Talent Bank – the effective way to recruit and train your workforce
Investing in workforce recruitment and training is ultimately the only effective way of building a competent workforce for the future. Whilst the demand for Higher Skills and Graduate recruitment is high on the agenda for most waste management employers, the challenges involved in attracting candidates, retaining them and providing a quality development programme can be prohibitive.
To help combat this, Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills), the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the gas, power, waste management and water industries, has developed an employer-led Talent Bank which can save you time and money.
Talent Bank is a specialist recruitment and training hub, developed in collaboration with employers and other stakeholders across the energy and utilities sector to provide a responsive and flexible range of recruitment and training services.
Denise McGlynn, Client Manager for Waste Management at EU Skills, explains: “Talent Bank can generate a pipeline of talent based on your specific business needs, offering you easy access to pre-assessed candidates, a full recruitment process and high quality support at any point in the training cycle.
“Unique to Talent Bank is our ability to act as the direct employer, providing all HR and payroll services for the duration of the training alongside our other high quality services, whether it is one off recruitment or complete learner management services you require.”
Recruiting new people can prove a costly exercise. Not only can it be extremely time consuming, the cost of advertising and overall management of the recruitment and on-going development process can be significant.
To aid small to medium (SME) sized businesses in the waste management industry, Talent Bank has partnered with the Environmental Services Association (ESA) Educational Trust to provide a service - worth £10,000 - including recruitment, training, pastoral support and a HR service for your apprentice, for free.
Denise continues: “This is a really exciting opportunity for all SMEs operating in the waste management industry. The programme is available to businesses that are looking to take on an apprentice. All costs relating to recruitment, learner and training management and HR will be fully funded by the ESA. Talent Bank will handle the recruitment process on behalf of the five successful businesses – ensuring we attract the brightest individuals for your business - and will monitor and support the apprentice throughout their training, making sure that only the highest level of skills are achieved.
Denise added: “With recruitment agency fees typically ranging from 15% to 20% of a candidate’s first year salary, Talent Bank and the ESA programme can offer you a real alternative to traditional recruitment and training solutions.”
But don’t just take our word for it. Richard Gray, Managing Director of Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company (CSWDC), explains how Talent Bank has helped his business: “Our business requires people with technical skills that are in very short supply and high demand in the open market. We took the decision five years ago that we should invest in engineering Apprenticeships to help us with our succession planning in the business. Although it may take up to four years to fully train a technician through the Apprenticeship route, our experience had been that the finished product is perfectly equipped to meet our needs and is a valuable asset to the business in the long term.
“Talent Bank offered us a one stop shop solution that marketed the role, assessed applicant and produced a candidate shortlist for interview all at a very competitive price. The consultants worked with us to ensure that the marketing and selection process fully reflected the profile for the vacancy and we were impressed by the quality of the candidates delivered from the process for final interview.”
For further information about Talent Bank, please visit: www.euskills.co.uk/about-us/talent-bank
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITOR:
Issued by: Caroline Moverley-Judd, Product Marketing Manager at EU Skills
T: 07711 007 245
E: communications@euskills.co.uk
Date of release: 01.07.2013
About Energy & Utility Skills:
Our Vision: Ensuring our industries have the skills they need now and in the future.
Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills) is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the gas, power, waste management and water industries, licensed by Government and working under the guidance of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). Employer-led, our purpose is to ensure that our industries have the skills they need now and in the future.
The energy and utilities sector is fundamental to the success of the UK economy and is crucial to the way modern society functions. It is critical to facilitate an adequate supply of competent people to develop, maintain and enhance the sector.
A skilled workforce is vital for meeting the challenges of an increasingly competitive global economy and particularly during this tough economic climate, where skills are the key lever for successful competition.
EU Skills commitment is to raise employer engagement, demand and investment in skills, to ensure that we have authoritative labour market information for all of our industries and to develop National Occupational Standards (NOS) to ensure that qualifications meet employer needs.
For further information about EU Skills please visit: www.euskills.co.uk
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