Jill Wanklyn on revolutionising your business with temporary staff

With temporary staff becoming the new ‘It’ thing in the job market, we thought we would catch up with the wonderful Jill Wanklyn to discuss how businesses can use temporary staff to revolutionise their business. 

Jill is an amazing person with a huge heart and first-class knowledge and experience in the world of recruitment. As well as leading the temporary team in our professional services department supporting clients across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire she also helps run and support good causes closer to home. 

Hi Jill, Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your experience?

I started working in recruitment in 1982, so over 40 years ago! Over this time, I have worked with various clients and candidates and met some amazing people. I still get a buzz from sourcing the right candidate and placing them in the perfect role! There’s something really rewarding about helping someone get their dream job and building relationships with clients.

As a recruiter, I have proudly supported leading SME and FTSE250 companies across the South West. I also have a track record of recruiting successfully for various professional functions for SMEs and large corporate customers. I have supported public service sectors on framework agreements.

The recruitment landscape has changed significantly since I began my career, and I am passionate about driving continuous improvement, developing our services, and working in partnership with clients. That partnership with clients means I can provide in-depth market knowledge and recruitment advice and consultation to both the private and public service sectors.

What’s the best part of your job?

I love the relationships we build with businesses and candidates and helping create perfect partnerships. I get the best understanding of a client and their needs by meeting them and this helps me find exactly the right candidate for them. 

If you could describe my job, it’s like a puzzle, you can put all the pieces together in the morning, and by lunchtime, they’ve all fallen out. I love problem-solving and remaking the puzzle. And no two days are the same. It’s about working in partnership, from a client’s point of view, making their job easier, and, for the candidate, it’s finding the right job.

I also love the team at RE. We’re a dysfunctional family where everybody is welcome!

Can you tell us a little more about RE?

RE was founded over 20 years ago by Richard East, and it has grown into a company with some of the best knowledge and expertise in recruitment. In 2021 we won the independently judged Recruiter FAST 50 award for being the UK’s fastest-growing, privately-owned recruitment company.

Over the years, we have built an impressive portfolio across the public sector, including Central Government departments, NHS bodies, Local Authorities, Charities and other agencies across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. We have also worked across a wide range of private sectors and have specialist in-house recruiters for:

•   Commercial  
•   Technical and Engineering  
•   Industrial  
•   Manufacturing 
•   Construction 
•   Distribution 
•   Legal 
•   Finance 
•   IT 
•   Sales & Marketing 
•   HR 
•   Admin Support
•   Customer Services
•   Call Centre 
•   Senior Appointments 

How does your team fit into RE? 

The Professional Services team at RE is a hive of talent sourcing! We provide both permanent and temporary placements across many sectors, whether a business is searching for just one skilled staff member, a one-off project or looking to build an entire team. 

I manage the temporary side of the Professional Services division. We understand that every situation is different, and we’ve helped businesses in the private and public service sectors overcome their recruiting challenges. Our consultants are experts at finding the right candidates to suit the right roles and have built a deep knowledge base with insights that help our clients define their temporary talent strategy.

We are committed to working with our clients on an ongoing basis – finding temporary candidates who will be able to provide the niche expertise and new perspective needed.

Why should companies use temps?

The perception of using temporary staff has changed. They are no longer just a way to fill a gap. Temporary staff can bring a wide range of skills and experiences without the commitment of permanently expanding the company’s headcount. 

For our clients, this means that you can drastically change your offering with little to no risk, especially when you only pay for the hours they work. For example, if a company is pitching for a new piece of work and want to gain the experience and skills for that piece of business, they can bring in a temporary worker. If, for any reason, they don’t pitch or don’t win the piece of work they can let the temporary worker go with no issues or ill feelings. 

Why should clients look to use your team?

Each client we work with has a specialism. Ours is that we find the best talent for our client’s needs and then make hiring that talent as easy as possible. We do this in a few ways.

Robust Talent Network:

We have a vast network of skilled and pre-screened temporary professionals across various industries and job functions. This lets us quickly identify and connect you with the right candidates with the necessary skills, experience, and cultural fit for your organisation.

Streamlined Recruitment Process:

We are committed to delivering a seamless and efficient recruitment experience. From understanding your requirements, sourcing suitable candidates, conducting thorough assessments, to coordinating interviews and finalising placements, we oversee the entire recruitment process with attention to detail, ensuring that your time and resources are optimised.

Proactive Relationship Building:

Everyone in the team believes in forging strong partnerships with our clients based on open communication, trust, and collaboration. By taking the time to understand your organisation’s goals, culture, and specific needs, we can tailor our temporary staffing solutions to meet your unique requirements. We are always available to address any concerns, provide updates, and offer ongoing support throughout our partnership.

Continuous Support:

Our commitment to your success extends beyond the recruitment process. We are dedicated to ensuring that the temporary professionals we provide continue to meet your expectations. We communicate regularly with clients and candidates to address issues, provide guidance, and foster a positive working environment.

I always ensure that a member of my team or I visit the client too, so we can understand the company culture, and recruitment process, so ultimately, we can help source candidates who will be the right team fit.

What projects are you most proud of?

I am proud of my ability to make things happen quickly. From running large contact centres for local businesses, finding people for a job tomorrow, and recruiting staff for large ad hoc projects.

At the peak of the pandemic, I worked with a client in the supply chain to implement two contact centres, one in Nottingham and one in Birmingham, to support crucial public sector services with PPE. The supply chain supplies all goods that go into hospitals other than medicine; when covid hit, they needed so much more to support, and they needed help creating this additional infrastructure. I was given the task and had to do it within a week and staff it. It was challenging initially, but I rose to it, and it was a success. The team I built supported medical professionals calling to get PPE, doctors surgeries, hospitals, physiotherapists etc. The contact centre was supposed to run for 12 weeks but ended up running for 12 months.

In addition to this, we ensured that the staff welfare was supported on an ongoing basis. And, of course, because this was during the pandemic, everything had to be compliant, so strict processes were in place per the regulations.

What do you do to unwind outside of work?

Outside of work, I am involved in a number of projects to help the local community.

I work alongside SPORTED and the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner to offer “At Risk” young people between the ages of 13 and 25 the opportunity to learn and train in Tae Kwon-Do based Martial arts and fitness. Our club, White Tiger, is the only club in the area allowed to work with SPORTED and Gloucestershire PCC to provide these facilities to youngsters. I am also the designated safeguarding officer, meaning I am the first point of contact for all staff and volunteers to advise if they are concerned about a child.

I also run a Friday night diversionary project, “TACT”, to bring positive experiences to disadvantaged people. Every community would like to see a reduction in anti-social behaviour, and we address this with the vision of giving young people a safe place to hang out and help make communities safer, more enjoyable places to live and play.

At 6 am, you will catch me at the gym, and in the evenings, you will find me with my Maine Coon cat called Basil, who I adore and who has his own Facebook page!

How can Clients get in touch?

If any clients are looking for advice about temporary workers or want to register an opening that they have, the best way to get in contact with my team is at Professionalservices@rerecruitment.com