Precision Blog - Recruitment and Employment News

Jobs will be created at an aerospace parts manufacturer after it was bought by a leading engineering firm.

Wide Range Elastomers, of Narborough, has been acquired by sealing products supplier Garlock (Great Britain), of West Yorkshire, for an undisclosed figure.

Garlock bosses said they would grow Wide Range, which makes specialist rubber parts, by investing in the factory and increasing its 20-strong workforce.

Stuart Phythian, managing director of Garlock (Great Britain), said: “We have acquired the business to grow it and we plan to increase job numbers, invest in the factory and win more contracts.”

He said having Garlock as its owner would give Wide Range access to larger contracts.

“One of the problems Wide Range faced being a small company in the aerospace chain is they were overlooked for supply contracts,” he said. “As part of Garlock, they have access to major customers.”

Wide Range manufactures rubber seals and mouldings for aerospace firms, including Bombardier. It specialises in supplying parts for older aircraft, such as the Vulcan bomber.

Garlock is the world’s leading supplier of fluid sealing products and Mr Phythian said the takeover gave the firm a bigger slice of the aerospace sector.

“We were in this sector already – this extends our reach,” he said. “It’s a strategic acquisition for us.”

It is Garlock’s third acquisition in the past 12 months after it took over PMT, of Stockport, which supplies gaskets and rubber mouldings to the oil and gas industry, and Northern Gaskets & Mouldings, of Leeds. The latest deal takes its turnover to around £10m and its workforce to 80.

Alan James, managing director of Wide Range, said: “Garlock will provide our business with a global presence, a very important factor in the aerospace sector where customers need assurance of supplier quality and the ability to meet delivery demands.”

Wide Range, in Acan Way, Coventry Road, Narborough, was founded in 2002. It also makes products for the motorsport, medical and defence sectors.

Garlock (Great Britain) is the UK arm of Garlock Sealing Technologies, which is part of EnPro Industries, which is on the New York stock exchange. The company has 18 global operations employing more than 1,700 people and a distributor network that covers 75 countries.

Source: Leicester Mercury 30th October

The best interview performance is one where you are able to articulate, fluently, your skills, talents and commercial successes, to comparative strangers, in a short space of time. Or is it?

“Interview technique” is a phrase often used, but suggests that one has to devise and project an alter ego specifically for the purpose of interviewing. There is absolutely no need to do this, but there is a “sales technique” worth considering.

Visualisation is a proven sales technique that allows the customer (in this case an interviewer) to imagine the benefit of the product (the candidate) and be drawn to purchase (fill the role).

Instead of asking “What does the job entail?” put yourself inside the job and ask “What will you want me to do?” The rules of English grammar force the interviewer to reply “We will want you to…..” which puts you inside the job as though you have already got it.

Instead of “What machines have you got? – “Could you show me the machine you would like me to operate?”

Instead of “What’s needed from this job?” – “What is it you would like me to achieve for you?”

Once you are switched on to visualisation, you will hear it all around you. It is all over the media and in conversation both at home and at work. Many people use it innately. If you don’t, it is a skill that can be learned.

Chris Rawlins
Associate Director-precisionexecutive.co.uk

A price comparison website is looking to create jobs and increase sales by more than a third by breaking into America.

Unbeatable.co.uk, in St Nicholas Place, Leicester, which allows users to find the best-value technology products, is set to launch in the United States in January.

Callum McKeefery, managing director of parent company Liquid New Media, said: “With the product we have got we’ll do very well over there. It’s a much bigger market for us to develop. We have tried it by just supplying from this end. But we will employ people over there to make sure it’s right for the American market. They call products slightly differently to what we do over there.”

As a result, the business is expecting to increase its Leicester workforce from six to 12 and make a turnover of £600,000 next year, compared to £380,000 this year and last year.

The website, set up in 1999, gets revenue from advertising and from Google, but its main income comes from the companies whose products are bought as a result of customers using it. The firm receives a slice of the transaction price, which varies between 2% and 10%. Unbeatable.co.uk also allows users to comment on products.

Mr McKeefery said expansion plans had been put on hold for the past two years after legal action from gifts and gadgets website RedSave over comments on its website about the retailer. The two reached an out-of-court settlement last week. Unbeatable did not apologise or pay any damages or costs.

“Now this is out of the way, we can now focus on the future,” said Mr McKeefery. “I can spend all my efforts running the business.”

Liquid New Media is redesigning its Reviews.co.uk website, which provides general reviews for films, shows and shops, after buying it from a German firm last year. A re-launch is planned for the end of next month. The company also owns appliances.co.uk, which reviews and compares electrical kitchen products.

“This year, we have noticed a downturn in consumer goods,” said Mr McKeefery. “There’s been a shift away from buying larger ticket items. But we have seen that things have been trying to improve. If that continues hopefully, things will get better.

“We have survived the dotcom bubble bursting and we have survived this year. If we can do both of those we must be all right.”

source: Leicester Mercury 27th October

One of the world’s most famous motorcycles is being manufactured again for the first time in almost two decades in Leicestershire.

Norton Motorcycles says it is on track to produce more than 100 bikes a month at its Donington Park factory after receiving interest from thousands of enthusiasts worldwide.

The legendary marque, brought back to Britain from the United States a year ago, has sold all 200 special edition Commando bikes created to celebrate its re-launch.

Chief executive Stuart Garner said: “We are building bikes now. The first bike will be delivered in two weeks’ time.”

Mr Garner acquired 111-year-old Norton in October 2008 from US businessman Ollie Curme, who bought the firm in 1992 and spent millions of dollars unsuccessfully trying to launch a new bike. No Nortons had been produced in 17 years.

Mr Garner was due to travel to France today to sign up a distributor as he continues to create a worldwide sales network.

“When we sign up a distributor it boosts volumes, because there’s such pent-up demand out there,” he said. “We have 8,000 people globally who have enquired about buying a Commando. We need a distributor and dealership network to service that.”

Next month, the company is expecting a further profile boost when it unveils its 961 Commando and Café Racer Commando at the International Motorcycle & Scooter Show 2009 at Birmingham’s NEC.

Mr Garner said production on these two bikes is due to start in spring or summer 2010.

“We have got all hands on the pump to make a good stand for the bike show at the moment,” he said. “Once we have done that we will be able to build our weekly volumes. In the next 18 months we want to be making at least 100 bikes a month. ”

The firm has just opened a manufacturing centre, where it makes parts for the bikes. Hardinge Machine Tools, of Whetstone, has been working with the business on this.

Speaking about the company’s progress over the past year, Mr Garner said: “It’s been awesome. We are well ahead of where the business plan said we would be.

“We have invested millions of pounds and have taken on dozens of people in the last year and the workforce continues to expand. There’s a potential for over 100 jobs here over the next couple of years.”

Norton plans to more than treble the size of its factory to 30,000 sq ft over the next few years if current demand continues.

Mr Garner said he was unconcerned with both the recession and competition from Leicestershire’s other legendary motorcycle marque – Triumph Motorcycles, of Hinckley.

He said Norton and Triumph occupied two different markets.

The entrepreneur, who owns a string of other businesses in the East Midlands, originally secured a licence to run a Norton racing team early last year from Mr Curme.

His business, Spondon Engineering, of Derby, had made frames for Norton bikes in the 1980s and 1990s when they were produced in Shenstone, Staffordshire.

source: Leicester Mercury 27th October

A NOTTINGHAM call centre is looking to recruit around 150 call centre agents to cover its busiest period between now and the end of January.

Domestic and General is expecting a busy few months ahead and needs help with its inbound sales calls during its peak season.

The company currently employs over 700 people at its offices on Talbot Street – which opened in 1997.

Tracy Burrell, personnel manager, said: “Between now and the end of January is our busiest time of year.

“We have around 150 fixed-term positions we want to fill to help our permanent staff tackle the increased volumes of calls over Christmas and the new year.”

Source: Leicester Mercury 26th October

Conducting a job search campaign on the basis of a best guess is a risky strategy to say the least. We think we know what to do, but times and methods change and perhaps the methods you are using are less effective than you think.

There are providers of professional assistance called “Outplacement “companies. They’re easy to find. Just put “Outplacement” into your preferred search engine and up will come a variety of providers. They should guide you through the whole process of CVs, interviews and job search campaigns.

My advice would be: choose a provider who has deep rooted links in the Recruitment industry. You need to be assured that the provider is advising and guiding from the standpoint of first-hand experience. They need to demonstrate an understanding of how the Recruitment community operates and what they want from you.

If you are going to pay for a service, make sure the fee is relative to the salary you command and feels like value for money. If you can, see if your former employer will pay for you. You can only ask!

You tend to get what you pay for so be very careful who you choose.

Chris Rawlins
Associate Director-precisionexecutive.co.uk

A MUTI-MILLION pound engineering research project is aiming to revolutionise the welding industry and save lives. The University of Leicester is spearheading the £4.8 million project that will look at why welded joints fail.

Minute imperfections in welds can lead to major disasters. MintWeld, a joint venture between 11 partners and led by the university , hopes to use computer models and data from experiments to improve welding. The findings will be used to improve gas and oil pipes under the ocean and improve European energy security.

The four-year project is being funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.

MintWeld consortium leader Dr Hong Dong from the University’s engineering department, said: “Welding is the most economical way to join metals permanently and it is a vital component of our economy.

“This project is highly valuable given the potential catastrophic consequences a disaster would create, as exhibited in the 1980 Norwegian Alexander Kielland oil rig wreck in which 123 people lost their lives due to a faulty 6mm weld.

“Failures in welded components, such as deep-sea oil and gas transport systems, can result in lost production valued in several billion Euros, while exposing the EU to increased petroleum prices and increasing EU dependency on oil and gas supplies from other regions.

” The scientific aspects of this project are exciting but challenging.”

source: Leicester Mercury 20th October

Looking for a job on the internet can be confusing. The variety of web sites, advertising jobs, can be overwhelming. There was a time when we could put together a list of good web sites but now there are hundreds to choose from.

Click to read

UNEMPLOYMENT in the East Midlands has fallen by around 1.8% in the last three months, according to statistics out today.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show the number of people in jobs in the region between June and August dropped by 3,000 to 165,000 compared to the previous quarter. The unemployment rate was 7.1%.

Nationally, the number of unemployed people increased by 88,000 over the quarter, compared to previous quarter. However it actually fell by 1,000 when compared to the three months to the end of July.

The unemployment rate was 7.9% for the three months to August . This is up 0.3 percentage points from the previous three months.

source: Leicester Mercury October 14th 2009

A healthcare company says fears about swine flu could net £20m in global sales of a disinfectant hand wipe in the next few months and create up to 60 jobs.

Bonnington Plastics, of Loughborough, is attracting global interest after teaming up with Lutterworth manufacturer Pal International to supply packs of the product, which claims to kill the potentially-deadly virus.

More than 1.5 million packs of the Swine Flu Wipes have already been sold since August to retailers such as Nisa Today and B&M in the UK.

Click to read