Why Workshop Recruitment?

Workshop Recruitment’s relationship with JPC began nearly 15 years ago when JPC’s company director, Keith Johnson drove past the Workshop Recruitment office and saw the sign outside. In need of some tradesmen, he called up to ask if they could find some suitable hires – the answer, of course, was yes.

Workshop Recruitment understand the importance of the human, personal touch in business and it is exactly that which made JPC want to continue using Workshop Recruitment for their future hiring needs. Keith Johnson explains:

“I use other various agencies and I’ve spoken to them a hundred times – but I’ve never met any of them. It makes a big difference to meet the people at an agency. I’ve met so many people in the Workshop Recruitment team and have a great relationship with them because of that – it’s very friendly and personable and makes doing business better”.

JPC’s Challenges

For a company like JPC, a major business challenge is managing irregular volumes of work that often come in with little warning and ensuring there are enough workers available to fulfil requirements.

“We might have two different councils come to us at any one time with a large amount of work that has to be completed within a certain timeframe. We keep a working crew of between 15 and 20 men from various trades, and when the volume of inbound work rises above what we have immediate capacity to fulfil, we need more labour. Often clients will call us to say they have some immediate work and ask if we want it – it’s then down to us to find the staff we need”.

Over the years, JPC have tried different approaches to meeting labour demands, including taking on various sub-contractors with the view of taking on more staff to take on more work, but it didn’t work.

‘It was too much and too big – we don’t use supervisors so my business partner and I manage all our projects ourselves.  We felt it was easier to control and we could give a better service to our clients by keeping to the smaller size that we are now, with an import of extra labour every now and then and Workshop have been key to providing us with those extra pairs of hands’

Workshop Recruitment’s Solutions

Building strong relationships and valuing customers is at the core of Workshop Recruitment. Part of that involves getting to know clients well so their recruitment needs can be met as precisely as possible, while ensuring recruitment rates stay low enough to allow them to remain competitive.

“I go to Workshop Recruitment first for any of my recruitment needs; the working relationship is so good. We might only ever have 3 or 4 workers with them at any one time, but it’s consistent and that means a lot. Consistency matters. When I get good workers, I know it’s safe for me to take on more work, it’s my reputation at the end of the day. I would 100% recommend Workshop Recruitment”.

Keith is also keen to point out that when certain staff can’t be found as expediently as required the staff at Workshop communicate regularly and honestly. 

“They tell me if they are having problems getting the quality of staff I need and I respect that.  They know I need good quality staff and don’t try and pass me on people who won’t make the cut”.

It’s this honesty and integrity along with that in person contact that Keith feels differentiates Workshop Recruitment from other local agencies.  He knows he has the support of the Directors and the consultants who will go out of their way to get the calibre of staff he needs.