Is Your Team Ready for the New Year? Here’s How We Can Help You Build It
As the New Year approaches, it’s a perfect time to reflect, strategise, and prepare for the opportunities ahead. One key question to ask yourself is: Is my team ready to hit the ground running in January? If your answer is anything less than a confident “yes,” we’re here to help.
Why Now Is the Time to Act
The start of the year often brings fresh challenges and ambitious goals, making it essential to have the right people in the right roles. Whether you’re looking to fill skill gaps, expand your team, or enhance performance, starting early ensures you’re fully prepared when business ramps up.
Recruitment can be a time-consuming process, but with the right partner, you can navigate it efficiently and effectively. By planning ahead, you’ll avoid the scramble of last-minute hires and set your business up for a successful year.
How We Can Support You
At First Base Employment we specialise in connecting businesses with exceptional talent. Here’s how we can help you:
- Strategic Workforce Planning
Our team works closely with you to understand your business goals and identify your workforce needs. Whether it’s temporary staff to cover a seasonal peak or permanent hires to support long-term growth, we’ve got you covered.
- Access to Top Talent
With an extensive network of skilled professionals across various industries, we can quickly find candidates who are not only qualified but also a great fit for your company culture.
- Streamlined Recruitment Process
From drafting job descriptions to screening candidates and arranging interviews, we handle the heavy lifting. This allows you to focus on running your business while we find the talent you need.
- Tailored Solutions
No two businesses are the same, which is why we offer bespoke recruitment strategies. Whether you need a single hire or an entire team, we’ll craft a solution that aligns with your unique needs.
- Post-Hire Support
Our support doesn’t end once the candidate starts. We offer onboarding assistance and check-ins to ensure a smooth transition and long-term success.
Start the Year Strong
Imagine starting the New Year with a team that’s motivated, skilled, and ready to achieve your business goals. By partnering with us, you’ll gain a recruitment ally dedicated to your success.
Don’t let staffing challenges hold you back in 2025. Contact us today to discuss your hiring needs and discover how we can help you build a stronger, more resilient team.
Why Recruitment Agencies Are the Key to Unlocking Hard-to-Fill Roles and Building High-Performing Teams
Recruiting top talent can be a complex and time-consuming process, especially when it comes to specialised, senior, or niche positions. Add the challenge of assembling an entirely new team to meet peaks in production, and the task becomes even more daunting. Finding candidates who meet your specific requirements while aligning with your company culture requires more than a job posting—it demands expertise, resources, and a deep understanding of the talent market.
This is where recruitment agencies come in as your strategic partner. Here’s how they can transform your hiring process, not just for individual hard-to-fill roles but also for scaling up quickly with a new team.
1. Access to Hidden Talent Pools
Recruitment agencies leverage their extensive networks, built over years, to connect you with a wide range of candidates—including passive talent who aren’t actively job hunting but are open to the right opportunity. These hidden talent pools often remain out of reach through traditional hiring methods like job boards.
Example: Need an entire team of experienced production specialists to meet a surge in demand? A recruitment agency can quickly identify and connect you with skilled professionals, ensuring you’re ready to hit production targets.
2. Industry Expertise and Market Insights
Agencies specialise in understanding industry trends and market dynamics. They know which skills are in demand, what competitors are offering, and how to position your roles to attract the best talent. Their insights are invaluable for crafting competitive job descriptions and hiring strategies.
Pro Tip: An agency can help refine your hiring criteria, balancing market realities with your needs, to expand the candidate pool without sacrificing quality.
3. Efficient Screening and Selection
Sorting through resumes and conducting preliminary interviews can drain internal resources. Recruitment agencies handle this for you, applying predefined screening processes to evaluate qualifications, soft skills, and cultural fit. Only the most qualified candidates make it to your shortlist.
Benefit: This saves your HR team valuable time, allowing them to focus on high-impact activities like interviewing top candidates.
4. Speed and Scalability
When time is of the essence—whether for an urgent hire or a sudden need to scale up a team—agencies deliver. Their expertise and established networks enable them to move quickly, presenting qualified candidates in a fraction of the time it might take an in-house team.
Fact: According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), filling specialised roles can take up to 50% longer without external support. Recruitment agencies can cut this timeline significantly.
5. Minimising Hiring Risks
Every hire carries inherent risks, from mismatched expectations to early resignations. Many agencies offer guarantees, such as replacing a candidate if they leave within a specified period, reducing your exposure to hiring risks.
Tip: Look for agencies that provide post-placement support to ensure a seamless onboarding experience and long-term success for both parties.
6. Streamlined Team Building for Peak Production
When your business faces a production surge, recruiting multiple skilled professionals quickly is critical. Agencies excel at assembling cohesive teams, sourcing individuals whose skills and personalities complement each other and align with your company culture.
Example: From engineers to supervisors, a recruitment agency can help you staff an entire production line or project team, enabling you to meet demand spikes with confidence.
7. Expert Negotiation and Offer Management
Navigating salary expectations and benefits negotiations can be tricky. Recruitment professionals bridge the gap between your organization and the candidate, facilitating transparent, productive discussions and minimizing the chances of rejected offers.
Benefit: Their experience ensures a smooth process, helping you secure the talent you need without delays or miscommunication.
Recruitment agencies are more than just hiring partners—they are enablers of growth and efficiency. Whether you’re filling a hard-to-recruit position or building an entire team to tackle a new project, their expertise, industry connections, and streamlined processes make them indispensable.
Ready to find the right candidates—or your next high-performing team? Partner with First Base Employment today and gain access to the hidden talent pool that can propel your business forward.
The Importance of Being Authentic in our Personal and Professional Lives
In a world where we often seek approval from others, being authentic is key to thriving both personally and at work. Authenticity means staying true to who we are—our values, beliefs, and personality. This genuine approach brings many benefits, helping us build better relationships, find job satisfaction, and feel happier overall. Here’s why being authentic is so important to us here at First Base:
Authenticity at Work
- Building Trust: Being authentic at work helps build trust. When colleagues see you as genuine, they are more likely to trust and respect you. This trust is essential for teamwork and collaboration. When you recognise you don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not, it’s so powerful.
- Greater Job Satisfaction: Aligning your job with your core values and passions leads to higher job satisfaction. When you are true to yourself at work, you feel more engaged and fulfilled, which boosts productivity and job performance.
- Better Resilience (another of our core values): Authentic people are more resilient because their self-worth comes from within, not from others’ approval. This inner strength helps them handle work challenges better, seeing setbacks as opportunities to grow.
- Encouraging Creativity: Authenticity allows for the free expression of ideas. When you are not afraid to share your true thoughts, creativity thrives. This openness at work leads to innovative ideas and solutions.
Authenticity in Personal Life
- Genuine Relationships: Authenticity is key to forming deep, meaningful relationships. By being yourself, you attract people who appreciate you for who you are, leading to more genuine and fulfilling connections with friends, family, and partners.
- Personal Growth: Embracing authenticity is a journey of self-discovery. Recognising and accepting your strengths and weaknesses promotes self-awareness and personal growth, which is essential for mental and emotional well-being.
- Living with Purpose: When your actions match your values and passions, you live a more purposeful life.
- Emotional Freedom: Authenticity frees you from the pressure of pretending to be someone you’re not. This emotional freedom allows you to express your true thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment, leading to a calmer existence.
Connecting Personal and Professional Authenticity
The benefits of being authentic in your personal life naturally carry over to your professional life, creating a consistent and genuine approach in all areas. When you are true to yourself in your personal life, you bring that same authenticity to work, ensuring a balanced and integrated life.
Conclusion
Being authentic is more than just a nice quality – it’s a powerful state that can improve both your personal and professional life. By being true to yourself, you build trust, form deeper relationships, and achieve greater fulfilment.
How to prepare questions for a competency based interview
Interviews are crucial in selecting the right candidate for any job, and the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) has proven to be effective in evaluating candidates’ competencies. This blog will guide you through the process of composing interview questions based on the STAR method to ensure you extract valuable insights from your candidates*
*This method of questioning allows those without work-related experience to shine, by highlighting how they have approached situations in differing circumstances.
Understanding the STAR Method
The STAR method helps candidates structure their responses by focusing on:
- Situation: The context within which they performed a task or faced a challenge
- Task: The specific responsibility they had in that situation
- Action: The steps they took to address the task or challenge
- Result: The outcome of their actions, including what they accomplished and what they learned
Composing STAR-Based Interview Questions
Identify Core Competencies
Start by pinpointing the key skills and behaviours necessary for the role. These might include problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, communication, adaptability, and others relevant to the position.
Frame Your Questions
Structure your questions to elicit responses that cover the STAR components. For example, if you want to assess problem-solving skills, you might ask:
“Can you describe a time when you faced a significant problem at work? What was the situation, and how did you handle it?”
Encourage Detailed Responses
Ensure your questions prompt candidates to provide detailed, specific answers. General or vague questions might not yield the depth of information you need. Instead of asking, “Do you work well in a team?” try: “Tell me about a time when you had to collaborate with others on a project. What was your role, and what was the outcome?”
Probe for Depth
Follow up on initial responses to dig deeper into the candidate’s thought process and actions. If a candidate mentions a successful project, you might ask: “What specific actions did you take to ensure the project was successful? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?”
Example STAR-Based Questions
To help you get started, here are some examples of STAR-based interview questions for different competencies:
Problem-Solving
“Describe a situation where you had to solve a complex problem. What steps did you take to resolve it, and what was the result?”
Leadership
“Tell me about a time when you led a team through a challenging project. What was your approach, and how did you ensure a successful outcome?”
Communication
“Can you give an example of a time when you had to explain a difficult concept to a non-expert? How did you approach it, and what was the result?”
Adaptability
“Describe a situation where you had to adapt to a significant change at work. What actions did you take, and what was the outcome?”
How to plan for a successful competency-based interview
Prepare Thoroughly
Review the job description and align your questions with the role’s requirements. Tailoring your questions to the specific context of the job will yield more relevant insights.
Create a Comfortable Environment
Encourage candidates to share detailed stories by creating a supportive and open interview atmosphere. This can help reduce anxiety and lead to more genuine responses.
Take Notes
Document the key points of each candidate’s responses, focusing on the Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This will help you compare candidates effectively after the interviews.
Evaluate Consistently
Consider use a standardised evaluation form to assess each candidate’s responses. This ensures fairness and consistency in your hiring process.
The STAR method is a powerful tool for extracting meaningful information from candidates, allowing you to assess their suitability for the role comprehensively. By composing well-structured, competency-based questions and encouraging detailed responses, you can make more informed hiring decisions. Remember to prepare thoroughly, create a comfortable interview environment, and evaluate consistently to get the most out of your STAR-based interviews.
If you’d like further information on preparing for an interview please son’t hesitate to contact us on 01453 755330.
How to Identify an Excellent CV
When we see an excellent (and relevant) CV it smacks us in the face and we are motivated to meet the candidate quick smart. Sometimes we can overlook poor spelling and the lack of identifiable experience*, in lieu of the skills needed.
A 100% match in the skills we are looking for is often the utopia, however, there are also other traits we may need to establish to distinguish whether a further conversation or an interview would be the next step. Read below to delve further into what a great candidate cv looks like and how to ascertain what your next move should be.
A strong CV will include contact details, a succinct personal profile, the candidate’s employment history in chronological order, a list of relevant skills, and their qualifications; education, and training plus an idea of their interests outside of work.
Part of the process when reviewing CVs is giving yourself time to get underneath the skin of the cv and look to see if the reasons behind a candidate’s decision to leave their present position (and what they’re looking for next) is clear.
Reading between the lines to understand the candidates’ potential, their ability to grow, and how well they’d fit into your company culture is just as important as the skillset being offered.
A helpful checklist when reviewing cv’s initially is:
- Is their personal profile and work history relevant to the job role you’re offering?
- Is their spelling and grammar up to scratch, will it align with the skills needed for the job role?
- Have they included contact details and used spell check?
- Are any gaps in employment explained?
A deeper delve might be the overall impression* you can glean from the cv:
- Does their cv showcase a positive attitude to learning and self-development?
- Are they open to continuing to learn / be coached?
- Do they have an optimistic outlook generally (does the cv highlight a can-do attitude)?
- Do the individuals outside interests show a commitment to teamwork (if this is important)?
- Does the cv provide any hints on their work ethic?
- Does the individual have the right set up to work based from home if necessary?
In order to widen the talent pool, it’s important in today’s market to delve deeper. If the skills you’re recruiting for are not 100% apparent, but the right attitude is jumping out of the page at you, it just might be that this is your person.
If you need recruitment support, get in touch with us today! You can contact us via email, phone, or using the chat feature on our website.
*Identifying the right individual starts with a clearly defined job and person spec.
What are the benefits of using our Industry Expertise?
At Team First Base, one of our core values is that of Industry Expertise, but what does that mean for the people we work with?
We took a deep dive into what our industry expertise means to our clients across each of the sectors we offer.
- We have well-established networks and access to a specialised talent pool within our respective industries.
- We have connections with passive candidates who may not be actively searching for new opportunities but possess the skills and experience sought by organisations. This access allows us to source highly qualified candidates that may not be readily available through traditional channels.
- We can streamline the hiring process and save valuable time for organisations. Having a clear understanding of the required skill sets and qualifications enables us to efficiently screen and shortlist candidates. The industry knowledge we have gained from over 25 years in business, also helps in conducting targeted searches, reducing the time spent on sourcing and screening unqualified candidates.
- We stay up-to-date with market trends, including changes in talent supply and demand, emerging skill sets, and remuneration benchmarks. We provide organisations with valuable insights into the current landscape, helping them make informed decisions regarding talent acquisition strategies, salary offers, and competitive positioning.
- The team at First Base possess specialised knowledge and expertise in their respective fields. They are familiar with industry-specific recruitment best practices, including sourcing strategies, candidate assessment methods, and interview techniques. Leveraging this niche expertise, we can guide organisations in optimising their recruitment processes and ensuring a higher quality of candidate selection.
- We can enhance your business branding and reputation. By working with us in partnership, we’ll support you in attracting top talent and building a positive experience. This can result in higher candidate engagement, increased employee retention, and improved perception among industry peers.
- While there is a cost associated with engaging us, leveraging our industry expertise can result in cost savings in the long run. Efficient and effective candidate selection reduces the risk of hiring mistakes and turnover, which can be costly.
In summary, we offer the advantages of deep industry knowledge, access to specialised talent pools, efficiency and time savings, market insights, niche expertise and best practices, enhanced employer branding, and potential cost savings. These benefits can contribute to successful and targeted hiring, resulting in better-quality candidates and improved organisational outcomes.
If you would like to discuss how we can help, don’t hesitate to contact us on 01453 755330, info@first-base.co.uk or click here. Anything you discuss with us is completely confidential and there is no obligation to use our services.
5 Tips to Improve Your Recruitment Process
You’ve come to the conclusion that you need to review your recruitment process. You’re engaging candidates but they don’t go the full distance – some drop out prior to the interview whilst others interview but don’t accept the job you’re offering.
5. It doesn’t stop there
Communication & Well-Being for Furloughed staff
This time last year I certainly did not envisage 2020 playing out the way it did for thousands of companies and for many, the full extent of the pandemic came as a complete (and prolonged) shock. Our first concern was, of course, the spread of the virus and looking after our people’s health. For many of us, this has now settled down as we know our teams are safe, staying inside and are successfully adapting to remote working life. Now that we are in 2021, our understanding of the virus has somewhat changed and the vaccine provides hope that we will return to some form of normality.
Most organisations we have spoken have had to make decisions over the last year which they could not have foreseen. Many have utilised this time to review their forecasts, look at streamlining where possible and putting plans in place to grow, as we begin to return to some form of normality.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting some helpful tips to continue to help you through this challenging time.
Communication & Well-Being for Furloughed staff
To help business through the pandemic the Government created the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which allows employers to Furlough their staff in return for 80% of peoples wages*, up to a maximum of £2,500 and was further extended until the end of April 2021.
If you currently have staff on Furlough, one of the best ways to retain your employees is to continue to communicate and check in on them from a well bring perspective. Check-in and remind them that you are available for support and advice if they ever require it. You could provide them with well-being tips such as healthy eating, exercising regularly and the importance of keeping in touch with friends and family. You could also direct employees to external sources of support such as Charity Mind, the Mental Health UK Website Headspace and Future Learn.
We also have some great blogs on our website that may help around identifying and managing stress.
Communicating with your staff during Furlough will help you identify any issues that they may be facing and help them through this difficult time. A good communication strategy will also minimise the risk of losing members of your team due to any perceived lack of engagement. Surprisingly, we have continued to see a high degree of movement in the market as people continue to look for alternative employment.
David Thomason, Hospitality Business Manager
*Now excluding NI and AE contributions.
How to Stop Candidates Dropping out of the Hiring Process
Have you ever had someone back out of a job offer?
Often, you may not discover that your new recruit has dropped out of the hiring process until a couple of weeks before their start date or worse, on their first day, when they just don’t turn up! This can cause all sorts of issues including the time and resources spent on the interview process, discussions with teams surrounding a plan for onboarding and the purchase of tech or a vehicle.
Most candidates will have a notice period and therefore may have a gap of a month or more, between accepting a job offer and their first day in the role. For more senior roles, a realistic notice period could be up to three months.
Keeping in touch with your new recruit is key to ensuing your candidate doesn’t drop out of the recruitment process. Regular communication between making an offer and their start date is often overlooked, but this key strategy can prevent any disappointing news in the future and beginning the process again. We call this maintaining the motivation to move – this can quickly diminish if comms are stopped altogether.
A lot can happen in a month. Think about how quickly things moved in 2020!
People change their minds and sometimes they are just too nervous to let you know. As a recruitment agency we are now finding an increasing trend in candidates declining offers, that they had previously accepted. Applicants may be at risk of redundancy and therefore panicking about both their financial situation. This is resulting in job seekers making quick decisions to accept an offer that may not actually be the right fit for them. An increasing number are being counter offered by their current employer as a result of changes happening fast, or backing out of a role if they accept a better offer.
Working with a good recruitment agency can help prevent candidates dropping out between the offer and start date as, ultimately, good recruiters want to find you the right candidate from the get go – they don’t want to be looking for a replacement a few weeks down the line.
Your recruiter will qualify applicants in a series of communications over time. I recently had an experience where, having spoken to a candidate several times, alarm bells started to ring. I’ve been doing this a long time and my gut instinct is spot on. I spoke to my client to raise my concerns and together, we decided on a course of action which included agreeing on a timescale and keeping other candidates close by should we need them. As it turned out the candidate, as predicted, dropped out and took another job role where, perhaps, no such diligence was applied. We dodged a bullet.
By maintaining contact you really can ascertain any problems early on and protect your business from being on the back foot.
I suggest keeping in touch at least once a week; this could be a courtesy email to check they have received their contract and see if they have any questions, or a video call to explain what their first day will be like. Let’s face it, their first day probably isn’t going to be the same as it would have been this time last year and this will open up a conversation to cover off any concerns or questions. If you don’t receive a response don’t worry initially, however, make sure you follow up and have a plan B just in case.
Once your job offer is accepted don’t just sit back and wait. From my experience, communication with your new recruit, right up to their first day is hugely important.
Lilly Chappell, recruiting into the office environment at all levels.
Why use a recruitment agency? The benefits
“Why do I need to use a recruitment agency when there are plenty of people looking for work?”
It’s a fair question and one that some employers are probably thinking. Even those who have done well throughout the pandemic might be thinking it’s now time to review their recruitment strategy.
It might be true that it’s easy right now to place an ad and get hundreds of applications within a few hours, but here’s why using a good recruitment agency can help you in this new world of continued restrictions and subsequent pressure on businesses.
What are the benefits of using a recruitment agency?
Save time (and possibly lower your blood pressure!)
Ok, so you might get hundreds of applications, but a huge proportion will be generic CV’s from people not right for the role you’ve advertised. It’s difficult enough in ‘normal’ times but the task is now an order of magnitude and hugely time-consuming. When you partner with a recruitment agency, they will make sure that you only have to deal with the candidates suitable for the role you’re looking to fill.
Get on with business
Recruiting the right people takes time and customers still want innovation and high service levels. Your time (rightly so) will be split in dealing with the pandemic and all the HR related issues surrounding this. Normal day to day business is hard enough without recruitment becoming a full-time job. An agency makes sure you only need to be involved in the decision making stage of the process.
Tap into your consultants’ network
Quite often the right person for the job isn’t actually looking for work right now. You might be surprised that agency’s still have daily contact with great people thinking of a career change but not actively applying for anything. Good consultants haven’t stopped networking and building their database. That means agencies can proactively recruit on an employers behalf, reducing the time and effort it takes to find the right candidates to interview – often within a few hours – and reduce the chances of a bad hire.
Manage your employer brand
For even the best employers, the pressure of recruiting can sometimes mean the recruitment experience for candidates is less than satisfactory. Easy and frequent social media access means that, even for the best-intentioned, a bad experience can be shared and widely commented on. Consultants recruit as a full-time job and make sure an employers reputation is protected and promoted.
Companies are still recruiting!
Undoubtedly, it is a tough time for a lot of companies and a lot of people. Never the less, many organisations are still hiring. Many companies are already planning ahead for better times and growth – and they haven’t stopped looking out for good talent.
When you partner with a good recruitment agency, you can not only gain access to the best people, but you can put yourself in pole position when it comes to hiring them, pandemic or no pandemic.
The team at First Base can help you recruit the right quality of people for your team and give you access to the right talent whilst at the same time helping reduce the stresses of these testing times.
If you’d like further info regarding placing a role with First Base click here.