“Recruiting trainees is part of our culture and how we operate,” says Poppy Emsley, acting HR manager at EnviroVent, which has 60 engineers installing ventilation systems across Britain.
EnviroVent is the UK’s largest manufacturer and installer of low-energy, sustainable, domestic ventilation systems.
“The last few years, we’ve struggled to recruit high calibre engineers,” says Poppy. “It’s a difficult recruiting environment made even more so by our niche recruitment criteria, but we’ve a strong employer brand. We’re good at sharing our experience with new talent as it helps people grow and flourish. Sharing knowledge runs deep in our culture, as does promoting from within.
“But the delay in filling roles was beginning to impact on the business. That led us to rethink how we recruit new talent into our team.”
EnviroVent was recommended to trainee recruitment provider, Options Skills, by a colleague who had recently joined the business. The company began working with Options Skills earlier this year (2021) to grow its team and the business.
Leaving a learning legacy
“Any trainee requires time and investment, but every Options Skills candidate has personally invested in their own career. That means you get someone who’s reliable, hard-working, committed and intent on career progress rather than seeing EnviroVent as ‘just a job’. They also have a strong foundation of electrical knowledge. When you deal with electricity, getting it right is often a matter of life and death, so we’re impressed with how Options Skills candidates take it as seriously as we’d expect.
“It’s been really easy to work with Options Skills. They already have a good knowledge of our electrical requirements, so briefing them was straightforward.”
Making recruitment quick and easy
“The team at Options Skills regularly contacts us with potential new candidates. They also support us with the interview process, which saves us a lot of time,” says Poppy.
“All of our trainees fund their own training which makes them keen to work hard to get their return on that investment quickly,” says Mick Fitzgerald, director, Options Skills. “That also means employers get trustworthy team members. Many Options Skills candidates are mature, but – whether they’ve had a previous career or not – we emphasise how having problem-solving and people skills are just as important as technical know-how to the qualified electrician.”
Poppy says: “We’d recommend Options Skills to any business considering how best to recruit and develop their own talent. The investment made by Options Skills candidates shows how they’ve committed to their career before joining us. They take it seriously.
“We’re also looking to introduce a full training scheme as part of our business growth plans, and we’ll definitely be going to Options Skills for more trainees to recruit for this.”
For more information, visit Options Skills, or call 0808 169 2548.
