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THE INTERNET IGH WAY
Page 68
Page 69
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Hull-based Careers in Transport is an internet-based recruitment advertising firm — not to be confused with a recruitment agency. Tim Maughan met the team who may have the job you want.
Careers in Transport sounds like a recruitment firm. But sales manager Jason Whitehead and marketing manager Kirstie Wood stress that it this not a recruitment company. Instead it deals with online recruitment advertising.
The idea is simple: operators publicise their job vacancies on the Careers inTransport website and applicants go for the position.The four-strong C1T team — consisting of proprietor Andrew Shuttleworth, sales executive James Curtis, Whitehead and Wood — do not involve themselves in the interview process. Selection is carried out by the end user, the operator.
The CIT service is a simple enough concept. Hauliers advertise their vacancies and Class 1 drivers, logistics managers and warehouse personnel apply for the job. By its very definition,C1T is a middle man. But its streamlined approach means lower costs for the customer.
Recruitment companies charge a commission fee, taken as a proportion of the applicant's wages.The operator gets the position filled, but pays a sizeable chunk in return.At CIT, operators advertise each job for £149 for 30 days. "But there is a discount available for multiple packages," says Wood. The firm's website is simple. and deliberately so. Job applicants do not want to be presented with complicated, cluttered websites.-Websites can be cumbersome, so we have tried to make it as user friendly as possible," says Whitehead. "Jobs are listed by towns, not counties."
Driver and management jobs
Putting ourselves in the shoe of a job-seeker, we try out the site.With a click of the mouse, we look at transport jobs in Leeds and London.The job descriptions are straight to the point, and include salary details. 'At the moment,80% are driving jobs and 10% are transport management positions," he explains.
The remaining 10% are made up of administration vacancies, and so on. With time, say Whitehead and Wood, there will be a larger proportion of management jobs available. With another mouse click we see an advert for a contracts manager in a Bradford-based logistics company. This position comes with a 00,000 salary.
In in ternet parlance, says Whitehead, a no-frills site such as CIT's is known as "white knock our.This means that concise, relevant information is presented on an almost surgical white background.
Job seekers enter information about their education, work experience and interests. Whitehead says:"One selling point is that we show how many applicants we have in a town for the benefit of operators.As far as I know this is unique."
In Hull, a few miles from the Cif office, there are some 460 Class 1 drivers on the lookout for work. Many of these are employed, Whitehead and Wood point out,but they're still seeking alternative employment.
"We have a fortnightly web newsletter for the jobseekers, and we also have a weekly newsletter for the clients. Plus, an e-mail automatically goes to drivers when a suitable job comes up,"Wh itehead adds.
We wonder about customer retention. When a position is I illed, does the client walk away? The company only started out in April, say Wood and Whitehead,s o it is hard to detect any trends. Early indications, they maintain, are that CIT will enjoy repeat business.
Driver shortages have been widely publicised in the UK road transport press. It is all very well to advertise driving and logistics management positions, but Wood admits that this is just a case of "stirring applicants around" — the process does not create new transport professionals. Where recruitment firms are content to place existing workers, crr will use its web facility to draw fresh recruits into the industry, she says.
"We have joined up with driver training companies.There will be a separate internet section so that young people can get in touch with I IGV driver training companies.We are also liaising with a further education college which offers logistics management training."
There are many decent transport recruitment firms, but there are also unscrupulous outfits. When an operator puts his trust in recruitment personnel, he takes it for granted that interviews are conducted by knowledgeable people. But the interviewer may know little about the industry, place an unsuitable candidate, and take the commission.The recruitment firm wins, but it is the other parties who suffer.
Operator caution
With CIT's approach the operator weighs up candidates himself. Whitehead acknowledges that many operators are wary of recruitment firms, and with good reason. "My opinion is that recruitment agencies are good, but there are a lot of cowboys out there."
Additionally, he argues, some operators are reluctant to involve themselves with the internet. Ironically, drivers are becoming web literate, he says. -A lot of clients are not technological, but there has been a sea change with the drivers. People think that drivers do not use the internet, but they do — more and more of them are applying for jobs this way."
CIT only advertises permanent positions. Before we depart their office Wood mentions a three-pronged business strategy. Phase one, she says, was about setting up the firm, along with its database. Phase two is a long-term programme to work with the training sector, and attract ethnic minorities and women to road transport.And the third? "The third phase is about adding value to the users of the website," she says. • CONTACT: www.careersintransportcom