The Challenge

Symbol UK Ltd manufacture bar coders for the retail industry. Their site at Winnersh Triangle houses not only their Headquarters but also their National Repair Operation and International Test and Repair Centre. This means that they employ a wide range of staff from technical specialists to unskilled workers, from senior personal assistants to call centre operatives. It is essential that we have a thorough understanding of the full range of job specifications and person profiles.

Line Managers book their own temporary staff, so we need to maintain good working relationships with all of them and appreciate their own individual needs and preferences.

The Wise Solution

The combined resources of our branches in Wokingham, Bracknell and Maidenhead ensure that Symbol can choose from the best candidates in their area.

We approach all vacancies with enthusiasm and positivity, achieving an excellent success rate, even with highly technical vacancies, which are outside of our core business. Our belief is that with a good understanding of the role, the key questions for effective selection and an appreciation of where the candidates are likely to be found we can recruit for almost any post. Our results bear this out.

We also support Symbol in making effective use of a regular temporary workforce, supplying up to 50 skilled and unskilled, industrial and office based temporary staff on assignment in any week.

Temporary assignments provide an excellent way for both client and candidate to evaluate their fit with each other and many of our temporary testing, warehouse and call centre staff convert to Symbol’s permanent payroll.

The Outcome

- Wise Employment despatched over 500 application forms in response to telephone enquiries
- Nearly 300 completed forms were returned for consideration
- 103 candidates were short listed for interview following pre-selection and telephone interviews
- 45 offers of employment were made and only one rejected

The Campaign was successful for Thames Water on several levels:
- Complete focus on the task meant that both recruitment deadlines and candidate expectations were met
- Effective pre-selection meant that specialist Thames Water staff spent less time on non core activities
- All immediate vacancies were filled and a waiting list produced for future opportunities
- The cost was comparable to the provision of an in-house service