Slice

7 Reasons Why You Should Consider Going Paperless

Is your business paperless? If not, why not? Trust us when we say when you do go paperless you will wonder why you never did it before. How much time are you wasting searching though endless filing cabinets to try and locate that document that you need?

If your office is drowning in piles of timesheets, invoices, contracts etc then here are some reasons why you should consider taking your business paperless.

SAVES TIME

Looking for that 1 document in a mountain of paperwork is like looking for a needle in a haystack. How much quicker would it be to type the document name into the search bar on your computer!

MORE EFFICIENT

If a document is saved as a file on your computer, you can very quickly make any amendments and send on rather than re produce it.

SECURITY

It is a lot harder to lose a document that is saved to the cloud as opposed to a piece of paper.

ENVIROMETALY FRIENDLY

Reduction in paper usage will not only save trees but reduce the waste going into landfills.

FREES UP SPACE

A less cluttered workspace means a more organised and productive workspace.

ACCESSIBILITY

If your documents are saved to the cloud you can access from anywhere which means flexible working and home working becomes an option within your business.

SAVES MONEY

Have you added up how much your business spends on printing? A paperless business means a reduction in costs!

If you need a hand to go paperless give us a call. We can sort through your paperwork and recommend a system that will support your business and even create an organised system for storing your files.

10 May, 2021
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By Slice
blog, Business Tips, Recruitment, Recruitment agency

keep new hires engaged recruitment agency Sheffield

5 Top Tips for Keeping Your New Hire Engaged

So, you find yourself in a situation where the recruitment process is and dusted. You are about to onboard a new candidate that you know has the right skills and will fit into the team perfectly so you can breathe a sigh of relief and put that all behind you now, right? Forget all about it and move on to the next project……. WRONG! At this point you are laying the foundations of how the candidate will see you and your business going forward and set the tone for how to conduct themselves within your business. Don’t forget, you hired the best, but their current employer will be losing the best and will be thinking of ways to keep them.

To make sure it all goes to plan here are some top tips:

Be quick to confirm:

Make sure the new candidate receives their offer letter and contract within a week of offering the role to them. Its human nature to require an element of security, many candidates’ wont hand their notice in until they have an offer in writing so don’t leave it to them to chase you for this as not only could it hole things up, but it does not create a great 1’st impression.

Keep in touch:

Be their support when it comes to handing in their notice. It’s a big deal for some and potentially life changing so make sure the candidate feels comfortable to call you or better still, drop them a text to wish them luck or call them and find out how that conversation went.

Remember the little things:

We send all our new starters a card wishing them luck in their new role. Its little things like this that can make a massive difference. A card from the team saying they are excited to be working with them will help the candidate feel comfortable with the move.

Invite them in during their notice period:

Be it for a quick coffee and a catch up or a drink away from the office with the team again it will all help the new starter feel comfortable and again excited about starting with you.

Keep them in the loop:

Any changes that happen during this period or any big wins, share it with the new candidate. It will make them feel part of the team before they have even stepped foot in the business.

4 May, 2021
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By Slice
blog, Onboarding, Recruitment, Recruitment agency

How do I find a new job in the current climate?

We have said it before and we will say it again, the last 12/18 months have been tough for everyone. The world in which we live is vastly different to the one we knew before March 2020. People have lost their jobs, businesses have having to close and a lot of those that have remained open, are doing so by the skin of their teeth.

Regardless of if you are looking for a new job out of necessity, or just for the fact that you feel the time is right for you, we can help.

What can you do?

The first job is to sit back and think of all your current skill sets and make sure they are highlighted in your CV, look back at our past blog for hints on this. It may look like you have had a similar job title throughout you career, so you are pigeonholed, but your skills can adapt to many different roles, so shine a light on these.

Where do you want to work?

Have you ever seen a business or heard a friend talk about where they work and thought, “id love to work there!”, well that is now your starting point. Do some research into what that company looks for in an employee and see if it matches your own work ethic and values. If it does check their career page on the website. Even if they’re not listing any vacancies, call us. They may just be a client of ours and companies always want to speak to good people who have a desire to work for them. We may be able to help you open that door and it wont cost you a penny.

Update your CV

This is the 1^st impression a potential future employer will build of you so it has to be sparkling. Talk about what you have been doing during the pandemic, did you work from home? That shows you are adaptable, a quality an employer will love. Have you lost your role due to the changes? We are seeing this a lot so do not feel it’s a negative, unfortunately its just the world we live in right now and employers understand this.

Make sure your CV sells you. Check for errors, repetition, grammar! Get it checked over by a friend or better still send it to us to review. We offer a CV update service for just £25 where you will have a consultation with one of our consultants and we can make the changes for you.

Join professional groups on LinkedIn and get active. Post comments and make yourself visible but stay away from constantly posting that you are looking for work, you don’t want to appear desperate.

What are your competitors up to?

Wouldn’t it help to know what your competitors are up to?

Well, you can by carrying out a competitive research analysis. Analysis like this can help you remain current in the marketplace as well as sanity check that your offering and pricing structure remains competitive. We would suggest you do this when setting up a business, bringing a new product or service to the market or as a matter of course at various point throughout the year.

How to approach this

The basic information you need to start with when carrying out this exercise is:

Who are your competitors?
Who is their target market?
What makes them unique?
What are they charging?

You can then take this further by finding out some of the following information:

What website features do they have?
What social media channels do they use?
What are they promoting most recently?
Do they have any customer reviews?

I know this will seem like a time-consuming task but the information you will gain from it with be invaluable and may just spark something off in your own mind about what you need to do in your own business.

Why do it?

Quite simply this could be key to understanding your market and growing your business. The benefits of taking the time to do this could include the following:

A better understanding of your market
An understanding of your strengths and weakness.
Identify opportunities within your market.
Keeps your business competitively priced.
Identify new and emerging trends in the market.
Inspire new ideas.
Potentially save time and money on ideas that wont work
Keeps you 1 step ahead of the competition.

If your business does not have the time or resources to carry out this task, panic not. We can help you with this. Contact us today for a chat about how to get started.

interviewing during the covid19 pandemic

Interviewing In The Current Climate

So, lets face it, the last 12 months has meant we have all had to change the way in which we work. Meetings are almost all done on Zoom, contracts are signed electronically, and interviews can now even be conducted from your living room.

We find ourselves in a period of transition right now and more and more of our clients are asking us “what is the right thing to do?”

The way you conduct your interviews today can say a lot about the type of organisation you are, especially in the current climate. Our advice would always be, where you can, give a candidate the option of what method they feel most comfortable with. Is it worth losing the best candidate for the role due to the fact that right now they don’t feel 100% comfortable with stepping into an unknown environment. A lot of our clients are conducting 1^st interviews via Zoom and 2^nd in person.

If you are using the zoom option, then we suggest you consider the following:

Check your internet connection, nothing more frustrating than someone who keeps freezing or saying, “can you hear me?”
Make sure you are somewhere quite where you can fully focus on the candidate.
Come prepared with questions but be open to go with the flow as it’s a strange set up for a lot of candidates.

If you do go down the face-to-face route we suggest you consider the following:

Find a room that can accommodate social distancing.
Open windows to allow fresh air to circulate.
Have the room thoroughly cleaned before the interview and between each candidate
Provide hand sanitiser.
Stay away from offering hand out or stationary and ask the candidate to bring their own

At Slice we can offer interview support so if you need any further advice or guidance please get in touch.

Has Furlough Made You Rethink?

So, as we stand, furlough has been extended until September 2021. How are you using that time? Are you desperate to get back to work or are you thinking of looking for something else? Now is the time to be asking yourself these questions.

Some people have been on furlough of some sorts for over a year now and we know how tough that has been and it has also made people look at their lives differently and what they want from them. If its left you thinking now is the time for change we suggest now is the time to consider updating your CV.

If you have a particular company, role or industry in mind then tailor your CV accordingly. There is no point telling an employer how good you are at sales if you are wanting to step into an operational role.

If you have been on furlough for a long period of time, then tell anyone reading your CV what you have been up to? Some people got 2^nd jobs or even started a small business to keep the money coming in and the brain ticking, if so, shout about it. Showcase the skills you used during this time. It can also show tenacity that you didn’t just take it on the chin and you actively tried to keep yourself busy.

It is always wise to get your CV checked out as this is effectively selling you. This is a service we offer here at Slice if you don’t have anyone to ask in your own network. Make sure it is well presented and get the point across in the correct way.

If you want some more advice on how to put a strong CV together, please email us on rachel@slicesolutions.co.uk.

staff rewards Christmas recruitment agency Sheffield

Rewarding Staff – What Happens This Christmas?!

For most of us across the region, we’re Tier 3 or at best Tier 2, so the party season is not underway! Or at least not as we’re used to it.

After this unique year we can’t let employees go un-thanked for their loyalty, patience and ongoing work through the horrors that were teaching your own children and learning to cut your own hair so that your partner didn’t start to question their life choices!

Let’s not even mention Zoom!….. or shall we. In fact Zoom, and it’s many counterparts, may be the solution to the traditional Christmas party here. Don’t moan, it could be fun! And cheaper, you’ll only need a party outfit for your top half!

An online event for staff will count as your usual tax efficient party spending so with that in mind why not consider one of the following. Remember the screen shots could be worth it!

Low budget

At little to no cost your traditional party games and quizzes can all be moved online. Fancy dress, Secret Santa and team awards can all be done online in group video calls. Why not make a competition for the best virtual background?

If you want to up the cost a bit, add some video magic. For various small-ish amounts you can get a celebrity to record a greeting. ‘Celebrity’ in the loose term, but there are some crackers out there. You could play them as guest speakers as a real surprise for staff as they can be fully scripted by you and delivered by your favourite TV faces from the 80s and 90s or comedians.

Splash a little

Everything can be done virtually or get delivered nowadays. You could move to an online cocktail master class or wine tasting event. Hire a comedian. Buy tickets to a virtual show for the whole team. Host or find a host for a home spa night with various products distributed to everyone beforehand.

There are loads of ideas out there online and they are so easy to implement. No worries about dietary requirements and seating arrangements this year! But you can use the time you would have spent coordinating those on searching online for the funniest, most thoughtful online experience for your teams. You all deserve it.

7 Dec, 2020
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By Slice
blog, Recruitment agency, Staff Rewards, Staff Wellbeing

Case Study: Estate Agency in Sheffield

The Requirement: The company required a new department to be set up

The Solution: We took a brief of the multiple positions that needed filling and discussed the various options with the Operations Manager, looking at the turnaround times and levels of involvement required from us against their in house abilities. We designed an assessment centre so we could reduce the amount of time spent interviewing and enable us to make the 4 hires needed in 1 mornings work.

The Gain: The usual cost by a standard recruitment agency to fill these positions would have been £12,600. Using our Internal Recruitment Model we devised and ran the assessment centre for the client at a cost of £1,500. This gave the company a massive saving of £11,100.

The Figures:

Standard recruitment agency rate: £12,600
Our Internal Recruitment rate: £1,500
Their saving: £11,100

1st birthday recruitment agency Sheffield Slice Solutions

It’s Slice Solutions’ 1st Birthday – Year One Completed!

Here’s what Lisa Betsworth our founder had to say one year in.

“So here we are 12 months on, who’d have thought it! This time 12 months ago, the vision for Slice was very different to the Slice that stands before us today. The business that we’ve got today is probably the business that I wanted the first time around but never quite found my way to getting it. So I am grateful to all of the clients that we’ve worked with and still to work with that have enabled me to bring the vision into the reality that Slice is today.

I’m thankful that they’ve been open minded enough to work with the internal side of things and that they’ve seen the results! We’ve done everything from placing administrators to architectural technicians, from designing assessment centres to implementing internal recruitment departments in companies small and large.

We continue to hold on to our values throughout as recruitment shouldn’t cost you the earth. We don’t bill like traditional recruiters as our costs are much less than standard recruitment agencies. We will save you money on your recruitment costs! But not only that, we will give you more than just a quick-fix, vacancy filling exercise. We work with you on the bigger picture. If we don’t think you need to recruit and can re-engineer your current workforce we will tell you! And, if you find that sort of advice beneficial, we will work internally in your organisation for as long as you need us to.

Going forward what does year 2 hold for Slice? Well, growth in a number of ways in terms of the amount of clients that we can service, the levels that we can service them, and in numbers of our team – we’re very excited about that! There’s some fantastic stuff coming up over the next 12 months in terms of what we’re doing with our marketing and what we’ve got in the pipeline, as well as some really rewarding projects that we’re working on at the moment!

It’s all made for a fantastic first year. We’re absolutely chuffed and long may it continue!”

If you’d like to learn more about how we work with clients, check out our case studies here (link) or get in touch today info@slicesolutions.co.uk

Let’s get back to business and go Back to the NEW Future!

We recently ran a seminar on getting your business "Back to the new future".

It was an exclusive employer forum in the format of an online webinar with an ace panel of experts. It aimed to make your back to work planning cost effective and deliverable post lockdown.

The seminar was aimed at employers who are bringing their workforce back, providing the latest information in line with the Government's guidance on COVID 19 and an opportunity to ask questions to the panel comprising of:
- Lynn Collins, Head of HR Services; Spencers Solicitors
- Emily Oxford, H&S Consultant, Health and Safety Support Services
- Lisa Betsworth, Director, Slice Solutions

You can watch the seminar below. Get in touch if you'd like to be attend the next seminar.