Our guest blog is written by Alan Kirby, a Physics student from the University of Liverpool, who recently completed a recruitment placement via Step at Service Care Solutions; a recruitment agency specialising in a wide range of social care jobs across the UK.
Just before the summer, I applied for a summer internship with a recruitment agency named Service Care Solutions (SCS) in-between years 2-3 of my Physics degree. In all honesty, I didn’t really know what a recruitment agency really was. Despite my arbitrary button mashing, I must have done something right because just a few weeks later I was called by Step. Two phone interviews and two face to face interviews later, and I was given the placement.
Truth be told, the placement was nothing like I expected it to be. I anticipated being a coffee maker who was to be locked in a dark file room with a smell of wet dog and to complete arbitrary tasks that were of no real use. Thankfully the reality was far above that expectation! The host company was full of very friendly people, from gym heads who don’t stop eating and football freaks, to bleach ‘blondes’ with strange accents. In all seriousness though, I was amazed at the patience and effort of those who I was fortunate enough to work with, and I don’t regret a moment of it.
During my time at SCS I was enlightened as to what recruitment really was, and in particular how that was translated into the healthcare sector, which was the desk that I worked on as a resourcer. This involved calling and emailing potential candidates, searching for new candidates to add to the system, and ultimately trying to get the nurses etc to take on additional shifts or full time placements through SCS. The most difficult aspect was by far getting the people who were interested to actually send in the documentation that they said they would. Some of the conversations genuinely left me pondering, whilst others left me with a genuine smile.
When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing and my first few phone calls were hilariously bad. However through the guidance of the rest of the team on the Healthcare desk, I improved greatly come the end. The role wasn’t as easy as I would have expected (guessed), however through the placement I developed numerous new skills such as objection handling, cold calling and copywriting just to name a few.
Ultimately my take away is this; the recruitment industry offers those who are hard workers the opportunity to pursue a challenging and highly rewarding career. Those at SCS are all very friendly and lively people who are excellent at what they do, and I thank them all for everything they have given me. Step were brilliant at helping me prepare for my interviews, and I would especially like to thank Tamsin for her help!
Thanks to; Richard Freye, Chris Musgrove & Craig Dootson for the opportunity.
