SEED Recruitment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Matter is a home design company that fits bespoke kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms in London. I am the marketing manager and I am responsible for developing our product offerings, branding, and some general management of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SEED Recruitment?

Matter is an environmentally aware company. The industry isn’t particularly environmentally friendly and we have been meeting more contract clients who are conscious of their carbon footprint.

We knew we wanted to hire a full-time consultant to come into the business and help us improve our environmental credentials. After speaking with SEED Recruitment we understood what we needed and they were able to find them for us. On top of this, we are now working with them on an ongoing basis for all our staffing needs.

What were your goals for this engagement?

We produce bespoke installations and there is a lot of on-site environmental monitoring that we currently outsource to an external provider. Our industry uses a lot of materials and there can be waste despite efforts to be economical.

We planned to have an in house person to do the environmental monitoring and reporting (that we already outsource). We wanted to make sure our facility worked as best it could within legislation and we wanted to know our carbon/ water footprints better so we can improve and also provide this information to our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met someone from SEED Recruitment at a career fair in 2019 when we were looking to hire a graduate fresh out of uni. I was impressed with what SEED was doing at the time and made an effort to get to know the team on the stand. I worked with them because of this.

Describe the engagement in detail.

I had a fair idea of the ideal employee so I told SEED what I wanted over the phone. This was a strategic hire and after taking a brief and discussing some options, SEED went away and came back with some great candidates for us to choose from.

We picked the three we wanted to interview and SEED organized everything from there. They made the hiring process run smoothly.

What was the team composition?

The team at SEED was great. I predominantly spoke with the director and he worked well. We communicated by email, on the phone, and even on WhatsApp, a really good way to get the job done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

This hire has saved us money straight away because we were using an external company to do onsite monitoring. Our new environmental person will be starting the process of becoming ISO accredited so there will be benefits to the business over time. We are really happy to work with SEED and they will be working with us as a recruitment process outsource partner to help us in future.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

SEED were really understanding of the way our company works. I am planning on using them again because it saved me time and money posting adverts and filtering through applications. They sent key information and kept it simple.

What did you find most impressive about this vendor?

14 days after the first conversation we had offered someone the job and they accepted. We are also proactively building our talent pools now and it is better than the usual model of paying a recruiter a fee and never hearing from them again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. Although SEED lean towards a monthly payment model which was unconventional when I first heard it. I looked at the proposal and now we actually see how it adds value over time with solving staffing issues before they become a problem.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am director of sato consult, a consultancy working with multinational clients to deliver global master-planning and development projects. I work on behalf of companies to find people/ teams to work on high value infrastructure works.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SEED Recruitment?

I had a number of complex hiring requirements that were outside of our usual area of expertise. We needed several environmental consultants to produce environmental reports in line with local and national legislative frameworks. We used SEED Recruitment to help us identify what professional skills were needed and help us find skilled professionals to perform the works.

What were your goals for this engagement?

Sato Consult has specialist insights in geotechnical and geoenvironmental, but our knowledge does not span all areas of the environment sector. We wanted a company to provide sound advice on skill requirements, job descriptions and market expectations. We also needed to identify suitable skilled professionals to contribute to a key international commercial project. SEED Recruitment conducted market research to pin down technical requirements, relevant experience and competency requirements, and salary expectations etc. At first we just needed skilled professionals on the ground to address a skill-gap, but we also wanted to be better able to find such people in future should the need arise again.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We spoke to various agencies about our needs and we wanted to leverage the knowledge of a specialist consultancy. Of the companies we shortlisted, we chose SEED Recruitment because they were great a consultation stage. I initially spoke with Joseph, the Recruitment Director, and he made me feel comfortable with the process. He was great at understanding my needs and going far enough to challenge my wants. He was transparent and he outlined a proposal that would solve our short term issues for this project, but also help the business run more efficiently for future projects. Myself and the senior management team looked over several proposals and decided to work with SEED Recruitment because we could see how the proposal would help us identify environment professional over the longer term.

Describe the engagement in detail.

We initially just needed specialist staff quickly. This was a short term solution to a long term problem. SEED Recruitment were instructed to find key people asap, but during our conversations it was clear they could help with aspects of talent attraction beyond just finding people for us and charging a fee. Joseph took care of everything in the early stages and gave us suitable options for our immediate requirement. He also suggested something that I thought could benefit our recruitment process and we worked together to started building a resource bank of suitable individuals for future projects - this involved market mapping, talent pooling and automation of key aspects of the talent acquisition process.

What was the team composition?

I was really happy with the way SEED liaised with me and my team. It is clear they have deep insights and a strong external network. The knowledge within the SEED team has been invaluable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

We had short and long term results for this engagement. We got the people we needed and the recruitment process was managed in an efficient way (we saved time and cost per hire). We also made adjustments to improve the performance of our future recruitment drives (not just in the environment sector, but access the board). We found a way to solve longer-term hiring issues by thinking differently about how we manage our niche requirements. We engaged environmental consultants to begin work on site and we now have specialist people when we need them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Time management was great and interruption was minimal. SEED would find a suitable time to contact me with updates and would be in touch when they said. I primarily dealt with Joseph and his communication skills are exceptional. They really seemed to get us and our ethos, plus they shared their knowledge of recruitment and many insights about his environment-sector niche. I really liked the way SEED Recruitment operated on this assignment.

What did you find most impressive about this vendor?

SEED helped me to challenge some of my thoughts on recruitment processes and idea exchange was great. It was a really positive way to work and I took several key learns that will help me manage future environmental recruitment requirements more efficiently. SEED Recruitment added a lot of value beyond the scope of this engagement.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None come to mind for what we needed SEED to do for us. I have worked as a recruiter for many years and worked with many companies in my time. I can tell from the way SEED operates that they have confidence in their systems and processes and that they know the recruitment market well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Managing Director of an electronic manufacturing company. We are a leading UK seller of electric bikes, electric motorbikes and electric mopeds.

We also engineer and manufacture electric cycle removable battery systems. I look after the sales and operational parts of the company but we don’t currently engineer our products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SEED Recruitment?

We have been researching battery recycling technologies and wanted to design an onsite recycling station. We initially spoke to SEED Recruitment because we were interested in finding out how practical it could be to hire a project design engineer and an interim environmental manager to ensure compliance with ISO standards for this recycling station.

We needed people with the right experience and knowledge to make a success of this venture, as there are a lot of environmental considerations for such a project.

What were your goals for this engagement?

We needed to hire skilled people for a battery recycling project. If we could find the right people it would mean we can bring another aspect of manufacturing within the company and benefit from things like reduced transport costs and reduced materials costs.

Ideally, we wanted to be able to design and manufacture on-site. This would depend on the quality of our reporting and management so we needed to make sure we had good advice.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

SEED Recruitment was recommended to me. I was discussing this idea with a personal friend and when I mentioned the type of people I needed he mentioned a recruiter had actually placed him in an engineering research project a few years ago.

I had an initial call with SEED off the back of this recommendation and the director there gave some really helpful advice. He seemed like he was the man for the job.

Describe the engagement in detail.

This was a one-off project, but it has the potential to evolve. We had an initial plan for the work we needed to do. It was important that the recruiter representing us understood the technical side of things. We paid an initial retainer so SEED could conduct market research, create a suitable remuneration package, and compose a list of technical requirements for each role.

We then received a shortlist of candidates. SEED managed the recruitment process to hire.

What was the team composition?

I dealt with the team at SEED and they were always very professional and completely open to discussion. There was never a message missed and everything was well-organized. All of the candidates we interviewed spoke highly of SEED and the way our company had been portrayed to them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

SEED presented four candidates for the design engineer job and three for the environmental role. All of these people met our selection criteria. The candidate information was well presented and the format made it easy to assess people.

We interviewed four candidates whose experience and knowledge would be good for this project and we hired the people we needed.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was done on time. SEED presents their material well and if you need to get some information nothing is too much trouble. I was comfortable with the whole process and really happy with the way things went.

What did you find most impressive about this vendor?

The people we interviewed were all fantastic - definitely worthwhile meeting all of them. The advice I received was generally spot-on throughout. I felt like my needs were understood by the way things were done. It made the process really simple as when I have hired in the past it has been time-consuming. SEED took all of the pain out of finding staff.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was happy that we got who we needed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bird Marketing is a digital agency that provides online creative, technical and marketing services. I am the Director and I oversee the day-to-day running of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SEED Recruitment?

My business lacked an effective recruitment process. We were so busy that we had a three-month waiting list on new projects and we wanted to find a sustainable way to find good people to attract skilled employees to the business. We engaged SEED Recruitment to help us establish an effective recruitment process and make finding staff easier moving forward.

What were your goals for this engagement?

We were being reactive and we wanted to know the most effective ways to attract good people to sustain company growth. We had several template job adverts that posted to a job board when we needed to hire. We appreciate specialist knowledge in a particular field because that is our business model. We wanted insights from a professional recruitment consultancy that was prepared to invest time in us, rather than just agreeing to fill our vacancies for a fee.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We researched a few different recruitment agencies who were all very focussed on filling vacancies. I didn’t think that added much value long-term as we wanted to build systems and processes to recruit in-house. I initially spoke with SEED Recruitment because they were local, and although they didn’t work in our sector, Joseph was professional and insightful when we had our first conversation on the phone. We discussed my goals and Joseph suggested several ways he could help. During a face to face meeting, Joseph went over the various aspects of the recruitment process in more detail - he basically outlined an ‘ideal’ hiring process for us. Ultimately we used SEED Recruitment because Joseph understood my needs, shared knowledge freely and explained what could be done to achieve the end goal of making the hiring process better.

Describe the engagement in detail.

Bird needed needed a long term solution. Effectively we needed SEED Recruitment to start a mini recruitment company within our business and Joseph was able to help us achieve our goal of building an in-house recruitment function. SEED reviewed our existing recruitment process and highlighted areas for improvement/ aspects that were not effective. They completely overhauled our employer branding, marketing materials and even questioned certain things we did as an employer from an employee's perspective. Basically Joseph provided a completely bespoke service designed to address the pain points in our business. After reviewing us as a potential employer and proposing key areas for improvement we knew he could make positive changes to our Human Resources function. We instructed SEED Recruitment to produce recruitment marketing materials and job descriptions, introduce several stages to improve the quality of applicants and also set up an in-house system so we could manage our own recruitment long term. In the first month we had seen massive benefit to the processes that have been introduced and we are now building a resource to facilitate growth by securing skilled people to work with us.

What was the team composition?

I worked with Joseph (Director) from start to finish. He was available to speak when I needed to, he listened to my ideas and we worked together to find practical ways to achieve our end goal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

We have seen the quality of applicants improve; we have introduced several steps to screen potential hires and have also automated various aspects of the process to reduce the cost and time per hire. Within the first seven days of implementation I realised how much time we had wasted with our old system and saw the potential benefits of this recruitment process growing over time. We are building an invaluable resource and I am pleased to have this area of the business mapped out and running properly - my hiring managers are also much happier.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Over the course of two-three weeks we spoke frequently. We had an initial collaborative meeting where we discussed ideas and established best outcomes. Joseph communicated enough so that I was in the know, but not so much that it interrupted my normal day-to-day. Over the course of the project there were some evolutions of thought and Joseph was able to include aspects that will be great for my business and discuss things that may be good to introduce down the line. I really enjoyed working with him - we worked together incredibly well.

What did you find most impressive about this vendor?

Despite not being specialists in our sector, it was clear they knew the recruitment process and the best ways businesses can attract people. They took time to understand us and ultimately produced results that suggest they had leading knowledge in our field - remarkable work. We exchanged ideas freely and it has really challenged my thinking on human resourcing and recruitment. I now understand how important this area of the business is to achieving sustainable growth and the knowledge they have shared is an invaluable asset to my company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am overwhelmingly pleased with the level of service and could not ask for better outcomes!