About: Corinne Szklarek

Corinne is the Training and Development Coordinator at Project Resource and is responsible for ensuring that all staff at Project Resource grow to meet our company’s exacting standards. Corinne started work with Project Resource in 2005 and helped set up the first regional office in Solihull.

Corinne is motivated by the success of those around her and enjoys the challenge of helping team members reach their goals and start new business opportunities.

“Welcome to my page. I hope that you find what I have to say of interest and I look forward to blogging with you.”

Website
http://www.project-resource.co.uk

External training – where do you start?!

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20 Sep 2010

Part of my new role within Project Resource involves performing a needs analysis on each recruitment consultant and then exploring any external training source where required. What I have found is that there seem to be hundreds of companies out there that claim to provide training or coaching and it is a minefield to decipher who is worth the money! I personally believe coaching individuals is a real productive exercise but I want to make sure I am offering the best training to ensure we continue to provide ‘best in class’ recruitment consultants.

It’s through our commitment to ongoing training that our staff have the opportunity to develop, just recently two members of staff who started working with me in 2008 as Junior Recruitment Consultants have been promoted to full Recruitment Consultants.

I am therefore very keen to hear your thoughts – are you a training / coaching company that could potentially help our business in the future? Have you ever been on a course or received training that you would highly recommend? As always I am keen to collect your thoughts…

Would you consider flexible / part time work?…

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9 Aug 2010

We are currently experiencing an increase in requirements for professional workers to assist employers on a part time / flexible working basis. The majority of our contract vacancies have always been on a full time basis (i.e. 5 days per week) but recent requests have been for people to work 2 /3 day weeks to assist with current workload as things start to improve.

This has had a positive response from our job seekers as many people are simply keen to be in work and in the majority of cases the hours pick up as the work does.

Have you considered part time work? Are you an employer who would benefit from some additional help on a part time basis? I would be genuinely keen to hear your thoughts on this recent trend…

New Training & Development Coordinator!

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30 Jul 2010

This week I am pleased to announce a slight change of career for myself within Project Resource! I have officially started my new role as the Training & Development Coordinator for the company. This means my time will be split between our two current offices, Reading & Solihull, but will also include any future offices as we continue to grow.

Project Resource has always been very committed to nurturing and developing its employees and will always look to promote successful individuals through the ranks. I hope my new role will allow me to assist each consultant to receive all the training they require to get them to reach their individual goals. I get real job enrichment from seeing those around me succeed and remain motivated and therefore cannot wait to really get started!

Part of my role will be assessing every internal training option available but also potentially using any external tools when required. Are you an external trainer that may add value to our business in the future? Do you have any comments / feedback on training you have received that may assist me in the future? I would be very pleased to hear any of your thoughts….

The value of long-term contracts

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22 Jul 2010

For the first time in a while we have registered several medium to long-term contract vacancies in succession. This is really positive news for our recruitment consultants, our business and job seekers.  Contract opportunities are definitely on the up!

Over the last few months the majority of new contracts and contract extensions we have drawn up have been short-term, this does not offer job seekers the security they or we would like. That said a lot of these contracts have then been extended on a “rolling” basis and allowed the contract worker to stay in work.  The durations of contracts we have drawn up this month have been 4 months plus, which is an excellent sign that employers have growing confidence in future workload.

The other positive; we have been able to install longer notice periods on these contracts, typically 4 weeks, which has given the contract worker peace of mind. This also means the employer has the security of having the worker tied into the contract and also offers a longer timeframe should the worst happen and they need a replacement.

Are you a contractor seeking contract work?  If so are you seeing longer durations on offer? What is your opinion on a longer notice period?  As always I would be keen to hear your thoughts / opinions……

New Recruit for the Project Resource Solihull Office

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2 Jul 2010

I am pleased to announce that this week we have employed another recruitment consultant to work in our Solihull office !  He joins us to head up the Project Management team, focusing on contract Project Management  jobs in the Midlands.

I will be helping to train him over the next few weeks and he will be proactively speaking to employers to introduce himself and register new job vacancies.

It also means that we have grown to 10 + consultants now within the Solihull office which is a fantastic achievement considering we began with just 3 in 2008.

This recent appointment is largely due to the market picking up, the economic improvements and us increasing our market share.  What are your thoughts on current market conditions?  Are you finding work picking up and therefore needing to recruit externally?  As always I would be pleased to hear your thoughts…

If you are interested in knowing more about working for Project Resource please visit our website and read our Join Us section or visit the Work for Us section in this blog for more information.

The value of face to face meetings in recruitment.

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28 May 2010

This week I have been focusing my team to go out and meet with each contract worker and line manager after they start an assignment. I personally believe meeting your workers enables a stronger relationship and can really help you understand what is important to them. I also believe meeting any employer that is spending money with you is not only courteous, but can be an extremely valuable opportunity to learn more about their business and what we can do to help.

Whether it be dropping off a business card and putting a “face to the name” or having a formal meeting with agenda points, I feel there is always something beneficial to come out from making the effort with anyone you are keen to work with.

Do you find recruitment consultants meeting with you beneficial?  As always I am keen to hear your thoughts and experiences…

Demand increases for freelance construction contractors

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17 May 2010

Last week proved to be a very busy week for us in the Solihull office. We have seen a real increase in job vacancies registered with us (especially urgent contract requirements).  As a result of the new job vacancies registered, we have successfully set up more interviews and placed more people than any previous week/ month this year.

I thought that the election would mean we would experience a quieter month in May as clients wait to see who is voted in, however, we have registered more job vacancies this month than any previous month this year!

What is your opinion on the jobs market for freelance workers at present?  Have you found a recent increase in vacancies?  Are you getting an increase in phone calls from recruiters?  As always I am keen to hear your thoughts…

Recruitment consultants: training and developing your colleagues.

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23 Apr 2010

This week I have focused the majority of my time working with one of the more junior members of our team at Project Resource.  I personally get real job enrichment from seeing someone “rise through the ranks” and develop their skills. With the market steadily improving I feel it is a fantastic time to focus on talent development, helping the team develop their talents and progress into great and successful recruitment consultants.

One thing I really feel proud of is how we train, motivate and promote our consultants at Project Resource Ltd, we focus all the time on teamwork.  The economy will recover and our team will be rewarded financially once the market really recovers.  I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best recruitment consultants within our field and have enjoyed both the professional and social side of this!

To see what job vacancies we have currently available at our offices please visit our website. If you would like to talk to me about life working at Project Resource and why it is a great job, great company, then you can call me in our Solihull office, I would be happy to talk with you.

How do you feel about the training you have received in your company?  Does your employers do enough for you?  When were your professional and personal needs last assessed?

As always I am keen to hear your thoughts….

The Domino Effect. What Can Happen When A Company Goes Into Administration?

Posted by Corinne Szklarek. 1 Comment

9 Apr 2010

I am guessing that anyone within the rail or engineering industry will have heard the recent news about Jarvis plc going into administration. As a key supplier this has had an effect on us and our competitors, but I am keen to discuss the effect it has had on the supply chain and the employees within the company.

This will affect anyone who supplied staff or services to the employer.  It is sometimes those further down the chain that are over-looked. I know from speaking to Jarvis Plc employees over the last few days how such news can turn everything upside down and now many of these employees are now searching for jobs, as their jobs are uncertain, or they have already been told to go.  There will also be many smaller sized companies who supplied services to Jarvis who will in turn be effected as a business, some I dare say will be out of business completely as a result.  In terms of the large Evergreen project the work must go on, so am I confident other companies will pick up their workload and potentially staff members may find themselves working on the same project through a new employer.  There are always winners and losers.

Has this recent news affected you at all?  Have you been in this situation with another company within this recession?

It is important to focus on how you can turn these situations into a positive outcome and our key aim is to help every professional affected by giving advice, support and most importantly getting them a new contract job or infrastructure job.  I personally really feel for anyone who has had this sudden news put on them, however the job market is improving each month and I feel confident in being able to help any freelance professionals or permanent job seekers in securing another job.

If you have any comments on Jarvis Plc, or any other company that has gone into administration, or made big employee redundancies then I would be very keen to hear them…

Are regional recruitment offices beneficial?

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12 Mar 2010

We established our first regional office in Solihull in 2008.  Personally feel that having moved our Midlands team form our Reading headquarters to Solihull we are now starting to see benefit.  As I work on the freelance team I find it really beneficial to meet both employers and job seekers in the workplace, as it gives me a great opportunity to put a face to the name and build on existing relationships.

I am genuinely keen to hear your views on local recruitment agencies.  Do you find it useful to have a recruitment agency local to you, or doesn’t it really matter?  Would you choose a local company over a non-local company?  Would you have a better opinion of a recruitment consultant that could come and see you, or does the location fall down your list of priorities when looking to recruit / find a job?As always your opinions are gratefully received…..