Empowering people with opportunities
Swanstaff Recruitment was established in Kent in 1997 by our CEO Steve Rogers and is now one of the fastest growing recruitment companies in the UK. We are an independent recruitment company providing temporary and permanent solutions across the UK including Managed Service Solutions and Recruitment Process Outsourcing.
Our clients include small to medium enterprises, leading Blue Chip companies and public services. We work in partnership with our clients and pride ourselves on our personal approach to meeting their hiring requirements, ensuring that we are going beyond the job description to find staff with the right personal qualities as well as skills.
Within our local branches we specialise in temporary roles, focusing on Healthcare Recruitment, Driving and Industrial Recruitment and Office & Commercial Recruitment. Our national recruitment team based at Head Office works within a wide range of sectors, with specialist Consultants providing permanent and temporary recruitment services to clients within the Healthcare, Logistics, Pharmaceutical, Professional Services, Financial and Office and Commercial Sectors.
Our company has a strong culture and set of core values which are at the heart of our business. We have won many awards including The Times 100 Best Companies to Work for, The Great Place to Work award and three Kent Excellence in Business Awards. We have also been recognised as Gold Standard Investors in People. If you’d like to find out more about working at Swanstaff visit our Work for Us page.
Explore this section of our website to find out more about us and the services we offer.
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17
Locations with National Coverage
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900 +
Active Clients
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150 +
Swans
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3000 +
Active Candidates
Our History
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1997
Swanstaff is born
Swanstaff Recruitment is founded by Stephen Rogers from his living room whilst he still works as a Fire Fighter.
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2000
First branch opens
Swanley branch opens as Swanstaff's first high street location.
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2003
Chelmsford opens
Swanstaff Chelmsford opens in the heart of the town taking the company over the river.
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2006
Colchester opens
Swanstaff opens location number 3 launching in Colchester.
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2008
Continued growth
Waltham Cross and High Wycombe open! Steve gives up the fire service to commit to the progression of Swanstaff full time.
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2010
Milton Keynes arrives
Swanstaff opens its 6th office in Milton Keynes, the town home to the most roundabouts in the UK.
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2012
Swanstaff expand into contact services
Swanley Head Office opens with support staff established. Lambeth Swan Family Centre opens. Steve wins entrepreneur of the year with Action Coach.
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2013
4 new locations
Swanstaff expand to Ipswich, Maidstone, Peterborough and Dartford.
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2014
Growth
Basingstoke and King's Lynn offices open. Parkside and Bedford Swan Family Centres launch. Swanstaff win the Great Place to Work award.
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2015
New HQ opens
Lakeview West new HQ opens in Dartford. Swanstaff expand in Nottingham, Cambridge, Bristol, Birmingham and Norwich. Swanstaff win 3 Kieba awards and place in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies List.
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2016
Success
Swanstaff are awarded 3 new Swan Family contracts: Coventry, Greenwich, Cardiff. Place 6th in the Recruiter Fast 50 list, are accredited with an ISO9001 accreditation which recognises our exceptional processes and policies across the business. We also listed in the London Stock Exchange Group 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain list and our board of directors were honoured with the opportunity to visit Downing Street and open the London Stock Exchange.
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2017
Awards
Steve is awarded the IOD Highly Commended Director of the year award. Swanstaff place again in the Recruiter Fast 50 in 9th position, in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies List for the 2nd time, in the 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain and launch our Bedford Borough Swan Family Centre.
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2018
Expansion
Swanstaff launch our National Temp Recruitment Team based in Dartford HQ and place in the KM Mega Growth 50 for the second time.
Swanstaff Values
Create Opportunities
Believe that nothing is impossible
Exceed expectation
Treat all with respect
Allow people to create and share wealth.
Recognise and reward great achievements.
No 'mediocrity'.
There is always a solution to every challenge
Don't take 'No' for an answer. Question it.
To give up is to fail
Always go the extra mile. Be extraordinary.
'Wow' yourself and others. Average is not acceptable.
Be the benchmark.
- Treat others with the highest standard of professionalism.
- Make people feel valued.
- No Judgements.
Award Winning
At Swanstaff we believe that celebrating our success and recognising the hard work our employees and leadership team put in to make us what we are is really important. We also find the feedback we receive via various award entry processes to be invaluable in shaping the future of our company and how we operate. Awards give us not only the opportunity to be recognised for our high standards but also act as a motivation and reward opportunity for our employees, winning awards make them proud to work for us and envokes energy within the business and we are always conscious to include employees from throughout the business in our celebrations. We are delighted to have been recognised by some of the greatest business and recruitment awards in the UK.
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Swanstaff Leadership Team
News from Swanstaff
Swanstaff Thoughts
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How to support employee mental health
Did you know that 37% of staff with low mental health are more likely to get into a conflict with colleagues, 57% find it harder to juggle multiple tasks, 80% find it difficult to concentrate, 62% take longer to do tasks and 50% are potentially less patient with customers/clients? If you notice someone else’s mental health deteriorating in the workplace, then follow these tips… Time and place Ensure they are comfortable talking in the location that you’re in. If they aren’t comfortable then move to another place or schedule another time where you can go and meet them to have a chat. It is important to be in a location where you feel comfortable enough to talk, for a majority of people, the place they feel most comfortable is their own home so try to replicate this by sitting down with them at a table, make them a drink and a snack! When speaking to someone whose mental health is low, if they are speaking about it, it is important not to rush them or to make them feel like they are on a time limit. Active listening Being an active listener means being present in the conversation and being engaged in what the other person is talking about. Always give the person your undivided attention, don’t sit there on your phone barely listening, or looking all around the room. Acknowledge what you’re being told with head nods, gestures and friendly advice. Manage your feelings Ensure that you can handle listening to emotional things. Don’t act surprised or judgemental as this can make the other person feel like they are saying something wrong… but at the same time don’t give no facial expression at all. As I said in the point above, acknowledge them with gestures and head nods. Work as a team! If you can see someone is struggling then work as a team to solve the problem as best as you can, try not to leave that person to deal with a difficult situation by themselves. This can reduce the risk of stress. Be positive – focus on what they can do, rather than what they can’t… If a colleague is struggling with their confidence and is knocking everything they are doing, remind them of what they are good at. Think of tasks that they have completed before that were successful and encourage them to stick at tasks until they are finished. Do you feel like your mental health is deteriorating in the workplace? Click here to find out how you can support yourself! Can you think of any other ways to support mental health in the workplace? Drop them in the comments below!
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Moving from panic hiring to planned hiring with Applicant Tracking Systems
In today’s age, it is important to construct an effective recruitment process. Traditionally placing job ads in the paper etc., usually results in a lot of costly panic hires for most companies, some of which have resorted to using Application Tracking Systems. An Applicant Tracking System is a software application designed to automate the recruitment process from sourcing to onboarding. It is referred to as an ATS in short, and can be used to post job openings on corporate websites, job boards, screen resumes as well as to generate interview requests to potential candidates by email. It is estimated that roughly 50% of all companies use some type of applicant tracking system to source and hire their candidates today. The first step in landing and hiring your dream candidate is recognising what type of candidates you’re looking for exactly. The ATS gives you complete control over your hiring criteria for each job-skills, traits, qualifications, as well as custom categories unique to your company. You can zero in on all of your exact specifications. According to a recently conducted study, 61% of all organisations feel that their main priority for hiring talent is to hire the best of it. According to a survey, hiring cycles tend to take longer than necessary ranging from 4 to 8 weeks. Your organisation should implement this type of system and start hiring the best talent at a faster rate. Efficient Collaboration Between HR and the Hiring Managers Allowing HR and hiring managers to contact the applicants via phone, lengthens the recruitment process unnecessarily. You can use the email interview scheduling capability built into all ATSs. ATS’s are extremely good for HR professionals and recruiters which target keywords rather than skills. An ATS helps any company filter and reduce the size of the talent pool without wasting any precious time, energy or money. ATS saves about 20% of company time during the hiring process. Roughly half of all companies have seen this trend and plan on making some major HR technology upgrades. Ensuring You Get Applications from the Most Qualified Candidates An organisation is suffering if it isn’t getting application requests from the best-qualified candidates. Posting jobs on online job boards becomes time consuming, of which most organisations may not know which job boards are the most productive for the various types of positions they have to offer. Using technology through the process can help with the position posting process. Most ATS’s can help automate systems, meaning that there are no delays in getting open jobs available and seen by as many talented candidates as possible, hence getting more applications from the most qualified candidates. Getting the Strongest Candidates On-Site for an Interview Once you have identified the best candidates through the ATS, the traditional method of phone tag can slow down and hinder the interview scheduling process. Getting the best candidates on site is a vital step if you want to catch the best talent. Currently, the best approach is to rely on the email interview scheduling capability which can be found in all ATSs. Planning with ATS Another key step to hiring better talent is planning. But planning will only work if you have reliable data. One of the better ways to get hiring data is through an ATS. Applicant Tracking Systems are a Powerful Component in Planning ATS can be a powerful component in planning because it can generate reports that identify the sources where the applicants come from. Allowing you to see which of your job postings got the most traffic from aspiring applicants. ATS also allows you to calculate the time to hire and generate other key talent acquisition metrics. An ATS streamlines your hiring process and also allows you to improve and optimize your overall hiring process. ATS can help all organisations bridge the gap between talent acquisition goals and reality. Providing the structure and automation required to hire the best talent, reduce time to hire and plan more effectively for the future of your organisation. Author Bio: Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specialising in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. When Kelly is not building campaigns, she is busy creating content and preparing PR topics. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.
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5 recruitment lessons we can learn from Christmas movies
As the festive season is finally upon us, I can only imagine how many times “The Grinch” will be watched through this seasonal period. Saying that, have you ever thought about what Christmas films can teach us about recruitment? We have – check it out… Background checks are a must! We learn in “Bad Santa” that you need to be doing background checks on your candidates, although they may not be an alcoholic convicted conman (like Willie Stokes) who steals from stores when dressed as Santa, but they may not be the right personality fit for the job you are putting them forward for. Keep tabs on your candidates… In “Home Alone2 – Lost in New York” we see the McCallister family lose sight of their son Kevin who ends up getting on a flight to New York instead of Miami with the rest of his family! You should always be in contact with your candidates, especially on the days of their interview to ensure they know where they are going, how to get there and who they are going to meet. Never exclude anyone When working in recruitment it is very easy to feel the need to give all your incoming shifts to your reoccurring, loyal candidates. However, you must remember to share out your shifts accordingly. If there is a candidate that is the right fit, put them forward. We learnt this in “How the Grinch stole Christmas” when he was picked on by the people of Who Ville as a child and therefore grew to hate them and Christmas! Don’t make your candidates turn into the Grinch. “I, Jack the Pumpkin King, have grown tired of the same old thing” How many times have you heard a candidate say they want to “try something new”? This is absolutely fine for them to do, just ensure they have the correct training and an idea of the job role before sending them to a placement. You also have to be completely honest with them and say if they are not suitable for a role. The Nightmare Before Christmas taught us that it is okay to try new job roles, like when Jack decided he wanted to take on the role of Father Christmas, then realised his true passion lied with Halloween. Always have a positive attitude! Always have a smile on your face when speaking to candidates on the phone, believe it or not they can tell. Your energy will be reciprocated by them, if you’re excited, they will be, but if you sound down and irritable, so will they – which could affect their morale towards job searching. We can learn from the beloved ‘ELF’ that happiness is not always infectious, but it can help! We hope this has taught you a lot about how to recruit! Do you have lots of Christmas interviews booked in and want to put a different spin on things compared to your normal structure? Click here to see our top tips to running a great interview!
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4 tips for Christmas recruiting
The Christmas season is approaching rapidly and as recruiters you need to be on the ball if you are wanting to hire the best candidates. Seasonal work can be difficult to recruit for, due to the employment often being temporary and requires working over the festive season, when some may enjoy their time off with their loved ones. Although, the last thing you want is to be short staffed over the Christmas period and stretching your existing facilities. You’re in luck… we have put together 4 top tips to help you with your Christmas recruiting. Start early The best candidates will be organised and efficient, with their Christmas job search. They will be starting to search early so you should be too. The best time to start recruiting for the Christmas period would be early November, so that you have enough time to interview everybody, call them back for a second interview, send all the relevant paperwork and documents through etc. Write a clear job description It’s better to be clear from the very start. Outline all responsibilities of the job role, pay, location etc. so that nobody is confused or can claim they didn’t know anything about the role. This avoids wasting both yours and the candidates time. Try out social media If you haven’t already, try recruiting from social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Facebook now have a job advert service for business pages to help boost their recruitment. Once you have posted the job advert, share it into groups that are local to the location of the role. Ask current employees This can sometimes be the best way to recruit as your existing employees already know the role and therefore can explain exactly what it is like to their friends/family and attract the right candidate for the company. Can you think of any other top tips we may have missed? Drop them in the comments below! Alternatively, if you’re looking for a new role for Christmas, click here to see what we can offer you!
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8 easy staff rewards anyone can do
Staff rewards are an essential part of an effective employee engagement strategy. They show staff that you value them whilst creating a good working environment and improving retention. Many leaders however struggle to implement them as they need to find incentives that fit their workplace. With this in mind we have come up with 8 ideas to help your staff feel valued. How many of these do you do? Provide tea, coffee and fruit. It may seem simple but providing you staff with a variety of drinks and healthy snacks can really make a difference. 60% of employees believe their employer should offer fresh fruit to staff in the workplace, according to research by British Summer Fruits. DJ for a Day. As a reward for someone who has done particularly well, allow them to be DJ for a day. This could mean letting them pick the radio station for the day or choosing the music style you listen to for a couple of hours. Whatever fits your workplace best. Monthly award. Create an area with a photo frame for a certificate. Each month choose someone who has gone above and beyond to be employee of the month. You could give them a prize for this or just leave the reward as the recognition of have a certificate with their name on up. Either way, your staff will appreciate that you noticed them. Professional development. One of the most important things you can offer your staff is training. Not only does this improve the knowledge within the team and make them more efficient at their job but it also means that they will be more loyal to the company, therefore improving retention. This could be anything from paying for them to go to a course, sending them to a seminar or allowing them the time in the workplace to watch a webinar. It doesn't always have to cost money as some sectors actually have free courses available online. It is worth looking around for this. Recognise hard work with a thank you note or card. Perhaps someone has brought in a new contract or helped another member of staff with their work. You can send them a handwritten thank you note or send an email to your staff letting them know about the excellent work this person has done. Event recognition for birthday, anniversaries and significant days. Whether this is sending them a card signed by the office, having the team sing them happy birthday at their desk or remembering things that are happening to them outside of work (such as weddings, births etc). Taking the time to remember these things is important for showing that you value your staff as people rather than just workers. Creating a good social scene in your workplace can really help your team bond. Arranging social events can be more than just a Christmas party. Try to find interests your staff have in common. You can suggest cinema trips, pizza lunches, drinks nights or going for dinner with staff after work occasionally. Great office space. Having a great office space can be the difference between your staff enjoying their time at work and being excited to get out the door! Allow your staff to personalise their desks and make sure the office is an inspiring place to work. This means more than just putting up a couple of inspirational quotes. You can see our full blog on this here. Can you think of any other simple rewards you could introduce into the workplace? Let us know in the comments below. If you’re looking for new staff to bring into your workplace then get in touch with your local Swanstaff branch to find out more about how we can help you.
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5 team building exercises to boost employee engagement
Team building. It’s sometimes seen as the marmite of the employee engagement world. You either love it or you hate it! We're here to show you how you can plan team building activities that won’t bore your staff and will actually increase employee engagement. There are a number of factors to consider: The size of your team Some tasks won’t suit smaller teams and so you may need to plan to use a different space if you have a large group. The personalities within your team Are they introverts or extroverts? The likes and dislikes of the individuals Are they really sporty? You want to make sure you pick something everyone will want to get involved in. Now have a think about what you would like to gain from the team building activity? Are you trying to improve problem solving skills, help people get to know one another or maybe something else? So, keeping your answers to all of the above in mind, here are our top 5 team building activities that we've run at company events and our staff have loved! Knowing Me, Knowing You This team building task is essentially a scavenger hunt but instead of items you need to find people. All you need to do is set a range of qualities or attributes for people to find. This could be anything from someone with blue eyes, someone with a horse, someone who drives a BMW etc. The only rule is that you can only put someone’s name down once on the sheet. Group size: Unlimited (the bigger the better!) Length: 15-45 minutes depending on group size Benefits: Relationship building, creating discussion Do Good, Feel Good Plan a charity event. Split your group into teams (if you have more than 10 people) and ask them to choose a charity and then come up with a creative fundraising idea. You could give them a budget to spend but you don’t have to. At the end ask people to vote for their favourite idea and then run this as a charity event. Group size: Unlimited Length: 20 minutes Benefits: Problem solving, creating discussion Common Knowledge Find five things you all have in common with each other. For this one it works best in smaller groups. Maybe you all have a freckle on your left thumb, or all love country music? This one is great as a warm up task before a bigger team building task. Try to think outside the box with your answers! Group size: 2-5 (any bigger and it tends to be impossible!) Length: 5-15 minutes depending on group size Benefits: Relationship building, creating discussion Who Do You Think You Are There are a number of great personality quizzes out there that you can print or do online. Choose one of these and get people to take it. Once you have the results, get people to stand with others with similar personalities and see if there are any who surprise you. Discuss your results in teams and use the information you learn to get to know your team better. Group size: Unlimited Length: Dependant on quiz Benefits: Relationship building, create discussion The Apprentice Split people into teams. Ask them to create a product or service around a topic of your choice. Provide them with lined paper, A3 paper and coloured pens and ask them to split themselves in half. One half will be Marketing and Design, they will come up with a logo, tagline, marketing plan and marketing budget for their product or service. The other will be Sales and Finance, they will work out the costs and how the will pitch their product and who it will be aimed at. This task is a great one for sales people and gets them to think about production costs, marketing, office costs and so much more that goes into selling a product or service. Ask your CEO or Manager to pick a winner from the pitches. Group size: Split into teams of 4-6 Length: 45 minutes Benefits: Problem solving, creating discussion Can you think of any other team building tasks you could try? Have you tried any of these? Let us know in the comments below. If you’re currently looking for a new job then check out our current vacancies here, if you’re looking to hire new staff, then check out our branch locator to find your nearest branch and get in touch with them.
