Job Description

Who are we?

We are New Directions, a group of companies that provide UK wide services (including recruitment, training, care provision and other support services) within education, social care, domiciliary care and the pharmaceutical sector, from a network of offices across the UK.

We have recently been recognised for our fantastic business achievements across a number of awards:

• Finalists for Employer of the Year, Financial & Professional Services Business of the Year and Technology Business of the Year – Cardiff Business Awards 2024
• Finalists for Business Services Business of the Year and Employer of the Year – South Wales Business Awards 2024
• Finalists for Best In-House HR Team and Excellence in HR – CIPD HR Wales Awards 2024
• Winner of Best Employer, and Finalists for Best People Services, Best Business Services and Best Sustainability – Cardiff Life Awards 2024
• Winner of Best Technology and overall, Platinum Award Winner (Checks Direct) – Cardiff Life Awards 2024
• Highly commended for Skills Development – IOD Wales Awards 2024
• Finalists for Best Temporary Recruitment Agency, Recruitment Agency of the Year 100+ employees and Most Effective Compliance Operation – Recruiter Awards 2024
• Finalists for Scale-Up of the Year and Team of the Year (Checks Direct) – Fintech Wales Awards 2024
• Finalists for Best Technology (Checks Direct) – EntreConf Awards 2024
• Finalists for The Employer of the Year, Mid-Market Business of the Year Award and Family Business of the Year Award – Lloyd's Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2024
• Finalists for Temporary Recruitment Company of the Year and Best Recruitment Company to work for (£50m to £100m) – TIARA Awards 2024

Job purpose:
To maximise the Branch Gross Margin and Branch Operating Profit through the management of every business transaction reflecting the values of New Directions Education.

Main duties:

• To manage the attraction, recruitment, and retention of suitable candidates in order to meet the needs of existing and prospective clients
• To understand the labour market and ensure staff are trained and monitored in the attraction, selection, deployment, and retention of available appropriately qualified temporary and permanent candidates for local client needs
• To ensure client expectations are being matched by offering a consistently reliable and responsive service
• To ensure the team is operating efficiently, complying with all relevant legislation and operating to Company standards
• To resource, manage and develop and motivate a stable and successful team, developing individuals to their maximum potential in order to achieve company and team objectives
• To manage the business through rigorous business planning, performance management and financial control.
• To drive forward sales activity by identifying Budget Holding Decision Makers and Hiring Managers within the relevant sector
• To prepare a structured sales plan that demonstrates an understanding of the local market within which the team operates
• To proactively build relationships with both existing and prospective clients through regular programmed contact management activity
• To arrange and attend sales and service visits
• To develop and support tenders and proposals as appropriate in response to client requests
• To recruit and retain the appropriate team in line with agreed procedures and ensure it is trained and developed to support business requirements and individual potential
• To attend team and company meetings and communicate information effectively
• To appraise staff on an annual basis. To review performance weekly and to ensure weekly, monthly, targets objectives and KPIs are in place, understood and met
• To help identify individual and team training and development needs and facilitate the appropriate development plans
• To actively manage the areas of budgetary responsibility through the monthly monitoring and analysis of management accounts against budget and forecast
• To prepare and evaluate weekly figures and take corrective action as appropriate
• To prepare annual business plan, budget and regular forecast
• To ensure client acceptance of Conditions of Business and payment terms
• To ensure payroll, invoice and debtor information requests/ issues are dealt with in a timely and accurate manner
• To understand, communicate and ensure compliance with our legal obligations, company policies and expectations
• Ensuring team members maintain a bank of strong testimonials to promote services
• Forecast sales projections and prepare annual budgets to ahcieve growth under the gudiance of SMT

Main responsibilities:

• Responsible champion of REC Code of Conduct
• Responsible for providing Education SMT with branch strategy and performance insights, reports and presentations where required
• Responsible for line managing the Recruitment Consultants and Recruitment Support, providing effective and constructive performance management for team members through 121s, performance and well-being reviews and quarterly financial reviews.
• Responsible for working to strict financial budget and ensuring Branch KPIs are being worked towards and achieved, encouraging the team members to hit KPIs and targets set where needed
• Responsible for the success of the Branch, using MI and KPI targets to identify underperformance early on to reduce budget deficit and assist team members to improve performance
• Responsible for providing educational supply staff with a professional agency supply service, finding them the supply work they desire whilst treating them with respect and being open and honest at all times
• Responsible for compliance with all relevant legislation, and processes, policies, and procedures
• Responsible for taking reasonable care of your own health and safety and ensuring that you take reasonable care not to put other people (including fellow employees and members of the public) at risk by what you do or do not do in the course of your job
• Responsible for safeguarding assets within your control and possession, including but not limited to hardware, software, systems, or information, and to report any suspected breach in security without delay, to the relevant personnel as required
• Responsible for the non-disclosure of any confidential information and/or trade secrets of the Company to third parties and/or the misuse of any confidential information and/or trade secrets of the Company for your own purpose/benefit
• Responsible for establishing, maintaining, and developing excellent working relationships with colleagues within your department and the wider Company
• Responsible for delivering exceptional levels of customer service; both to internal and external customers
• Responsible for communicating with people in a respectful, courteous, and professional manner at all times

Educational/qualification attainments:

• ILM Level 5
• Full UK Driving License

Knowledge, skills and experience:

• Minimum 12 months experience managing a branch in the recruitment sector
• Strong sales background
• Fully aware of SWOT analysis on branch and uses effective business planning
• Experience in managing a minimum of 4 people
• Excellent time management skills – with the ability to coach to other team members
• Experience of designing and implementing sales strategies and setting budgets
• Efficient user of RDB, Swyx and Teams
• Ability to problem solve
• Ability to make effective use of information with sound decision making
• Ability to build effective relationships
• Excellent communication skills coupled with the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
• Ability to promote services making high quality sales
• High levels of accuracy and record keeping
• Excellent knowledge of the recruitment process 
• Ability to market through social media
• Excellent knowledge of child safeguarding
• Excellent telephone manner
• Maintains quality relations with all users
• Ability to optimise financial performance through coaching and development

Personal qualities:

• Inspirational, influential with the drive to achieve
• Strategically focused
• Able to develop effective working relationships
• Able to effectively solve problems
• Able to maintain the highest levels of confidentiality and data security
• Able to make decisions using available data and information
• Effective leader – with ability to lead from the front 
• Self-motivated and self-reliant

What we offer:

Fantastic employee benefits including:

• Regular social, health and well-being events
• A flexible working environment, with the opportunity for hybrid working
• Health Cashback scheme
• Private Medical Insurance
• Life Assurance of 4 x salary
• Pension Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• A generous annual leave entitlement of 28 days holiday plus bank holidays (rising to 30 days holiday after two years’ service)
• Opportunity to purchase additional annual leave through salary sacrifice
• A day off for your birthday
• A Giving Back day – to offer your services to the local community
• Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice Scheme (subject to qualifying eligibility criteria)
• Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice Scheme (subject to qualifying eligibility criteria)
• Opportunity to join our 3% interest Christmas savings scheme
• Employee referral scheme; you can earn between £250 and £500 for each successful referral into the business

New Directions Holdings Ltd is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.