Christmas working hours
We’re working very hard to be organised and ensure that everyone is paid over the Christmas break.
We’ll be asking very nicely for timesheets on Thursday 21st or Friday 22nd December 10.00am latest. Please help us to help you by getting them sent in early at this busy time of year.
Our offices will be closed from lunchtime on Friday 22nd until 0900 on Tuesday 2nd January. We can be contacted on 01453 755330 for emergencies throughout this period.
Handling the recruitment process well
Fresh from our newsletter this month.
‘Listen to me – it’s not about the pay’ – latest blog with @firstbaseemploy first-base.co.uk/blog/
Listen to me – it’s not about the pay
A business contact (let’s call him Matt) recently shared a recruitment experience with us that speaks volumes about the chasm that sometimes exists between candidates and employers. Matt received a call from a Head of HR after turning down a job offer. The call went like this:
HR: I’m calling as we are surprised you turned down our job offer.
Matt: Thanks you for the offer but I felt I couldn’t accept.
HR: But the job paid £10,000pa more than you currently earn, did you get a counter offer to stay where you are?
Matt: No I didn’t, I’m staying with the company at the same salary. It’s not about money, as I explained during my interviews.
HR: Then I don’t understand. After we invested in a written assessment, two telephone interviews, two face to face interviews and call with the CEO, I would have thought an offer of a position paying £10,000 more was an easy decision.
Matt: As I’ve said a few times, it’s not about the money.
HR: I don’t understand.
Matt: The recruitment process you invested in took over six weeks. One of the telephone interviews was put back twice and when I turned up on time for the second interview I was kept waiting for over 30 minutes. I was told to expect to find out about an offer within 5 days but heard nothing for another two weeks when I got the call to speak with your CEO. The job offer came another week later.
Apparently the head of HR went on to explain that the CEO was very busy and they had to take time to be ‘sure’ Matt was the right person. From Matt’s point of view the head of HR was just digging bigger holes.
Some employers still fail to understand that candidates have choices and that the way they are treated throughout the recruitment process says lots about what a company might be like to work for. Lack of respect, a drawn out time consuming process and slow decision making are cited over and over again as reasons why a good candidate turns down a job offer.
It seems that often it’s the employer who is hung up about pay, when the potential employee is looking at the whole employment package.
Tricia Hay and David Tovey
Your interview checklist!
It still surprises me how often candidates turn up for an interview having done too little preparation. We hear time and time again from employers that a key reason one candidate has been selected over another is the amount of preparation the successful person did before interview.
Candidates who do their research are like a breath of fresh air to an interviewer. It can help you prepare for the inevitable part of the process when the interviewer says “Have you got any questions for me”. It also helps to reduce nerves when you do your homework!
It doesn’t take long to do research and you can take any note you make into the interview with you to use as a crib sheet. You can use the checklist below to guide you.
Interview checklist:
• Check the employers web site and history
• Visit their social media platforms
• Check their location online and make sure you know how to get there
• Look up the people you are meeting on LinkedIn
• Read their profiles and study their picture to help you recognise them
• Take extra copies of your CV
• Make sure you have a note pad and pen
• Take the research notes with you!
• Have some cash for parking if you are going by car
• Make sure your phone is on silent
• Check the weather and take an umbrella if you might need it
• Take your best and most positive attitude!
Notes to make pre interview:
Why you are excited about the job? Write down specific things you like about the company and the job you appiled for.
Why you believe you would be great for this job? What are the key skills and knowledge that you could bring to the ‘must have’ requirements of the role?
Specific achievements to talk about. Measurable personal achievements and projects that demonstrate the value you can bring to the company.
Concerns to be handled. Anything that the interviewer might ask about your background and experience that might be a bit difficult to answer.
After the interview make a note of:
What you like most about the company and role
Why you think you would be good in the role
Any clarification needed?
Preparation reduces nerves and will impress the interviewer. What’s not to like about that?
Tricia Hay. MD First Base
FREE SEMINAR ON HOW TO NAVIGATE THE SHORTAGE OF TALENT
20 years in recruitment has taught us a lot !
We are inviting our clients and local employers as special guests to join us and celebrate our 20th anniversary at this free to attend, inspiring, practical and informative seminar designed to help you attract the best people into your business.
In an economy with high employment it is tougher than ever to find the people that employers need. Candidates are no longer desperate to find employment; they are increasingly more discerning even about the employers they want to be put forward to.
• Find out what really attracts the best people
• Learn about the impact of social media
• Understand how to manage your employer brand
• Three expert speakers
• Panel discussion
There will be opportunites to network, with a buffet and bar following the seminar.
Over the past 20 years we have seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly of recruitment practice and in this seminar we will share our experience of the organizations that are getting it consistently right.
JOIN US FOR THIS FREE SEMINAR FREE OF CHARGE
Happy Friday from the team at First Base
Have a great weekend; be sure to relax and spend some quality time with loved ones.
Thank you for another excellent week.
Five tips that will help you find the best talent
It’s a buyers market
A client recently described the current recruiting environment as a ‘buyers’ market. We understand the sentiment – candiates are no longer desperate for a job, they are discerning about which jobs they will apply for.
It’s not easy finding the right candidates at times of high employment and the cost of taking on the wrong person can be high – potentially many thousands of pounds invested in recruitment, on boarding, training plus the hidden consequential costs of unhappy colleagues and customers (not to mention the cost of re-recruitment).
Here are our five tips for staying ahead of the curve at a time when employment rates are high and candidates are in the driving seat.
1. Be creative
More and more of the best employers are telling us that they will find or adapt roles for the best talent. When they recognise that a candidate has the qualities they need, they are prepared to invest in ‘technical’ training to ensure they don’t miss out on the opportunity to bring in people that can make a long term contribution to the goals of the business.
2. Be decisive
In a ‘buyers’ market, more than ever you have to be prepared to take action and avoid losing candidates because of slow follow up. Good candidates have choices and lack of timely follow up can suggest indifference and discourtesy. It is the number one frustration candidates have with employers that is shared on social media. Don’t become a bad news story!
3. Communicate your employer brand
Use attractive language that highlights the benefits and rewards of working in your organisation. Instead of just listing 15 things that candidates must have in order to apply, take the opportunity to hook candidates and convince them that they ‘have’ to work for you. Communicate positive messages on social media and make sure the ‘work for us’ pages on your web site a kept up to date and inspire potential employees.
4. It’s not always about ‘fit’
If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got. Sometimes you need to bring in people who will challenge the existing culture and bring new ideas. Don’t automatically dismiss good people because they might not ‘fit in’ – they might just bring the energy you need to move your business to the next level.
5. Apply some TLC
Make your recruitment process candidate friendly by using some TLC – Thinking Like a Candidate. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential employee and ask yourself if your recruitment process is candidate friendly or if it there just to make your life easier. Remember that every person that goes through your recruitment process, whether you take them on or not, has the potential to share their experience far and wide. Treat candidates as, hopefully, you treat your best customers.
Recruiting the right people has never been easy and it’s even more difficult right now. Investing more effort in these five tips should help.
Tricia Hay and David Tovey
Want help with how to attract the best candidates? Contact tricia.hay@first-base.co.uk
Why should I work for you?
Establishing your Employer Brand
By Tricia Hay and David Tovey
The ability to attract and retain the best talent in the market is key for any organisation, but never more so than in highly competitive sectors where niche skill sets are in high demand.
Right now there is fierce competition for the best ‘talent’, employment levels are high and candidates are ever more discerning about which employers they will consider joining.
What is an employer brand?
“Employer brand is what people say about your reputation as employer when you are not in the room”
Employer brand refers to the perceptions that key stakeholders, and specifically current and potential employees, have of your company, business or organisation. It is about how they view the company; from how you conduct yourselves in the market, through to what they think it would be like to work for you. An effective employer brand presents your organisation as a good employer and a great place to work and can, as a result, help with recruitment, retention and generally affect market perception of your company.
A clear employer brand offers significant benefits to an organisation. It can significantly improve job application rates and put your company and provide a wide pool of top candidates to choose from. In tight recruitment markets, where competition for the best talent is fierce, it can also help keep an organisation top of mind, make your company stand out in a crowded market and provide compelling reasons to join your company rather than going elsewhere.
It’s about retention too
In organisations where values, culture and desired behaviours have been deeply embedded across the organisation, employers are more likely to benefit from an increased level of engagement from employees. Improved employee engagement and motivation has a well-established link shown to greater productivity and higher retention rates; all of which contribute to retaining skills and knowledge, and ultimately improving bottom line results.
Increased engagement with a brand also helps to build employee loyalty, thus reducing the risk of losing your best people to competitors, and avoiding the financial implications of recruiting and on-boarding their replacements.
With such significant benefits it isn’t surprising that employers across all sectors and of all sizes are investing in developing and more effectively communicating their employer brand.
Establishing your brand
Questions to consider when establishing your employer brand include:
- The current perception of working for your organisation (internally and externally) and how this affects your ability to recruit the people you need.
- The roles critical to your future success and what you need to do to attract the best candidates.
- The most attractive attributes of the organisation to existing and potential employees.
When you have a clear understanding of the above you can start to build a picture of what reputation you want to communicate as an employer and, even more importantly, ensure that this is fully embedded into the culture of the business.
If you would like to know more about how First-Base can help you develop your employer brand contact tricia.hay@first-base.co.uk
**Work available**
We are actively recruiting for job roles that we are struggling to fill; finance admin, FLT drivers, reliable packers and warehouse operatives as well as (as always) engineering staff with the following skills:
CNC Programmers (milling and turning), Setters and Operators – familiarity with precision engineering preferred – apprentice trained ideally
Welders (MIG and TIG), Fabricators, Mechanical Fitters
Electronic Assemblers with strong soldering skills
Quality Engineers/Inspectors
Building Designers (with working knowledge of Revit)
Forklift Truck drivers (counterbalance & reach)
If you know of anyone please take advantage of our refer a friend scheme.
Telephone 01453 755330 for more info on these roles and many more.
https://first-base.co.uk/terms-conditions/
Team First Base
With combined experience of over 40 years in the Engineering and Manufacturing sector our team recruits for many of the leading Engineering and Manufacturing employers in the region and are specialists at finding those hard to find skills.
From Warehouse to Assembly Line and Production, Andy, Magda and Ian are experts with a reputation for delivering a first class service for clients and candidates.