RECRUITMENT specialist WorkwithYork is at the heart of the city’s economy providing jobs for more than 900 people and delivering vital support to businesses and schools.

Dozens of businesses in the city rely on WorkwithYork to keep them supplied with temporary and permanent staff.

Similarly the region’s education sector sees WorkwithYork’s education division - WorkwithSchools - as a vital provider of high quality teaching and support staff especially at a time when record numbers of teachers are leaving the profession.

Originally set up by City of York Council in 2011 to provide recruitment services to schools, the business has expanded its service to the commercial sector and has seen turnover rise from £2.4m in 2013/14 to £7m in 2016/17.

The business is planning to build on its success by opening new centres across North Yorkshire and forecasts that turnover will rise to £11m within the next three years.

Managing Director Bill Colman said: “We have built an outstanding team of highly experienced recruitment specialists and introduced a superb package of benefits for our candidates, the like of which has never been seen before in the UK recruitment sector.

“It is a strategy that is literally paying dividends with a year on year increase in new clients and a rapid rise in turnover and profits.”

Success of Services

The ability to attract high quality, reliable and flexible temporary staff is a vital component in WorkwithYork’s success story.

Unlike other recruitment agencies WorkwithYork engages its temporary staff directly and provides a range of benefits including in-house payroll management handling income tax, National Insurance and holiday pay.

Mr Colman said: “This enables us to attract the best available candidates and encourages them to stay with us and be available for redeployment, serving several clients.

“We also carry out a rigorous vetting process to identify recruits who are the most reliable and trustworthy and have the right skills and experience to meet our clients’ needs.

“In turn, clients know they can rely on the staff that we supply, so we gain in repeat business and attract new clients from personal recommendations and testimonials.

“A key element in our success is that our team of specialists get to know clients and gain a full understanding of their business enabling them to precisely match job specifications.”

Marketing

WorkwithYork has an integrated marketing strategy combining advertising, networking and community sponsorship as its three main strands.

It has developed a vibrant corporate identity for both its commercial division and its education service which operates under its own brand - WorkwithSchools.

It runs advertising campaigns with local radio stations aimed at attracting clients and candidates. Separate campaigns operate for commercial and education sectors.

The company supports various community projects through sponsorship including The Press Community Pride Awards and York City FC.

Dedicated business development staff reach out to prospects through various networking groups in the city as well as contacting businesses direct.

At the heart of the marketing strategy is a newly developed website which provides clear information to help prospective clients and candidates make an informed decision.

Overcoming Obstacles

Attracting quality candidates can be one of the biggest challenges for any recruitment agency.

WorkwithYork has overcome this by building effective networks to identify top class candidates.

The first step in this strategy was to recruit high calibre in-house recruitment specialists who as a matter of daily routine are in touch with their personal networks of businesses and schools checking on their requirements and seeking to identify new candidates.

The next step was to create a business that candidates wanted to be part of. This has been achieved by implementing an ethical and transparent way of working and delivering the best benefits package for temporary staff in the UK.

Motivating Staff

Skilled and enthusiastic staff are the lifeblood of any business and nowhere more so than WorkwithYork.

The company has a programme of continuous development in place with staff being trained to standards set by The Recruitment & Employment Confederation - which is dedicated to improving recruitment practice in the UK.

Regular individual appraisal and performance sessions are held so that any gaps in skills and knowledge can be quickly identified and corrected.

Every staff member benefits from performance related pay and has a clear performance plan with KPIs reviewed on a weekly basis.

The management team have created a professional but friendly and approachable working environment where everyone is made to feel a valued member of the team.

This approach runs through to temporary staff who also benefit from a range of staff discounts in shops and restaurants in York.

In addition, their second in-house awards event is to be held this September recognising excellence among the business’s team of temporary staff.

Future Strategy for Growth

The business has a clear vision for the future with a programme of opening new centres in towns across the region to meet gaps within the recruitment market.

As part of this expansion it will be investing in new staff including Director level specialists to help the management team drive the business forward.

The business is working towards increasing turnover by £4m to £11m within the next three years. All team members have been set performance objectives to achieve this vision.

Responsibility to the Community

Schools are at the heart of every community and the business will continue to work closely with local schools and colleges to help them maintain their staff levels at a time when retaining staff is a major challenge for head teachers.

In addition, the business generates dividends for its shareholder City of York Council which goes back into the public purse for the benefit of everyone in the Greater York area.

WorkwithYork will continue its support for community projects including sponsorship of community awards run by the local press along with direct sponsorship of community organisations.

Conclusion

WorkwithYork is extremely proud to have developed a service which has created jobs for more than 900 people while at the same time helped local businesses and schools to be successful by providing them with skilled and reliable staff.

In doing so it has created a vibrant and profitable business which has seen turnover treble to £7m in the last three years and is on course to reach £11m by 2020.

Ends

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