Testimonial: Fairhaven Holiday Cottages

28 March 2007

My comments and feedback on the 'Hays Direct' Service

We are a small family run business with a limited cashflow, and were looking to recruit a Property Manager. When I began researching my options I started with costing the placement of adverts in relevant publications, and enrolling the help of a couple of major recruitment agencies.

The advice I received from the agencies was that the type of candidate I was looking for would be unlikely to remain on their databases for long due to the type of salary I was offering. Hays then talked me through their 'Sales Direct' service which sounded and looked good but I hesitated to begin with because it would tie me in to an upfront cost - at the risk of not finding a suitable candidate by the end of the campaign. This was the major sticking factor in my decision making process and I had to justify the risk to my other business Partners over choosing the traditional method where payment isn't made until after a candidate is found.

I double checked some of the sales pitch including the cost of advertising (myself) on the various internet job boards. I'm pleased to say the information I was provided with was correct. I also had an extensive overview of this service by Leigh, who was extremely helpful and patient - given I was not prepared to make any firm commitments immediately.

Once I gave the go ahead, Leigh began working on the advert immediately and was very diligent in providing me with draft copies as and when requested. He helped me compile the list of questions for the application form and was able to explain (knowledgeably) why certain questions would 'fare' better than others. He managed me and the process extremely well and I was very pleased with his design of the advert.

When the advert went live, Leigh showed me how to use the backend which seemed straightforward enough. However, since having used it I do have some comments which I hope they may incorporate in the future:

1. Provision of more than one template when sending applicants an email.
2. Ability for me to add my own templates later (easily).
3. Opt out clause when sending mass email to candidates ie Are you sure you want to send all candidates this message ... in case you've selected all candidates to email by accident (as I did)

Other than that, the response we received from the advert has been reasonably good in that we have to date received a number of applications of which five candidates would be suitable to interview. We have since interviewed and filled the position from one of those five candidates - within two weeks of the advert going live.

All in all we are delighted with the good result - and particularly with the service Leigh Lauwrens provided.

Harriet Filewood
Partner
Fairhaven Holiday Cottages

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