Here at ASL Recruitment, we say ‘people make the difference’ because it’s true. What makes your company stand out amongst others in your field is the staff on your team. We’re delighted to say, we’ve recently introduced a new member of staff to complement our successful team.
It’s been a tough year for recruitment. Many employers closed their doors and furloughed their staff, negating the requirement for temporary workers, and the uncertainty of the pandemic meant many permanent hiring considerations were put on hold as companies struggled to make sense of things. Many recruitment agencies followed suit but ASL took a different route. With careful planning, improvement of systems, a new website, and the launch of new events to support clients and candidates, ASL is now ready to expand and has taken on a new recruit to help more clients and candidates in Ashford and Rye, as well as continuing to serve our established area around Hastings.
Introducing Rob Terrell
Rob joins ASL from a background in retail and customer services, and most recently, selling utilities for a company based in Brighton. Rob is specialising in permanent recruitment across a number of sectors including Engineering, Logistics, Legal, Marketing and Financial, and he’s keen to expand our reach into Ashford, Rye and the surrounding areas. A natural people-person, Rob’s key focus is around relationship building. We think a large part of his ability to build rapport quickly is his experiences growing up in Dubai, which has given him a natural curiosity for people and about other cultures. He loves to travel (COVID permitting, of course!) and has spent time navigating Souks in Morocco, climbing temples in Thailand and wandering along Venetian canals. Having bought his first home with his girlfriend, and become a ‘dog daddy’, Rob wanted to work closer to home and when he saw ASL Recruitment was hiring, he leapt at the chance.
“I recently bought my first home with my girlfriend. As an RSPCA inspector, she works shifts and so together time can be challenging. We’ve also become puppy parents to Winnie the Cockapoo and these changes led me to reevaluate what I was doing. I decided I wanted a better work-life balance, something that didn’t require four hours per day of commuting. I was immediately drawn to ASL because they have such a good reputation locally. I’m chuffed to bits to be working with them and already have learned so much from Jason and the team. It will be great to meet everyone together in person when we organize the first post-lockdown staff get-together!”
To get to this point, ASL’s Managing Director, Jason Perry, spent 2020 making significant changes to the way ASL operates, putting a new website in place and starting a number of events designed to support clients and candidates through the darkest periods of lockdown.
“Whilst furlough was still a part of the mix, Jason took the opportunity to keep ASL open for the clients that needed us. He even found a way to furlough our long-standing temporary workers so they wouldn’t be left completely out of pocket. At the same time, he decided to revamp the ASL brand and put a new website in place with increased functionality that would make life easier for both our clients and our candidates. The new website allows timesheets to be handled entirely online, so there is no longer the need to pass pieces of paper back and forth or drop them into the office for processing. Additionally, clients can now upload their vacancies directly to the Client Portal at any time of the day or night. Candidates can register online, uploading their CV and all the required paperwork, and they can also keep their contact details, work records, qualifications, and certificates up to date themselves rather than having to contact the office to do so. The new website also allows candidates to sign up for text message notifications when a new job matching their requirements and skill set is uploaded to the site. It makes it all so much more efficient for us, for our candidates and for our clients.” ~ John Marcroft, Recruitment Director
ASL has also introduced a new video interviewing system that benefits both clients and candidates. The unique setup allows for a more streamlined approach to interviewing for our clients, helping to recruit the right candidate more efficiently.
In addition, ASL has been running Facebook Candidate Question Time, live on Facebook, initially each Saturday morning at 10 am and then moving to bi-monthly as the situation calmed and candidates became less concerned and more used to how things such as the furlough scheme worked.
"One of the most popular events has been the Employer’s Weekly HR Call, a free forum where business owners and HR Managers and Directors in the East Sussex region have been able to share their concerns, experiences, knowledge and challenges with other business owners and HR Managers. These have been invaluable for many who were trying to keep up with the legislation, which was at one point, changing daily! I also co-host a weekly “HR in 10" sessions with Jason, a ten-minute rundown of the latest events in HR, aired live on YouTube each Thursday at 10 am.” – Kimberly Bradshaw, HR Consultant
“Candidates and clients have recognized the support ASL has given them throughout the pandemic and local businesses have seen the value add in ASL’s services. As a result, we’re seeing business levels return to better than pre-pandemic levels and this has facilitated our next step: expansion of the team! It’s a really lovely feeling to be able to offer two people an opportunity in this exciting industry!” commented Jason Perry, ASL Managing Director.
ASL Recruitment was established in 1999 and has been serving Hastings and the surrounding area ever since placing temporary and permanent roles across a variety of sectors including Industrial and Manufacturing, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Technology and Office Support, from junior up to board level. Our co-founder and Managing Director, Jason Perry is an HR specialist and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. For further information on our recruitment or consultancy services, email [email protected] or call us on 01424 452999.
