How post-placement care helped us identify and remedy a hire that didn’t meet expectations for Sharpe Group

Sharpe Group is a recognised leader in the mechanical, electrical, ventilation and air conditioning industries throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. With Head Office in Belfast, and offices in London, Bolton and Edinburgh, Sharpe Group is renowned for its work in the commercial, education, health, industrial, public building, retail, scientific, sport and leisure markets.

As an established organisation of over 45 years’ standing, with a solid reputation, Sharpe Group prides itself on delivering excellent professional performance across all the sectors it serves. Clients include major names such as Premier Inn, M&S, Primark, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Hilton, Staycity Apart Hotels and Motel One.

Knowing that the best people are at the heart of their continued success, Sharpe Group only wants to recruit driven team players that are committed to performing to the highest standards. They approached Vincent Gurney to recruit for a Contracts Supervisor role in their Ventilation team.

End-to-end recruitment support spots an unforeseen issue, fast

Here at Vincent Gurney, we pride ourselves on going above and beyond for the construction and engineering organisations we place candidates with. Careful pre-screening of people from our nationwide talent pool allows us to match companies with individuals who are anticipated to be compatible in terms of personality, work ethic and values – not just skills and experience.

However, the true test of compatibly can only happen once that candidate actually starts working at the company. That’s why we adopt a rigorous approach to post-placement care to help identify any issues right away.

Candidates and employers receive regular check-in from our experienced recruitment consultants one week, one month, three months and six months post-placement. They can also call us at any time with queries and concerns, and we’ll work together to address issues such as additional training needs, support with building new team relationships, and converting transferable skills.

On the very rare occasion that things still don’t work out, we are only too happy to go the extra mile to find a new candidate that is a better fit.

Vincent Gurney had placed a Contracts Supervisor at Sharpe Group following a careful selection process. Based on that, he was initially deemed to be a good match for the role and company culture by all concerned.

Yet, during the early stages of his employment, the candidate deliberately failed to work his contracted hours, so Sharpe Group decided to terminate his employment and Vincent Gurney wasted no time in coming to the rescue with a new solution to better meet their requirements.

How Vincent Gurney fixed Sharpe Group’s unsatisfactory hiring experience

Vincent Gurney helps organisations find their perfect construction and engineering candidate. Anything less than that is not good enough, which is why we strive for excellence, on every hire, every time.

We took the following action to find Sharpe Group a replacement candidate to exceed their expectations:

  • Identified issues with the initial hire during one of our regular post-placement calls
  • Used feedback to adapt our recruitment approach accordingly
  • Found three more compatible, high-quality candidates within two weeks for Sharpe Group to review
  • Facilitated and supported the candidate selection process for optimum results
  • Promptly placed a better candidate with Sharpe Group, free of charge, as a gesture of good will

Quote from Vincent Gurney:

“With over 25 years of combined recruitment experience, we know that every candidate we place is as complex as the job their hired to do. Sometimes incompatibilities don’t reveal themselves until some time has passed.

“Sharpe Group’s experience demonstrates how well our post-placement care helps us monitor and ensure client and candidate satisfaction with longevity.

“No one in our diligent recruitment team will say they’ve done their best unless the client and the candidate are 100% happy with the results.

“We are glad this recruitment journey has ended on a positive result, and we have been able to show Sharpe Group that Vincent Gurney is a recruitment agency that they can depend on, every step of the way.”

– Tom Vincent, Founder and Managing Director, Vincent Gurney

Quote from Sharpe Group:

“Vincent Gurney has provided outstanding client care throughout the entire recruitment process. The truest test of the quality of any supplier is revealed when things go wrong, as much as when things go right.

“Our initial candidate selection didn’t work out as expected but Vincent Gurney were proactive and efficient in their response and found us someone even better, quickly. Communication was open and honest at every stage, which was refreshing and reassuring.”

– Philip McMaster – Managing Director, Sharpe Group