Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For in 2016

1. Best Companies 3* Accreditation for Workplace Engagement

With over 15,000 employees they create a brilliant workplace and believe that they will only achieve their company vision if they get this right. With the belief that finding and keeping the best talent and investing in their people is so important – they ensure that their recruitment procedures align with their company ethos.
Within the UK, EE have operated a franchise scheme since 2010. 50 stores are already operating this way and EE are always looking at possibilities of expanding this. They look for individuals who are passionate about their customers and maintaining their prestigious brand and brand values.

How did EE come to work with SER?

Linkedin can be a fantastic tool for connecting the right people at the right time and none more so that when contact was made with EE to find out if they had any recruitment needs.
SER Ltd took the time to find out about EE and understand the way they operate in terms of recruitment within their franchised branches.
After a level of trust and understanding was established and EE could be certain that SER could align with their recruitment ethos, brand values and could find the correct candidates for them, EE introduced them to each of the franchise branches across the UK.
This introduction came just in time for some EE franchises that were struggling to find the right talent, at the right time and were receiving very little support from their current recruitment agency

How did SER find the right candidates for EE?

Being tasked to deliver talented candidates with a wealth of relevant experience, all within a tight time frame, SER Ltd tailored their approach to suit EE and set to work on finding them the very best talent around.
Browsing the database of talent, adopting a strong social media strategy, which included talent mapping and a branded referral incentive scheme, candidate interest in the positions grew.
All interested candidates received a comprehensive information pack and benefit sheet to allow them to see the vision of EE's company and what the role would include. Telephone screening ran along side, to ensure that remuneration, attitude and skills fit.
Following initial telephone screenings and taking into consideration the geographical spread of prospects, video interviews commenced, which helped to identify key facts about each candidate including their management style, people skills and previous experience.
EE were presented with a concise list of talented candidates, all with the experience that had been requested, and within the desired time scale. It's not often that a company is presented with such good candidates that they create new roles just so they don't loose the talent, but in this case, EE did just that and recruited 3 candidates for what started out as 2 jobs.
EE were more than satisfied with the success of finding the high quality employees they needed all whilst utilising less of their resources.

Case Study: Capital Environmental
Built Environment: Asbestos in New Zealand

About Capital Environmental
In New Zealand (NZ), there are employment laws in place to help keep workplaces fair and regulations are in place that means that positions have to be advertised in New Zealand and Australia, before they can be assigned to a UK recruitment agency.
The UK is approximately 15 years ahead of NZ within the asbestos industry: therefore it is no surprise that the levels of qualifications are higher.
Asbestos service related skills have been commonly difficult to obtain over the years in NZ so Capital Environmental Services have developed and implemented a robust and documented internal training process for all their staff.
CES, who have been carrying out IANZ accredited asbestos services in the Wellington region and throughout NZ for more than 25 years, approached SER Ltd to assist them finding the right candidates after they were unable to find suitable employees on home soil.

How did Arcus come to work with SER and how did SER find the right candidates for the job?
SER identified candidates who were ideal for the role and talked them through the process that would be involved if they got the position.
Changing employers is a big decision for anyone, in fact its one of the biggest decisions you will ever make, so imagine the scale of that decision when it involves travelling more than 10,000 miles, moving your family, leaving other family and friends behind and adjusting to a new way of living, in a place you don't know very well.
Time differences meant that interviews had to take place between 6-8am GMT via Skype.
Offer letters for successful candidates arrived with supporting documents for VISA applications, which allowed that candidates to commence the process, which can take up to 6 months to complete.
SER have a sound understanding of the process and are always available for the candidate to ask any questions that are needed while they are undergoing their visa application, medicals and arranging for personal belonging to be delivered / transported to their new homes.

What did Capital Environmental say about working for SER?
"Excellent services, great to deal with, very professional and helpful, Thanks SER."

What candidates who have made to move to NZ have said about SER?
"SER were extremely helpful throughout the whole interview & immigration process, their sound advice made what seemed like a daunting feat a breeze. I would definitely recommend SER's services for anyone considering a move to New Zealand"
Candidate, Daniel Cameron

"SER found my CV online and contacted me to fill a role in New Zealand. They encouraged me along the way, regularly provided feedback which really helped me make my big move. Throughout the whole process they always found me to answer any question I had, with no question too small, and provided great communication with my future employer. SER are very approachable and treat their job with passion and dedication. I am very excited to start my new career! Thank you SER for providing this once in a life me opportunity"
Candidate, Martyna Rozycka

"SER helped me find a job in New Zealand and were extremely helpful. Their communiction between me and my perspective employer was excellent, they made the process very easy and without stress."
Candidate, Rebecca Lloyd

 Telecommunications
Sales Professionals for a new regional branch
2017 through to 2018

IceComms was established in 2008 and has grown year on year through the relationships that they have developed with both customers and suppliers alike

Over the years they have worked hard to keep their customers happy, through their strong network relationships, and the importance that they put on staff training and development.

During the initial discussions with IceComms it became clear that they were tired of the same old recruitment agent approach and had been inundated with unsolicited approaches from recruiters promising to deliver the earth.

Everyone said they were different yet no one delivered anything different were the words that Duncan the Sales Manager for the North used. Key problems included constantly battling with recruiters over poor quality candidates who were not right for the role or good candidates dropping out of the recruitment process due to being mislead or informed incorrectly about the vacancies by none specialist recruiters.

The first part in the process for SER Ltd was to meet with IceComms at their offices in Manchester. Understand the culture and the reasons why current employees chose them. SER Ltd was keen to position IceComms as an employer of choice.

Once the benefits of working for IceComms were established the features of the role were developed through an extremely detailed job order form. By knowing the benefits and features Hal and the recruitment resource team at SER Ltd were able to start proactively approaching the very best people in the area, and not just the best available.

_________________________
"All in all I couldn't recommend Hal and SER Ltd enough for services as a recruiter and recruitment company. He holds great industry knowledge and connections. SER Ltd is now my first port of call for recruitment and always very receptive to our specialist requirements."
Duncan – Sales Manager
_________________________

SER Ltd was keen to position IceComms as an employer of choice.
_________________________

Proactively approaching the very best people in the area, and not just the best available.
_________________________

The hires made have been great assets to the business
_________________________

About Arcus Solutions

With a focus on proactive strategies for providing the right service at the right time and right cost, Arcus Solutions (Holdings) Ltd provides comprehensive customer focused facility management and engineering maintenance solutions.
Working in partnership with their customers, they tailor their approach to individual business requirements, providing an end to end solution.
The aim of Arcus FM is to grow a great FM business – the envy of others. The aim of Arcus Solutions is to lead the way for FM through outstanding service and reliability, delivered by exceptional people.
Arcus prides itself on offering an excellent opportunity to develop a career in FM. They offer a wide range of positions from engineering and technical specialists to administration and management.
They offer continued development to their employees allowing them to grow with their organisation.

How did Arcus come to work with SER?

In 2014, Arcus were using up to 30 recruitment agencies, and had very little control over the process.
Recruitment companies didn't always validate the candidates prior to referral and therefore Arcus were spending lots of time interviewing candidates who were not suited to the role and needed a solution.
Arcus have a large number of job vacancies on their site and they are continually adding to these as their company takes on new contracts in new areas.
They believe that it is their people who make them great. Arcus wants people to work for them who are passionate, great at what they do and know what it takes to deliver exceptional service – the same is applicable for the agencies they deal with.

How did SER find the right candidates for Arcus?

By offering a proactive approach, talent mapping, a strong social media strategy, a candidate screening process including video interviews, holding regular meetings and building a professional relationship through unrivalled key account management, SER Ltd has proved that they know what it takes to deliver exceptional service and achieve the desired results.
They offer the best candidates in the industry.
They needed an agency that could grow with them as they grew their company and SER has delivered.
Like Arcus, we believe in doing it simply, doing it well and doing it with passion.

“At Arcus, your development is our passion and we believe in helping all our colleagues achieve their full potential”

Security Industry specialists
Design – Product – Marketing – Research & Development

Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. (Dahua Technology) is a world-leading video-centric smart IoT solution and service provider. Based on technological innovations, Dahua Technology offers end-to-end security solutions, systems, and services to create values for city operations, corporate management, and consumers.
With more than 16,000 employees and over 50% engaged in R&D, Dahua solutions, products, and services are applied in over 180 countries and regions.

The Challenge
A large corporate organization with a Chinese culture running through its core. Attracting people with the right skill sets and ideally a bi-lingual language set in the right geographically locations would be a challenge for any firm, however throw into the mix the need for engineering knowledge and experience within the cctv, access control and intruder alarms means that the talent pool is extremely small.
Through understanding the recruitment process and the timeframes that Dahua work to it become clear that managing a candidates expectations would be key to successful placements.
The next step was to understand which positions actually really required a bi-lingual and which ones didn't. By meeting each individual hiring manager and truly understanding each requirement SER Ltd were able to widen the targeted talent pool and significantly increase the chances of success.
Rebecca Howcroft and Gary McConville were assigned as dedicated recruiters to Dahau with the aim of firstly proactively market mapping the potential talent pool available.
Once the candidate pool was defined, an extremely confidential but direct approach was taken in contacting these potential candidates and presenting the Dahau career opportunities.

Main Recruitment Issue:
With a number of key positions requiring bi-lingual language skills and a significant understanding of end to end security systems, highlighting and attaching the right skill sets was incredibly difficult.
_________________________
"You have proven over and over again you are happy to go the extra mile for your candidates and your Clients and are always contactable, approachable and professional at all times. I am so impressed with your excellent service"
Charlotte – HR Manager
_________________________
Proactively approaching the very best people in the area, and not just the best available.
_________________________
Marketing mapping used to clearly understand the size of the potential candidate pool in each geographical region.

"Are you open minded to discussing a career opportunity with a competitor?"
_________________________
Using social media to highlight the passive candidate and increase the target talent pool.
_________________________
Structured approach to "sell" opportunities to candidates

Headteacher slams Millennials' 'one-in-a-million job' expectations

The Head of an elite private school has lambasted the 'overly mollycoddled' generation of youngers for their lack of grit and sense of entitlement.

Douglas Robb, the Headmaster of Gresham's, a Victorian red-brick in rural Norfolk that charges fees of up to £34,000, wrote in a blog post on the schools' website that the younger "generation has come of age where many more individuals perceive themselves to be 'one in a million'."

Clearly peeved by a run-in with a candidate, Robb wrote that during a job interview, the jobseeker left him feeling deflated after they enquired, 'why should I come and work for you?'

He described the way that "some youngsters" approach job interviews as they might approach buying a luxury holiday is concerning.

"Some expect to be given a 'one-in-a-million' job, despite being one of millions of applicants, many of whom are not yet fit for the work place!" he wrote. "Perhaps I overreacted and the candidate was more a victim of recruitment-agency pep-talks than anything else, but my lasting impression was of an 'entitled' candidate who was looking for some further guarantee or incentive before committing to getting stuck in to furthering their career."
He said that as well as a clutch of impressive grades or a degree from university, young people need to show they can add value to an employer's organisation through hard work, commitment, passion and determination.
Robb continued that "something has been lost," such as the sense of pride associated with doing 'an honest day's work', whatever the role.

His final word was that schools, parents and Government need to encourage young people that all work experience, is valuable, and ended his rant by stating that young people should be 'grateful' for the opportunities they are given.

Robb's comments coincide with the publication of new research from a thinktank, which calls for changes in the labour market to help young people.

The Resolution Foundation, in its latest research for its Intergenerational Commission, found that Millennial workers are more likely to find themselves in insecure, low-paying jobs and are earning less than previous cohorts did at the same age.

Insecure work, stagnant wages and a lack of moving between jobs were cited as issues hampering younger peoples' careers. More than half of people on zero-hours contracts are aged 16-34 and a quarter of people in their early twenties did not receive a pay rise for five years in a row after the financial crisis.

It also addressed a shift in mindset that is halting productivity. Whereas previous generations found that, 'a job, any job' was the mantra, "for too many younger workers today finding work is not a problem, finding security and advancement is," the report read.

The goal of the paper is to set out a 'Better Jobs Deal' to support younger workers and reinvigorate generational progress.

Stephen Clarke, senior economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said that if the approach to the labour market did not change, "we risk leaving a generation of young people struggling to get by and progress."