News & Events

​Competition for jobs is expected to become increasingly competitive over the coming months as we continue to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. The team at MorePeople are here to help you stand out from the crowd and secure your next career move. Top job-hunting tips in the current climate:1. Call the company or recruiter to discuss your skillset before submitting your CV. A recruiter will know if you have the background that the hiring manager is looking for, so be honest about your experience. 2. Find a recruitment business that you get on with and can have open conversations with about your current situation, your work history and your aspirations. This will enable them to be more proactive in your search as well.3. It’s never been more important to tailor your CV to the job that you’re applying for. Gone are the days of firing the same CV off to multiple jobs and achieving success. 4. Get a friend to look over your draft CV as it’s easier for someone else to give you advice on how to sell yourself. A good recruiter will be able to advise you on CV content and formatting, but they can’t write it for you!5. Getting somebody else to check your CV first will also ensure that you haven’t made any glaring grammar or spelling mistakes – a big ‘no-no’ at the best of times!6. If you are asked to write a covering letter/email, try to find out who to address it to rather than resorting to ‘Dear Sir/Madam’. This immediately suggests that it’s a generic letter that is used for any application.7. Follow up applications with a courteous phone call, especially if you’re lacking some of the qualifications or experience outlined in the job advert. This shows that you’re genuinely interested and will ensure you become a ‘real person’ to the recruiter helping you find a job. 8. When you’re preparing for an interview, make the most of the information about the company that is available online. Recent news articles, posts and career histories on LinkedIn are invaluable and even social media channels like Instagram will give you useful background and insight. There are no excuses not be well informed these days!If you want any more information about any of the roles we are currently recruiting for, please do give us a call on 01780 480530 or email info@morepeople.co.uk.

​Turn the clock back six months and our clients were just starting to embrace video interviews as a temporary solution for limiting on-site visitors and keeping recruitment going. Then lockdown hit and people were asked to work from home wherever possible, forcing interviewers and candidates to meet each other for the first time via video in their home environments. Now, as people start returning to the office and some kind of normality resumes, will video interviews quickly become a distant Covid memory? It seems not. Feedback from a number of our clients suggests that video interviews could play a valuable part in the recruitment process for the foreseeable future.Scott Taviner, HR Director of the Langmead Group, has definitely witnessed the benefits of video interviewing for a growing business. Having previously used telephone interviews for shortlisting candidates, they switched to Zoom interviews as the technology became the ‘new normal’ and quickly identified advantages of the change in dynamic. Telephone interviews had been sufficient for fact finding about a candidate, but video interviews proved far more effective for getting to know somebody and their likely fit from a cultural/values perspective. The Langmead Group has been using short ‘speed dating’ style video interviews during the pandemic, which give candidates the opportunity to sell themselves rather than just repeating their CV. The other obvious advantage of video interviewing compared to face-to-face is the amount of time saved. Using the above approach allowed them to carry out four interviews in two hours, something that would have typically taken a full day. As a business, they will continue to use video interviews as part of the recruitment process going forward, however Scott stressed that face-to-face interviews would always be the preference for the final stage. Video interviews can be quite daunting from a candidate perspective and some have struggled to adapt to the shorter format. This is where setting aside time for a briefing session with your recruiter can really help as they will be able to prepare you for the style of the interview and identify key points for your ‘elevator pitch’. Skoulikas Bedford is another client that has embraced video interviews and the time-saving benefits that they provide. Managing Director, Paul Garrod, offers these...Five top tips for maximising their success1. Put the candidate at ease from the start about any interruptions from the doorbell/pets/children/etc. This will help them to feel more relaxed.2. There is naturally less small talk over video compared to a face-to-face interview, so keep interviews to 30 minutes maximum and state this in the interview confirmation.3. Stick to one interviewer where possible as it can get confusing to all involved to have more than one screen to address.4. Take advantage of having time to see more candidates via video and use them to get a feel for the type of candidate you’re looking for.5. Video interviews are a great tool for shortlisting, for example reducing five candidates down to three for more thorough face-to-face interviews. Share your thoughts​Have you taken part in a video interview during the pandemic? Let us know how you found it and what your thoughts are compared to traditional face-to-face interviews. Alternatively, if your business is thinking about using video interviews as part of your recruitment process, please do get in touch for advice on how to make them work for you.

​After four months of being told to work from home wherever possible, the government changed its stance on 1st August, with the Prime Minister actively encouraging people to return to work. While some people are eager to get back into an office environment as soon as possible, there certainly hasn’t been a huge surge in returns yet, with many employers still sifting through the guidance to try to ensure that a return to work is as safe as possible. To help address any concerns, we got together with the employment law team from Roythornes Solicitors to host a webinar on the subject. Here are some of the key points from the Q&A session:Furlough scheme After being inundated with questions on this subject when the scheme was first launched, the Roythornes team reported that businesses were on top of it now, but need to be aware of some key dates on the horizon – see this handy timeline. On 1st September the government contribution will drop from 80% to 70% and on 1st October it drops again to 60% before finishing at the end of October. It seems unlikely that the scheme will be extended. Returning to the workplaceThere are likely to be some challenges in convincing staff that returning to the workplace is safe. The legal advice is to ensure that there is a clear process within your business:Appoint somebody as chief COVID officerRead the guidanceConsult with staffPut together a plan to get people back to the officeGet the plan approved by directorsReview the plan regularly. Can you use a ‘bubble’ format in offices similar to schools? Could a weekly rota work with a deep clean in between? Would a suggestion box be helpful for employees to share ideas of how other businesses are adapting? What if an employee doesn’t want to return to the office? If an employee feels vulnerable to COVID-19, or has somebody at home who is, an employer should obviously show a degree of compassion to their situation. It becomes difficult if the individual is not as effective doing their job from home, however it was confirmed that employees do not have the right to insist that they continue to work from home. If this situation arises, the advice is to demonstrate the steps that have been put in place to make the office a safe place to work. Flexible workingWorking from home is more productive for some people, but for others it’s just not practical or it can be affecting their mental health. Don’t just assume that you know individual preferences, go ahead and ask your employees whether they prefer to work in the office, from home, or a mix of the two. Would it work if everybody adopted their first preference?Flexible working is bound to be requested more going forward, but it has to work for your business. Check that your flexible working policy is still fit for purpose and update it asap if not. The key advice is to be consistent with all employees and their requests, and to document discussions. The same advice is recommended for any disciplinary investigations with staff who are working remotely. What if schools are forced to close again?This is a burning question and one where it is difficult to predict what the guidance will be should it happen. As it stands, taking time off as emergency dependants leave, paid leave or even unpaid leave would be options for people who are unable to work from home. It is expected that the onus will be on parents to make alternative childcare arrangements. RedundanciesUnfortunately, making redundancies will be a reality for many businesses in the coming months. It was clarified that the usual redundancy procedures need to be followed, regardless of whether an employee is currently on furlough or not. The advice given was to prepare to be challenged, document everything and ensure that there is a minimum of three months before you start recruiting for a similar role again, should the need arise. If you actually end up re-employing somebody who you made redundant, their employment should be treated as if they are new to the business. Cultural challengesWith all of these changes going on, one thing you may not have considered are the cultural implications of reuniting employees who have been furloughed with those who have been working throughout. You need to be aware of individual experiences so that you don’t end up with a two-tier workforce. For example, non-furloughed staff may have been expected to do more work than usual to compensate for the reduction in staff. Furloughed staff, on the other hand, may have been feeling anxious, vulnerable, bored or just out-of-touch with the business. It is important for management to understand the different pressures that people have faced and identify ways to smoothly bring teams back together. You can watch the full webinar at: https://youtu.be/RZ0kUlyGbNgIf you have any questions or feedback on any of these issues, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

​Are you making plans to bring staff back to the office? After months of working from home, this transition presents HR teams with numerous challenges that they've never faced before. For employees, it may not just be a case of picking up where they left off either as their worlds will have changed over the past few months. Equally, permanent home working or flexible working might be your business plan? Or, as the end of the furlough scheme draws closer, will your organisation be in the unfortunate position of having to consider making redundancies? For most of you reading this, one of the above scenarios will be your reality, which is why we were keen to team up with Roythornes Solicitors to bring you a webinar that will cover all of these topics and more. Taking place on Tuesday 25th August at 12:00pm for up to an hour, our CEO, Guy Moreton, will be chairing a question and answer based webinar with the Roythornes employment law team. Join us for what is expected to be an insightful discussion with practical advice for those with responsibility for employees to manage the transition from lockdown, furlough and working from home to the ‘new normal’, whatever shape that will take. Guy and the panel will cover any questions you may have about the furlough scheme, bringing employees back to work, managing working from home requests and redundancies. There will be plenty of time to ask questions during the webinar, however you will also be invited to submit them before the event for the team to consider.To register for your free place, go to: https://bit.ly/31FDO3Z

I was asked recently by Roythornes Solicitors to share my thoughts in their 1-2-3 Food column, so here goes:One business highlight of the last year2020 marks our 20th anniversary year and despite the current challenging times we all face, we certainly want to champion the fact that over the past 20 years we have become a market leading recruiter within the food and agriculture sector and have helped hundreds of people get new roles with our clients throughout the UK, Europe and even as far afield as Australia, Africa and the Middle East. We had plans for celebrations on the anniversary date in April and later in the summer, so disappointing that those are on hold for now, but still something to look forward to later in the year!Two challenges for the sector1. The first major challenge is the ongoing issue of attracting talented individuals at all levels to work in the sectors we operate in. This has always been the key “people issue” over the years for most of our clients and is likely to be an ongoing challenge – even if there is a short term ‘Covid Dividend’ for some businesses as people recognise the underlying resilience of large parts of the food sector.2. Another people related challenge is going to be the management issues that will undoubtedly come about as a result of those of us who have got used to working from home. Flexible working for those that can do it is here to stay. Even sceptics like me have to admit that. However, along with the positives we can take forward from the new “WFH” practices, there will be some interesting challenges for both managers and employees. Many of our clients have been extremely pleased with how it has worked out so far and how quickly people have adopted new ways of working, but the challenge long term is not going to be just a technological one. Offices help us interact with our colleagues, they help us build teams, develop us as people and create business cultures. WFH might be an easy adjustment for people who already have a track record on the job and relationships to maintain but how does that work for the new employee who may struggle to get to know their colleagues or the youngster just starting out on their career?Three forecasts for the sector1. The retail supply chain and foodservice sector will remain very challenging. Retail suppliers will have done alright during covid regarding volumes (in general) but the continued pressure on price and therefore margin squeeze will continue. It maybe even increase with Tesco’s every-day low price promise and the foodservice sector will not get back to anything like pre-covid volumes for many years.2. There will be significantly less business travel conducted with more use of video conferencing technology. This will save time and money and be better for the environment, but will it have a detrimental effect on relationships in the supply chain? There’s bound to be less conferences and events, so traditional networking opportunities will be limited and that means businesses will need to work harder and smarter on their customer relationships.3. Automation within the supply chain is also something that will accelerate over the next 12 months. Even before the current Brexit and covid related labour issues, many of our clients were driving significant investments, looking at more efficient ways of harvesting and processing and developing new equipment that can reduce their reliance on seasonal labour. This is only going to be more important in the future as not only a way to head off potential labour shortages but also to increase productivity and help reduce costs even further to keep pace with retailer price demands.We'd be interested to hear your feedback or experiences on any of the above. You can get in touch via guy@morepeople.co.uk.

These are challenging times for many people and we are yet to see the full impact on businesses across the sectors that we recruit for. Many of our clients have seen significant uplifts as a result of the lockdown, but equally others have had to adapt very quickly to new business models or getting their business going again as lockdown measures are eased. If you've unexpectedly found yourself in a position where you're looking for a new job, or you're just looking for a new challenge, compiling a great CV is something that you are still very much in control of. One of our most experienced recruiters, Morten Andresen, shares his thoughts on preparing your CV. Everyone has their own opinion on what makes a great CV but, having worked in recruitment at MorePeople for nearly 9 years, Morten really has seen the good, the bad and the ugly!1. Please don't write War and Peace. It won't help you. I understand it can be hard to summarise 20 years of experience on a few pages, but that is kind of the point. Set yourself a goal of a relevant number of pages (this can be more than 1-2 if needed!) but make sure it is all killer and no filler. Spend more time talking about your most recent and relevant positions rather than roles that happened years ago. Chances are you have moved on significantly and/or the industry has so its relevance dwindles.2. Give your personal statement some much needed attention. This is something we focus on with Graduates in particular, but frankly it is something that most people can improve. The best ones I see inject a bit of personality into the CV. It is very ironic that Personal Statements are so rarely that...personal. Hands up if you've seen a Personal Statement that reads "I am a hard-working and loyal employee with a proven track record of delivering xxx over the last xxx years..." Yawn...You might as well take it out and free up space. Far better to make it bespoke to you. This could be about your drives to change roles or things you have been proudest of in your career/life. Write it in the way you would speak it. Too many things get over-complicated because people try to write in business speak.3. Reverse chronological order please. I want to see your most recent role at the top of you employment history. People who review CVs are often very time poor, so make it really clear from the offset what you have been doing.4. Keep it clear and concise. Don't write 3 sentences when one will do. Don't outline your job description in your CV as most people will infer that from your job title. DO tell us about what you have achieved, with figures where possible, as that is what will help set you apart. Use bullet points. This helps to keep it really clear and stops it all from merging together.5. Don't include references. If you put references on a CV, it gives people the chance to ring them before you are ready for them to. This is maybe less relevant if you aren't currently working, but the last thing you want is for a company to ring someone they shouldn't yet. Trust me, this has happened to me!6. Give a brief 1 or 2 sentence intro to the businesses you have worked for i.e. (Insert company here) are a £xx million business supplying xxx to the (insert customers here). I have learnt that most businesses are very focused on their individual sectors and, as such, are not as aware of non-competing businesses in the same overall industry as you might expect them to be. This helps to build a picture of what you have been involved with.7. This might seem like an obvious one but, whatever you do, do not lie on your CV. A lot of people have had roles they would rather forget or that they feel clutter up their CV. This is just part of your story now and you need to embrace it. Clearly, the more of these that happen, the worse the CV looks, but that is your challenge to overcome. In my experience, someone will call you on it eventually as you will slip up. It's hard to remember if you have extended a role by 6 months and brought something else forward by 3 months. A basic reference with that company will see it all fall down and your credibility will fall with it.8. Not so much CV writing advice, but DO follow up any approaches you make. Keep a note of what you have applied to and which company/recruiter it is with. Nothing screams dis-organisation than applying to the same job 3 times.9. If you are applying to something that is clearly left of field, then I would recommend you ring the company or recruiter first, otherwise most people will disregard it without giving you a chance. But if you can get "in front" (whatever that looks like now...) of someone then you have a chance to talk yourself in.10. And, finally (albeit this list could go on for much longer I am sure...) please don't pay someone to do your CV for you. I genuinely believe this is going to give you more style than substance and is certainly not giving you anything you couldn't do yourself. Sit down, plan out what your biggest achievements are and then start writing. Give yourself a 30 minute time limit and see how you get on. It's much easier to think of the most relevant things to write when you are under time pressure than giving yourself the full day and filling the CV with every anecdote under the sun.Please remember, a CV is only there to get you through the door. Once that happens, it is all on you. The CV will be there as a guide for an interview but it will be YOU that forces the final decision, not something you wrote on a few pieces of paper. I hope this has been useful and if you disagree with any of the above, then that's fine frankly! Write your CV in whichever way works best for you and I am sure it will all come good in the end.And if you are in the fresh food industry and are looking for a role for whatever reason, then please get in touch with us. We are here to do what we can to help.