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The most important characteristic for URGE Cycles staff is the potential to learn, so Alice Henry decided to widen the recruiting pool

"Like many embryonic startups, we have been in a position where we have had plans for growth and a serious need to recruit those all-important first employees. Unsure how to get started most effectively, we approached a recruitment agency to discuss the process. In our mind, our first employee would have all the usual attributes that any young business is looking for to represent their "baby" – reliability, team spirit, personability, a clean driving licence plus a full mechanic qualification relevant to our trade, with a few years of experience under their belt.

"We were soon corrected, however, and advised that although being a fully qualified mechanic was desirable, it was not essential for our business. Far more important was finding someone who fulfilled the criteria for characteristics. We began to understand that our focus should be in finding an employee who was bright, interested, passionate, able to think for themselves, practical and of course mechanically minded – but not necessarily mechanically qualified. The all-important attribute for new staff members for a small but ambitious SME was that they must have the potential to learn. As a result, we were able to widen our pool, and did not have to rely on high salary incentives to tease mechanics out of their traditional repair shops. By offering a slightly lower salary but also additional training, we could really invest in our new employees, training them not only to the right level, but also teaching them about our ethos and vision at the same time."

Continue reading How the right recruitment process can reap rewards