Skills Launchpad Plymouth
Recruitment Support Available
Benefits
How does efficient recruitment benefit your business?
Advertising vacancies, reviewing CV’s to shortlist for interviews and then undertaking the selection process while running a business is time consuming. Recruiting new team members is more than just hiring someone to fill a role, it’s about finding a candidate with the right skill set, talent, reliability and motivation and for that candidate to add value to your business.
Identifying which local support is right for your business and the vacancy you have and then working with this support ultimately streamlines your recruitment process and you are more likely to find the right candidate to fill the vacancy first time, whilst reducing any legal risk and saving money in the long run.
Being short staffed can negatively affect performance, reputation and your business revenue and dealing with high levels of staff turnover is a waste of your time and money. Throughout the hiring process there must be thorough and transparent procedures in place to ensure no one is discriminated against. This covers a number of protected characteristics including people with caring responsibilities, where you would need to consider flexible working as well as age, gender, religion or disability.
By seeking help to ensure a strong and structured recruitment process without bias or discrimination, you will be given the confidence that the people selected meet the needs of your business so that you can instead focus on staff retention and increasing the productivity and resilience of your business.
Did you know?
With a population of 263,100, a real economic output of £5.23 billion and 104,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, Plymouth is the most significant urban agglomeration on the South West peninsula.
Brexit and the pandemic has had a direct impact on some key sectors in the city, however significant regeneration has taken place and the benefits are beginning to show to enable businesses to thrive in a changing, data-driven economy so that economic benefits can be felt by everyone and supports the city’s carbon neutrality (by 2030).
Skills 4 Plymouth supports this, it is an ambitious transformation programme that has been co-designed with local employers and businesses, skills providers and wider stakeholders. It is designed to make sure that employers have people with the right skills they need for recovery and growth as well as that people have the right skills they need now and, in the future, to get a job and that employers and individuals invest in skills and lifelong learning.
For more information please see the Skills 4 Plymouth, Plymouth Skills Plan 2021 – 2026
How it works in the City - Advertising Jobs
The largest job listing boards are Plymouth Live and Devon Jobs, they focus on and are well known for advertising the best local jobs and opportunities, on their website and also on their Facebook pages which have a wider audience - Plymouth Live and Devon Jobs.
There is a wealth of job sites out there where you can post job vacancies and Find a Job is the Government’s Job search site where you will firstly need to create an employer account which will then prompt you to add your company to the service, you can then post job adverts to the audience of UK jobseekers and manage users of your company. You will be able to follow @JCPinPlymouth on Twitter for sharing vacancy details and recruitment events for Plymouth.
imployable Connect is a diverse, effective and efficient recruitment App which allows employers across the city to upload their job vacancies for free. This connects to all app users who can then explore opportunities and careers. This is accessible to organisations of all sizes to post opportunities for free, directly onto the imployable app. Sign up is quick and easy, and jobs can be posted within minutes.
Other job sites you could use to advertise include:
Seetec Pluss work with the National Careers Service to help find skilled people to fill current vacancies in employer organisations. The National Careers Service is free to use.
Recruitment Agencies
Recruitment agencies help employers find the right people to fill their vacancies. They can help you to get full-time, part-time or temporary workers and they work to match applicants to job roles. Some agencies specialise in particular industries, for instance catering, healthcare, or engineering. It's worth checking their website first to see what kind of jobs they advertise, then liaise with an advisor to advertise your own vacancies.
Download the Skills Launchpad Plymouth local recruitment agency list here.
Localised sector support
In the city there are two local sector skills partnerships that can support your recruitment and training needs.
Firstly, for construction and the built environment, Building Plymouth is a Plymouth City Council led partnership set up to close the skills gaps and skills shortages by attracting and creating a skilled supply of people to match the demand for local construction and built environment employers.
The Building Plymouth partnership currently supports new entrants on three onsite construction training academies in the city: at the crematorium site and the Sherford Training Centre, both located on the eastern edge of the city and the North Prospect regeneration project. These onsite construction training centres connect with learners to obtain the onsite training accreditation such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) to obtain a CSCS Card to become a certified worker.
Working together with employers, Building Plymouth can help to source the right people for the right job and raise the employer organisation’s profile in this sector through events, activities in the local Jobcentre Plus offices and PR.
To find out more about working with Building Plymouth including how to get involved with the weekly Job Shop and recruitment events led by the dedicated construction coordinators, visit their website at www.buildingplymouth.co.uk and contact the team by emailing hello@buildingplymouth.co.uk
Additionally, for health and social care, Plymouth’s Health and Care Skills Partnership brings partners together to develop system-wide solutions and hosts weekly Job Shops as well as delivering activities in the local Jobcentre Plus offices that promotes ‘health and care’ as a profession of choice. The Partnership addresses the workforce challenges across Plymouth and can assist employers with recruitment and retention in their business. For further information and how to be involved, please email: HealthandCareSkills@plymouth.gov.uk
Connecting to Bootcamp participants
There are various sector led Skills Bootcamps delivered across the South West that can support your recruitment and skills needs by connecting you with the learners/participants.
For further information of this sector led training and providers local to you, please refer to the Bootcamps section.
Sector based recruitment
There are job sites which focus on particular sectors where you can register your company and then list job vacancies, applicants tend to register online for alerts about jobs and potential candidates will pre-register/upload their CV’s to be matched with vacancies as they are posted.
Banking/Finance
Broadcasting/Media
Catering/Hospitality
Civil Service
www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk
Construction
www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/construction-jobs
Engineering
Education
www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
Environmental/Geoscience
Medical/Healthcare
www.jobs.proudtocaredevon.org.uk
IT/Telecommunications
Legal
Personnel/HR
Public Relations
Public Sector
Retail
How it works in the City - Recruiting specific cohorts
Recruiting local job seeker claimants
Jobcentre Plus has a range of recruitment services that can help you as an employer. There are two Jobcentre Plus offices in the city, one at Old Tree Court on Exeter Street and one at St Levan Road in Devonport.
Employers can contact the Jobcentre Plus Employer Services Line for advice about recruiting. This will connect you to a local Employer Adviser who will work with you to fill your vacancies. Employer Advisers can:
• give advice to help you write job descriptions
• help you speed up your recruitment process including forwarding on CV’s, completing pre-interviews and first interviews of possible candidates
• promote your vacancies in local Jobcentre Plus offices
• help you select and interview priority candidates from initial interest stage
• allow you to use Jobcentre Plus offices to carry out interviews on site with suitable identified applicants, where an office is available
• invite you to local recruitment events such as job fairs to promote your vacancies
• help you connect with other businesses in your area
• work with you to plan your future recruitment campaigns.
Employers can contact the Employer Services Line by telephone on 0800 169 0178 and by email as follows
For Plymouth (Exeter Street) Jobcentre Plus office: plymouth.virtualemployeradviserteam@dwp.gov.uk.
For the Devonport Jobcentre Plus office: devonportjobcentre.tamareateam@DWP.GOV.UK
Employers can also make contact for Jobcentre Plus support by using the online enquiry form
Please see below links to some useful resources from the Department for Work and Pensions:
Seetec Pluss is more than a standard recruitment agency. Funded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and run specific projects that are funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) - (these are subject to change so please check with them for current projects running). They support people who are out of work to find a job that matches their skills and aspirations, from rapid response job search to longer term support.
They offer specialist support for applicants with a learning disability, autism, and for people trying to overcome life's additional barriers - from support with mental health, health and wellbeing to housing, benefits or debt.
Seetec Pluss - Helping you to recruit
Seetec Pluss - Meet your Plymouth team
Employing Graduates
If you want to advertise a job vacancy with Plymouth based universities and/ or connect with their students and graduates please click here.
Employing Care Leavers
The Care Leaver Covenant is a way companies can support 16 to 25-year-olds leaving care to become independent. Employer organisations can pledge support including apprenticeships, work experience or free or discounted goods or services. This is a free government scheme but you may have your own business costs related to the practical offer your business makes to care leavers.
Employers are responsible to provide:
• a safe work environment
• practical help that makes a difference to the life of a care leaver.dures
•practical help that makes a difference to the life of a care leaver.
Further information and is also available here and on the Care Leavers Covenant page.
The Care Leavers Team in Plymouth is based at Midland House, Notte Street, Plymouth and can be contacted by telephone on 01752 398200.
Specifically employers will be able to explore:
• what the care leavers covenant is
• what you need to know if you are a care experienced young person
• what you need to know if you support a care experienced young person
• how you can help to support care-experienced young people.
For further details about the care leavers covenant please see here.
Employers can also view the care leavers covenant website here.
Employing those with SEND and health conditions
Seetec Pluss can help employers make the most of the talents that people with disabilities and health conditions can bring to your workforce. Seetec Pluss will get to know the needs of your business and can connect you to people with the skills, talents and motivation to do your jobs. They can also help businesses to become Disability Confident, including signing up to the Disability Confident scheme.
Find out more here:
•Becoming Disability Confident
Furthermore, Seetec Pluss will work with you to help your new employee reach their full potential, they provide ongoing support to smooth out any difficulties and to ensure your employee progresses in work. They provide:
•ongoing support, information and guidance
•regular review meetings to ensure any worries are resolved
•Mental Health First Aid and Neuro-diversity training for your teams
•advice on reasonable adjustments
•access to financial support for any specialist equipment or adaptations needed by your employee, which could be as simple as providing a mentor, offering flexible working hours, providing information in an alternative format or making changes to office layout.
Seetec Pluss can also advise on workplace health and wellbeing for your entire workforce. Further information can be found here.
The Royal National Institute Of Blind People (RNIB) offers employers the opportunity to work with them to become a more inclusive employer for people with sight loss. They assist in aligning employer working practices to the RNIB ‘Visibly Better Employer’ Quality Standard. RNIB has a number of specialists in the areas of ‘employment and accessibility’ who will support employers to improve their recruitment and retention practices in relation to those who have sight loss.
To find out more about becoming a Visibly Better Employer, visit the RNIB website.
Employers can also email: VisiblyBetterEmployer@rnib.org.uk and helpline@rnib.org.uk
A Sight Loss Advisor can also be contacted via the RNIB Helpline telephone number 0303 123 9999 (Monday to Friday 8am-8pm and Saturday 9am-1pm)
Additionally, employers can read about this from the perspective of the applicant here
For supported internships for learners with an education, health and care plan including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) please click here.
Useful free resources include:
Gov UK information about employing disabled people and how the Disability Confident employer scheme can help employers in their business can be read about here.
Online training including free eLearning modules that are for employers and employees can be found here.
Gov UK - Employing disabled people and people with health conditions
ACAS - Disability at Work
The Equality and Human Rights Commission sets out advice and guidance for employers here.
Employers can join the Business Disability Forum, the leading business membership organisation in disability inclusion. They work in partnership with business, Government, and disabled people to remove barriers to inclusion. Further details can be found here.
Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Young people (up to the age of 25) who have additional needs will sometimes require a more tailored or individualised approach or extra support to enable them to participate in the employer recruitment process. A wealth of information with a broad range of options for young people with SEND is described here.
For supported internships for learners with an education, health and care plan including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) please refer to this.
Recruiting Refugees
Many employers value those with an established skill set. Refugees or those who have been resettled via a Home Office scheme have a great deal to offer. Circumstances may have been difficult for these individuals through the asylum system, relocation or fleeing war and persecution however, when ready, many look to resume their careers using knowledge and skills gained in previous roles.
People with backgrounds in management, health and care, law, education, IT and finance all arrive in the city looking to make a difference but often struggle to connect with employers. To attract applicants in these circumstances it is important to recognise that you will be hiring the whole person, not just their skills. Cultural understanding and sensitivity is paramount when hiring refugees and it is important that communication is encouraged at all points to help understand the challenges faced and support limitations individuals may have due to family, language, health barriers or trauma brought on by lived experience. In return for providing a welcoming and inclusive workplace, employers can be rewarded with years of experience and insight of working in international industries and multicultural teams.
Across Plymouth, there is a great network of support organisations for refugees and those arriving under special resettlement schemes such as ODILS and START or for those who are still undergoing the asylum process there are organisations like DCRS. Employment opportunities can be linked in through the local Job Centre Plus Employer Advisor Team, Skills Launchpad Plymouth, the Refugee Employment Network or roles can be registered to resettled Afghans and Ukrainians via a special scheme here. For additional advice from a national perspective, there is some useful information which can be found in this guide on the TENT website.
Recruiting workers aged 50+
Many employers value a job seeker’s longevity and experience in the workplace. Older workers who are not quite ready to retire may be looking for a flexible job so they can benefit from something different and perhaps shorter hours or part-time work to give them a good work-life balance. They may also be attracted to hybrid working roles where commute stress can be minimised. To attract applicants in this demographic it will be important to recognise that some older workers may be ready for and are looking for a new challenge - after decades of working in a particular sector or career path they may want to add to their skillset to enable a change of direction. Recruiting through an apprenticeship, which has no upper age limit/is open to individuals of all ages who might be looking to re-skill in a new industry is a good place to start. Use the link below to explore how Seetec Pluss can help with this before getting in touch with them to move forwards with your recruitment.
Please click here for more information.
Employing from HM Armed Forces (military service leavers, veterans and their families)
Skills Launchpad Plymouth is working in a city-wide partnership to better connect veterans and serving members of HM Armed Forces and their families with opportunities for skills, training, education, careers and jobs. Military Tuesdays is a regular service held in the physical Skills Launchpad Plymouth space, which hosts delivery partners DWP Armed Forces Champions, Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and The Forces Employment Charity (RFEA) in addition to other pop-up activities including the Building Plymouth job-shop, to support local people. Local employers are invited to join Military Tuesdays for specific recruitment engagement events. For more information email: SkillsLaunchpad@plymouth.gov.uk
The Armed Forces Covenant is a nationwide agreement between the armed forces community, the nation and the government. It aims to ensure that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly. It also means that special consideration is appropriate in some cases. This is especially true for those who have given the most, such as the injured or the bereaved.
The Covenant does not provide any special advantage but it makes sure that members of the armed forces are not disadvantaged. Nearly 100 Plymouth based businesses have signed the Armed Forces Covenant. The Partnership involves representatives from businesses and services within the council and partner organisations.
Further information can be found here.
The websites below promote the wide support available for finding ex forces applicants and where you can post job opportunities.
Career Transition Partnership (CTP) - This is the official provider of resettlement and recruitment services for leavers of the Armed Forces forces, providing support as they transition from the military into civilian life. Please refer to their website for further detail and how employers can get involved.
The Forces Employment Charity provides life-long, life-changing support, job opportunities, and training to Service leavers, veterans, reservists and their families. Please refer to their website for further detail and how employers can get involved.
British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS) provides the Armed Forces Community (AFC) with a great opportunity to meet and network with employers. Please refer to their website for further detail and how employers can get involved.
Employing prisoners, prison leavers and ex-offenders
Information about connecting employers to prisons to help fill job vacancies can be found here.
The New Futures Network (NFN) arranges partnerships between prisons and employers in England and Wales. This scheme aims to fill skills gaps and address the needs of your business with reduced recruitment costs whilst also giving a second chance to prisoners and prison leavers. Please see here.
Over 400 businesses already work in partnership with prisons to provide work and employment opportunities. Of those surveyed, more than 80% of employers positively rated those they employed as reliable and hard-working. Read about how businesses are working with serving prisoners and hiring prison leavers here.
In particular, for further details about employing prisoners and prison leavers please see here.
Employing the homeless, those in recovery or those navigating personal challenges
Shekinah provides opportunities for people who are experiencing all forms of homelessness and other challenges in recovery they may be currently facing. A passionate and dedicated team of staff and volunteers ensure people are given a variety of opportunities to help them progress. Working with key strategic partners, Shekinah supports people to make meaningful changes in their lives and will work with employers to provide applicants for vacancies.
More can be read here and Shekinah are contactable as detailed: telephone number 01752 203480 or by email reception@shekinah.co.uk
Find out more
The Federation of Small Businesses(FSB) - Skills Hub provides free advice and guidance supporting you to build a skilled team when recruiting staff. The FSB Skills Hub features resources and guides to help employers connect with opportunities to grow their small business. Further information can be found here.
Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce is the largest network of businesses in the South West for small, medium and large organisations who want to be better at business.
They can help you connect with other businesses, support your company’s growth with specialist expertise and use their knowledge to help you succeed, all while campaigning on your behalf.
Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce provide business support, events and training and unparalleled expertise in everything from access to grant funding to international trade.
Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce are also leading on the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for the Heart of the South West LEP. To input into the LSIP and have your say on skills in the regions, please refer to: Devon and Somerset LSIP and Devon Chamber.
Employer responsibilities and getting ready to employ someone
You can read about how to get ready to employ someone here. This includes:
•deciding what type of employee you need - full or part-time and the different types of employment status
•checking you can afford to take on employees - national minimum wage, sick pay, National Insurance (NI), pensions, and maternity/parental leave
•also stay abreast of the current minimum/living wage rates here.
•making your workplace safe and accessible for employees, this includes:
•checking what you need to do to employ someone to work for you such as advertising the role and interviewing candidates
•using a recruitment agency to do this or doing it yourself
•making your application process accessible for employees with disabilities or health conditions
•recruiting fairly and avoiding discrimination during recruitment
•checking the applicants right to work in the UK
•checking if applicants need Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certification.
•agreeing a contract and salary and telling HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about your new employee
•keeping employee information and data safe
•employer obligations towards Fire safety and Health and Safety - employers need to provide mandatory courses such as Health Safety, First Aid, Fire Safety, Manual Handling, Food Safety and specific sector legislative requirements
•registering as an employer, setting up Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and payroll
•Employers liability certification.
Top recruitment tips to consider We have put together some top tips below to consider when hiring new employees:
•treat candidates like customers
•use social media to promote not just your business but also your team members and their experiences
•implement an employee referral program
•create compelling job descriptions
•make use of sponsored jobs to stand out
•check resumes posted online
•to explore job categories and titles please see here
•consider past candidates
•claim your Company Page and build your website to share job opportunities, benefits of working for you and your company values
•identify a line manager to support, supervise and mentor new employees
•prepare the induction which includes explaining relevant policies and procedures to new employees.
A range of government programmes are available for employers who are considering hiring employees, some of which offer financial incentives. Further detail can be found here.
For practical help and ideas the employers toolkit was created with and for cross-industry, larger employers to support those addressing a new frontier in their diversity and inclusion agenda – to find, attract and develop employees from all socio-economic backgrounds.
A wealth of resource for employers can be found here.