As professional recruitment specialists for the Eastern region, we are always keen to find out more about what local businesses are doing to stand out in their recruitment process, and to share any top tips for candidates and best practice ideas for employers.

Pure’s consultant Katie Steinfeldt is based in our Norwich office and specialises in Marketing & Digital recruitment. She recently met with Indigo Swan’s Marketing Manager Jaime Lloyd Jones to discuss the independent energy consultancy’s approach to recruitment. Indigo Swan will celebrate its 10^th birthday this year. In that time it has grown from a team of five to a team of 21, so it must be getting things right when it comes to attracting, engaging and retaining talented people to achieve business success.

Here Katie explains what she took away from the meeting:

“It was particularly great to be able to meet and discuss Indigo Swan’s recruitment process with Jaime. Being fairly new to the team, she was able to share her own experience of being a candidate with the organisation as well as explaining more about the company’s approach to recruiting new marketing professionals.

Using personal experience to shape recruitment actions

Personal experience has played a key part in Indigo Swan’s recruitment process. It really stood out to me how they are investing a lot of time and effort into doing things differently and well, and much of this is based on using people’s own personal experiences to improve the way they do things. Most people will have had both positive and negative recruitment experiences during their career. Getting people to share their experiences will help organisations to understand what they can do to shape their own recruitment processes.

Recognising the importance of communication

Communication throughout the recruitment process is a big priority for Indigo Swan including responding to every applicant whether they are successful or not. It may sound simple, but I often hear how people have been put off working for a company because their application was never even acknowledged. It only takes a minute or so, but it really does make a big difference to an organisation’s employer brand and its ongoing ability to attract top talent. Remember, those unacknowledged candidates will probably also tell other people, potentially further damaging the employer’s reputation.

Including tasks as part of the interview process

Indigo Swan has split its interviews into a two-stages; an informal and relaxed chat and then a task-based meeting. Including a task in the interview process has helped them to get a better understanding of how the candidate would work, how they would perform and their capabilities. The tasks are varied and include presentations or candidates being asked to ‘sell’ the interviewers something, but they are always relevant to the job role. Indigo Swan is obviously very conscious of not wasting a candidate’s time by asking them to do something which won’t benefit the recruitment process.

Candidates – do your research!

One thing which particularly surprised me was that Indigo Swan still found some prospective candidates were unaware of the company’s culture and hadn’t done any research ahead of the interview. Having an established company culture and values is fantastic for employer brand, so it’s startling to hear that some candidates had not looked into this first; particularly when it is as positive as the warm and welcoming culture Indigo Swan has created. The company has a clear set of values including ‘Happiness first’ and ‘We celebrate individuality’ and has been celebrated with the Investors in People Gold Award. Advance research really is an important thing to do. You might not be asked what you know in the interview, but you can still drop things into the conversation and show you have taken the time to find out more. This could be your future employer, so why wouldn’t you want to know more about the way it does business and looks after its people?

Providing both professional and personal development opportunities

The opportunity for career progression is something I find candidates are increasingly looking for, so it was great to hear that Indigo Swan not only supports professional progression but does so in line with what each employee wants to achieve. This means they are helping people with what they really want to do, and what excites and engages them, not just the training they think they should have. The company also offers personal development support too. I think this is amazing and is absolutely a tip I would give to other employers. To feel cared about is a really lovely thing, and if this feeling is given to you by your employer, it can make such a difference to your work life. And as an employer, you will benefit from more productive and engaged staff in return.

After my meeting with Jaime, I can confidently say that Indigo Swan seems like a wonderful place to work. They offer new employees the chance to join a family orientated team where supporting each other and doing your best is at the forefront of everything they do. I hope that some of this information inspires your recruitment process or job search. If you would like any more information or advice please do get in touch.”

About Katie Steinfeldt

After completing her degree in Business Management in June 2018, Katie wanted to start a career in recruitment and was accepted onto Pure’s graduate programme. Katie has progressed to become a Recruitment Consultant and now looks after Marketing & Digital roles across Norfolk. Talking about her job, Katie said: “I love meeting new people and getting to know them, so recruitment fits perfectly with what I enjoy. It is also the best feeling in the world to know that you are helping to change people’s lives.”

Katie recruits for temporary and permanent marketing roles across Norfolk.  Contact Katie today on 01603 216 450 or email Katie.Steinfeldt@prs.uk.com.