Partner Article

Nicola shares what’s on the Grapevine for IT recruitment

Like many in the sector, Nicola ended up in IT recruitment by happy accident; “I had a vague idea after university that I wanted to work in HR, so applied for a job I saw in a newspaper, and the rest is history,” she said.

After spending several successful years working for Solutions Recruitment, she eventually decided to make the move over to JLI Europe in 2007. Soon after her arrival at JLI, she was given a management role in the business and was recently asked to take the company in a different direction by rebranding it as Grapevine Resourcing.

“The company’s branding didn’t match up with its focus, so I decided to revamp the website,” she said. “Its been a rewarding and challenging process, but this will now enable us to build a community amongst our candidates”

The jobs market has been a difficult place for many over the past few years and in her work Nicola has witnessed many of the problems linked to recruiting, be it for employers or employees.

“There is no lack of business, far from it,” she says. “ There are more people on the jobs market, however, as requirements become ever more specific, it can be tricky to find the right mix of technical skills.”

“In addition to this, many skilled people have been reluctant to move from stable jobs when there has been so much uncertainty and change going on within business and the economy. Thankfully, this is improving as confidence slowly increases.”

During her 13 years in IT recruitment, Nicola has learnt what to look for when recruiting for IT positions: “There’s always a strong emphasis on technical skills, although the skills sets are increasingly diverse as technical roles become more specific.”

“I understand the bigger picture of corporate and SME IT systems, and have developed a knack for sussing out what I’m looking for, both from a technical perspective and in terms of judging a candidates track record. However, the sector is so huge now and constantly evolving, to attempt to understand the detail of all technologies would be impossible.”

As the company grows, Nicola is now looking ahead to the future: “I am incredibly excited about taking the company forward in this new direction, focusing on how we can provide the best possible service to our clients and candidates”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .