A chance to share business ideas with a group of like minded small business owners, all looking to grow and expand. We always have an interesting and packed agenda, covering all aspects of sales and marketing – practical easy to do things that will make a difference.
I can promise an action packed start to your day, plus the chance to meet some great local business owners. No need to book, just turn up and we have free tea and coffee too!
We meet in Poringland with an 8am start, finishing by 10.
Despite all the uncertainty in today’s current climate, the UK jobs market for specialist positions is still extremely competitive and fast moving. Which is why Ben Lurton, a consultant at Pure, is advising employers to be agile like a hare, and not tortoise like, when it comes to competing for top talent.
Ben explained: “As an example, a candidate I am currently working with was put forward for redundancy a week ago. Having immediately put out feelers about new roles, they are already at various interview stages for five different potential positions. This is becoming increasingly common. When a good employee comes on to the market, we often find a range of businesses keen to hire them.
“This is where the Tortoise and the Hare come in. It has long been believed that rushing any kind of process can lead to inaccuracy and poor decisions. Whereas a well thought out and thorough process will create a more robust and reliable outcome. While I agree with this in principle, when the competition for high calibre employees rises, as it has done, it is often the first organisation to the finish line who will win the race to employ the top talent. There needs to be a balance between being agile and quick, without being rushed. Here are some tip tips to achieving this.”
Be confident in knowing what you want
Make a conscious effort to always be aware of the additional skills and expertise your organisation could benefit from. Where are their gaps now? What resources do you need to achieve your business objectives and future growth plans? In knowing this, you will know when it is time to act quickly if the right person comes along.
Have a concise yet effective hiring process
Make your hiring process appropriate for the specific role rather than having set company-wide recruitment procedures for every position. This means you can just choose the appropriate processes to gain the information you need to make a good hiring decision quickly. For example, if team fit is paramount then include a staff meeting within the interview process. If the role is more centred on knowledge and experience then organise a panel interview, appropriate tests and request detailed CVs.
Make yourself available
Always remember that another organisation may have been able to meet someone on the Monday, do a second interview on the Tuesday and have made an offer by the Wednesday afternoon. If you don’t prioritise making the time to meet with high-quality candidates, they could already have accepted another job before you have even read their CV. Making yourself available shows commitment. It will make candidates feel wanted and will demonstrate that you are eager to get them on board.
Understand why the candidate wants to move
Get a clear understanding as to why the candidate is looking to make a career move. There are many different reasons it could be, from increased progression opportunities through to a better work-life balance or a desire for a different organisational culture and working relationships. Understanding the reasons why will help you to create the most attractive job offer. It will also help to you spot if you need to be wary about the motives behind the move. For example, if it is mainly money orientated, there is a strong possibility they may get a counter offer from their current employer and end up staying anyway.
Be prepared to compete in different ways.
Whilst money shouldn’t be the only priority for any good candidate, they will be aware of their market value and what their knowledge, experience and expertise is worth to an organisation. Be prepared to offer a fair and competitive salary, and also look to compete in other ways. This could include employee benefits and elements which impact on a candidate’s working lifestyle, such as the organisational culture, working environment and flexibility. People realise that they can still be ambitious without having to be in an office for over 12 hours a day. Look for ways, suitable to the role, which could give the candidate more time outside of work to do the things that are important to them. For example, reducing the time they spend commuting by offering the option to work from home some days or the offer of working flexible hours.
Flagship is a housing association with over 22,000 homes across East Anglia. We are a strong business looking for inspirational leaders to help us turn our aspirations into reality.
Director – Legal
c£80k (plus package)
Permanent, Full time
Based in Keswick, Norwich
We are seeking an experienced, highly motivated property lawyer to set up and lead a new in-house legal team, providing property and housing management legal services across our business. As an experienced property lawyer with a strong commercial focus, you will also lead on our ambitious growth plans with our private lettings ans sales portfolios. Working as part of the Senior Management Team, you will have responsibility for the operational direction of the day to day business.
Essential requirements for this role include:
Being a qualified solicitor with compehensive post-qualification experience in property law.
Experience of developing strategies and influencing Board decisions.
Experience of leading, supporting, educating and developing teams.
Managing and delivering complex operational issues on time with quality and to budget.
Constantly seeking conntinious improvement.
Being prepared to question the current way of doing things and taking managed risks in the pursuit of excellence.
If you are interested in this new and exciting opportunity, for more information and to apply, please visit: flagship-housing.co.uk/director-recruitment.
As part of National Apprenticeships Week (4-8 March), Flagship Group are celebrating their first Apprenticeship Ambassadors in trade.
Electrician Charlotte Savage and Plasterer Tayla-Jayne Johnson have now completed their apprenticeships with Flagship’s in-house repairs and maintenance company – RFT Services, becoming the only females in those roles at RFT.
Charlotte and Tayla recently joined the Norfolk Young Ambassador Apprentice Network (YAAN) to help pass on their knowledge of what it is like to undertake an apprenticeship and promote it as a positive career choice.
Tayla, who is 23 from Bradwell in Norfolk said: “I would definitely encourage others to take on an apprenticeship as you gain hands on experience and knowledge of the job role but also you gain a qualification at the same time. This means that you get a better understanding of the work entailed and will help you progress further.
“The most enjoyable aspect of being a young ambassador is meeting new people and knowing that I’m passing on my knowledge and experiences of apprenticeships to help others.
“I would recommend this to other apprentices as it opens you up to a community of people that you wouldn’t necessarily meet at any other time who are doing an apprenticeship but are from different jobs.”
Charlotte, who is 20 and from Norwich said: “So far I’ve really enjoyed meeting the other people on the training day (as part of YAAN) who do apprenticeships in so many different fields and hearing their apprenticeship story.
“I really believe that apprenticeships are the future. You can earn whilst you get a qualification and also you get the experience that employers look for.”
Head of Learning & Development at Flagship, Nadine Tapp, said: “We are passionate about growing our own talent which is why we invest in our Apprenticeship Programme. We are proud to have offered so many opportunities across our business areas to individuals to learn and develop.”
Flagship Bright Futures apprentices Matt Levesley, 19, and Ellie Colk, 20, both from Norwich, are also Young Apprenticeship Ambassadors. They started their Housing Policy and Practice Apprenticeship in 2017 and will complete the course in 2020. At that time, both will have gained a degree and have permanent employment with Flagship.
Flagship Group has recruited 44 apprentices to date through its Apprenticeship Programme with 28 people currently on apprenticeship programmes.
Greater Anglia’s Revenue Protection team has been awarded the prestigious ‘Investor in People’ Silver status in recognition of its progressive approach to business improvement through its people.
Around 350 members of staff work in the train operator’s Revenue Protection team, the team is made up of Revenue Inspectors, Making Travel Safer officers and Gateline Operators.
The team was able to demonstrate that they have achieved the 39 requirements needed to secure the standard IIP Status, which they have held since 2009, plus an additional 76 points of evidence that led to them achieving the Silver Status. The award shows that the Revenue Protection team takes a forward thinking and expansive approach to cascading best practice through every level of the organisation.
In his report, the IIP Assessor commented that: “There has been excellent development of a more appreciative culture throughout Revenue Protection. Employees at all levels acknowledge the efforts made to show appreciation for their contribution to the success of the organisation.”
Abellio Greater Anglia’s Head of Revenue Protection, Kim Gorman, said: “The award of ‘Investor in People’ Silver Status for our team is another key milestone in our approach to offering customers a consistent, professional and high-quality standard of service. I am pleased to offer my warmest congratulations to the team, who have all worked extremely hard in achieving this award.”
Currently just 6% of UK businesses achieve the Bronze, Silver and Gold IIP accreditations.
Other teams within Abellio Greater Anglia to hold the accreditation include the Catering Team (Silver Status) and the Customer Contact Centre (Gold Status).
Ahead of next week’s Autumn Budget, Chamber members had the opportunity to highlight and discuss the challenges facing the local business community with Andrew Jones MP, Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury today (Friday 17 November). The meeting was hosted at the premises of Norfolk Chamber’s Gold Patron, MIGSOLV.
Amongst the topics discussed were business rates; the need for better broadband and mobile coverage; road and rail improvements; and the skills and enterprise agenda.
On skills, the business community highlighted the challenge in recruiting and retaining skilled staff, particularly in the construction and hi-tech sectors. The businesses also outlined the need to improve the profile of Norfolk to help attract skills from outside of the county.
Mobile and broadband coverage was again raised as a considerable challenge to those businesses wanting to be able to take advantage of new technology developments and compete with the rest of the UK. They noted that unreliable connections act as barriers to growth, which put those companies most in need of support at a competitive disadvantage.
Road and rail infrastructure was debated. Businesses highlighted the need to see improvements happen as quickly as possible and the capacity on the rail lines, including freight, were discussed.
Commenting on the meeting, Chris Sargisson, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:
“We are really pleased to welcome Andrew Jones MP to the Norfolk and give him the opportunity to hear from the local business community. It is important that Government Ministers understand the needs of Norfolk businesses and the Chamber will continue to ensure our members views are hear loud and clear in Westminster.”
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Jones MP said:
“Thank you to the Chamber for arranging and to MigSolv for hosting this event, and to all those who participated. It’s important to hear first hand the views of local businesses. We discussed infrastructure and skills and the top message is Norfolk is open for business and has a positive vision”
We want to communicate our services in the most effective way and encourage as many businesses as possible to engage with us. TMS Media have been commissioned to produce a communications and marketing strategy for the growth programme and you can help shape that by completing this survey. If you provide your name and contact details, you will be entered into a draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher*. The survey takes just 5 – 8 minutes to complete and will really help us develop and improve our services.
We want to communicate our services in the most effective way and encourage as many businesses as possible to engage with us. TMS Media have been commissioned to produce a communications and marketing strategy for the growth programme and you can help shape that by completing this survey. If you provide your name and contact details, you will be entered into a draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher*. The survey takes just 5 – 8 minutes to complete and will really help us develop and improve our services.
We’re continuing to analyse the responses we’ve received through the consultation, particularly the letter and email responses and the ‘free text’ elements of the consultation survey, so we don’t have a complete picture of the consultation responses as yet. We plan to publish the full results when we announce our preferred route, alongside all the other information which has informed our decision-making – the date is to be decided due to a change in the County Council’s constitution (which will see us move from a committee system to a cabinet system later this spring).
However, because we know there is likely to be significant interest in the consultation results, we wanted to share some of the headline facts and figures with you at this point. These are:
The consultation website was viewed by 3,475 people and a total of 1,245 people came to 17 consultation events staffed by members of the Norwich Western Link project team.
We received more than 1,900 responses in total, with 1,825 responding via the consultation survey available on the consultation website and 104 sending their responses by letter or email.
Initial analysis of the responses to the consultation survey suggests there is strong agreement among respondents that there is a need for a Norwich Western Link road, with Option D ranking as the most popular solution, Option C the second most popular and Option A the least popular.
As mentioned, there is still a lot of important information we need to consider which will help us identify a preferred route for the Norwich Western Link. The project team are continuing to work hard to gather and take account of all this information before any conclusions are made.
Specialised Management Services Ltd (SMS), a leading service provider and manufacturer of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical control systems, will be exhibiting at the Southern North Sea Conference: “SNS 2014: The Sea of Opportunity” at the Royal Norfolk Showground in March.
SMS will showcase their range of products and services to local and prospective customers and demonstrate their full project and multi-disciplined engineering capabilities which have seen their team successfully secure a number of orders in the region. Projects have included the delivery of Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs), Installation and Workover Control Systems (IWOCs), Chemical Injection Units (CIUs), Testing and Flushing Hydraulic Power Units (TFHPUs) and Topside Umbilical Termination Units (TUTUs).
In addition to the SMS manufacturing division, their Offshore and Site services has seen an extraordinary flow of enquiries and requirement for labour. They offer a blend of fully trained, highly skilled and experienced technicians to provide comprehensive and cost effective operations to their local and international clients.
Gary Morrow, Sales Manager, comments, “SMS have been providing services to the Southern North Sea sector for more than 15 years. Through our experience of local standards and technical knowledge we deliver excellence throughout our projects and have acquired a local reputation for being a high quality service provider.”
For more information on SMS and the products and services they have delivered you can visit them at stand B11 at the SNS2014 event, Norwich from 5th-6thMarch 2014.
In attendance will be Gary Morrow (Sales Manager), Phil Turner (Sales Manager) and Emily Phillips (Sales and Marketing Coordinator).
Veolia Environmental Trust offers grants of between £10,000 and £75,000 for capital improvement projects at a single site with discrete start and end dates. Match funding of at least 10% is required. Successful applicants will need to pay 10% of the awarded amount to the landfill operator from a third party contributor.
Projects should fall under one of the following categories:
Community buildings and rooms, including community centres, village halls, community spaces within religious buildings, and Scout or Girl Guiding buildings.
Outdoor Spaces, including public parks, nature reserves, community gardens, footpaths, bridleways and cycle-paths.
Play and recreation, including play areas, skateparks, Multi Use Games Areas, sports grounds, pavilions and changing rooms.
Biodiversity projects – applications from registered Environmental Bodies with projects that meet ENTRUST requirements
To be eligible, projects must:
Be open to the wider general public for at least 104 days a year without any limit or unreasonable restrictions of use.
Have a total cost of under £250,000, including VAT and professional costs.
Have already secured at least 10% of the total cost.
Have secured all permissions (eg, planning).
Be completed within 12 months.
Constituted not-for-profit organisations can apply as long as their project is located within five miles of a Veolia Environmental Services facility. This could be a landfill site, Energy Recovery Facility or Materials Recycling Facility.
There is no deadline for starting the process of applying for a grant; however, each funding application phase for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 is made available quarterly following the end of the previous phase.
There are four funding rounds each year.
The next phase for Stage 1 applications is 1 March 2019 and 30 May 2019 for projects taking place between 18 September 2019 and 6 January 2020.
More information can be found by following the link: