Candidate and job seeker advice during the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak

Has the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus affected your work, employment or your job prospects?

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has had a dramatic affect on ‘normal’ life here in the UK. The usual working day for the majority of employed people is very different than it was just a short time ago.

Some of you may be having to work more hours than ever before while some of you may be forced to reduce your hours or be put on furlough and accept 80% of your usual salary using the Government’s job retention scheme.

Many businesses are confused and fearful of the economic future and have made the unfortunate decision to cancel contracts, make redundancies and in some case cease trading altogether.

A considerable number of businesses have put a hold on recruitment and cancelled their temporary workforce, yet others are struggling so much to keep up with demand they are desperate for multiple temps or permanent workers to help them through these unprecedented times.

One thing for sure is that the coming weeks and months are sure to be a very worrying time for many workers. It’s impossible to know what the future holds and we understand the concerns you may have for your current job or future job prospects.

We want to reassure you all that we are here to help and assist you throughout what is sure to be a very difficult time. Our aim is to communicate with candidates and clients and help put plans and processes in place to minimise the impact to you as much as we possibly can. As we move through the coming weeks we will do all we can to assist you by offering our skills, expertise, help and guidance in getting business back to normal, keeping people in employment and getting job seekers into work. We are all in this together and will come out the other side stronger and more rapidly if we work with each other with care, understanding and kindness.

Useful recruitment advice and guidance for candidates:

We are on hand to help you through this difficult time and will do all we can to listen, help and guide you through these unprecedented circumstances. We will be updating our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn) regularly with help and advice and also sending out emails for anyone who is signed up to receive them from us.

  • Message us at any time if you have any questions, worries or concerns about your job or the employment market. We can help and advise as best we can and hopefully put your mind at ease if you’re worried about something work related.
  • Talk to us to discuss your current and future work options. Update us on your situation and see how we can help you get through these tough times and assist with your future plans.
  • Talk to us to discuss your current CV, your career planning or to have a salary benchmark chat. These are offered as free, no obligation discussions. If you’re at home and so are we why not take the opportunity to talk?
  • Make sure your ‘My Account’ is fully up to date with all your info and job alerts to make sure your the first to hear of any new vacancies that fit your criteria.
  • Let us help with your ‘online brand’. Use your time to write content, improve your online brand and tidy up your profiles. We can give you some tips if you get stuck or need some inspiration.
  • Join us for a video chat if you want to see a friendly face. This may be a lonely and isolating time for many so we’d be really happy to have an online face to face if you fancy it.
  • Read through our candidate resources and candidate blog posts. We have a load of really useful content and we are adding to it on a regular basis (especially if we end up with some time on our hands over the next few weeks).
  • Use this time to gain a new skill and improve your career prospects. We are working in partnership with New Skills Academy to bring you a range of over 200+ online courses to help improve your career prospects. Study in your own time and at your own pace to get a verifiable qualification, plus get a huge 65% discount. Click here for more info.

Our office opening hours and visiting restrictions:

  • Vanilla will continue to fully work throughout and our core office opening times will still be between 8.00AM and 5.30PM.
  • NO VISITORS will be allowed into our offices at this time. We will conduct all conversations, meetings and interviews via telephone, email or video conferencing technology.
  • Our main 01858 898 058 office number will continue to work, but a re-direct to a mobile phone may be in place at certain times (this will not affect the cost of your phone call).
  • If you are working or have been working with a specific member of the team previously we recommend you contact them directly and not use the main office number for the time being.

Contact details for Team Vanilla:

The whole Vanilla team are on hand to help you in any way we can. So even if it’s not listed above please feel free to get in touch for a chat, some advice and to let us know what we can do to help get you (and us) through this time.

Coronoavirus COVID-19 help and advice

I think it’s fair to say that life as we know it has changed for the foreseeable future. There are so many unknowns but we’ll do our best to keep you informed and up to date on any important information and advice, especially with regards to employment and recruitment in general.

While we put together new and up to date content (which we’ll obviously share with you) please find below some links that will always have the most accurate information from the Government…

1. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
4. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

If we work with one another with a positive mindset and kindness and consideration for others I’m confident we will all get through this together!

 

On behalf of everyone at Vanilla, we truly hope that all of you, your co-workers, and your families keep healthy through this difficult time.

Sincerely,
Eloise Shelton

Vanilla’s Founder & Director