Resourcing and Talent-Planning Strategies for Silverlinks Bank Plc, Recruitment Coordinator Responsi

Task 1: Recruitment Coordinator Responsibilities at Pharmaclean Ltd

Becky has just joined Pharmaclean Ltd as a Recruitment Co-ordinator. Pharmaclean are a large manufacturer of pharmaceutical, cleaning, and healthcare products (e.g. toothpaste, deodorants, shampoo etc.) They have six manufacturing facilities in the UK, in the Midlands and the North, and all recruitment is managed via a large team at their Nottingham head office. You are a Recruitment Specialist in Pharmaclean’s Head Office in Nottingham.

Becky has worked in several administration/co-ordinator roles, but has never worked in recruitment or even in an HR role. On her first day, she has a series of meetings set up with her new colleagues to find out a bit more about their roles. The fourth meeting of the day is with you. You are conscious that she has probably been ‘talked at’ and heard the same thing several times, so you start the meeting by asking if she has any questions instead. ‘Yes,’ Becky says. ‘I feel really stupid asking this, but is there a difference between recruitment and selection? If so, what is it?’ 

You are about to answer her question when she adds, ‘Oh, and I’m a bit confused about how it all works. Is there a process that we follow when a manager tells us they have a job they want to fill?’

Answer the following question:

• How would you answer both of Becky’s questions? 

Each Recruitment Specialist has a remit for a particular site or sites. You share responsibility for Head Office recruitment with a colleague, although you both have specific functions to support. One of your functions is Finance and you are about to meet with the Credit Control Manager, Peter. One of his team members, Sunita, has just handed in her notice and he wants to kick-start recruiting her replacement. You are conscious that there has been a restructure in the Finance function and a number of members of staff have been put at risk of redundancy. You are also conscious that another of his team, Ellie, is due to be returning from maternity leave in two months’ time.

Answer the following question:

• What would you explore in your meeting with Peter before taking the brief and setting out to recruit Sunita’s replacement? 
Your answer to both tasks should be no more than 500 words in length.

3) Formative Assessment - Case Study 3 - Silverlinks Bank Plc

There are four tasks to complete in this Formative Assessment. For guidance on submitting, please see the Getting Started section of the Student Community (a link can be found in the footer at the bottom of this page). 

Task 2: Resourcing and Talent-Planning Strategies for Silverlinks Bank Plc

Silverlinks Bank Plc is a high street bank with 2,037 branches throughout the UK. They have invested massively in new technology over the past decade and are trying to reduce reliance on branches and move customers to their online facilities. They provide accounts with higher interest rates for customers who use only online banking, and they have introduced several self-service mini-banks in key locations, e.g. at shopping centres and supermarkets, where customers can pay in coins, transfer money, pay bills and so on via an advanced ATM system. The plan is to close 576 of their smaller branches over the next three years and replace them with more self-service mini-banks. They do, however, wish to continue providing customers with advice and guidance, so these mini-banks will have telephone connections to a call centre. They are passionate about customer service and, following feedback from customers, have made a decision to close their call centre in Bangladesh and set up a new facility. They are currently considering sites in Glasgow, Cardiff, and Derby.

Answer the following question:

• What factors are facing Silverlinks Bank Plc that will affect their Resourcing and Talent-Planning Strategies, and why? In answering this question, please ensure you refer to the section in your course materials on factors affecting resourcing and talent-planning strategies (for a reminder see Human Resource Practice : Resourcing Talent (Section 1) - The Demand for Labour)

Silverlinks Bank Plc has now made a decision about the location of their new UK-based call centre. It will be in Cardiff. Having explored various ways of working, they have also made a decision that the telephones in the mini-banks will connect to the call centre. Silverlinks want to recruit a team of operators to answer those mini-bank calls. They will advertise the positions internally because they recognise that the knowledge that existing employees have is invaluable. However, they know that they have no chance of filling all the vacancies internally.

• We will look at their advert later in this case study. For now, we want to focus on the job description and person specification for this role. 

Silverlinks Bank Plc

Job Title: Call Centre Operator (Mini-bank Team)

Reports to: Mini-bank Team Leader

Main purpose of the job:

To respond to telephone enquiries placed by customers at Mini-banks. The job-holder will provide advice and guidance, re-directing the call to another team where appropriate.

Key tasks and main responsibilities:

• To answer the telephone and gain speedy understanding of the nature of the enquiry

• To ask questions to ensure that the customer’s need has been fully addressed

• To log the enquiry and any actions on the call centre database

• To provide advice and guidance as required

• To demonstrate knowledge of Silverlinks Bank’s products and services

• To re-direct the call where the query is of a more complex nature to be handled by a different team (e.g. pensions, fraud etc.) Full guidance will be provided on this

• To undertake additional responsibilities that reasonably fall within the remit of the role Personal and team responsibilities:

The job-holder will be part of a team working towards targets on time taken to answer calls and deal with enquiries. They therefore need to be speedy and efficient at all times, whilst still providing a polite and friendly service.
Answer the following question:

• What are your thoughts around this job description? Is it clear? What is missing? 

Silverlinks have pulled together a person specification for role of Call Centre Operator (Mini-bank Team Silverlinks Bank Plc

Person Specification - Call Centre Operator (Mini-bank Team)

The ideal candidate must:

• Be smart, presentable and in good health

• Have at least two years’ experience in a customer service role, ideally in a call centre

• Have a good telephone manner

• Be able to deal with customers in a speedy and efficient manner

• Be willing to develop a strong product and services knowledge

• Have excellent communication skills

• Be very organised

• Be able to work under pressure and against targets

• Have computer skills e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Answer the following question:

• Is this a good person specification? No! What is wrong with it? What adjustments would you make to these bullet points? Rather than a list, how should it be presented?

Silverlinks Bank have designed the advert to recruit Call Centre Operators onto their Mini-bank Team. The sources they have selected for recruitment for this specific role are:

• Internal advertising

• Word of mouth (they are offering a £100 high street voucher for each successfully-appointed recommendation providing they stay with the business for at least 12 weeks)