The recruitment issue...

How do you go about recruiting?

We post all our vacancies on our recruitment website (www.admiraljobs.co.uk) and we get a lot of interest off the back on our Job Alerts service. We’ve also recently started using Facebook and Twitter to help boost engagement with potential employees. We sometimes use online jobs board to help with numbers but only on rare occasions as we’re lucky to get a lot of applications for most of our advertised roles. We use a specific group of agencies to help with some of the technical roles we recruit for such as IT or analyst positions.

How do you view the local talent pool?

We couldn’t have asked for a better pool of talent. It’s incredible that Admiral has been shaped into the hugely successful company it is by utilising the relatively small pools of talent within Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without the talented individuals who have joined us over the years. It goes to show you don’t have to be based in London or the other big cities to be a success as long as you have access to great talent.

Are there any particular skills gaps?

We rarely ask for specific skills or qualifications. For us, it’s all about having the right attitude and work ethic; we can teach people the rest. We find that people who fall short at application stage are usually declined due to a lack of information, and simple spelling and grammatical errors. The application form is the candidate’s first opportunity to make a great impression, so when someone applies for a position with us, we need to be confident they’ve put 100 per cent into their application and have taken the time to proof read it.

Are you finding it more difficult to recruit now that unemployment is falling?

No, we’re very lucky to have a fantastic employer brand behind us. In fact, we had more applications in January 2015 than we did in the entire first quarter of 2014. The more technical roles can sometimes take longer to recruit for, but that’s always been the case. It really helps being a FTSE 100 company that’s growing, in the heart of South Wales, and we offer new recruits fantastic development opportunities. We’re really proud that 95 per cent of team managers within Admiral all started on the front line of the business.

Jane Gant, head of recruitment for the Office of National Statistics, Newport

How do you go about recruiting?

ONS recruitment is carried out online. However we use a variety of advertising channels which all ultimately point prospective candidates to this website. These include agencies, online advertising and local and national job boards. We also use local job centres - both here in South Wales and also at our other site in Titchfield, Hampshire.

If you ever use jobs boards, how effective do you find them?

We have used a variety of job boards in the past, specifically targeting applicants with the specialist skills we are looking to attract. We have found them very effective in terms of attracting the candidates with the right skills and experience.

How do you view the local talent pool?

ONS relies heavily on a variety of specialists including economists, statisticians, researchers, digital specialists, web designers and IT developers, programmers, test analysts and project and programme management. So our search for talent is nationwide. Employment of local talent is advantageous to any business and ONS recognises and encourages this.

Are there any particular skills gaps?

Inevitably there are gaps, but we're proactive in tackling them. ONS also has programmes with local universities, both here and at Titchfield. This helps to develop and establish relationships which help with an understanding of our requirements and, of course, we're reaching right into the source of our future workforce - the students.

Are you finding it more difficult to recruit now that unemployment is falling?

Competition with the private sector is challenging and we're always looking at ways to improve. As a government organisation we are charged with delivering efficiency targets and doing more with less. What we can offer is a fulfilling and challenging career in a vocation of choice, with opportunities for progression. There is also the chance to contribute to the key statistics that make national news every day and on which most of the major decisions by government and business in this country are based.

Sarah Morrey, HR manager, AIC Steel, Newport

How do you go about recruiting?

In the majority of cases we first advertise on our website and internally as we're keen on recruiting local talent and growing our staff numbers. In terms of our factory roles we are very lucky and have gained a lot of interest through our website for these. We do not use recruitment companies for these roles, instead we often recruit through website enquiries. For more specialist roles, we tend to use a recruitment firm who can help us employ those with the right skills. We are starting to use other online recruitment avenues too, including Jobs Growth Wales and Universal Job Match – we hope this will encourage more graduates and trainees to apply.

Do you ever use jobs boards?

We have used job boards but mainly for graduate and trainee roles. Job boards are great for encouraging initial interest, however our internal HR department then has to undergo an additional screening process to filter applicants further.

How do you view the local talent pool?

We are very lucky that a high percentage of our employees are local to Newport or South Wales. Newport has a large talent pool in the heavy steel industry and we receive high quality CVs from the local area, especially for skilled factory labour. We are confident that we can source talented employees from Newport and the local area.

Are there any particular skills gaps?

Areas of our business that we do have difficultly filling are estimating, steel connection design and project leader positions. This however is no reflection on Newport as the shortage for this skill seems to be nationwide. We are looking to recruit graduates and trainees to fill these roles, and we plan to talk with schools and universities to encourage more people into the steel industry.

Are you finding it more difficult to recruit now that unemployment is falling?

Due to the unfortunate redundancies from similar companies in the area we've been in a position where we have been able to fill job roles. Since launching we have grown our workforce to 128 employees - with 41 of those employed in 2015 alone.

Martin Spencer, HR director, GoCompare.com, Newport

How do you go about recruiting?

It's very rare that we would use press to advertise positions. We have done for highly specific roles, for example when we have hired a lawyer we used a really niche publication. We use LinkedIn and have a recruitment process outsourcing deal with a firm dealing with South Wales and Bristol. This is a cheaper option for us than using an agency.

A quarter of our staff come from referrals through our 'Refer a Friend' scheme. It shows us that our staff feel good about working here if they want to recommend us to a friend.

Do you ever use jobs boards?

Not directly but we do use Linked In. That is dominating the recruitment world at the moment.

How do you view the local talent pool?

It depends on the skills. The critical skills gap is in IT and in particular in coding and analytics. It is very difficult to get good developers in South Wales at the moment as many have decided to become contractors which attracts a lot more money. IT is a really scare resource.