Green shoots! Has spring sprung?

Maybe we’re being optimistic but the treacherous rain of the last few months seems to be slowly subsiding. The fields around us have new lambs and the trees have new buds. I saw snowdrops in my garden and there are cream eggs on the shop shelves...so has spring sprung?

Technically as I write this the answer is no, did you know spring doesn’t actually start until 20^th March but with less than three weeks to go before we spring to the end of another financial year have you already planned what your company will be doing for the new financial year that is nearly here. Whether you are blossoming like the daffodils or recovering like our battered sandy coastline, you really need to get those plans together now and within that you really should be planning about what key personnel you need to bring into your team to ensure you achieve all your goals for the coming financial year.

Our own winter was pretty full on, new staff joined the team and then we moved to our new bigger office (with a sea view), it has been the busiest January and February to date so it would be easy for us to forget about the next quarter and revel in the success we have had so far this year, but we all know that’s where the danger lies. Forward planning is the key to all business success regardless of your sector, even those sectors that are reactionary need to forward plan to a degree. So if you are thinking of taking on staff in April don’t leave it until the last week in March before you advertise thinking you’ll get someone quickly, recruiting staff is just like planting flowers , you need to sow the seeds early to ensure you get the best blossom! 

We believe the green shoots in our industry are certainly showing and this is brilliant news for everyone because if recruiters are busier then it means companies are hiring and the economy is certainly showing signs of, dare we say recovery.

Roll on spring and use it well to prepare for what we hope will be a blazing summer.

Victoria Adams, Business Development Manager, Epitome Recruitment

Google Me...!!

Here at Epitome HQ we are celebrating our busiest January to date and thought this picture summed up our last couple of weeks nicely! Do you find yourself getting frustrated when looking through CVs/applications from potential new employees only to find next to no information about what they did on said documents. With the birth of social media many candidates are attaching links to their profiles expecting you the employer to do your homework on them, it’s like they are saying ‘look me up I’m so good my profile says it all’. And whilst LinkedIN profiles are great (and we use them everyday) you want to feel that the person you are looking to hire has put some effort into their application and can demonstrate they want to work for you.

A well written application, CV says a lot about a candidate, it is so frustrating when you find yourself drowning in CVs only to go through the first 50 and feel like you know nothing about those applicants or despair because you don’t think you will ever find one that matches your criteria. It’s the applications from candidates who don’t come close to meeting your criteria that is so frustrating, and I mean they don’t even match ONE of your essential criteria? Maybe ‘googling’ someone would help but who has the time for that? It is very easy to be tempted and just give up and pull out a few random ones and hope for the best.  Tempting? Yes....Wise? Absolutely not. 

Every month we are awash with applications but instead of drowning we simply sail along sifting and telephone screening candidates for our clients.  We don’t go as far as ‘googling’ people to find out their experience but we will happily go through all the applications and speak to people on your behalf to clarify how they meet the requirements of your role, it’s what we specialise in so you don’t have to.

So, if you feel like your drowning in the sea of applications, being smothered by CV’s or deflated by responses....give us a call...we are always here to help.