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

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 on 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. 

Engineering recruitment can be highly competitive, so businesses need onboarding processes to match. Our recruiters have some tips for ensuring your engineering firm is up to date

Engineering is an extremely competitive discipline and most engineering recruitment candidates are
overwhelmed with applicants for each new role they offer. Selecting the ideal person for the job
might seem straight forward with such a big pool from which to select them, but employers
shouldn’t treat it as an easy task. The talent hired can make or break a project and businesses
looking for continual growth need to know what gives them a competitive edge in landing the best
candidates.

Don’t Put Too Much Emphasis on Schooling

When undertaking engineering recruitment, many companies scan CV’s and place those with red
brick university education at the top of the pile, and although there is no denying these schools
churn out top talent, there are other great indicators of a good engineer. In fact, some of the most
well-known engineers attended less prestigious institutions, while some have no higher education at
all! In interviews, ensure to ask about experience and problem-solving skills, over degree
classification to hone in on the traits that are important to the role.

Pair Them Up

Engineers have a bit of a bad rap for being elusive lone wolves when in actual fact most projects rely
heavily on teamwork and collaboration between design, structural and civil engineers. Identifying
candidates who work well together is a key part of the engineering recruitment process so business
should try to pair them up to work together on a task. Have one observe and one carry out a task,
with them swapping throughout, to identify candidates who are open to criticism and eager to
collaborate.

Work with a Recruiter

Partnering with an engineering recruitment business like Precision People can save businesses time
and money when hiring staff. With the help of our experts and their up to date knowledge of hiring
trends, we can ensure that we work together to find the ideal candidate for your unique needs. 

If you would like to have a chat about how we can help your engineering business call our knowledgeable engineering team on 0116 254 5411 today, or email email us at hello@precision-people.uk - busy? Book a time to call to suit you by clicking here.

See all our latest engineering jobs here

Find out more about the engineering team here.

Improving a business’s technical recruitment process is key to ensuring the hire of top-quality candidates, see how this can be achieved.

For a long time, technical recruitment clients measured their employment success based solely on the number of candidates that turned into hires, but as the old saying goes, quantity doesn’t always mean quality. However, over the past 5 years, technical recruitment has become more sophisticated and clients have more insights that help them to understand their candidate pool, measure engagement at each stage of the hiring process and most importantly, retain top talent – so how is this achieved?

Define Your Ideals

The first way to improve your technical recruitment process is to identify and understand your ideal candidate. Consider your most recent hires in the sector and assess what made you hire them – was it their grasp of several programming languages? Or the type of projects they worked on in their previous role? How quickly did they learn once on the job? By identifying the key ‘pros’ of past hires, businesses can form a profile, which allows their recruiters to better vet any future candidates and their qualifications.

Identify Areas that Don’t Indicate Success

A commonly made mistake by firms looking for technical recruitment is never identifying areas of the job description that don’t indicate future success in practice. At one time, employers often thought that GCSE’s and A-Level grades earmarked candidates skill levels, but these days employers are keener on work experience and real-world applications. Sit down with managers and identify what your job listing says compared with actual hires, which will aid recruiters in the development of the job description, ensuring only candidates with the necessary criteria are processed.

Forecast for the Future

Businesses should always be prepared to recruit technical staff, even if there are currently no available openings. It’s good practice to assess the years gone by and identify recruiting trends and test whether or not they are likely to repeat themselves. This allows the business to be prepared for recruitment spike’s and won’t leave them flat-footed when the time comes to grow the team.

If you would like to find out more about how our technical team can help your business - find out more here or call for a informal chat on 0116 254 5411, email hello@precision-people.uk. Too busy to talk? Book a time for a chat when it suits you.

Check out all the latest technical vacancies here.