Jenny Rosser and Zena Clark founded Be. Recruitment in June 2018 to deliver affordable, high-touch recruitment services to the social care sector. Zena explains:“We felt that there was a gap in the market for a high-touch recruitment company specialising in community services.
“We knew that at the lower end of the the salary scale, a lot of recruitment was usually automated. Even the shortlisting was all done by keyword matching and was ultimately computerised, using artificial intelligence and algorithms. We didn’t think that was good enough.”
“Cost effective, high-touch recruitment”
Jenny and Zena recognised that automating the recruitment process for positions in social care doesn’t work, as clients need candidates who do more than just ‘tick the right boxes’. For example, being able to ascertain a candidates’ interpersonal skills, or how they may manage a challenging situation in the social care sector requires having a real conversation.
However, at the time, customised recruitment campaigns where the recruiter proactively identified suitable candidates and provides them with high touch support were termed “search campaigns” and attracted enormous fees, restricting these services to senior positions only.
“Recruitment services for the more senior staff were often prohibitively expensive but they didn’t need to be” explains Jenny. “We run the same process regardless of the seniority of the position”
“We saw that gap in the middle there for a cost-effective, high-touch recruitment service that actually reaches out to passive job seekers, and talks to individuals to work out which roles would suit them best, but also provides an amazing service for the higher end of the scale, the senior roles with much better value for money than what was already being offered.”
Never shying away from the too-hard basket
Before starting Be. Recruitment, Jenny and Zena had accumulated extensive experience in their separate careers as recruiters. They attribute much of their success to their personalised approach, as they worked to build long-standing relationships with clients to really understand their needs.
This high-touch, relationship-centred approach is foundational to the Be. Recruitment ethos today, as the organisation prides itself on trust and delivery – never shying away from recruiting for roles in the ‘too hard basket’.
“We’re also about positive influence, so actually helping people,” Jenny continues.
“So, if we find that what a client is looking for is just not out there within the timeframe they need, instead of just putting it in the too-hard basket and moving on to fill easier roles, we go back and have an honest conversation with that client.
“It’s really tough out there at the moment, being a candidate-short market, and there’s a lot of competition. So we explain why it’s difficult and give them advice on what they need to do – whether that’s raising the salary, changing the job description, being more open to candidates who might have the competence to do the job even if they don’t currently have that experience.”
“Our vision for Be. Recruitment is about being impactful,” Zena adds. “It’s not necessarily about being the largest, but being the most impactful recruitment company in social care in Australia.”
“We care about seeing our clients and candidates achieve their goals,” Jenny says. “When they win, we feel it too.”
The difference of an experienced team
Jenny explains that one of the key reasons Be. Recruitment stand out from other recruiters is that the team have first-hand experience working in the social care sector.
“A lot of our consultants have come from that social care background, so they’ve lived and breathed it themselves.”
Many social care roles require a thorough understanding of the latest legislation and technical requirements like licenses, background checks and other qualifications. Jenny and Zena foster an attitude in their team of doing the right thing, even when no one’s looking – because it’s just the right thing to do.
“Recruiting in the social care sector, you have to be very, very compliant,” Zena explains. “There are lots of things that can go wrong, dealing with people who are supporting others who are vulnerable. Therefore, having the right culture around health, safety and compliance is really, really important.”
Being value-driven rather than profit-driven is also what enables Jenny and Zena’s team to deliver quality service at affordable prices. Jenny says:
“High-touch, high-level service means we prepare all our candidates for their interviews. As mentioned that level of preparation with candidates, like phoning them before they go in for the interview because they might be nervous – that attention to detail would usually attract massive fees, whereas we do it just because it’s actually the right thing to do, to give somebody the chance to be the best them.”
Get in touch with Be. Recruitment today to discuss how we can fill your organisation’s vacancies with quality candidates, or to discuss the next step in your career in social care.
