Recruitment Catch Up

We hear from Chelsea Sharratt, another of our Learner Recruitment Officers, about her role in the department and how she feels apprentices could best approach their application.

"Hi, I'm Chelsea, I first started working for Busy Bees in July 2017. During in this time I helped with agency staff for the nurseries and nursery recruitment. I then moved onto the apprenticeship recruitment team and helped with telephone interviews and booking of interviews for the Learner Recruitment Officers. Shortly after this I worked my way up to looking after a large group of the Busy Bees nurseries to help with training requirements and apprenticeship recruitment. After a period away from the business I returned in February 2020, and now also look after external customers and their training needs."

What is a 'typical' day like for you?
The first thing I do is check how many new applicants have applied on the website for the school leaver programme  and make contact either via email or call to go through some interview questions which is the first stage of the interview process. I will then go on to check my emails for any new internal & external application forms which will need to be dealt with. Dealing with any enquiries which have come in over email and any phones calls which have come in throughout the day.

What are your responsibilities?

My day-to-day responsibilities are dealing with the applications which come in daily for the school leaver programme for all our Apprenticeships across the whole of Busy Bees.

Dealing with any internal & external applications for staff or external staff to sign up to complete a qualification through Busy Bees Training & Education. Answering any enquiries which came through, this can be anything from answering how much the apprenticeship rate of pay is to an external company wanting us to deliver training to them.

I also check up on our external clients to check they are happy with the training which they are being provided and if there is anything more we can help them with.

What do you enjoy about your role?

Enjoy helping people realise their full potential, help them progress within their job role, giving people confidence to achieve something and giving them support and guidance throughout the whole process. Being able to reassure candidates and giving them advice and tips.

What challenges do you face in your job?

Giving people the news that they didn’t want to hear can be very hard and challenging. Staying up to date with all the different sectors and qualifications.

What do you look for in a potential applicant?

Enthusiasm and a passion for Childcare. Being Friendly, chatty, inquisitive, them wanting to learn and gain more knowledge. Doing research before their interviews and asking different questions.

What tips would you give someone looking to apply for an apprenticeship with us?

Enjoy the process regardless of the outcome so don’t panic. Be as open and honest as you can be, it be better to give too much detail than not enough. Think about the sector you are applying for and do some research beforehand . There is no such thing as a silly question - we are here to help and answer any questions you may have, It is all experience.

How do you keep in touch with every applicant, and update them of their progress from initial contact to employment?

We make sure that every applicant has the opportunity to complete some initial questions with us either by phone or email. These questions are then used to help us create a shortlist for face to face interviews, Once interviews have taken place we aim to get feedback to all candidates within 2 working days. Everyone regardless of the outcome will receive some form of feedback

What changes would you like to see in the recruitment process in the future?

We are currently in the process of implementing a new system. This will help us deal with more recruitment needs and across different sectors. It will allow us more time per applicants to really get to know their strengths and weaknesses.