News
Going up to eleven
WELL-KNOWN IN THE DOWNSTREAM FUEL OIL DISTRIBUTION
INDUSTRY FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS, OIL RECRUITMENT NOW
HAS A NEW NAME AND A NEW LOOK
uel Oil News asked
managing director Nick
Smith what prompted
the name change to Eleven
Recruitment in this 20th
anniversary year?
F
In addition to its strong oil focus,
Oil Recruitment has actually
covered non-oil sectors for most of
those years. Indeed, we’ve been
finding roles for people in gas &
power and speciality chemicals for
19 years.
As we approached our 20-
year anniversary, it felt right to
do some crystal ball gazing. One
thing we know for sure is that the
internet has transformed large
areas of recruitment, and more
technological developments will
further automate the recruitment
process.
What won’t change is that
clients will always want to access
rare talent, particularly those who
are not actively looking for a new
role. We believe we will continue
to connect clients to this valuable
network by having a reputation
for the best candidate experience
within our niches. So, with a nod
to 1980s spoof documentary This
is Spinal Tap, our new name acts
as a constant reminder to us that
we need to keep candidate service
turned up to eleven.
By relaunching the company
can the market place expect
to see any changes?
We are continually working
to improve the recruitment
experience for both clients and
candidates. Candidates will now
find it easier to apply for roles
on our new website, using just
their LinkedIn profile if they wish,
and clients will benefit from an
increased breadth and depth
of experience in each of the
sectors we work in, as we build the
capacity of our teams.
6 Fuel Oil News | October 2018
The company’s strength has
always been in its ability to
grow strong networks and to
accrue knowledge about the
sectors served. With sectors
expanding more rapidly in
recent times, how does the
company ensure it stays
abreast of emerging trends
and future markets whilst
continuing to maintain its high
standards?
Our focus is on deepening the
specialism within each of our
existing niche sectors through a
widening knowledge and greater
research.
We invest heavily in staff
training and allow dedicated time
for building industry knowledge by
partnering with trade bodies and
attending industry events. And we
ensure we share knowledge with
our sister company, Fuel Oil News!
Repeat business is very
important in the recruitment
market, how will Eleven
Recruitment ensure that
clients and candidates across
all the sectors served keep
coming back for more?
Our 11 commitments! As part of
our relaunch we have set our 11
commitments to every client and
every candidate.
A great reputation in this
industry is hard to achieve but
by caring about our service and
following our processes, we aim
to differentiate ourselves from
competitors.
Our clients hate finding a
large number of questionable
CVs in their inbox. We focus on
finding the right people, and
in the year to date 45% of
candidates submitted were called
for interview – a figure that we are
very happy with.
For many years we have
surveyed candidates who did not
get the job: something many
recruitment companies do not do.
I’m proud of the fact that 84% of
these candidates still rated us as
‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. We have
now taken candidate feedback
one step further with the launch
of publicly visible reviews via the
independent feefo platform.
“THE FUTURE OF
RECRUITMENT
BELONGS TO
THOSE WORKING
DEEPLY SPECIFIC
NICHES TO BUILD
POOLS OF RARE
CANDIDATES”
GREG SAVAGE,
GLOBAL
RECRUITMENT
INFLUENCER
right qualified staff for our clients
will, however, always remain.
With fuel sales, supply and
storage at the heart of the
Fuel Oil News audience,
what key changes have you
witnessed in this sector’s
recruitment needs?
The continued organic expansion
of second tier distributors has led
to good demand for regionally
based managerial and sales staff,
whilst the consolidation in larger
ones has led to more central
support and management roles.
Field sales roles have certainly
declined over the years.
Where do you hope to see
Eleven Recruitment in 5 year’s
time?
We aim to have doubled the size
of our team in each sector and
earned a position as first choice
recruitment partner for the fuel
distribution sector.
Taking the Brexit unknowns
into consideration, what
do you see as the main
challenges for recruitment in
the near future?
Over the last three quarters, we
have seen less uncertainty in the
recruitment market.
It is vital that skilled people
are able to move around, and I
remain optimistic that the ability
to recruit across Europe will come
out in the post Brexit wash.
The challenge of finding the
Nick Smith, managing director