The big question...

Here's what they said...

Nikki Thomas HR Officer at HardingEvans Solicitors

We specialise in a range of legal practice areas and the demand for talent will always vary between these practice areas, so, certain vacancies may take longer to fill with the right person than others. We have always been successful in recruiting new talent into the firm and indeed, developing our own. As we have been established since 1871, legal staff view us as a safe haven in these troubled times for many law firms.

John Newell, Kingston Newell Estate Agents, Newport

We have recently recruited two additional members to our team. We used the local branch of a national recruitment agency to fill the positions and both new members of staff live in the city. Local knowledge is a key criteria for an estate agency and we were very pleased with the quality of the candidate’s we interviewed. We chose to use a recruitment agency because we needed the extra staff quickly and didn’t want any time wasters. Newport is attracting professionals of all ages to the area due to the new jobs that are being created in organisations such as Admiral Insurance and companies based on the west side of the city. We are particularly active in these areas and can see from our house sale files that quite a few of the properties sold have been to families relocating here from elsewhere in Wales and the UK due to the buyers jobs.

The city is also increasing in popularity for professionals working in Cardiff and Bristol. It’s a relatively short commute and the house prices and range of properties here are proving popular. It would be great for Newport if we could create more ‘white and blue collar’ jobs to encourage these professionals to live and work in the city.

Luke Welsh, Howells Solicitors, Newport

We are currently recruiting for licensed conveyancers and solicitors for the Newport office and historically due the specialist skills required we have used industry recruitment agencies. In the last 12 months we have started using our company Facebook and LinkedIn pages to advertise positions and they have proved relatively effective. Having asked a number of my clients based in the area the same question, the majority have said that they don’t have any problems filling manual and middle management positions however finding suitable candidates for the more senior / technical positions is more difficult and often they have to look further afield which can sometimes incur additional costs due to relocation expenses.

Dan Smith, M4 Property Consultants, Newport

We deal with a lot of businesses looking for commercial property either for new ventures, inward investment or for relocations into south Wales and the availability of a good staff pool is often cited as a reason why Newport and surrounds has been chosen. There is a large working catchment within a 30 minute drive of Newport with a range of skill levels. In addition, with some very good universities in Cardiff and Bristol companies are attracted to the potential graduate pool available within driving distance. However, it is important that the area not only provides the job opportunities for these people but are provides the expected levels of housing, transport infrastructure and leisure facilities that these people expect. n our own experience our most recent recruit to join the team was introduced to us through a recruitment agency who understands our business and the way we work with our clients. They knew that we look for hard working, enthusiastic team players with excellent soft skills such as negotiation and communication more than technical skills or experience. As a result, they introduced us to Lauren who fits the ethos of our business perfectly and as such we are training her to provide the required technical skills, experience and qualifications. Had we waited for a similar person with some experience and qualifications in the industry that would have been much more difficult. However, while it does involve more effort from us as a company, having the opportunity to train someone to suit us, we feel is a worthy investment.

Peter Northcote, Budget Vets, Newport

There is a good talent pool of potential staff not only in the Newport area but across South Wales. Our head office is in Newport and when recruiting for administrative and managerial positions we advertise the positions in the local media. We have been impressed by the quality of the majority of the applicants and the preparation some undertake in advance of their interview. Generally, we haven’t had any problems recruiting candidates for the new positions we create. We opened a new practice, our sixth surgery last month, in Bridgend last month and had a great response to adverts placed in the local media as well as on our social sites.

Ed Gooderham, Director at Green & Co Accountants and Tax Advisors, Cwmbran

Our staff are an extremely important part of our business. We believe that the right people with the right training is what makes us successful. We rely on our managers to recruit new team members. We trust that they are the people best suited to find an ideal candidate for a vacancy in their particular department. We do not tend to use one system for recruiting, as we have found that we are more successful using a mixture of the resources available to us. For example, when looking for a graduate position we have previously worked with Go Wales. We have also had success in posting positions on job boards and we would consider using an agency if we couldn't fill a vacancy ourselves. We have always received a good response from candidates in the Newport and Gwent area and a good percentage of our staff live locally.

Maria Larcombe, director of operations (South), Acorn, Newport

As Wales' leading recruitment agency we are well-equipped for finding applicants but we also benefit from the fact that Acorn is a well-known, respected brand, and we are able to attract good people to work for us including many who come to us via personal recommendation. As with other regions across Wales and the UK, there are current skill shortages in Newport and Gwent, for example in IT, driving, engineering and the technical skills areas, for which many employers use us to help them with recruiting these harder-to-find skills. In some cases this may also involve working with the employers to develop apprenticeship opportunities and develop bespoke training programmes to up-skill existing workforce. Recruitment advertising has changed dramatically over recent years and is now extremely reliant on digital media. Acorn has been at the forefront of this for some time, which benefits not only our internal recruitment efforts but also importantly, those of a large number of employers right across South Wales.