Who wants a job?
4 April 2022
Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that job vacancies reached a record of 1.31 million in February and that employment based on payroll numbers rose to 29.7 million, also a record.
Against this background, businesses are finding recruitment difficult, especially those that are expanding and need additional people. And that’s certainly the experience of Andy George, manager of Express Hire (Dorset) Ltd in Poole, who is also in charge of HR and recruitment.
“We have four vacancies at the moment, for an office junior, a workshop technician, a delivery driver and a manager for our industrial gases supply operation, Express Gases,” Andy told me, adding that an increasing volume of business has led to these positions being created.
“Since the first lockdown, business has grown month on month and there’s no sign of demand slowing. We’ve been attracting more cash customers and it’s as if everyone in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire has been digging holes in their gardens and getting work done.”
The Express Hire fleet is growing to meet this demand. Andy tells me that the line-up includes no fewer than 45 telehandlers and three waiting to be delivered, 55 1.5-tonne mini excavators with ten on order and 25 micros plus ten more due in. So the team needs to be expanded.
“In recent years we have placed ads on platforms like Facebook and Twitter but this time we have tried an employment website which we found easy to use.
“But the quality of the applicants has been less than fantastic. Admittedly some are over-qualified and we really don’t want to be a stepping stone for them to another job. And we’d rather train someone to become a valued part of our business and retain them over the long term.
“We’ve had applications from van drivers who don’t appreciate the difference when you are delivering plant and machinery. And someone accepted a job only to tell us the day before they were due to start that they’d found a job as a carpenter.”
Andy says that one thing is particularly disappointing.
“At the interview, I’ll ask the candidate what they know about us and they invariably can’t tell me anything. It makes you wonder why they applied in the first place.
“We have two websites that they could visit in advance which explain on the first page what we do. It would take a couple of minutes. We employ people, not payroll numbers, and we want to ensure we have the right person in the role.”
● Another hirer experiencing recruiting difficulties is EPS Hire Centres in West Yorkshire. “Getting staff is the biggest challenge at the moment,” director David Fielden tells me. “It’s been hard for a number of years but it’s getting worse. Too many people seem to want to spend time watching films on their mobile phones. I don’t understand it because working in hire is such a great job! And we used to get calls from local schools asking if we would give a week’s work experience to someone in their last year, but they don’t seem to nowadays.”
Picture shows Express Hire delivering equipment at Highcliffe Castle, Dorset.
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