As 2018 starts many of us will be looking across the year, contemplating growth plans and what manpower is needed. This is a great time to look at your graduate recruitment, plan apprenticeships and generally take stock of the best way for you to bring in new and fresh members to the team.
Managing director of Smart Resourcing Solutions (SRS), Sophie Milliken, is on hand to give Northern Insight readers some hints and tips on how to best do that. She currently works with many employers, including SME’s, charities and large corporates such as Marks and Spencer, on getting their early years admissions right.
“Being an employer is hard enough, without the head ache of getting the recruitment process and decisions wrong. This is particularly true in the early careers sector, where you can be looking for the wrong thing in the wrong way.
“Any graduate or apprenticeship opening seems to get inundated with applicants. So how can you know you are getting the right people through the right stages of assessment to employment point?
Being an employer is hard enough, without the head ache of getting the recruitment process and decisions wrong.
Sophie Milliken “The first point to look at is your system your application forms, assessment materials and interview processes. It is crucial to be asking the right questions and drawing the information you need to find the candidate ticking your boxes.
“It may be that you need a professional agency or consultant to design this for you. It is as important in the early careers search to ensure that there is a chance for personality to shine through on an application form at this stage that is so important, as often the rest of the job can be taught!
“Following the deadline for application you will no doubt have a whole raft of submissions to shift through to decide who to bring to assessment or interview. A great way to speed up this process is to have a screening, with video or telephone interviews, as this will quickly identify those with potential before you get to face to face stage. A good outsource partner can usually sort this for you in a matter of days.
“Another great route to finding the personality that best suits your existing team amongst the candidates is an assessment day for the applicants again you can outsource this quite easily meaning that you just need one decision making manager from your team whose time will be needed.
“Having gone through these processes, you should then have a maximum of five candidates that get through to interview these will be more guaranteed to fill your requirements, and whittling five down to the magic one is a lot easier than from hundreds! Remember to put the interviewees at ease to best witness personality and have a range of questions that are not all just work orientated.
” Smart Resourcing Solutions works with employers, students and universities on specialist solutions supporting graduate and apprenticeship recruitment and employability. The company has been recognised as outstanding by a number of industry bodies including the ISE, AGCAS and the CIPD and has also recently been shortlisted for a number of awards including an award in Innovation at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards from Nat West.
