Guest Blog: Preparation is All

A guest blog from Leah Bradbury, head of recruitment, Kru Live

It has been a busy year of recruitment in 2012 due to the demand from the Games and following this there has been a large, natural ‘drop-off’ since from personnel leaving the field of temporary work as well as a new influx from a lack of full time employment. All this means that the need to be prepared for the next 12 months has never been more evident for the industry as a whole.

Having a hand selected team of personnel that are each perfect for their role is key to delivering the perfect event or campaign and so preparation is paramount and now is the time to do it.

We recommend creative agencies inform their staffing partners of all potential live activity their clients and brands might do in the next 12 months so that their recruitment can be specific and targeted for this activity.

Staffing agencies like us need to regularly add to and replenish teams with experienced, hardworking and ambitious people.

We like to maintain our staffing pool at around 3,000 at any time, spread geographically across the UK. The number of staffing days we book per annum averages 10-15,000 nationwide and so a 3000 database fulfils the demand for our clients’ events and means there isn’t anywhere that we can’t cover.

We do not strive to continually grow our database. Contrary to what many believe this has a reverse impact on a staffing agency’s delivery. An ever growing database of staff means the relationship with those on an agency’s books wouldn’t be properly maintained and the understanding of the unique experience and skill sets of each member of staff isn’t as good.

Although retention of quality staff is key, in order to remain efficient we avoid having an excessive number of staff on our books or ‘dormant’ staff that have moved on from temporary event work. We try to set a good example in how to build a reliable and happy workforce.

Using a combination of large scale recruitment sessions, group and one-on-one interviews were are looking for the best – focusing on London, Birmingham and Manchester in the coming weeks. Ireland and Scotland will be next. A recent survey found that 100% of the staff that worked with us in 2011 & 2012 would recommend us so we have an impressive 1,500-2,000 people on our waiting list at anytime.

For any staffing agency the onus is on them to be selective based on quality and for the management team to liaise closely with clients to understand the likely requirements both they and the brands they work with will have in the next 12 months. Naturally we need to allow for an element of the unknown too. We are happy to recruit to specific client requirements at anytime but preparation is key.