Belfast businesses to benefit from recruitment initiative

A new recruitment initiative has been launched in Belfast which aims to offer both employers and employees valuable advice on all aspects of recruitment and current legislation.

The initiative, described as a labour market intermediary service, is being piloted by Worknet – a community based non-profit employment and training service - and funded by the Department of Higher and Further Education Training and Employment (DHFETE).

Advice and support will be made available over a wide range of employment-related issues, including the drawing up of job specifications, FEC compliance, psychometric testing, sourcing candidates, pre-employment training and post employment support and mentoring. It is hoped that the initiative will follow on the success of similar initiatives linking employers and job seekers in the United States and other parts of the United Kingdom.

Sally McCone, Worknet Chief Executive explained: “Research undertaken with employers in Belfast has identified a need for a complete one-stop shop offering advice on all aspects of recruitment as well as access to a large pool of job-seekers from both sides of the community.

“All employers will have their own Account Manager dedicated to dealing with employment issues and they will be given customised solutions to their recruitment problems. For those smaller employers without dedicated human resource staff, Worknet can become their HR department on an outreach basis. For large employers the facility will complement what they already have”.

Worknet also aims to assist employers by offering innovative solutions to current skills shortages or difficult to fill positions as well as identifying the right candidate for the job. This will reduce the additional advertising, management and training costs that accumulate when a position is hard to fill or a company is experiencing a high turnover of staff. (CL)