We Recruit The Hard-To-Find Candidates...

During the 2008 recession, the percentage of temporary and contracting workers went up to a whopping 55%. In a normal market, the average is about 25%.  Hopefully, this situation will not last as long and most businesses will be able to bounce back pretty quickly post Covid. 

Are you worried about hiring the wrong person in an uncertain economy? Hiring someone with the wrong skill set or maybe not the right culture fit, could cost your business thousands, and you don’t want to be making mistakes like that right now. 

Have you and your team thought about hiring contractors or temporary staff? Maybe you haven't had much experience dealing with temporary, contracting or interims in the past or maybe you've had an unpleasant experience? Whatever your views, as UK businesses start to put their hiring plans together post pandemic - many will be turning to contigent staff as an option. 

6 Reasons why hiring temporary, contracting or interim staff will help your business recover from Covid. 

1. The jobs market is very different to what is was even 3 months ago. Have there been redundancies in your market or maybe with your competitors? There maybe skilled candidates on the market that didn't expect to find themselves there a few months ago. 

This means there will be excellent candidates on the market, who have unfortunately been made redundant, that you previously had no access to because they were happy in their jobs. Why not take advantage of the market situation and hire these skilled people on a contracting basis to try them out? 

When you hire a contractor you are in effect ‘trying before you buy’. This means if they don’t have the right skills or you discover they aren’t the right culture fit, you can simply and quickly let them go with zero risk to you.  

2. You can hire someone quickly to hit the ground running - no lengthy interviews or on boarding and paperwork with HR. Many contractors and interims bring in a wealth of experience and knowledge from moving from business to business - it could be just what your company needs right now, bring in some expertise! 

3. Maybe your business only needs someone for a short period of time, maybe to cover sickness, maternity or perhaps a project needs completing. Hiring a contractor or temporary person covers that position for as long as you need them. Helping to secure your clients as you complete deadlines. 

4. Your cash flow is protected - we take care of NI, statutory sick pay,  reducing your short-term costs. Hiring temporary or contracting staff means no HR responsibility, no fees to pay, no need to payroll, spreading the cost of hiring and reducing risk. 

5. You only pay for the hours they work, which again reduces your costs.

6. Precision operates a 15 week ‘temporary to permanent’ programme where by the cost of hiring a candidate is spread out over 15 weeks - again reducing your costs.

If you’re company requires more senior- management, but you are reluctant in this present climate to hire someone permanently, then an interim is exactly what you need to help navigate during a crisis or during times where there is lack of management, we can also help with this. 

Orgainsing your business post-pandemic 

If you would like to chat further about how Precision can help your business coming out of Covid - call today on 0116 254 5411 or email phil@precision-people.uk. 

Connect with Phil on Linkedin

Hiring doesn't need to stop! How to move your interviewing, hiring and onboarding process online. 

If your business still has the need, appetite and capacity to continue hiring right now, here’s some help and guidance on how you can still make things happen in these unprecedented times.

Obviously, we have a vested interest in keeping the wheels moving in recruitment, in what are very tough market conditions for everyone right now. 

Job board aggregators such as Indeed and Adzuna are the canaries in the coal mine for the economy, the numbers of permanent vacancies being posted by clients and recruitment firms has fallen dramatically across the world as the majority of companies have cancelled or postponed hiring plans.

Engineering and manufacturing are among many industries to see a notable decline in March. These are the facts,  we are in no way looking to take advantage of the terrible situation people find themselves in.

Commercially you are in a very strong position if you continue recruiting right now because there are certain things in your favour.

Less jobs advertised, less competition for the skills you require. We have seen a rise in people applying for roles on our website. 

With fewer companies recruiting, the competition for the best talent is not as fierce as it was 3 weeks ago.

Many industries are in dire straits – the uncertainty will be unsettling staff in these sectors, who are going to start looking around, who otherwise would not. While others may be unfortunately being made redundant.

What is the solution? Run a virtual recruitment process.  

Yes it’s a new way of doing things, yes it’s a bit scary – but it is possible to interview, hire and onboard someone virtually and Precision can help you.

There are a number of paid and free video conferencing tools which are stable, feature rich and easy to use.

Some useful free tools are: 

• Zoom – Free
• Google Hangouts – Free
• Teams – Paid (but will be part of most commercial O365 packages)
• Skype for Business – Paid
• Hinterview or Odro – Paid

We advise you prepare and deliver a virtual or video interview in exactly the same way you would prepare for a face to face meeting. Read these two posts '24 Interview tips to make sure you hire the right candidate.' and 'Hard and Soft skills' to help you. 

Let us know and we can set up a Zoom meeting between all your key stakeholders and the Precision team to discuss your requirements in detail, also the profile of your ideal candidate in terms of team fit. Check out 'How to find staff who fit your culture.'

The Precision team will take that understanding, go to market and present you with a shortlist as normal.

Video Interview – We can set up and schedule these meeting on your behalf.

1. First Round – 30 minutes Informal discussion around the candidate’s skill set, motivations
2. Second Round – 1hr 30minutes – More detailed discussions around the candidate’s technical / engineering skills and personality fit, including some form of presentation if its suitable from the candidate
3. Final Round – 1hr Optional final stage probably with members of the senior management team to follow up on any outstanding questions / queries or concerns borne out of the interview process.

Virtual On Boarding of a Remote worker 

HR Process – Contract / Company Handbook

Line Manager Process – Have a clear plan for the initial remote scenario – Set clear expectations. What you expect from the employee and what they can expect from you.

You can courier a laptop to a new employee fully configured with all the essential cloud applications needed and / or connectivity.

Management of your remote employee – take some advice from your HR partners, have a plan around how you are going to manage your remote worker, they will need plenty of communication and hand holding, especially in the early days. 

Precision has access to a specialist on-boarding coach who delivers coaching support to new employees to culturally embed, support and enable them to become productive as soon as possible.

The important thing to remember is that this situation WILL pass and so talking to us now ready for the up-turn makes good business sense. 

If you have the means, authority and the need to hire staff right now Precision can help you. We have the market knowledge and the contacts to deliver and advise you on how to hire in these uncertain times. 

If you woud like to find out more about how we can help you click here to book a time suitable for you, call 0116 254 5411 or email hello@precision-people.uk 

Many of us will be spending a lot more time at home over the coming weeks, limiting contact with our friends, family and work colleagues to interactions using online technology and video calls. Our cameo area and communication zone will become even more important. Here are some tips on how to look your best while being viewed on screen.

How to be seen on screen

Keep it tidy! Make sure your hair is well groomed and styled and will stay put, off your face - any movements you have to make to sort out some unruly strays will appear exaggerated on screen and be distracting for your viewers. It will also frame your face and is a great way to express your personality.

Make up - shake up! We can sometimes look a little flat on screen even if we are wearing foundation, blusher and our lipstick. Try deepening your blusher by pinching your blusher brush and applying it a little darker directly under your cheekbones to give your face a little more structure.

WOW your lips! Wearing one of your best lipstickcolours will make all the difference to how visible you are on screen. Your skin will look fresher, even if you've not been outside for days and you feel like you have radiator face!

Take it under the chin! The area immediately below your face has a huge impact on how you are perceived by others. Make sure your scarves and jewellery are not only in your colours and best metals but are of great quality, reflect your personality and say what you want to other people.

Patternistas! Patterns can look a little busy on screen, so block colours can often work better. Definitely avoid small geometrics, such as dogtooth and checks, since these tend to pixilate on screen - no one will be listening to you if your best jacket is making your viewers look away to protect their eyes.

It's likely we'll be seeing our colleagues, friends and family for a more weeks via zoom and google hangouts, but by following these tips, we'll all look a little more camera ready as we get used to seeing everyone on screen for hopefully, not too long. 

Thank you to House of Colour for these online tips.