Case studies

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT - MANAGERS - BECKY

@ SER since 2014 - Water & Environmental

 Professional

What do you love most about your job?
I love being able to help candidates find the next position whether it be a Trainee role or Senior Management, I also absolutely love finding candidates to emigrate to New Zealand and start a new life. On the client side, I enjoy getting to know my clients and building long lasting, healthy relationships with them

What do you think sets you apart in your field?
I think that I'm always honest and open with my clients, I don't over promise candidates. I also feel my level of knowledge within my industry really helps

Personal

Tell us a bit about your family.
I have been married for a little over a year but have been with my husband for 6 years. He is called James and is a Security Systems Service Engineer. I have a 7-year-old stepdaughter called Phoebe and a 4 year old son called Jaxon and we live in Manchester.

What's something surprising that not many people know about you?
When I was younger, I auditioned at the Royal School of Ballet and got down to the final 10 girls out of 50, which is a massive achievement as it's very cut throat.

Interests and Passions

What are some of your favourite local spots to visit?
I live in North Manchester, so we regularly visit Heaton Park, Burrs Park and Smithills Farm

What type of books/movies do you enjoy?
True Crime documentaries are a favourite, I have recently read "Love as always, Mum" which is book written by Rose West's daughter. I also love a good chick flick/rom com (so does my husband but he would never admit to that)

Team contributions

How has your role evolved since you joined the team?
I joined SER Ltd back in 2014 with no sales experience and no recruitment experience. Over the course of this time, I have gone through the ranks of Trainee Recruiter, Recruitment Consultant, Senior Recruitment Consultant and more recently Recruitment Team Leader

What is the most important lesson that you've learned from working with the team?
Everyone has a different approach to recruitment, but we all follow the same process. I regularly hear really good questions from consultants within the office and put it into practice. "Every day is a school day"

Favourite memories

What special moments have you shared with loved ones recently?
My son Jaxon turned 4 earlier in the year and we celebrated at his favourite farm with all of his friends and family.

What's the best trip you've ever been on and why?
My dad took me to New York for my 16th birthday and we visited Ground Zero, The Statue of Liberty, Macy's, Bloomingdales etc. It's somewhere I had always wanted to go when I was younger and also seeing Ground Zero as it was, was very surreal

Work habits and preferences

What methods or tools do you use to stay organized?
I always create a list the day before of what I need to do and tick if off as I go along. Having a structure is so important when working in recruitment

What do you enjoy most about working here?
We have a great culture, and everyone supports each other.

Thoughts on the future

What do you think our future looks like as a team?
I think we are going to continue grow as a company. Not just staffing wise but adapting to change within each industry that we specialise in

What are you looking forward to in your current role?
To continue to develop my team

Getting to know you

What is your favourite food?
I mean most food is a solid 10/10 for me but Italian is my favourite food and dippy eggs and soldiers is my comfort food

If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be?
Hawaii has been on my bucket list for a long time now and I am lucky enough to say that my husband and myself will be travelling to Honolulu in September 2023 for our honeymoon

12 years with SER Ltd

Charity Night in support of Pendleside Hospice

Saturday 29th July

As part of our continual support to the Charity Pendleside Hospice, SER Ltd will be hosting “An Evening of Music & Fun”.

The event will take place on Saturday the 29^{th of} July 2023 and will be held at Accrington Stanley Football Club and their 1968 suite which holds more than 200 people.

The evening will start at 7pm and begin with local singer John Gallagher performing his unique covers of well known Country, Blues and Rock classics. Moving on there will be fun and games including a on going highest score darts competition, stand up bingo and of course the compulsory charity auction that will include some fantastic ideas that you can bid for.

Moving on will be pie and peas supper and finishing with Liverpool based band Chart Attack performing two sets of pop classics until Midnight.

100% of the proceeds will go to the wonderful charity that is Pendleside Hospice.

Tickets are priced at £25 each and available from SER Limited – info@serlimited.com / 01254 781300

SER are Hiring.

As the summer is rapidly approaching SER Ltd are looking to recruit their next “batch” of new recruits who are looking to join the World of recruitment.

We provide full training and support based over your initial 3months employment. Working with you daily to develop the skills required to be successful as a Recruitment Consultant.

Interested in hearing more? Our current recruitment job advert which is live on the job board sites such as www.cvlibrary.co.uk and www.totaljobs.co.uk is as follows:

Recruitment Consultant (Full Training Provided)

Blackburn, BB1 5QR

Hybrid Working Available / Potential flexible pro-rota working hours available.

Office hours 9am t0 5pm Monday to Thursday & 9am to 4pm Friday

£24,000 - £28,000 basic neg

OTE Year One £30,000 - £40,000

Package includes Monthly performance bonus, commission, 26 days holiday plus banks, pension, free parking, Work from home option 2 days a week, Team events.

SER Limited is a firm of specialist Recruitment Consultants who have been established since 2007 and current employ 25 people from their Blackburn offices.

Due to planned growth, they are now looking to recruit a further two people to train and support in order to give them the skills to be highly successful Recruitment Consultants. Ideally, they are looking for people who have held Sales Consultant or Sales Executives roles previously.

This position is a mixed bag of Account Management, Business Development, Interviewing, Field Client Visits and Administration; however, it is expected that a large part of the typical working day will be phone related working.

Main Duties will include:

• New Business Development
• Account Management
• Candidate sourcing
• Referencing
• General Administration duties associated with the recruitment process

Ideally you will have or hold:

• Previous sales exposure
• Fantastic communication skills both verbal and written
• Proactive approach to work and a willingness to make things happen
• Highly motivated to be successful
• Driven by targets and goals
• Have an outgoing personality

Interested in hearing more? Please either apply by sending a copy of your current CV or alternatively call SER Ltd on the listed number and ask for Gary Bentley.

Living the dream since 2021

Experience

I did work in recruitment before I joined SER Ltd, but for more temp roles like warehouse, admin, picker packer type of jobs.

I currently recruit in the Fire & Security industry and I absolutely love it!

What I enjoy most: People I work with!! I cry laughing every single day!!

Favourite Industry Fact:

Movie theaters were some of the first establishments to have air conditioning as a strategy to get more people to go to the movies. It worked handsomely, and this is why we have the term "summer blockbuster

Biggest Wish:

To marry Jesse Lingard xxxxx Or to play for England Netball Team

Case Study for Watertrain Ltd
The water industry is rapidly growing and as such good people with the right experience are in high demand.

CASE STUDY

RECRUITMENT SERVICES TO THE WATER SECTOR

BACKGROUND

Watertrain is the predominant provider of high quality technical training and qualification programmes to the water sector. The water specific knowledge and competency qualifications delivered by Watertrain are accredited by CABWI, a nationally recognised awarding body. Watertrain sees its role as helping employers find effective solutions to immediate training needs and longer term staff development.

SER LTD OPERATING SECTORS

Asbestos Building Controls
Building Services Electronics
Environmental Fire & Security
Hydraulics Lighting
Audio Visual Manufacturing
Measurement Telecoms
Refrigeration Renewables
Waste Management Utilities

CHALLENGES

Watertrain was in need of a additional Tutors/Assessors to provide syllabuses on Water Treatment, Wastewater Treatment and Network Distribution. Due to the working environmental of this industry we found finding applicants with the ability and willingness to carry out this role very difficult to find until we approached Becky Goodwin from SER Limited.

THE KEY POINTS

Tutors/Assessor were required
Water/Wastewater, Network Distribution background
The ability to deliver industry recognised qualifications

CURRENT SITUATION

Watertrain Ltd found that they were dealing with numerous recruitment agencies from across the UK and further supported this via local press advertisements and the occasional job board.
This approach was proving to be:
Time consuming
Expensive
Difficult to control
Producing numerous duplicate applications and fee claims
Ineffective in sourcing high quality Tutors/Assessors

ACTIONS

SER Ltd was known to Watertrain Ltd and it was decided to appoint SER Ltd as the preferred recruitment consultancy to Watertrain Ltd with the view of addressing the above issues.

ACTIONS/SOLUTIONS

SER Ltd appointed an Account Manager to Watertrain Ltd and then arranged a further site visit to understand the company's operations, approach and culture. It was important that SER understood what skills the Tutors/Assessors would require and what they would be required to do on a day to day, week to week basis. SER planned to focus on staff retention ensuring that a strong candidate fit was achieved and therefore removing the continual "urgent" need to recruit and replacing it with a more selective approach which would mean a further increase in the skills level.

REASONING

The thought process behind this was based on the following factors:
SER Ltd being specialist recruiters to the engineering market
Level of knowledge and understanding of the Water sector in the UK
In-house candidate database
Recruitment vetting process
Trust and open approach

RESULTS

Hazel Sarath – Quality Assurance Manager
Watertrain have found SER very professional in approach with a high standard of customer service, which is consistent in approach. This is excelled by a front facing approach- where sales executives undertake an initial recruitment needs analyses prior to recruitment taking place. We found this valuable as a 'get to know you' tool, which has led to the most suitable candidates being forwarded. We have successfully secured 3 full-time permanent employee- who not only have the right technical experience, but the right personalities to fit into a small team. I have found working with SER seamless and like the positive energy that they generate over the phone and during face- face meetings.

Watertrain has no hesitations in recommending SER as a recruitment agency and will continue to use them as the preferred choice of recruiters in the future.

Welcome

SER Ltd would like to welcome four new recruiters to the team.

Roger Taj
Kym Barton
Sarah Bailey & Lauren Colman

Roger comes with a wealth of business management experience and will be responsible for the continuing recruitment that we provide within the HVAC Sales sector. Replacing Chris Ragnal who has decided to join one of our Clients JCI as part of their continuing focus on in-house recruitment. Roger will be tasked with continuing to build long term business relationships with our every growing Client base within the HVAC sector while bringing a proactive active to sourcing outstanding talent within the sales environment.

Kym joins us as a junior recruiter and will be focused on the Asbestos sector. Mainly responsible for sourcing Asbestos Surveyors, Analysts and Lab Techs.

Sarah Bailey joins SER Ltd from previous roles within Business Development and is tasked with driving forward our recruitment services within the telecommunications market. Mainly focusing on Sales and Tech roles throughout the UK.

Lauren is our newest member to join the team. Joining as a junior recruiter, she will be working along side Dan Walton in the FMCG Machinery.

Should you wish to contact any of our three new recruits feel free to call SER Ltd on 01254 781 300

Specialists within Engineering Recruitment

It is illegal to employ someone that does not have the right to work in the th UK, under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. New sanctions have been introduced with the Immigration Act 2016. If an employer employs someone they know or have reasonable cause to believe is working illegally, the employer can face a custodial sentence of up to 5 years or an unlimited fine..
Do not rely on race, ethnicity, accent or appearance to determine whether you should complete checks. To avoid breaching the Equality Act 2010, there must be a consistent approach across the board.

In the United Kingdom all employers are required by law to check their employees have the right to work in the UK. The British government website states that "You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them."

A complete guide to the combination of documents accepted as right-to-work documents and how to check them can be found on the .gov website. The correct document combinations depend on the potential employee themselves, but include these documents:
• Passport
• Biometric Residence Permit
• National Identity Card
• Full Birth Certificate
• Certificate of Naturalisation
• Passport with valid Visa inside

'As the Acceptable right to work documents document states it is the employer's responsibility to check the validity of the documents presented and "you must be in the physical possession of the original document or documents"

Find out if a potential employee has the right to work in the UK and what documents employers should check.
https://www.gov.uk/legal-right-work-uk
There will be no change to the rights and status of EU nationals living in the UK, nor UK nationals living in the EU, while the UK remains in the EU.
Gov.uk has plenty of information, links and a checklist that explains the types of documents that are acceptable for checking an employee's right to work and how long the check is valid for.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checklist

You may need to ask the Home Office to check an employee's or potential employee's immigration status if:
• they can't show you their documents, eg they have an outstanding appeal or application with the Home Office
• they have an Application Registration Card
• they have a Certificate of Application
You should see if they can work legally in the UK before asking for a check.

At SER we are preparing for the upcoming changes which are due to happen when GDPR is introduced, 25th May 2018.
EU Parliament & Council approved the GDPR on the 14th April 2016 and will be enforced 25th May 2018. Non-compliant companies will be subject to heavy fines of either 4% global annual turnover or twenty million euros

It has been introduced to give everybody more control over how their personal information is processed. We now have to have permission to use personal information and this can be removed at any time by a candidate request.

 Consent will be one of the lawful grounds for data processing.
A GDPR-compliant data sharing agreement will be used when sharing information with a third party such as umbrella companies.
It will affect EU based candidates, companies collecting data from EU candidates, organisations collecting or processing personal data of EU candidates. This includes our own staff, candidates for both temp & perm positions, clients and even potential clients.

'Personal data is any information (hard copies and soft copies) relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, public or professional life. It can be anything from a name, address, medical information, phone number, posts on social media'. Personal data that is hidden via pseudonymisation may also be included, depending on whether it can be identified to a candidate. Pseudonymization is a procedure by which the most identifying fields within a data record are replaced by one or more artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms.

Personal data also includes all data that can be related to an individual, who can be identified by the information – either directly or in-directly.
It could also include piles of loose paper hanging around the office, which holds information that can be easily accessed.

BREXIT WILL NOT AFFECT ITS INTRODUCTION INTO THE UK
In preparation for the change we will be attending workshops and running in house training for all employees, to ensure that we are all ready for these changes.

Here at SER we value our staff and their ongoing development. We believe this sets us apart from other recruitment companies

As well as running regular in house training programs, to keep our recruiters up to speed with what our clients and candidates want and expect from us. We also promote and fund out of office education, training and personal development

John-Paul, Office Manager at SER, has recently completed ILM Level 3 certificate in Leadership & Management, which involves several modules including "innovation & change in an organisation" and "how to lead effective meetings"

Leah from our accounts department has also recently completed Foundation Certificate in Accounting with Distinction and is now moving forward, onto Advanced Diploma in Accounting at Blackburn University. This will give her a greater understanding of her role within SER and enable her to be able to deal with client and candidate enquiries, in an efficient and competent way

 These and future courses help our staff to continue their on going personal development and promotes confidence and knowledge within their sectors