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New recruitment services launched by Acorn
Wales’s largest recruitment and training company Acorn is launching a major expansion of its services throughout Wales and north-west England.
The Newport-based business is introducing new services to its permanent placement division in response to customer demand and changes in the market. These compliment the services already offered by the division which is headed by Lewis Fawsitt. Three key appointments have been made to deliver the new initiative.
“While temporary recruitment has been the mainstay of our business over the last 16 years, during the last three years or so Acorn has developed a reputation among employers and job-seekers for delivering high quality permanent placements,” explained Acorn founder and managing director Matt Southall.
“We are increasingly being called on to fill positions on a permanent basis. In times of economic downturn, companies’ HR budgets are sometimes squeezed which makes it more important for them to retain core personnel. Recruitment specialists, such as Acorn, help companies to recruit strategically, ensuring that they attract the right people for their particular business, with skills suited to their long-term objectives.
“This new development not only means increasing our branch personnel but also represents a significant investment for Acorn at a time when some of our competitors are cutting back. We are performing well at the moment - particularly in the IT and Technical sectors - and this permanent placement initiative is part of our strategy to increase our UK-wide group turnover to more than £100m by next year.”
Three permanent employment specialists have already been appointed. The initiative will be led by Michelle Mallett who, with more than 10 years’ experience in recruitment, has been appointed as an area manager to Acorn’s Permanent Division. The two other consultants recruited to work alongside her will be based in Newport and Swansea respectively.
The innovative new services will be rolled out across the entire Acorn network from South Wales and are aimed at both candidates and clients. For candidates, Acorn now offers a “Consultants for Life” service, with a central point of contact throughout their careers. With their fingers on the pulse of the employment market’s trends and demands, Acorn’s new specialists can act as career coaches, re-evaluating candidates’ skills and making invaluable contributions to their career development.
The team also offers “Competency-Based Interviewing”, which will provide both candidates and employers with a clear understanding of their capability and suitability for positions as well as identifying essential transferable skills.
And they also provide a vital “Client and Candidate Aftercare” service. This key development is tailored to the requirements of individual clients and candidates to ensure continuous support as appointees settle into their new roles. This is sometimes a difficult period and some businesses experience significant attrition rates but the aftercare service is designed to reduce the number of new employees leaving their posts.
“Our new services enable us to be more focused than ever on the needs of both candidates and employers, which should make the permanent recruitment process more efficient for everyone, said Matt Southall.
October 2008
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