Why choose Seven recruitment?

Seven specialise in the recruitment consultancy market. Seven have been in business since 2002 when Antony Smith, Managing Director and six colleagues left their then employer to set up Seven.

Seven now specialise within the FMCG industry, including sales, marketing, logistics, supply chain, distribution, engineering, NPD, production, technical and category management. Seven also work in the retail industry including fashion, food and variety retailing at a number of levels including store management, area management, visual merchandising, buying, online and marketing.

In addition, the last year has seen Seven move into a range of new markets including management consultancy, legal, accountancy, finance and HR.

Seven are a recruitment consultancy specialising in a range of recruitment services including retained assignments, contingency recruitment or database recruitment, research projects, name gathering research, networking, advertising management and media management. We also have meeting rooms which are available for hire in both Leeds and London .

Each of our recruitment consultants have a broad experience of the industries they work for, having either industry backgrounds or specialising within a specific sector.

You will experience excellent customer service from your first contact with Seven recruitment. You will have a dedicated recruitment consultant who will take time to fully understand your needs, whether you are a candidate or a client. You will find all members of the Seven team are extremely friendly and willing to help, our feedback always highlights the professional and warm way people are dealt with.

Each of Sevens consultants have experience of the full recruitment process meaning they are able to truly consult on your recruitment needs. It is with this knowledge Seven are able to offer an efficient service.

Seven have offices in Leeds, London and Poland , all of which are linked by live feeds. With a spread of offices across Europe Seven are in an excellent position to recruit across the national and international marketplace.

The Seven recruitment process is in depth and continues long after a placement is made. With a ‘Seven Stage Recruitment Process', Seven ensure that the role is fully understood, candidates are fully briefed and a correct offer can be made. The after placement service Seven offers ensures the full onboarding process is problem free and leads to a long engagement.

What is Recruitment Consultancy?

Recruitment consultants have been a part of the UK business landscape for a number of years.

Recruitment consultancy is the process of sourcing, screening and selecting individuals for a role. It also involves generating clients who have the vacancies to fill.

Over the past few years Recruitment has become much more involved, with more emphasis being put upon the consultancy aspect of industry.

Consultants now more generally work closely with clients to discuss the viability of their recruitment needs. Consultants can provide advice and consultancy based upon a range of issues such as salary bandings or benchmarking, relocation packages and skill sets.

Why use recruitment consultants?

Recruitment consultants can provide a range of services to businesses to support their recruitment function. A good recruitment consultancy should work with their clients as an extension of their recruitment arm.

Succession planning is key to business success and growth; recruitment consultancies can provide advice and direction which may not necessarily be evident internally.

Recruitment consultants are in an excellent position to advise businesses on the developments within the recruitment industry. If you find a specialist in your field, they will also be able to provide benchmarking information, salary comparisons, industry trends and details around candidate expectations for roles.

Employer branding is also becoming more important for businesses. A good consultancy should work with you to provide the most relevant and compelling proposition of your business allowing you to source the strongest candidates in the marketplace. Good recruitment consultancies should know what makes their candidates tune in to a vacancy and be able to use this to the clients advantage. In addition, they should provide feedback on the recruitment process, the induction process and general onboarding. Not all recruitment processes run smoothly and there may be aspects of the recruitment campaign that need improving – your consultancy should provide vital feedback on the positive and negative aspects of these areas – which are all components of a strong employer brand.

From a candidate perspective, recruitment consultants can provide employment advice, industry information and career guidance. Consultants are in a strong position to know who is recruiting, the hierarchical structure of many organisations, including where a candidates skills may fit and the realistic expectations which can be likely from changing roles.

Recruitment services

There are a range of services which can be sourced from a recruitment consultancy. Retained work is the most common form of service for many consultancies. This involves paying a percentage of the anticipated final fee at the beginning of the process as a commitment to the process. Recruitment consultancies offer many other services above and beyond the placement of candidates - all of which show the development of the recruitment industry. For example, full recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is on the horizon and is becoming much more profound within the industry.

Retained recruitment (Headhunt)

Retained work (headhunting) can prove beneficial in a number of circumstances, including when you are having difficulty filling a role. If a position is very specific it can be difficult to source the right calibre of candidates. Retained work ensures candidates who aren't actively looking for work are contacted. This can also prove valuable when the skill set required for a role is very specific.

When a position needs to be filled confidentially a retained head hunt campaign can provide the necessary level of discretion whilst still sourcing the strongest people.

Due to the level of information collected by the consultant at the start of a retained assignment, this strategy can be beneficial if the company or product area is complicated or misunderstood; a much deeper level of understanding can be passed to the potential candidates.

Headhunting involves meeting with the client to understand their business, job role, cultural specification, wider strategy and background requirements. Researchers will actively approach businesses to map out structures and target the relevant individuals. From this candidates will be approached about a role to see whether they are interested in moving jobs.

After the initial approach, candidates will be invited to send their CV for consideration before being interviewed. If after this two stage screening process, candidates are still interested in the role, and the consultant feels they have the right background, a further, in depth interview will be conducted in order to allow the consultant to produce a shortlist. This shortlist is presented to the client with interviews following. Your consultant will project manage the interview process, taking and delivering the final offer.

After the placement, the consultancy should stay in touch to ensure the placement is progressing well and there are no problems. It is very important that the onboarding process is well executed as the first few weeks determine how long individuals will stay with a business. By using your recruitment consultancy as a support network through this process a more successful appointment can prevail.

Advertised search

Many consultancies will have contracts in place with a number of job boards and marketing agencies placing them in an excellent position to book, produce, run and manage an advertising campaign on their client's behalf.

Advertising forms a further part of the retained recruitment process. Your recruitment consultant will be able to provide a list of prices and options for roles, and based upon the requirements advise upon the best route for generating candidates. Consultants should be able to provide you with figures based upon the number of candidates who potentially see the adverts, their location, salary level etc etc.

Using this detailed industry information, you will be in a stronger position to advertise in the most relevant journals, sourcing the strongest people.

Adverts can provide a brilliant source of education for your employer brand, but you need to be sure the consultancy you use understands the employer brand in the first place! The recruitment consultant should have an excellent understanding of the business culture and be able to convert this into a compelling job opportunity.

With advertised recruitment, consultancies should manage the response on their clients behalf; contacting all applicants whether successful or otherwise in order to strengthen and not damage a clients employer brand. Interviews will then take place with the consultants before a list of potential employees is provided to the client to make their decision.

Recruitment consultants will then again project manage the process on your behalf.

Database / contingency recruitment

Contingency recruitment refers to recruitment consultants utilising their internal recruitment database to source candidates for roles. This includes searching the database for relevant people as well as individuals who would be able to recommend peers and contacts within their business for roles. Working with a specialist consultancy, the database should hold thousands of individuals who would potentially be relevant for your business.

From the database list, the potential candidates are contacted to generate interest in the position and to educate candidates around the business. Candidates are asked to send a copy of their CV to the consultancy from which a screening process would be undertaken. Interviews would be held with the candidates to source the strongest people for the role before being put forward to the company.

Research

A service now offered by many recruitment consultancies is that of business research. This can take many forms dependent upon the needs of the client.

It could include salary benchmarking activities, structure mapping and employer branding.

Consultancies can provide support on a number of research projects relating to people management, utilising their teams of researchers to to meet research objectives.

How Recruitment Consultants help candidates

The role of the recruitment consultant with regards to the candidate is very different.

Consultants have a number of roles to play above and beyond the typical sales person function which is perceived by a lot of people about recruitment consultants.

Initially consultants have to sell a role in order to generate interest in a business and a position. Once interest is generated the role of the recruitment consultant tends to evolve.

Communication between the recruitment consultant and the candidate should remain open and strong, with the consultant getting back to the candidate with updates as and when requested or when information is available. This is a key area of importance for candidates as highlighted by ongoing research and as such your consultant should champion the importance of this.

Recruitment consultants act as a support to candidates, providing them with information on the business, industry issues and interview coaching. Also, should the interview process contain SHL tests etc, consultants should be able to provide examples for candidates to practise.

With the consultant acting as a mentor, the candidate should be in a much stronger position to successfully complete the interview process.

The recruitment consultant should also be available to answer any questions and find out any information regarding the role or business. Such things as single store performance or plans for closing factories may not always be made apparent but your recruitment consultant should approach these issues head on, on your behalf.

Also, once an offer has been made it is the consultants responsibility to ensure the offer is of an acceptable level for the candidate, and negotiate upon their behalf if not.