Hiring from the Job Centre

[Gargamel]

Afternoon,

Anyone had any recent experience of recruiting from the Job Centre. I need an efficient office person. I'd like to hire someone without much experience, I am happy to train. Would be a team co-ordinator position so MS office would be a must

Will the JC filter applications and only send me the ones who actually want a break ?

Anecdotes and rants also considered ...

[Hoofy]

At a guess, given that you're looking for a team leader, you'll probably not be sent someone who hasn't worked since leaving school in 1998 but will most likely be sent people who have either been team leaders or have worked in your industry in a relevant role below that. Or are JCP employees that stupid?

[c8bof]

Yes, I've recruited from the Jobcentre late last year. I gave them our application form and JD/PS, and they used this to send out applications.

They did all the admin work and filtered out the best applications, though we did an in-house final shortlist to choose the candidate for interview.

It was all for no cost and I got the impression they were happy to do as much as they could to help. It saved me time and money, and I would do it again for a junior role.

[Gargamel]

I'd be happy to take a "low expectation grad" or an 18 year old with a mature approach - provided they had GCSE's in Maths and English as a minimum

I don't need a team leader (that's my job) - this is Admin and diary management with travel bookings, hotels, logistics and booking interviews with prospective candidates.

So bright, enthusiatic and good communication, I will give them a try and see what I get !

[Hoofy]

Oh, sorry, "team co-ordinator" sounds like they're co-ordinating a team. Good luck with the recruitment! Post up your experiences for PH to chuckle/rant at!

[Sir Bagalot]

I would also phone interview them asking some rather simple questions. You'll be surprised at the amount of young people who simply don't know how to speak to someone in a professional manner.

Some might say that you could teach them to do this.... others would say do you really want to employ someone who doesn't already know.

Good luck.

[chukka64]

I had the same dilemma recently so created an account on the Direct Gov website

https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/register.aspx?redi...

If you go to the 'employers' tab just follow the instructions and create a business account, you can then advertise to your hearts content.
It is a bit of a balls ache particularly as their software has some quirks. I wanted to advertise the job in Bury St Edmunds but to get their system to recognise the address had to spell it as Bury Saint Edmunds.

Other than that it was fairly drama free, the job will appear on the Direct Gov website and people can either apply through the website / job centre or to you direct. Through a combination of application received and applications registered on the site I soon had a shortlist and was able to fill the vacancy. The downside is that because it is direct gov and therefore affiliated with job centres / welfare to work you will also get masses of applications from people who are just trying to complete their quota of job applications to keep their benefits.
Sounds harsh but I worked in welfare to work for a number of years and it happens.

Good luck

Si