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LUCY'S RECRUITMENT BLOG

Lucy is the MD of Lucy Bristow Appointments and has 20 years' experience in the Recruitment profession. If you are looking for a job in Bristol or are searching for quality employees please visit www.lucybristow.co.uk.

Sales Support Administrator

26.03.2008

Do you know a good sales support administrator for a job at Merchant Investors?

Purpose of the job:

To pro-actively support and expand MI’s community of supporting business partners.

To provide pre-sale technical and administrative support to Intermediaries and Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) .

This is a key role in developing the relationships between MI and our business partners and ensuring service standards are maintained at agreed levels.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

•Pro-actively service our supporting IFAs (the majority of which will be via the telephone)

•Implement a regular contact strategy with business partners

•Pro-actively contact new and existing business partners to actively encourage increased business levels and book appointments for RSMs

•Expand our community of supporting intermediaries through targeted marketing campaigns. Capture business development information on the S&M database and use these systems to develop excellent service relationships with our partners.

•Identifying and pursue, in conjunction with the RSMs, new business opportunities. Conduct initial (and, where appropriate, ongoing) telephone and internet based contact with intermediaries

•Proactively manage the IFA/RSM relationship and plan contact opportunities for the relevant Regional Sales Manager to visit the intermediary.

•Acquire, maintain and deploy high quality knowledge of Merchant Investors products, services and procedures to maximise sales production

•Support business development targets through the provision of first class sales and product support services to RSMs and business partners

•Agree appointment times, dates and subjects with intermediaries requiring a meeting with a RSM

•Meet targets for service standards and sales production

•Prepare and issue quotations and marketing material to intermediaries

•Develop formal Account Management practices and ensure the structured follow up of all intermediary contacts at appropriate, planned, intervals.

•Capture all relevant information on the database provided

•Undertake project work as and when required.

•Ensure that behaviour and conduct is consistent with Merchant Investors' TCF commitments

If you are interested or have someone in mind then please do let me know.

Call for Lucy Bristow on 0117 925 5988.

Do You Know The Ideal Events Administrator?

07.02.2008

Do you know an ideal Events Administrator? There is an opportunity at the newly-formed Northern Arc in the fantastic Business West offices at Abbots Leigh near Bristol. It's an easy commute, reached from the M5 junction at Gordano services.

Purpose: To provide administrative and customer contact support to the Events Co-ordinator

Current Post Holder: New Role

Primary Responsibilities

1. To assist the Events Co-ordinator as the first point of contact for a customer when they want to book onto a Business Link event throughout the Northern Arc zone; to help, inform (regarding logistical details) and expedite their request.

2. Take client information from phone, email and fax bookings and input customer details onto the client management system.

3. Assist the Events Co-ordinator with the inputting of large partnership event attendee lists into the client management system. Ensure that the required client information is gathered where possible.

4. Ensure that pre-event administration, i.e. booking details, payment, register of attendance, confirmation letters, directions, etc. are executed precisely and in a timely fashion under the direction of the Events Co-ordinator.

5. Keep the client management system updated with attendee details, booking onto events.

6. To carry out other administrative duties required by the Events Co-ordinator and at times the Events Manager.

Personal Specification

Essential Qualities -

  • Customer service training
  • Knowledge of up to date administrative processes and tools
  • Use of client management systems
  • Practical experience of dealing with customer enquiries
  • Excellent speaking, listening and writing skills
  • The ability to end every conversation with a client on a ‘high note’ even if you don’t always immediately have an answer to their query
  • The skill to support and build a strong relationship with team colleagues, conducted mostly over the phone and internet
  • Technical - fully PC literate including Microsoft Office, Excel and the Internet
Desirable Qualities

  • Customer service training
  • Telephone techniques
  • Use of client management systems
  • Call centre experience
  • Database inputting
If you are interested, please call me on - 0117 925 5988.

Mock Interviews For Ridings School

13.11.2007

Yesterday I visited The Ridings High School, which is an 11 – 18 co-educational comprehensive located just outside Bristol, giving mock interviews to Year 11 students who are currently studying for their GCSEs.

The interactive sessions involved the pupils completing a job application form, presenting their up-to-date CV and the all important covering letter to apply for a position. My role was to spend time with the young people, assessing their documentation and interview technique.

The exercise gave the students an opportunity to really get a feel for what it would be like to attend a ‘real life’ interview and helped prepare them for the world of work.

We then spent time giving them our feedback and views at a debriefing session and recorded comments for them to discuss with their tutors.

These sessions are part of a regular series of talks/mock interviews I deliver at a number of schools in the Bristol region aimed at helping young people maximise their potential to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead and encourage them into the business world. It was very inspirational to see such talent, skill and enthusiasm at such a young age and I really wish the students all the very best of luck.

I was concerned to read in Recruiter recently the results of a survey which found that many children effectively waste their work experience by failing to match the experience to their skills and aspirations. I strongly feel that members of the business community should play a part in helping and encouraging young people into the world of work.

Then later this week, I will be holding a drop-in lunchtime session at Patchway School (where the Young Chamber series was launched earlier this year – see our News section), discussing teamwork with the students.

I will be joined by other mentors from the Bristol business community who will be covering subjects such as budgeting, marketing, sales and risk assessment.

Fitting these events into a normal working week makes for a busy but very fulfilling time!

Agency Scoops Three Awards At Awards Ceremony

22.10.2007

It’s been an amazing few days for us all at Lucy Bristow Appointments and we are all still on Cloud 9 after scooping three prestigious awards at the Evening Post’s Recruitment Awards on Friday night at the Brunel Passenger Shed, part of the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum.

Over 250 guests joined the crème de la crème of the South West’s recruitment talent where we won a staggering three awards! The awards were for Lifetime Achievement, Best Recruitment Consultant and Best Recruitment Consultancy.

I am still quite overwhelmed at winning the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award, which focused on how I set up Lucy Bristow Appointments and my personal achievements including my fundraising work, becoming the first female Vice-Chair of South Gloucestershire Chamber of Commerce and the work that we do helping students at local schools improve their employment opportunities and prospects.

It really is a real honour to have won not just one but three awards! We are all delighted and pleased that our ethical, genuine and passionate approach to recruitment has been recognised in this way. It’s also a great accolade for all of our staff and really demonstrates what a superb team I have!

At Lucy Bristow Appointments we really pride itself on securing quality placements and long-term client relationships, as well as career advice and support to candidates. So, it’s very rewarding to be acknowledged at this prestigious award ceremony as a key employer and service-led provider in the South West.

Winner of the Best Recruitment Consultant Award was our very own Kathryn Shaw, who has been instrumental in expanding the Agency, attracting new clients and candidates. She truly deserved to win this and the team is very proud of her indeed! And, the final award was for the Best Recruitment Consultancy where we fought off competition from Airbus UK, First Selection and Novo Executive Search and Selection. Lucy Bristow Appointments received the award for its outstanding achievements, support for staff, clients, and candidates and its pioneering initiative ‘Parent Power’ which encouraged and supported parents back into the world of work.

Watch out in tomorrow’s Evening Post for a special Recruitment Awards pull-out featuring all the award winners!

Bristol Evening Post Recruitment Awards Nominations for Lucy Bristow Appointments!

16.10.2007

As many of you may have read in one of my blogs a few weeks ago, Lucy Bristow Appointments has been busy preparing three award applications for the Bristol Evening Post’s Recruitment Awards 2007 – and the latest news….we have been short-listed for all three categories submitted!

The team here at the Agency entered applications for Lifetime Achiever Award, Best Recruitment Consultant and Best Recruitment Consultancy Award.

We are of course delighted to be short-listed for The Lifetime Achiever Award. This entry focused on my 22 years’ experience in the sector and how, many moons ago, in 1988 I decided to launch my own Agency! It was an exciting time for me and after securing a £5,000 loan and armed with a typewriter and the Yellow Pages, I launched Lucy Bristow Appointments from a rented office in Bristol.

The Best Recruitment Consultancy application reflected our 19-year track record of placing high-calibre temporary and permanent candidates in a wide range of business support roles, including marketing, PA/secretarial, HR, administration and finance. I really truly believe that our approach to recruitment has made us stand out in a crowded market by providing added value and personal care throughout the recruitment process and after the placement has been made.

The final application we entered, Best Recruitment Consultant, was a focus on an outstanding member of staff that we have - Kathryn Shaw. She joined Lucy Bristow Appointments in 2001 as a recruitment consultant from her role of seven years at Securicor Recruitment in Aztec West. Four years later, Kathryn was promoted to Permanent Division Manager and has been instrumental in expanding the Agency, attracting new clients and candidates, and is trusted with its leading clients.

To date Kathryn has placed 275 candidates in 200 companies and manages approximately 100 clients at any one time. She is a remarkable employee and we wish her application the best of luck!

The awards will culminate in a gala dinner this Friday at Brunel’s Passenger Shed at Bristol Temple Meads, part of the Empire and Commonwealth Museum.

I will keep you posted with any awards news in next week’s blog, here’s hoping!

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Mixed news for women working in the HR sector

25.09.2007

A report recently released by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Remuneration Economics held mixed news for women working in the HR sector.

The good news is that the report found women are climbing the career ladder faster than men, achieving promotion to management roles earlier – they are, on average, five years younger than their male counterparts.

According to the CMI, one reason why women are being promoted faster than men appears to be the higher percentage of women who recognise the benefits of qualifications (75% of women thought that qualifications benefited their career prospects compared with just 66% of men).

Despite this news, the report revealed that resignation rates among women in HR now stand at 5.5%, which is up from last year, when the figure stood at 4.7%.

However, perhaps the most worrying news the report contained for women in this sector is that for the first time in 11 years, the rate of increase in male earnings (6.3%) outstripped that for female earnings (5.7%). The gender gap in pay, in this sector at least, is increasing. On average, male earnings were £55,402, whereas in real terms, female earnings averaged over £10,000 less, at just £45,108.

Jane Causon, Director of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at the CMI said: “It is clear that the pull of promotion is not being matched by parity in pay.

Despite the weight of legislation and the reality that reward should match responsibility, gender bias seems to be getting worse, not better.”

According to the Equal Opportunities Commission, the wider picture for women is concerning. It said that women working full-time lose out on more than £330,000 over their working lives.

Personally, I find it incredible that we are still seeing statistics and figures like these, more than 30 years after the Equal Pay Act came into force!
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Second job survey

18.09.2007

I was interested to read in Personnel Today that, according to a recent survey by the Motley Fool, almost a third of the working population in the UK has a second job. The survey of more than 1,400 people found that the most common reason for moonlighting is extra money, which is perhaps what we would expect.

However, I was particularly interested to see that a quarter of respondents moonlight because they do not feel properly recognised and valued in their main job. Almost one in five of those surveyed said that they had taken an extra job to broaden their horizons.

David Kuo, the head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, said that instead of moonlighting, it can be more productive to examine how we live our lives. I agree with this: holding down extra jobs requires a lot of energy, and there is a danger that it might become difficult to perform effectively in any role if you spread yourself too thinly.

Along with warnings to put aside sufficient earnings to cover any additional tax liability if not deducted already, and of course, to check with your main employer before taking on an extra job - 70% apparently don’t bother to do this - David’s advice to moonlighters is to revisit their budgets.

Revisiting their budget may help those who moonlight for no other reason than needing the additional income, but in my experience, people are often dissatisfied with more aspects of their current job than just the salary. Examining your life should involve taking a good look at what you want from your job, because having the right job, with the right company and the right benefits can make all the difference. So if you are looking for your dream job, please give the team a call today on 0117 9255988

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Lucy's Blog - Take your first step on the career ladder

15.08.2007

Congratulations to all of you who have now received your GCSE and A Level results and are looking to take your first step on the career ladder.

Job hunting can be a daunting task and you can easily spend hours on the web or looking through your local papers trying to find that perfect job.

With competition for jobs at an all time high, it’s crucial that your CV stands out from the crowd and impresses your potential employer. By contacting Lucy Bristow Appointments we can save you the job of scouring the job adverts, reduce your stress and increase your chances of getting to the interview stage.

At Lucy Bristow Appointments we have over 19 years’ of industry insight and expertise, and our consultants can really help you identify your chosen career and your dream job.

Each year we place 100s of candidates in some of the region’s top employers, many of whom start off with an entry level job and have climbed the career ladder and are now in positions they never dreamt they could be!

You are now approaching an exciting and pivotal time in your life and we can help you get the best possible start. The first stage is to think about preparing your CV.

When you have completed your CV, put yourself in the position of the intended reader. They are looking for positive reasons to employ YOU, so focus on your skills and experience. This is not the time to be modest; it’s an opportunity to highlight your school or college achievements and experiences! And, remember, all the information you give must be accurate and honest. Here are some top tips to consider when reviewing your CV:

· Is the layout professional?
· Is it easy to read? Have you used a clear typeface and appropriate font size?
· If an employer 'glanced' over it, do the key points stand out?
· Is the spelling and grammar correct?
· Is the style of writing clear? - Do not use unnecessary 'jargon'.
· Have you successfully communicated your accomplishments and skills?
· Have you included information about your personal interests, achievements, experiences or courses that will be specifically relevant to the job/industry you are applying for?
· Is your employment/education history listed in reverse chronological order?

Once you have identified your achievements, experiences and strengths, Lucy Bristow Appointments can help you by:

· Assessing your skills
· Helping you develop your CV
· Giving you useful tips and advice on interview techniques
· Providing you with access to new jobs
· Supporting you throughout your job placement

If you are starting to think about your first career move or are thinking it’s about time for a new job, please give the team a call today on 0117 9255988.

 


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