Wow, we cannot believe it’s nearly the end of 2019 already and what a year it has been! As we prepare to enter a New Year and new decade we take a quick look back at 2019 and what it has meant for JR Personnel. 

In January we welcomed a new member of staff into the fold, Amira Abuhelgha on our Temporary Recruitment desk; she will be celebrating her first year of service in the recruitment industry in the New Year as we bid farewell (temporarily) to Meri Allen also on the Temporary Recruitment team who will be expecting her first child at the end of January. Amira will be joined by Hannah Waterfield who will be covering Meredith's maternity leave and worked for JR Personnel for 13 years previously. Good luck to all three for the New Year! 

The past year has been busy for the whole team with Henry being rewarded for his Permanent Placement efforts with a special trip to Ragdale Hall for him and his partner which was warmly received and definitely needed following all his hard work!

Our Administrator Karen has spent 2019 implementing all new processes and procedures to ensure smooth running of the office day to day, in particular focussing on making the registration process as efficient and simple as possible for our candidates.

And, lastly but never least, our stoic bosses, Juliette and Natasha have been dealing with everything which requires our beloved JR Personnel to continue running as smoothly as possible including updating our website to a brand new, shiny, user-friendly site which we hope you are all finding extremely helpful and informative.

We take this time now to wish all of our candidates and clients; current, past and future, a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We look forward to working with you in 2020!

Tales of Recruitment Registrations

Here at JR Personnel we understand how registering with an agency in-office can sometimes be difficult, how will you get an hour away from work to attend? Who will look after the kids whilst you’re there? How will you make it over to Loughborough if you live 20 miles away and don’t drive? So, to make the whole process easier for you, we offer a “video call” registration where a member of the JR team will call at a time convenient to you via WhatsApp, Facetime or Skype.

Whilst it’s true that our registrations are more of an informal chat, it’s still always important to make sure you’re prepared and in a quiet, distraction-free environment for the 15 minutes it may take to register you. Making sure you're alone and in a quiet place means you can focus on answering our questions and going through key points of your CV without distractions, it also means you have a better opportunity of raising important queries you may have, with us. 

Below are some examples of registrations we've experienced so far this year and an insight into how not to carry out a recruitment registration!

1. In the middle of town standing next to a religious preacher

Yes, that’s right – our wonderful MD Juliette had the pleasure of video-registering a fabulous candidate who accepted her call in the middle of a shopping spree, in town. This wouldn’t have been too much of an issue except the Religious Preacher with a microphone stood behind her was rather distracting. Juliette found the interview extremely hard to conduct due to copious amounts of giggling!

2. Whilst driving

This happens surprisingly more often than you may think – candidates choose to have their video calls whilst in their car, driving! We place our candidate’s safety at highest priority here at JR Personnel so these calls have been ended swiftly with a quick “call me back when you’re safely pulled over!” Your car can be a useful place to hold a registration as it offers privacy and a quiet space – just make sure you are parked up safely and not distracted by red lights, honking horns and road rage!

3. Cooking up a storm in the kitchen

As mentioned above – we get it, registering can sometimes seem like a real inconvenience to fit into your day so we appreciate that you may feel the desire to multi-task whilst having your registration video call. Please, please think twice before you decide to register with us and cook your dinner at the same time, we had a candidate who’s registration was completely obscured by steam and the clanging of pots and pans, not ideal when you’re trying to get to know a person, plus we don’t want to be responsible for you getting distracted and burning your beans on toast!

4. Lying in bed

If only everything can be done from the comfort of our beds, there really is no better place. If you’re out of work staying in bed is a real treat and the comfiest of spots to be browsing the internet for new roles (speaking from experience here!). This year saw us carry out a couple of video registrations with candidates who were in bed at the time of our pre-arranged call, in recruitment first impressions are hugely important and sometimes it can be hard as recruiters to see past novelty pyjamas! 

If you would like to book in to register with us please send your CV to: [email protected] and detail the type of roles you are seeking, salary expectations, notice period and if you have your own transport. We look forward to hearing from you!

Recruitment Lessons from our Favourite Christmas Films

It’s officially December which means we are beginning to feel very festive here at JR Personnel! Christmas is always a busy time for us with placing lots of candidates ready to start new careers in the New Year and supplying temporary workers to cover those busy Christmas shifts!

At such a busy time of year it’s important to find the time to unwind and what better way than with a Christmas movie! Here are some recruitment lessons from our favourites!

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Jack Skellington poses a difficult recruitment problem. His skills and experience are in Halloween Town, however he is adamant to take on the role of Father Christmas. We believe it’s very important to be honest with candidates. We encourage them to look at the skill set they have and focus on roles that are good opportunities for them, and are also realistic. Luckily, Jack eventually realises that his true passion is Halloween and returns to his role as Pumpkin King with enthusiasm. 

2. Love Actually 

This heart-warming film reassures us that there is someone for everyone and in the world of recruitment, there is a perfect role for everyone. At times it can seem like your job search is taking too long and you’re experiencing rejection after rejection, JR Personnel can help share this burden by sourcing roles which match your skill set perfectly, notifying you of any important feedback from interviews and give you hints and tips to make your CV stand out from the rest; don’t be disheartened, the right role could be just around the corner. 

3. The Grinch 

The Grinch is an outcast who isolates himself from others and harbours negative feelings about everything and everyone! Eventually The Grinch learns the true spirit of Christmas and teaches us the importance of being social and personable and maintaining a positive outlook even when life can get you down. This is a great tip for attending interviews; you may have had a negative experience with your previous employer, be feeling disheartened by your job search or just be in a bad mood; try and put it aside and focus on positivity and team work, let your Christmas spirit shine through!

4. Home Alone

When 8-year old Kevin is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation, he must use all his best pranks to protect his home from a pair of burglars. The recruitment lesson we can take from this film is the importance of being organised. The McCallisters are an example of terrible organisational skills… after all, they forgot their son. Recruiters need to ensure they know what job roles they’re trying to fill for the client, which candidates they’ve discussed those roles with, and to keep the details confidential; all this multi-tasking requires organisational skills the McCallisters can only dream of.

5. A Christmas Carol 

Even though everyone is excited about Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge thinks it’s all humbug. Scrooge is visited by three spirits who take him on a journey through his past, present and future in the hope of transforming his bitterness. Scrooge shows us the importance of a positive attitude. Recruiters need to be empathetic and encouraging towards candidates in order to build good relationships. Not only is this important from a recruiter’s perspective, but also for candidates. When looking for work, candidates needs to be proactive and positive, able to bounce back from rejection and onto the next opportunity.

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Movie Countdown and we wish you a Merry Christmas!