Wilde Recruitment are hiring

October 30th, 2012

Are you looking for a new position in recruitment?
At Wilde Recruitment you will have the opportunity to work alongside professionals in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
We are part of the established Wilde Group of Companies, who have been providing a range of services to the engineering and construction sectors for thirty years including; civil and mechanical engineering consultancy, international recruitment services, engineering software sales and training.
We are a forward thinking and entrepreneurial company that actively supports its employees.

Interested?

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Chris Stotts, weekly blog – let loose!

October 26th, 2012

I’ve been let loose on my own assignment.; a requirement for a Document Controller to be based in the North West. It may not be for a job worth tens of thousands but for me it means just as much, as its my first taste of the entire process first hand and I’m responsible for how successful this is.

I’m given the job, and Jim set up the search for me, but other than that I was left to my own devices. Whilst a little intimidating the excitement cannot be measured.  I quickly set about completing a skills matrix and working through my list. I found one candidate who is interested (but also qualified) whilst Jim suggested I try a previous candidate of his, who was not only qualified but when I spoke to them, interested.

 

With two people to be submitted we’re now just waiting for feedback.

 

This week also saw the announcement of the iPad mini and iPad 4. This coupled with the new boom in the market for ultrabooks got me wondering; with people now being able to conduct business effortlessly on the move is this going to affect how they seek and acquire their next assignment in a way that emails have become the norm?

Will instant messages be brought back in the same way Apple’s iMessage is being used with all iDevices?

Are there trust issues with instant messages when compared to the formality of email?

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What makes the perfect CV?

October 19th, 2012

When looking at CV’s that are emailed in by our candidates it is plain to see that there are many different styles of presenting a CV.

Our job at Wilde is to look at the CV’s in reference to the skills matrix (which was discussed last week) and ensure that the candidate possesses the skills and attributes that would allow them to be able to perform in the vacancy they are applying for.

When we interview the candidate we are able to establish if they have the skill set, attributes and experience to do the job. However, sometimes their CV may not reflect this, due to the way it has been presented by the candidate.

In these cases this is discussed with our candidates, and they are requested to revisit and review their CV before submission to our client, as it is important for us that our Clients only receive CV’s that are both well presented and have the desired skill sets appropriate to the position.

I have learnt this week that by our working with the candidate we can assist them in presenting their CV, thus giving them every opportunity to get to interview and that offer of a new job.

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The Daily Cracker

October 18th, 2012


Our Wilde Civil Engineering and Infrastructure team have taken to enjoying with their morning and afternoon tea, some cracker biscuits. To avoid that groundhog day feeling they have a different topping each day. This has got the News Team at Wilde wondering!

What is the Engineering and Construction community’s favourite topping?

Why not join us in this most vital of industry polls.

PS. The Wilde News team favourite has to be Stilton Cheese with Branston Pickle. Lovely!

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Chris Stott, Weekly Blog – Finding the best candidates requires skill!

October 12th, 2012

This week I learnt about the skills and tools required to take a detailed and effective job vacancy and how to work it, the importance of this is so that we can highlight and identify the key skills that are required for the candidate to possess in order for them to fill the position.

As someone who is relatively new it is important to understand exactly what a client requires. A senior recruiter who has 20 years experience is asking for his/her researcher to locate and identify suitable candidates, they can on occasion take for granted that new/trainee staff will automatically understand with limited information what exactly the client requires particularly in a sector in which they have a limited knowledge of.

During the training course we explored and discussed the merits of creating a skills matrix to enable us to first of all, identify potential candidates and more importantly to establish whether or not they have sufficient knowledge to meet the criteria set by our clients to successfully undertake the role. The purpose of all this is that we are not looking to just send CV’s but instead to fulfil the requirements that we have been given from the client. The skill matrix is also a tool that a researcher can refer back to when working on a vacancy if asked for more detail, and can request candidates provide more detail in order to establish suitability and that they can undertake the role successfully.

This helps me to fully understand that by using a consistent approach it allows me to further develop my knowledge in the business and gain better understanding as to what is required to be successful in filling more requirements. This business is about filling jobs and being successful, we get paid on the roles we fill not on the CV’s we send to it is important to ensure that the candidates we send have the best chance at getting a position. On a personal note it is reassuring that the on the job coaching, training and development is very effective because it can only help me fill more requirements and be successful in this business.

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UK needs to spend £500billion on infrastructure by 2020!

October 10th, 2012

Leading respected economist Dr. Dieter Helm CBE, in a recent interview explained that for the UK government, to meet its commitments in improvements required for UK infrastructure, the UK needs to spend c£550billion by 2020.

Blimey!!!!

With the UK population estimated to grow to c70million by 2030, things are becoming critical if the country wishes to compete on the international stage.

But how is this huge programme of improvements going to be paid for?

You can see the full interview on the program, Built in Britain series; which can still be seen on the BBC I player.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nd243/Built_in_Britain_Episode_1/

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Jim goes Above & Beyond!

October 5th, 2012

This weeks lesson bloggers is Above & Beyond!

Ever since my line manager had the conversation with me regarding maintaining a high standard of quality service, I’ve been looking at different aspects of my ‘game’ that could be adapted in order to make minor adjustments that would lead to a bigger impact.

Such as noticing little details on a candidate’s profile for example, perhaps something that has happened to them that may have been documented in a previous phone call.

I have noticed that by making reference to this it can help to make the candidate feel more relaxed, more comfortable and allow them to open up and feel more at ease talking to me, which can only be of benefit when I want to know what they are looking for in their next assignment.

The award for above and beyond goes to my line manager (who leads by example) who took “going the extra mile” to the extreme by completing a 90 mile round trip from Stockport train station to Bradford.

The reason for this being that he (Jim) had submitted a candidate for the position and it was seen as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He gets to spend two hours with his candidate discussing the role and company with them, plus also gets to visit and catch up with his client, whilst also delivering some fresh pastries.

Unfortunately this time, whilst the client was interested in the candidate and the candidate’s requirements were all ticked ie: rate, contract duration, culture and variety, they decided to go with another opportunity.

We can’t however let this discourage us, the simple fact that my line manager was willing to put in this effort and go above and beyond the line of duty was displayed to our client who now knows that we can provide a service to them that will not just meet their bare requirements, but will exceed their expectations and expectedly come full circle with the reward of more business.

Next week I have two training sessions scheduled and look forward to learning about;

CV searching and formatting

How to set up jobs on the system and what information is required, and the benefits and importance of using skill matrix sheets  chec

 

I’ll let you know what I learn next week.

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The race is on!

October 2nd, 2012

Change of plan with the blog; It’s about time I started focusing on what I’m learning. This is after all a trainee role and the blog is a good platform for me to reflect on what I have picked up each week, and how it can help me in my personal development.

The key lesson learnt this week is that of the CV Race.

Speaking to a candidate he told me that I was 2 minutes too late and that someone else had spoken to him in regards to the job I was working.

The upsetting thing for me was the fact that he was a very strong candidate and a very good fit for the role we were trying to fill.

I never realised until this moment that some clients send out vacancies to a number of agencies at the same time.

It just hadn’t dawned on me how competitive it can be!

My initial immediate thought was how could they do this? I have to admit that I felt like I was being cheated on!

I have, however, got over it and I now realise how competitive the industry I have joined can be.

In future as soon as I get in contact with someone who is a good fit for a role I am going to ensure that I progress their submission as quickly as possible, so as to ensure it is me and Wilde Recruitment that fills the vacancy and not one of our competitors.

I am rather looking forward to this as I have to admit to having a very competitive nature.

If I can beat a competitor to the punch it’s a natural high for me.

My line manager has explained that this desire to be first is great, but that I must always remember that quality of service has to be maintained – a challenge I am looking forward to.

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Warning Over Shortage of Engineering Graduates

October 2nd, 2012

An article on the BBC news service on the 1st October gave a stark warning over shortage of engineering graduates. So why does it seem that so few engineers seem to openly encourage their own children to enter the profession?

You would think that with there being such a shortage, both parents and schools would be actively encouraging children to enter the profession.

The article goes on to refer to a quote by the Royal Academy of Engineering which apparently states that 100,000 Stem Graduates (science, technology, engineering and maths) are needed per year just to simply maintain the status quo.

Further the report estimates 830,000 graduate-level Stem experts and 450,000 technicians will be needed by 2020.

The full article can be viewed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19760351

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Chris Stott, Research Consultant Weekly Blog

September 21st, 2012

Turns out that the weekly target I mentioned in the last post got met and exceeded by 13%. I know I was pretty proud walking out of that meeting. Now it’s back to business, still without my colleague Steve Pearson who was still on holiday until Wednesday. It was on me to perform and provide high quality leads to the team.
This week has started well having finishing at 5 over my daily target under my belt, the week has generally followed suit up until today that is (Friday) where unfortunately I’ve attempted to speak to almost 30 people and but only managed to speak with six. It seems what I’ve heard is true; it is a peaks and troughs business. We shall see how I’ve done when the weekly reports come out.
There have however been key lessons that have been learnt from this week, the single most important being that the key to this business if actually having the skill to listen to what people are after, instead of trying to shoehorn someone into something that isn’t for them. That is what is so exciting about this job; everyone is different and has different goals in their career. We need to know what people are truly looking for. To do this we have to listen to buying signals, an example being that someone is interested in moving onto another assignment, maybe for more money but the reason they actually want to leave their current job is because there isn’t an opportunity for progression.
In terms of personal development this continued relationship with the phone has helped me to become more at ease on the phone, and improved my phone manner. A good ethos at Wilde is that we do get on the phones to speak to people and we are trying to build relationships, not just send personality-less emails.
Final thoughts on the week is that it’s always good to have Steve back in providing quality leads, and also the feeling of guilt is not fun when the breakfast run has missed someone out! Apologies to Kat (at least I went back and retrieved the missing bacon butty!).

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£1bn Pembroke Power Station Opens

September 21st, 2012

It was announced that the new £1bn gas-fired fired power station at Pembroke was over handed over this week to its operators. When it goes online to the national-grid it will be able to generate enough Electricity to power 3.5 million homes, practically the entire population of Wales. Almost immediately, both in the press and on TV news bulletins, the debate on the UKs strategy for replacing its aging fleet of power stations was re-ignited. In addition, according to an article on the BBC’s website; Environmental campaigners have criticised the station’s technology as “second rate”, arguing that Wales should be aiming at more sustainable technology. There seems to be a long list of pressure groups lobbying their point of view. But what about Engineers?

What do you think the UK should be doing to keep the lights on and the kettles boiling?

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Chris Stott, Research Consultant, Weekly Blog

September 14th, 2012

This week started with my being given a target of 100 conversations for the week. Now the ratio of phone pickups to actual speaks is quite varied, colleagues have told me numerous figures ranging from 1 in 3 calls, while others have reported (at its worst) up to 1 in 7, this means that I either have to pick the phone up 300 times a week, or 700. While a scary figure initially this can easily be broken down to 20 successful calls a day, 10 before and 10 after lunch, meaning I only have to speak to 5 people before 10, 5 between then and lunch and a similar breakdown for the afternoon.


Monday morning and we all greet each other on how the weekend has treated them, those of us that play sport as if we won and how we did, always good to discuss something competitive bringing us all closer together as we’re in a competitive market.
10am and I’m keen to impress, attempt as many calls as I can manage and even stay until after six in order to contact those who said to call back later. Upon reflection it certainly didn’t feel like I’d spoken to 20 people, just voicemail after voicemail.
Tuesday and I’ve realised the only way I’ll know if I’m doing well in the week is by tracking my progress – every time I got through to someone I’d take note and make sure I was hitting my targets.
By the end of play Tuesday I’d spoken to 27. Brilliant! An immense sense of pride followed me home.
Wednesday and Thursday followed suit, trying to speak to and engage with as many people as I can, learning their story and to see if any of them were interested in opportunities. At the end of Thursday I decided to enquire with Dave Cattell (Business Manager and head of Pharmaceutical and FMCG teams) as to what my figures were for the week up to date. 300+ interactions, so technically if the 1 in 3 rule is correct I’m definitely on target.
Friday morning and I’ve realised that it’s worth asking whether emails are included in that ‘interactions’ figure, unfortunately they are. I’m in a position where I’m none the wiser as to how I’ve done this week. I can only hope that the people I call today aren’t on holiday or on site without a phone, and that it is convenient for them to talk. I’ll find out how I’ve done next week in my Monday morning meeting with Jim Moran, but for now it’s almost 3.30 and that means it’s time for me to get my early jump on the weekend.

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