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Swanstaff donate over 400 items to homeless
Swanstaff Recruitment have donated over 400 warm, waterproof items to charities across the UK. These charities are: Love and Humanity Peterborough Sanctus Chelmsford AMAT Medway The Sanctuary Gravesend House of Mercy Gravesend Maidstone Homeless Outreach Medway Street Angels Help the Homeless Colchester at Christmas After the success of previous Christmas campaigns such as Swan Socks, Christmas Crates and Bundles of Joy, we are proud to have carried on the tradition of making a difference with donating coats and other warm items to the less fortunate this year. The items were donated by Swanstaff employees, our temporary workforce and members of our local communities who all came together to ensure that the homeless are warmer this winter. Homelessness is an increasing issue in the UK. According to Shelter (a housing charity) there are approximately 25,000 homeless living on the streets and at least 295,000 living in temporary accommodation. Approximately 1 in every 200 people in the UK are therefore classified as homeless and this number is still rising. So here at Swanstaff, we feel it’s our duty to make a difference throughout the year but especially around the Winter months. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who donated and helped us reach and exceed our target this year. Until next year…
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Is social media stopping you getting your dream job?
Social networking sites in 2017 are a part of our everyday lives; they help us connect with people from all over the world in both a personal and professional manner. There’s just no getting away from it! From your laptop your phone and now even on watches, trying to avoid social media in some sense is near enough impossible. 10 years on from the creation of Twitter and 1.65 billion Facebook users later we find ourselves too often posting without considering the content of our posts and what the future ramifications could be from this. Try to remember when using social media that your main objective when job hunting is to promote yourself to potential employers. They want to see that you possess certain qualities that make you an employable candidate. Employers hold all the key information they need to find your online profile easily, some even use external screening companies. I don’t mean to alarm anyone because that’s not what I’m here to do; employers aren’t necessarily looking to find bad information about you by looking at your profile they are simply just using this process as a precaution as to see that by employing you would not draw any bad attention their way in the future. Be smart about what you post! Be more aware and take some consideration into whether your tweet or Instagram picture could be considered inappropriate in some manner. Examples of things employers have said that has turned them off a candidate are as follows: An unprofessional screenname or handle Bad mouthing previous employers/colleagues Evidence of excessive drinking or drug use Provocative photos Narrow-minded/offensive comments in regards to race, religion or gender Evidence of criminal behaviour Statistics found 73% of 18-34 year olds found their last job through social media. With the mases of users that are signed up and logged on to these sites daily you should utilise this tool and promote yourself well. If you want to read more about how we here at Swanstaff think you can use social media to find yourself a job use the link below… http://www.swanstaff.co.uk/swanstaff-blog/how-to-use-social-media-to-find-a-job
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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!
