Are you genuinely offering good customer service?

At an operational level, many recruiters believe that they offer good customer service, but what measures have been put in place to substantiate this claim.  Without any measures, service is often only as good as the last issue or the stakeholders view of the week’s activity prior to a review meeting.

Good customer service is not just about sorting out problems or issues effectively – this is nothing more than being reactive, only engaging at critical times, and does not build a solid partnership.  Only being reactive is the typical behaviour of a supplier / buyer relationship. 

When a problem occurs, do you just put it right or do you analyse the fundamental reasons behind the issue and change your processes and/or behaviours accordingly.

Good customer service is all about building a true partnership with your client.  Do you know their short and long term strategy for recruitment – would they share this information with you and are you part of this strategy?

Ask yourself the following:

Ø  How much do you know about their industry and the challenges it faces?

Ø   Are you thinking about how you can align your process or delivery to assist with their business challenges? 

Ø  What knowledge do you hold about recruitment practices and legislation and what advice can you bring to the table to consultant with your client?

Ø  What value added services do you deliver and how can this be demonstrated?

Ø  How do you demonstrate your business is being proactive within this partnership?

Ø  Are you seen as just a supplier or a true recruitment business partner?

All too often relationships are held with a few active Hiring Managers or just with HR – this encourages a reactive approach.  In my experience, creating a comprehensive and balanced scorecard enables you to measure every element of the partnership and focus on those areas where your organisations are not truly aligned.

Management Information enables you to show achievement against SLA’s, but it is the overall Customer Services Experience that brings true value to the partnership.

So the question remains – Are you genuinely offering good customer service?


Sue Ventham
Client Services Director, Resource Management

Regulatory Framework for Employment Agencies and Recruitment Businesses

A rather lengthy title for a rather lengthy and convoluted piece of legislation. RSG (Resource Management is an RSG company) have taken part in Government’s recent consultation on this, and for those not in the know, there is specific legislation that governs the recruitment industry. It sets out a framework not only for how the industry engages with the client (or ‘hirer’), but also with the temporary worker / contractor and those seeking permanent employment.

Talent Management - The Debate

During the late 1990s, management consulting firm, McKinsey, coined the phrase the ‘war for talent’ as part of its research identifying talent management as a critical business challenge. Today, the business case for taking a strategic approach to talent management is strong and persuasive. CEOs as well as HR Directors are now likely to number talent management among their key priorities.

It is important to recognise that it is not sufficient simply to attract individuals with high potential. Developing, managing and retaining those individuals as part of a planned strategy for talent is equally important, as well as adopting systems to measure the return on this investment.

Furthermore, organisations need to hire talented people, quickly, to achieve their strategic goals.
To discuss this subject further, we have invited a select group of the UK’s top HR Directors to join our guest speaker David Mason, Global COO Resourcing at RBS, to attend our next RSG Debate event on the 25th April. Following its successful launch last year, each RSG Debate evening offers the opportunity for thought leaders of a particular division to join together and discuss the most topical issues of the moment.

The debate will be followed by dinner at the recently refurbished Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, situated in Swallow Street, London. Owned by Richard Corrigan, a Michelin star chef who counts the Queen amongst his previous diners, Bentley’s ‘Crustacea Room’ will provide a relaxing and luxurious environment for our guests to enjoy the rest of their evening.

During the debate, you will be able to keep up with the discussion and share your own opinions using the hashtag #RSGdebate on Twitter, as well as being able to read the views and opinions of our guests in full here in our blog.

To be notified of our next update, please subscribe to the blog.

If you are interested in attending the RSG Debate, please email your details to Liz Gibbs at liz.gibbs@rsg-plc.com

Mike Beesley, CEO, RSG

Resource Management is an RSG company

Creating Effective Talent Pools – Recruitment Challenges

I was recently invited by RSG's Legal partner, Osborne Clarke, to speak at their latest quarterly networking event. The attendants were either HR Directors or Senior HR Managers for organisations of various sizes and in diverse industry sectors such as Construction, Digital Media, Financial Services, IT and Manufacturing. Each quarter the attendees set the agenda for discussion and invite a subject matter expert to lead the discussion. This quarter the main topic was recruitment, namely; “How to create the best pool of candidates from which you can select at the recruitment stage.”