Red Berry Bloomers!

Recruitment Highs

2012-02-10T03:00:00.001-08:00

This year started with some good news, as January saw a modest rise in permanent staff appointments following three months of consecutive decline, says Report on Jobs.
The wider picture remained relatively gloomy, however, with agency billings falling slightly for the second month in a row, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KMPG’s Report on Jobs, which surveyed 400 REC member recruitment consultancies.

Engineering & construction remained the industry with the greatest demand for staff in both permanent and temporary vacancies, with secretarial/clerical demand rising to become the industry with the third-highest hiring demands in both categories, having been seventh (out of eight) for permanent hires this time last, and fifth for temporary/contract staff.

Across both markets, the overall demand for staff was the weakest for 27 months, while pay rose marginally in both cases.

Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, says: “It is a welcome surprise to see a modest increase in the number of permanent job placements across the UK. Perhaps employers are beginning to accept that they need to have the right people in place to kick start the economy?”

REC chief executive Kevin Green says: “Although temporary billings have contracted slightly over recent months, the latest figures show an improvement on December. This confirms that there is still little evidence that the Agency Workers Regulations have had a significant impact on hiring and employers are still making considerable use of flexible working arrangements.”

"In My View" - Helen Lacey 2nd Article in Western Gazette

2012-02-10T02:58:00.000-08:00

Here it is, Helen's second article which features in the Recruitment Section every week in the Western Gazette.

Let us know what you think!

Helen's first article in the Western Gazette

2012-02-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

Well we know you have all been waiting for it and here it is! Helen Lacey's first article in the Western Gazette. Helen will be writing a different article every week to go in the Recruitment Section. Keep an eye out and let us know of your views on the article!

All the best,

Emma Haskins
Recruitment Administrator

New Jobs in January 2012

2012-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

New jobs in January were 9% higher than the previous year, despite decline in demand in a number of sectors from banking to energy, reports the Reed Job Index.

At 123, the index remains above the 100 level set as a baseline in December 2009 and 9% higher than the January 2011 figure of 113
Estate agency jobs were up 24 points to 146, and charity & voluntary saw a 22 point rise to 142.

The largest month-to-month drops in the Index came in consumer-facing sectors, with hospitality & catering jobs demand dropping 33 points from December.

Martin Warnes, managing director of reed.co.uk, says: “The recovery in the jobs market continues to be a slow one.Nevertheless, year-on-year growth in new jobs of 9% for January is encouraging and underlines the determination of UK businesses to ride out the economic storm.”

New Year!

2012-01-23T01:20:00.000-08:00

Well Readers, I thought it might be quite nice to summarise 2011 and look back and some of the events that Red Berry has done.
The year started off with a very hard winter, snow, snow all-around! With the opening of my second office in Yeovil, it didn't bode well and the flying start that my Shepton Mallet office had was not looking likely for Yeovil. But as the months progressed, Yeovil slowly started to make its mark. Shepton continued to supply our loyal customers and new ones came on board.

Yeovil people would have seen my face on the billboard, which was quite surreal but anyone that knows me, will know that I am not shy of publicity!! We had the traditional temp of the year for each office and myself and Natalie Squire, one of the consultants in Yeovil raised £1600 for the NSPCC by jumping out of a plane (tandem of course!!) .

In February Red Berry was awarded the IIP Bronze Accreditation, something which I am extremely proud of as it recognises all the hard work that myself and my team put into looking after of customers and also in February some of our lucky clients received valentines cards, which for many put a pleasant smile on their faces!!!

In April, both branches collected Easter Eggs for local hospitals and many children tucked into the yummy chocolate that companies, candidates and the public all kindly donated. The Yeovil branch sponsored its first club, the ladies netball team, in which they changed their name to "The Berries", so thank you ladies and in May I was voted "Best Dressed" at Wincanton Ladies day, which was a very pleasant surprise!!

In June I talked at an AWR seminar about the new agency legislation and subsequently did another talk later in the year after popular demand! I have also been asked to speak at numerous schools and colleges about CV writing , interview guidance and presentation skills, which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Mid year saw Myself and the Yeovil team attend the Yeovil Business Awards, hosted by the Western Gazette, in which I was short listed for Entrepreneur of the Year and Small business of the year. A lovely evening despite not winning.

September saw the traditional Red Berry support of the Macmillan Coffee morning and a Red Berry Ramble was organised by Sarah, Senior Consultant in Shepton Mallet in aid of her sister who died of Cancer. Then finally in December, we organised our charity Christmas collection in aid of a women's shelter in Yeovil, which was generously supported by the public, clients and candidates alike.

I think I can honestly say we have had another great year of supporting the community and local charaties.

2012 will be no exception, this January has seen both offices have a flying start and long may in continue. With our marketing plan out lined and our charities chosen Red Berry Recruitment is set for another successful year.

So, keep reading, keeping looking at the website, follow us on FB, Twitter or Linked-In to see what we are up to and what we can do for you

Thank you for reading,

Red Berry Recruitment Ltd

REC: 12 weeks on from AWR and temp demand remains strong!

2011-12-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

This comes alongside the nearing of the first tranche of workers qualifying for extra rights under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) having been in their position for over 12 weeks - which comes into effect on 24 December.

On the permanent side, the JobsOutlook shows that more companies are much more confident about hiring full-time employees, with 68% planning to hire in the next three months, compared to just 14% this time last year.

The only sector in the report to have seen an uptake in both permanent and temporary hiring intentions in both the short (three months) and long (twelve months) term was medical, nursing and social care. No sector saw a decline across all four of those indicators.

Professional and managerial roles were seen as the most likely to experience talent shortage for both permanent and temporary roles in the upcoming year, followed on both sides by computing, IT and telecoms staff.
REC chief executive Kevin Green says: “There is no doubt that the AWR has created significant cost and bureaucracy for agencies.

“The main impact to date has been the development of new supply models rather than any sort of collapse in demand for temp and contract labour. These are trends that we will continue to track as we approach the first 12 week milestone.”

Red Berry Recruitment supporting a Charity over Christmas!

2011-12-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

Each Christmas Red Berry Recruitment chooses a charity to support and help through difficult times. In the past we have supported Banardo’s, St Margaret’s Hospice, Brainwave and Happy Landings.

This year we have chosen a Somerset based charity that offer a supportive service to women and children in abusive relationships. Our chosen charity provides shelter, nourishment, housing and all the support they need to get them back onto their feet.

I recently went to visit one of the houses and the support workers were over joyed to hear that Red Berry wanted to help. In order to support this charity, we would be delighted if you could help us to collect items that will help to carry on supporting these women and children, who sometimes have to flee in the middle of the night with no extra clothes or money.

The Shepton Mallet and Yeovil branches are collecting donations for the charity, these can be dropped off to the office of your choice, Shepton Mallet Office, 28 High Street, BA4 5AN or Yeovil Office, 16c Hendford, BA20 1TE. We are happy to collect the donations if you are unable to come in but please make contact with your nearest Red Berry Office to arrange this. We will be making the donation delivery to the charity on Tuesday 20^th December 2011.

Below is a comprehensive list of what the support workers mentioned they needed for the refuge, however, this list is not definitive and anything you donate will be gratefully received.

Suggested items:

o Tesco Vouchers

o Clothing Vouchers

o Toys and Games (0-16 years old) – Preferably Unwrapped

o Toiletries

o Travel Cots

o Baby Essentials

o Crockery sets

o Cooking Utensils/Pans

o Lockable Storage

o Bedroom Furniture - Especially Chest of Drawers

o Outdoor Play Equipment

We really appreciate your support and would like to thank you in advance.

Firms could face pay hike due to AWR

2011-10-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

UK firms could see a 5% increase in annual pay costs due to Agency Worker Regulations (AWR), which come into force from 1 October, according to multi-sector recruiter Reed.

Reed’s analysis of 30 companies and 30,000 agency workers across 1,300 roles to assess the impact of AWR found that if the regulations had been in place over the last 12 months, those companies would be facing additional costs in excess of £7m — equating to a 5% increase in pay costs for UK companies.

Linda Marshall, head of HR services at Reed, says: “Government consultations suggest that compliance will be time-consuming, with an average of 1.5 hours work per agency worker.
“From our own research, we’ve found that two thirds of businesses use agency workers for both short and long-term assignments and over 30% use their agency workers for assignments that last longer than 12 weeks. This makes them liable for AWR considerations. It’s important that businesses plan now for AWR as the first 12-week qualification period kicks in at the end of this year.”

'Recruiter.co.uk'

Agency Worker Regulations Information

2011-10-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

With the Agency Workers Regulations already in force, recruiters — agency and in-house alike — need to regularly review their approach to the new rules, according to Audrey Williams, partner at international law firm Eversheds.

Williams says: “Even those hirers and agencies who have been ‘on the ball’ and prepared well for 1 October would therefore be well advised to keep their approach to the Regulations under regular review as the law develops. In particular, with the majority of the equal treatment provisions kicking in from Christmas, they will need to watch for developments in the early months in 2012 which are likely to reveal much in terms of how the Regulations are being applied, and should be applied, in practice.”

But Meridian Business Support chief executive, Mark Mitchell, says AWR has been an exercise in self-preservation with the brightest brains in the industry focused on how to protect their margins and alleviate costs for employers, as opposed to embracing the new law to create a positive and happy workforce.

“As much as opponents of this controversial legislation believe it will cost the UK economy billions, the law is not negotiable – it’s being implemented on the 1 October and the industry’s concentration should have been on how to make it work in the spirit in which it was drafted, not on how to protect our own interests. This is something that I am completely opposed to.

“To my great frustration, sharp practice and creative interpretation of the Swedish Derogation model will see it wielded as a ‘get out of jail free’ card. These permutations have been embraced by certain employers and recruiters as opposed to them seeking to develop new processes and data management systems that would better engage with temp workers as the law requires.

“Some of these permutations will result in temp workers being paid less than they are entitled to and in some places as little as one hour per week. And as ludicrous as this may seem, if you are in any way vulnerable to manipulation, as has been demonstrated by certain demographics within the temp sector, this is what will be accepted.

“This is outrageous when you remember that AWR is being brought into effect to prevent this lack of parity, equality and fairness that currently exists in sectors of our labour market.”

With the Agency Workers Regulations set to come into force tomorrow, recruiters — agency and in-house alike — need to regularly review their approach to the new rules, according to Audrey Williams, partner at international law firm Eversheds.

“This is outrageous when you remember that AWR is being brought into effect to prevent this lack of parity, equality and fairness that currently exists in sectors of our labour market.”

Agency Worker Regulations Help

2011-09-14T02:48:00.000-07:00

The AWR come into force on 1 October 2011. Regulation 5 of the AWR provides that agency workers will have the right to equality of treatment with comparable direct recruits of the hirer in respect of certain basic working and employment conditions after a 12-week qualifying period. Hirers will be responsible for providing access to collective facilities and details of permanent vacancies from ’day one’. The Amendment Regulations correct ’drafting errors’, most notably:
• the definition of ’agency worker’;
• the provisions on ’pay between assignments’ contracts ; and
• the provisions governing liability for breach of the equal treatment rights.

The definition of an ’agency worker’ is amended from an individual who has a contract of employment with the agency or:
• ’any other contract to perform work and services personally for the agency’ to
• ’any other contract with the agency to perform work or services personally’.

This makes it clear that the agency worker does not have to perform work for the agency itself.

The agency worker will have a contract with the agency that will usually cover work for a hirer.

There is an exemption under the AWR from the obligation to provide equality of pay to agency workers who are employed on permanent contracts of employment and paid between assignments if available to work. The Amendment Regulations make it clear that the agency’s obligations to pay the agency worker and to look for suitable work when the agency worker is not working, but is available to do so, only apply after the end of the first assignment under that contract.

This is to ensure that there is no expectation that an agency worker will be entitled to receive pay during any period spent not working before the commencement of the first assignment.
The Amendment Regulations also rephrase an agency’s exemption from liability for a breach of the right to equal treatment under Regulation 5, where it is established that the temporary work agency has obtained, or has taken reasonable steps to obtain, relevant information from the hirer and acted reasonably in determining what the agency worker’s basic working and employment conditions should be at the end of the 12-week qualifying period.

The changes make it clear that such information must be about the hirer’s basic working and employment conditions, but it only has to be information about the relevant terms and conditions of a comparable employee of the hirer if this information was needed to assess compliance with Regulation 5.

If the agency can establish this defence, the hirer will be liable for the breach. The hirer will always be liable for breach of the ’day one’ rights.

If you have any questions on AWR then Red Berry is happy to help!

Award Ceremony

2011-07-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

With very successful business comes the invitation to a prestigious awards ceremony.
I hear you ask, what’s an award ceremony?
Admittedly it is a one off excuse to invest in that brand new designer dress you have had your eye on for months, a new pair of sky-scraping heels, alongside a clutch bag that probably cost more than the dress itself.
The awards ceremony that the Berries attended was based at Yeovilton Air Museum. Definitely a venue to be remembered.
Having managed to stagger through the exceptionally vast car park; Myself, Helen, Natalie and Luisa were in desperate need of a refreshing beverage to revitalise our energy levels. ( In other words to make us numb to the excruciating pain in our calf muscles!).
We were welcomed by a very friendly chap at the back door- VIP style.
After walking what felt like a five mile marathon we arrived out our allocated table shared with the very glamorous CCK girls. Sadly, after tottering slowly to the main room, all the free Pimms had gone. You can imagine our disappointment!?!
We were all as ready as one another to tuck in to our set meals. For starters we were served fresh melon, Tender pork with roast potatoes and a selection of vegetables for the main course and last but not least Profiteroles for dessert. Sadly, at this point my dress was bursting at the seams.
Red Berry Recruitment was up against some ripe competition. We were chosen as one of three shortlisted companies to be entered into the ‘Small Business Award’. Fingers crossed. Our managing director, Helen Lacey, was also nominated and shortlisted to be awarded as ‘Business Person of the year’. Fingers and toes crossed.
Watching the chosen candidates walk to the stage to collect their awards was uplifting. Big smiles and kind words spoken from each individual introduced me to a number of admirable, passionate and enthusiastic business people.
The laughs echoed against the Concorde we were sat directly under and the sound of applause of each achievement gave a warm feeling of success.
As proud as we are to be nominated and shortlisted for the two awards we did not come first. This far from dampened our spirit as every nominee was a winner in our eyes.
To conclude the evening we had a professional photographer get a few shots of us. This was probably the worst time to be required to pout and poise, with laughter lines in our makeup from the great humour of our company to the tight black dress that did me no justice after the generous meal). Nevertheless the photo’s looked great; I will thank Adobe Photoshop for my transformation.
All in all a good evening was had by all. Now time for a well-deserved sleep… No chance! The Berries decided to descend upon the local pub.
A night to remember!

Easter Donations

2011-06-15T02:35:00.000-07:00

Red Berry Recruitment are known for all their charity events and fundraising; for many years we have supported local and national charities by either organizing quiz’s, collections, coffee mornings, sky diving, and abseiling! Since Red Berry opened in 2007 we have helped many companies including; Happy Landings animal shelter, McMillian, St Margarets Hospice, British Heart Foundation, Brainwave and NSPCC to name a few!

2011 has been no different, on March 19th Helen Lacey and Yeovil’s Natalie Squire started off the year jumping out of a plane at Netheravon for NSPCC childline services in which they raised £1600! Easter was then round the corner and every year Red Berry Recruitment collects eggs for the children at the RUH in Bath, this year was no exception. Sarah Fraser Red Berry Recruitment’s Senior Consultant and Rachael Haynes Shepton Mallet’s Office Manager visited and distributed over 40 Easter Eggs on the ward which we hope brought many a smile to the children’s faces. The Red Berry Team in Yeovil did the same for their first year trading for the Children’s ward at the Yeovil District Hospital. With over 40 Eggs collected by the generous donations off business, networking groups and individuals, many children had an unexpected treat when Helen Lacey and Kirk Shortland from The Yeovil office went down to give them the eggs!

We just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who kindly donated an egg, it was very much appreciated.

Keep updated on www.redberryrecruitment.co.uk for upcoming charity and fundraising events, and look out for our ‘Red Berry Ramble’ later in the year with date to be announced shortly….watch this space!!!!

By
Sarah Fraser
Senior Recruitment Consultant

Life of a... Managing Director at Red Berry Recruitment

2011-05-10T03:59:00.000-07:00

Well, anyone who knows recruitment will know there is no typical day! I tend to be up from anywhere between 5.30 am and 6.30am as I attend a number of breakfasts events so my mornings can start very early! I tend to look at my emails as soon as I wake up, in fact I look at my emails before I go to bed, a bad habit that I need to break! After a breakfast event where I mix with other business owners and managers , helping to see where we can help each other and promote our companies I check my mobile for voice messages and more emails before calling the offices (Yeovil and Shepton Mallet) to check everything is ok.

I am based in Yeovil at present, so as soon as I get in to the office we have a morning meeting to plan who is doing what, catch up on the day before and check diary appointments . making sure we all know who is where and doing what makes it easier for everyone! then, I check my emails on my PC, working through each one in turn and actioning what needs to be done. I now only go to Shepton once a week, my Manager Rachael runs the office for me, which has meant I can focus on Yeovil, Rachael and I meet every Thursday afternoon for a de-briefing but we talk every day , communication is imperative.

the mornings for me can involve many different facets from sales calls, interviewing and registering candidates for work , sales visits to companies, searching databases for candidates, looking into new marketing ideas, re-designing the company brochure, writing and sending PR and press releases or writing nominations for various awards that we are entering.

With numerous telephone calls , more emails and possible people coming into the office to see me the time flies by! its now lunch time and though I don't often take a lunch break unless its a networking event, I grab my self something to eat and resume what I was doing.

The afternoon could be similar to the morning, more emails, calls, sales calls, possibly some territory mapping, following up from previous activities to gain business, dealing with issue or problems, tendering for business, liaising with IT or designers for various projects we are doing. The day / weeks are so varied, which is one of the reasons why I love recruitment!!

I try to leave at 5.30pm when I do not have a net working event as I can work some days a 15 hour day, 3 times a week! I try and fit the gym in when I can, if not I get ratty , which is not good for me or my staff! I am finding that I am working more over the weekends but hey, it has to be done and no one else will do it for you, I think anyone who works for themselves or employee staff knows how hard it can be and the hours you put in are long!!

Networking takes up a large part of my week too, but it helps get out name out there,so as longs as people hear about us and know us I will continue to do it! I have mentioned breakfasts and lunches but there are also many evening events which, at times, I could probably go to at least one event a day for a week- though goodness knows when I would get any work done!! I certainly love what I do and as an MD I feel it is my responsibility to always be positive, lead form the front and encourage and motivate. I am very fortunate to have staff that I feel are as passionate about Red Berry as I am.

So, the day is varied, full of ups and downs, recruitment is ever changing and though there will always be challenges, I will always remain optimistic and passionate about what I do.

Kirk Shortland, A Day in the life of…

2011-05-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

There is no ‘typical day’ at Red Berry Recruitment. Yeovil has been up and running for over 6 months now and as the business has expanded, the days seem to have shortened!

Time Management is a key component to my day, however there is always something that will change your proactive plan of attack into a more reactive day, which ensures my working environment is not only fast paced but also ever changing and deeply challenging!

As the Recruitment Consultant, first thing on my list this morning is checking in this week’s new starters at their respective new placements following on from the successful interviews at the end of the previous week.

My passion is business development; today will evolve many different diarised types of activity, ranging from visiting new client premises for the very first time to designing new media for a variety of local publications as well as emailing updates and touching base with some of my well-established contacts.

Candidate care is what sets us apart from our competitors and this is another key area of the business for me. Knowledge is power and ensuring that all candidates go through a complete registration process is key. This isn’t just a paperwork exercise, this is a fully interactive business meeting designed to extract the maximum amount of relevant information from potential candidates in order to help produce a strong match to my current client vacancies, for which I am currently recruiting.

This brief insight is only a handful of the roles and responsibilities we undertake daily at Red Berry Recruitment, In short:
“Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows. There is no code of conduct to help beginners. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent” - Sophia Loren

A day in the life of..a Red Berry Consultant

2011-04-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

I joined Red Berry in January 2011 following a career in the education sector as a primary school teacher and then as a school advisor selling educational products to secondary schools.

This experience had given me firm foundations for starting a career in recruitment as I was very used to working with a diverse range of clients in a sales based environment.
I am now 3 months into the position and have learnt a lot of new things. I have been trained in interviewing and sales techniques and how to use our internal database which records all contact that we make with clients and candidates.

Every day is different at Red Berry. Every morning we have a daily meeting where we share the work we will be doing throughout the day and the positions we are trying to fill. This is then followed by checking our emails and answer phone messages and responding to any urgent business.

The day always goes very quickly as it is constantly busy in the office. We often have temporary positions to fill urgently, for example to cover sick leave; then it is all hands on board in the office to find a suitable candidate!! We are usually very successful as we have some fantastic reliable candidates who we can phone at a minutes notice! Recruitment is definitely a fast paced industry!

Since I have started, we have had positions to fill varying from Transport Dispatch Assistant to Marketing and Merchandising, every position is very different and I have learnt that it is very important to find out as much about the business and candidates as possible to ensure a good match. There is a real sense of achievement when that match is made and all parties are happy with the outcome.

Multi tasking is also a bit part of the job; I am a huge fan of “to do” lists!! We often have several positions at a time to fill alongside interviewing candidates, visiting clients, making sales calls, attending networking events, sending out marketing materials and reading through CVs sent in for particular positions. (I’m exhausted reading that!!)
So far, I have met some lovely candidates and clients and am enjoying my new position as Red Berry’s Commercial Recruitment Consultant!!

March 2011

2011-03-15T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, what a great few weeks we have had, the valentines competition saw some very lucky winners winning bottles of wine and chocolates and the Red Berry Love was spread far and wide across Somerset. The Shepton Mallet office is still going strong with Emily settling into her role as the commercial consultant and the office in general having a real buzz about it with all the permanent jobs that have been coming in.

The Yeovil office is growing and growing, last week they ended on 31 temps, which is a phenomenal achievement, so well done team!

It won’t be long before Helen and Natalie jump out of a perfectly good aircraft for charity. They aim to raise £1600 for the NSDPCC so please, donate and help them achieve this. Photos will be posted on our website and our face book page! (good luck girls!!!)

April will also see the return of the Easter Egg Collections, the last 3 years the Shepton Mallet office have collected for the children’s ward at the RUH and this year is no exception. The Yeovil office has decide to collect for the children’s ward at the Yeovil District Hospital, so there will be plenty of children filling up on Easter Eggs! If you want to donate an Easter Egg you can drop them into either office before the 19th April.

On a final note, please keep an eye open for more information about the AWR legislation, we are having a seminar on Friday June 3rd, in partnership with Pardoes Bevins Solicitors about how this will affect companies who use recruitment agencies and temporary labour. The venue and time will be confirmed asap.

The next few BLOGS will be a “day in the life of” as a number of the Red Berry Team write about what they do at Red Berry!

Thank you for Reading!!

January Round-up.

2011-02-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

Well readers, we are now in February, one month already has flown by already and we are now in the month of Love! But what did January hold for us, well, we saw Natalie White Shepton Mallets Office Manager leave to go on maternity leave and Rachael Gray who was the Shepton Mallets office Commercial Consultant take the role over, with over 20 years Recruitment and Management experience I have no hesitation that she will do a grand job. But Natalie will be missed and we cant wait to meet the new addition to the White Family and cant wait to have Natalie back with the Berries, when ever she decides she might want to return. Shepton also saw the start of Emily Powell, the new Commercial Recruitment Consultant, so good Luck Emily, welcome to Red Berry!! In Yeovil, the office saw a steady increase in temp numbers, slowly but surely and the Bill Board that I (Helen) appeared on is getting a lot of attention, so the impact we wanted is working!! Though no one has drawn a moustache or glasses on it, which I thought they might!!

On to more business related updates and the AWR regulations are really starting to make us think! There will be lots of information to follow and a workshop/ Seminar for businesses to attend, so watch this space, though everyone will be invited! Also, we had a temp of the Year 2010 nominations, we had a number of our clients nominate their temps and winners will be revealed very soon!!

An another note Helen and Natalie (Yeovil Office) will be jumping out of a plane on Saturday 19th March for the NSPCC, the link is http://www.justgiving.com/Red-Berry-Recruitment so click on the link now to donate!!

Well that's it, short and sweet but keep reading ad letting people know about Red Berry Bloomers!!

Red Berry 2011!

2011-01-14T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well I can’t believe it, it’s 2011, where does the time go!? So, what to write about, well, to summarise 2010 I would say in one word “fabulous!” It’s been an interesting past 12 months with a few staff changes, numerous networking and events attended, Christmas, opening of the new office but overall I would say Red Berry Recruitment has had a good year.

We go into 2011 with positivity and vigour. With optimism that only Red Berry employees have about the recruitment market. With 2 offices open, we aim to continue to provide our clients and candidates a 1st class service. The 2 locations mean a greater choice of candidates for the clients and another option of which location is best for them to register at.

Shepton office will see a change of face this month with Rachael Gray our Commercial Consultant becoming Office Manager, bringing with her years of recruitment and management experience. Luisa our Finance Manager will be returning to the flock after her Maternity leave on shortened hours.

So it’s early days, 14 days in and so far so good. As always not one to miss a PR opportunity, “Helen can be seen on a 100square foot billboard in Yeovil, on one of the busiest roads in the town. You can’t miss it – It’s a huge smiley face of the MD – one comment was “Her teeth are so white I need sunglasses”.

So that’s it for the first Blog of 2011. Stay tuned for more news from Red Berry Bloomers.

Open Day

2010-12-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

Well, what another exciting week for the team at Red Berry Recruitment! The Shepton Mallet are still busy finding temps for clients, despite the weather clients are still needing people and there are some great permanent jobs on the horizon too! Sadly, the Christmas present drop has had to be put on hold until the new year due to, yes, you’ve guessed it, the snow and ice! Oh well, we will try and refrain from eating the goodies we have bought our clients!

Anyway, on Thursday 16th December, Yeovil witnessed the opening of Red Berry Recruitments new office! Though the team have been providing a recruitment service before then, the 16th what the official opening! The day started with the Mayor of Yeovil- Phil Chandler and his good lady wife, Linda. The event was also attended by Father Christmas who spent the day in Yeovil town giving out 100’s of balloons and sweets to the children and at 3pm he was snuggly in his grotto where children came to see him and get there special pre-Christmas present!

The event also saw 2 of Yeovil’s fire-fighters with a water cannon machine , who made the event even more colourful with their big red truck! I believe they were really successful and raised about £50 for the fire-fighter charity.

There was also a Christmas prize draw, with over 30 prizes kindly donated by companies far and wide, £70 was raised in aid of St Margaret’s Hospice. Sue and John Epathite, very dear and close friends to Helen was clearly on a winning streak, scooping 4 prizes! On top of all this, all clients/businesses that attended could enter a FREE prize draw to win a bottle of champagne, this was won by Adrian of Tower gate Insurance, so well done Adrian!

Helen and the Yeovil team (Kirk and Natalie) would like to thank everyone who helped make the day so special, from Sabine’s, the caterers who made the delicious canapés, Santa helpers, Kristof and James, to Santa (John) and his lovely lady wife Sue who tirelessly throughout the day gave out balloons in the cold, miserable weather, through to Diana of St Margaret’s Hospice and all the clients who came on the day to support.

We hope that Yeovil will be as much as a success of Yeovil, I guess now only time will tell! So, spread the word and let everyone you know, know about Red Berry Recruitment and the fantastic recruitment service that they offer!

Santa's Grotto

2010-12-03T04:31:00.000-08:00

Well what another busy few weeks we have had, with Luisa our Finance Manager giving birth 5 1/2 weeks early to a gorgeous little girl called Isabella we have all been thrown up in the air, we thought we where prepared but not so it seems! However, luckily Simone Paul, the lovely Book Keeper from Wells had been doing a hand over with Lu over the previous months and stepped in to take the finance helm!

The Yeovil Office is now open and Helen our MD is based there full time, though she does pop in on a weekly basis to check we are all ok here in Shepton Mallet ! They already have 3 temps out, not bad after only 2 weeks of opening the doors and the plans for the open day are going well. So on that note, open day- 16th December from 11am to 4pm. The Yeovil Mayor will be opening the evening assisted by Father Christmas at 11 am, there will be 2 of Yeovil's finest fire crew at 1pm till 2pm , so come and have your picture taken with them and at 3pm Father Christmas will open his grotto for 1 hour for the children (£1 per child) All proceeds from the grotto and the raffle will be in aid of St Margaret's Hospice.

So, what else, well, it looks as if there will be an extra bank holiday next year on the 29th, I am sure I do not need to say why! Christmas will soon be here, so if you don't log in for the next Blog, have a good Christmas and a nice relaxing break!

October Frenzy!

2010-11-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well, what a month we have had, charity events, quizzes, coffee mornings , sponsorships, Red Berry have been hard at work spreading the red berry love and helping others! But not only have we been doing lots of charity work we have just been awarded the Bronze Level award by Investors in People. We started working towards the basic accreditation in January and in October Helen got the phone call to say we have been awarded BRONZE. We apparently cleared all the criteria and in fact, it looks as if we could have got silver....next time.

Then on the 22nd October the team at Red Berry went to the Annual Somerset Business Awards, after stiff competition and 150 entrants into all the categories, Helen was awarded 2nd place in Entrepreneur of the Year. Though she desperately wanted the team to get recognition for Customer Service, she was pleased with her achievement.

So what else has been happening, well...... The Yeovil Office is about 3 weeks away from opening, carpet is down, phones in, signage nearly up and IT being done as I type! Still waiting for furniture but hey, we can sit on the floor! It’s all very exciting, Helen is feeling a little happier that her new office is coming together but the pressure is on to make it as successful as Shepton Mallet, though I am sure the Yeovil office will go down a storm when people hear and see what plans she has for the open day in December.

So, charity events, awards and a new office, what else could be happening in the world of Red berry, well Luisa, the Finance Manager will sadly soon be leaving to take maternity leave, we wish you well Luisa and hurry back soon, you will be missed.

So that it for this week, more news on the Berries very soon!

National Minimal Wage Increases

2010-10-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

Well, if there wasn’t enough legislation already in the world of recruitment we now have more to deal with! This week I would like to highlight the increase in NMW. I am sure you are all aware of it but just in case please see below the increase and the slight change to now include a minimal apprentice rate.
From 1 October 2010 the Government has extended the adult NMW rate to 21 year olds and also introduced an apprentice minimum wage:

Type of payment	From 1 October 2010
Workers aged 21 and over (minimum rate per hour)	£5.93
Workers aged 18-20 and those aged 21 and over doing accredited training in the first six months of employment* (minimum rate per hour)	£4.92
Workers aged 16 and 17 (minimum rate per hour)	£3.64
Apprentices under 19 (or aged 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship)	£2.50
Accommodation offset amount	£4.61 per day subject to a maximum of £32.27 per week

*This rate applies to workers who are 21 and over who are in a new job with a new employer and who have entered into an agreement to take part in accredited training on at least 26 days during the first six months. During their first six months they must be paid at least the “development rate” and thereafter the full adult rate. [“Accredited training” is training by means of a course of a description mentioned in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (England and Wales), or by means of a course leading to a qualification approved under the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (NVQ or GNVQ in England Wales or Northern Ireland) and in Scotland an SVQ or GSVQ or other vocational qualification awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It also includes in-house training towards an NVQ or SVQ including at least 50% of the requirements of the relevant level and arrangements known as the “New Deal”.

Please feel free to contact us at Red Berry Recruitment if you feel you have any questions on this or any other topic that you read from us.

What are Agency Working Regulations?

2010-07-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is to help our clients understand the new Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) that will be coming into force as of October 2011. Instead of overloading you with the whole document, we will break it down and include it on the next few blogs to help you, as our client understand how this will affect you.

Background

This briefing document explains what the new regulations on agency workers will mean for hirers whoengage workers via a temporary staffing supplier. With the legislation coming into force in October2011, it is important that hirers:

- Understand the scope and implications of the regulations.

- Assess the potential impact the proposed regulations will have on their business or organisation.

- Start as early as possible to develop plans with their temporary staffing suppliers to minimise the costs and potential disruption the implementation of the proposed regulations may cause.

This briefing has been compiled by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), therepresentative body for the UK’s recruitment industry.

What are the Agency Worker Regulations?

The new regulations derive from European legislation designed to give temporary agency workersparity in pay and employment conditions as they would have been entitled to had they been recruitedby the hirer directly to do the same job. Whilst in other parts of the EU, this entitlement comes intoeffect from day one of an assignment, the UK has a derogation period of 12 weeks. This means theagency worker needs be engaged for 12 weeks’ of service with the same hirer, in the same role, inorder to qualify.

Timescales

The regulations have now been laid before Parliament and should be passed into UK law before thegeneral election in 2010. Despite considerable pressure from trade unions, REC strongly argued thecase that recruitment agencies and hirers need time to prepare for the change and that the availabilityof a temporary workforce will be crucial for businesses emerging from the recession. Taking these arguments on board, the Government has decided to delay the implementation of these regulations to 1st October 2011.

We will next be covering how agency workers rights and benefits will be changing as of October 2011. Look next week for this update.

Many thanks,

Craig Skinner

The June Extravaganza

2010-07-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

June has been a busy month for Red Berry, with birthdays, radio interviews and charity events! The month started off with our very own Natalie White turning 21 and a bit, so congratulations to her for reaching the grand age of 30!

At the beginning of June Helen attended ‘The Royal Bath and West Show’, where she was asked to speak live on air with Somerset Valley FM’s very own Emma Britton about First impressions and how it affects candidates at interview level. The conversation somehow continued into shoes...at which point men went into a daze and women turned up their radios. Helen then went off on her travels to the Federation of Small Businesses stand for the rest of the day to promote the ‘Green it, Mean it!” campaign for the federation. Helen had a great day out and the weather was more than generous for the rest of the Bath and West event!

June held a time for raising money, starting off with the Chamber of Commerce quiz, held at the Thatched Cottage in Shepton Mallet. The Red Berry team was entered into the quiz to try and repeat the grand success we had last year of coming...well last...at the Federation of Small Businesses Quiz! We are pleased to announce we did not come off any worse than our last appearance at a quiz! However I feel slightly handicapped that with a team member who gets excited after being told about the joker card that gives double point and continuing to say; “that’s great let’s use it for every round...!”. After receiving an outburst of uncontrolled belly laughter...I did explain that this was not really the point of a single joker card...! But anyways the Quiz was entertaining and a great success for the Christmas Lights Fund, so thank you to Libby Rae and the Chamber of Commerce for a great night.

Helen however was not in attendance to the Chamber of Commerce quiz but was definitely not slacking off at the gym! Helen was invited by Christine Cryne of the Charity ‘Brainwave’ to an open evening to show it’s helpers and supporters where the money that had been raised had been spent. Helen said;

“It was a very moving experience to hear the stories about the families whose children, suffer from brain injury and what they go through to rehabilitate themselves. As a company, we will certainly be looking at what else we can do to help support this well worthy cause”.

June also held the Great Glastonbury Festival, attended by so many it brought most of Shepton to a stand still. A manic week for the office staff of Red Berry but a great one for those of the staff, candidates and clients who went down to enjoy the festivities. Apparently also known for a few potential workers of Red Berry as; ‘Communal Ill week’. With Helen attending the Festival we were without our fearless leader! However she was not only enjoying herself, Helen was flying the flag OF Red Berry....Literally..! Helen, deciding she needed to be able to find her tent again (which is usually helpful) had decided to laminate a wall planner of the Red Berry team...losing what ‘street cred’ any of the team had left. However the flag must have worked because Helen never got lost...how could she, with all our beaming smiles lighting her path!

Now with June recently passed, we can move on into the greatest month of them all....July (my birthday, excepting all present now)! On behalf of Red Berry, we hope you all have a great few weeks ahead and updates to follow shortly!

Craig Skinner

"Improving the Odds!"

2010-05-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

If you know anything about Red Berry Recruitment and I assume you probably do as to read this blog means you may actually be interested in what we do; you will know that Helen (our Managing Director) is defiantly not one to lose contact with anyone!! Especially her own business, but amazingly she has not contacted us for a whole week...if you are now astounded, shocked and also slightly anxious about what had happened to her, never fear...she was not retired to a special hospital after our previous week's...exposé to the World as a fully qualified super hero, she did have a cape so she is half way there! No it is because Helen was sun lounging in the middle of Italy...some people have all the luck! I’m sure Helen wouldn't have minded some extended sun but Eyjafjallajökull didn’t seem to be working that week so she had to return to the madness of Red Berry!

It seemed to be the week for holiday's with Sarah the Industrial Consultant also out of the office last week. Thankfully the volcano Eyjafjallajökull did NOT extend her holiday either as my nerves for helping run a busy desk would not have lasted; alcohol would have not been enough to steady me (Craig). If you are reading this and phoned up last week and got the pleasure of speaking to myself you would notice a twinge in my voice due to the unleashing of staffing requirements on my already fragile nerves from working with 6 woman (they really are pleasant...most of the time anyway, just don't steal their chocolate!).

Helen and Natalie were out of the office again this Friday at a networking event in Yeovil. Well I say networking event, they rang up many times during the day expressing how hot it was outside and that they were working on their sun tans so...plenty of work then girls? Was that in-between the sun lounging...archery and clay pigeon shooting? Definitely should have tried to get onto this “Networking”....event.....!

Last night Helen was up for “Business person of the Year” at the Yeovil Business awards, She unfortunately didn’t win however she did sound merrily drunk on her text messages so the night definitely wasn’t wasted! Better luck next time Helen! We will have to plan better next time and supply the judging panel as temporary staff, to “Improve our Odds”....

With the weekend approaching and the sun showing no signs of letting up, may I wish everyone on behalf of Red Berry Recruitment a great weekend drinking (not that I would ever “Officially” endorse such a thing), sunning and BBQing!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It's Super Lacey!

2010-04-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It's Helen Lacey...what? Helen was bearing all in a Wonder Woman outfit, abseiling off a Debenhams Building at the weekend in...wait for it.....Taunton!? Not as glamorous as Superman in Metropolis but still it was a "high-flying" event! Helen is however not in Prison for indecent exposure to the on-lookers below, she actually raised £800 for St. Margaret's Hospice for her valiant efforts. Very much thanks to some very large hearts (and....wallets)! On the left here is Helen doing her abseil for the full hysterical effect (no offence intended)!

Last Thursday 22nd April saw Natalie the Commercial Consultant take half a day off to go...shopping...and with Helen (MD) and Sarah the Industrial Consultant attending a careers day at Westlands Conference Centre in Yeovil where they 'apparently' had a busy day (so they tell us....I suspect more shopping myself)! But while they were out gallivanting it left the A-team to do the real work on one of the busiest days of recruitment here in the office for a while! Or it could just have been me (Craig) panicking, but either way we got the job done....even with some laughable threats from a certain someone named Paul...you know who you are!

We are now looking forwards to the future, with a basket full of awards to enter and sadly burn my fingers off typing and the start of our brand new Commercial Consultant, Charlotte West who will be with us as of Wednesday 5th May, the future looks bright (I don’t want to jinx a sun filled summer)! We would however like to ask Charlotte to leave her sanity at the door and we hope you will join us in wishing her the very best of luck here next week. If you wish to send her any starting presents, please address them to myself Craig Skinner and I will make sure she receives the ones I deem unsuitable for myself. I like Ice-cream.

Red Berry recruitment would like to wish everyone a Great Bank holiday weekend!

Craig Skinner

Our Brand NEW Work Code of Conduct

2010-04-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

Well here it is, our new work code of conduct. However it is somewhat different to anything else anyone will ever be implementing (around here anyway!)

"Dress Code.

It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise.
If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise.
If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

Sick Days

We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Personal Days

Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.

Bereavement Leave

This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

Toilet Use

Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offence, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the "Chronic Offenders category". Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sanctioned under the company's mental health policy.

Lunch Break

Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.

The Management"

I can just feel the sympathy already!
So think yourself lucky and have a nice weekend as like yourselves i'm very sure we will be looking forward to one of our 104 "Personal Days" tomorrow....

Changing times and Easter egg treats !!

2010-04-07T05:32:00.000-07:00

Before the great Easter weekend, on Wednesday the 31st March, Helen and Natalie travelled away to the Children's Ward at Royal United Hospital in Bath, being gracious Easter bunnies and delivering all the 83 Easter eggs we collected to the chocolate starved children (however unlikely this may sound). Pictured here from left to right is; Jo Powell (Care assistant), Olivia Luscombe, Des McKell, Madison McKell, Helen Lacey and Natalie White of Red Berry Recruitment. Red Berry would like to thank everyone who donated and to the children’s ward at the Royal United Hospital for putting up with them!

Being the strict structural machine that I (Craig Skinner) am (and also being slightly hung-over), I was unable to post last Thursday as it was not in my schedule...and my schedule does not change for bank holidays and being so full of the glees of the weekend that I was, I could not pull myself away to post on a Bank Holiday, and let's face it who would read this on a bank holiday instead of again getting drunk and stealing a park bench (honestly I have never done this). Just to confirm the reason I was hung-over was not I forgot it was a Thursday the next day and not Bank Holiday Friday; it was in fact Lucy Applegate the Commercial Consultants last day on Thursday 1st April and we all went out for a great night at Babington House to commiserate and celebrate the fantastic achievements while she was a Red Berry! So good luck Lucy I’m sure we will see you around!

This week has been fantastic with more jobs coming in than cookies have crumbs, that’s right! We have briefly been overloaded with Telesales and yet more Telesales, I will use this opportunity to have a brief advertisement nudged on by my MD Helen Lacey;

"If you are looking for Telesales in the Somerset area, please please please, phone us here at Red Berry Recruitment on 01749 330630"

....and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Over the weekend Red Berry Staff attended a team working psychology day...sadly it was the best Saturday weather of the year...No sunbathing for us!.....So while we were sat analysing one another to find out how to annoy each other and of course to get on with each other better! And at the end of the day after much deliberation, we did establish that I am the slowest of the group...which I totally disagree with....I prefer ‘speed challenged’ !!!

By
Craig Skinner
PA

A New Beginning....

2010-03-26T02:49:00.000-07:00

The posts have been few and far...further in fact between, but now a new beginning has started! So bring out the champagne and party hats as the Red Berry Blog is back, every single Friday I (Craig) will be entertaining you with the news and gossip of Red Berry Recruitment! So...where to start? Firstly towards the end of 2009 we were entered in the "Somerset Business Awards 2009" and won "Mendip Business of the Year" for the second year running. Here is a picture of the Red Berry team at the awards; and again in response to the Red Berry team I am wearing a "Kilt" and not a skirt...for future reference!

Next on the agenda was our Christmas party....being an office full of woman (excluding myself) having a normal, get drunk, steal a bench and return it to the pub ashamed..Christmas party was not on the cards. We were treated to a spa day, including full access to sauna's, a massage and body wrap. Thankfully being able to change away from a leg wrap was an option available to me...! It was a good day out and the lunch was fantastic so all in all a very enjoyable Christmas present. Thanks Helen!

With the New Year in full swing, with it being almost April, we all have our heads down, not sleeping on the job....no, but working on those new contracts which allow us to sleep at night!

We are also pleased to welcome our new 'Business Apprentice' who has started with us today! Congratulations to her...however I am now outnumbered 6:1..please send my condolence cards to the office. Now i'm not the newest in the office... where's my coffee!

Craig Skinner

Red Berry Recruitment

Dont count your chickens before they have hatched!

2009-11-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

Red Berry has had a fantastic week this week, over 100 temps working and numerous permanent jobs taken and filled. The market is certainly looking more buoyant! However, we would have made more placements if candidates had thought more about the job they where attending interviews for! After 3 interviews for a night warehouse manager's job, the client offered to our candidate. After many whoops whoops from myself and my consultant we had a call back from the candidate to say he was decline the offer as it was a night shift role...Mmm....the clue is the title of the job and 3 interviews later, what a waste of time! The same day, a candidate who had been crying saying she was desperate for work, after being offered a fabulous role for an exclusive designer handbag company the candidate declined as the lunch break was not long enough for her to go back and look after her dog and then...to top the week off......the lab manager that we have been searching for for months for a client decided that they where going to start where they where, even though they had signed the contract...not the best week...why can people not just make their minds up and stick to their decisions! Sadly the whoops of joy changed to huffs of dissapointment!!

Local Agency heading for the National Chamber Awards!

2009-09-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

Dear All!

I feel it important to share my good news with you all! Red Berry Recruitment has been successful and has won "Most Promising New Business" for the South West at the National Chamber Awards. We are now representing the South West in this category and we will be up against the other 3 regions for the National award!

I just want to take this opportunity to thank my fabulous team at Red Berry Recruitment, what a team effort...Go Go Berries!!

Slip-ups can help your business

2009-09-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

After numerous calls and emails I finally secured my meeting with a large company in Glastonbury.

Sarah, my Industrial Consultant and I turned up with goodies in hand, note pads, mugs etc. After signing in we were escorted by the client down some steps, the next thing I know I have fallen down 4 very large, old cold stone steps and have landed at the feet of said client! Very embarrassingly I pick myself up (Mug and cookies in goody bag though, were luckily intact!) and we were then escorted with a first aider to the clients office!

With plasters on knees and Savalon on knuckles we conduct the meeting. At the end I asked, as any good sales person knows, for the business. At which the client smiled and said he would have no hesitation in using us, not only because he felt sorry for my embarrassment, he was impressed in what we could offer!

It just goes to show, there are times when if you slip up (or down) it may work in your favour and help your business. This is now known in the Red Berry office as the "arse over tit" close!