case study: Re-Work office furniture

Due to continued growth and success, Re-work Office Furniture based in Leeds decided to start the process of recruiting an additional member of staff to support their commercial director.

Being aware of how difficult the candidate market is currently and the time it can take to recruit the right person for a business, Re-Work decided to partner with Juice Personnel and asked them to support them with recruitment process from initiation to completion.

Re-Work is a million pound CIC that works with businesses big and small to create inspirational work spaces whilst having a long-lasting and positive impact on the environment, society and the economy. Their business vision is to create a social benefit, an environmental benefit and generate a profit which enhances these social and environmental aims.

Celebrating their 15^th year in business recently, Caroline Wherritt, founder and CEO has since built a core team of staff who are committed, loyal, hardworking and dedicated to the core. The decision to take on a new recruit was and is driven by the passion to grow and the increased levels of business they are experiencing. This person would need to be as passionate as the rest of the team, be a key team player, bring skills, ideas and suggestions for improving processes and most of all, want to grow with the business in what is a very exciting time.

Juice Personnel and Re-Work have known each other for almost 6 years, and Juice is in fact a long-term customer of theirs. They met through networking and Jenna Cooper, Commercial Director and Kelly Smith, MD have since been business colleagues, attending similar events and often referring business to each other.

Jenna reached out to Kelly for help in recruiting the Sales Admin person; realising and understanding that recruitment isn’t as easy as it’s deemed, and knowing that it can be a very frustrating and time consuming process, gave Juice Personnel the green light to recruit for them.

Kelly spent time with their business, met with the current team and took all the relevant information needed to make a start. Next steps were to create a job description, an advert for the numerous platforms Juice use, and wait for the candidates to apply. 

‘I thought that this would be an easy role to fill initially and actually told Jenna that we’d hope to have it done and dusted within the week! Due to the lack of relevant applications and knowing the candidate had to be absolutely spot on in terms of team fit, actually meant our process lasted about three weeks before we could present anyone.’ Kelly also added ‘Jenna and Caroline were so patient with us and knew that we were working constantly behind the scenes, even though it was taking longer than expected’.

Jenna commented ‘The team at Juice grasped the brief from the off, which was clear as soon as we got their draft advert.

I felt super confident, instantly that they would put forward only candidates that were qualified in the role, which makes our interview process so much easier, as we’re simply making sure they fit with our culture, and that we are right for them too! Let’s face it, we need to be as much “for them”, as they are for us’

By the end of week 3, Juice had presented two very strong candidates, one of whom had come from a very similar industry and who could literally hit the ground running, something which Re-Work would really benefit from.

Interviews took place, and an offer was made. Feedback on both candidates was excellent and Juice felt that they had met the brief well, providing Re-Work with a strong selection of potential employees.

Caroline said ‘As a small, close knit team, it was really important we found the right fit for our culture, as well as having the correct level of skill, there were times when Juice were quite adamant, even though they had applicants, they weren’t quite right for us, and didn’t want to present them…. I love working with a company who care as much about our business as they do their own. It’s a complete breath of fresh air.

Debbie started with the team on Monday 21^st August 2023 and has so far settled in really with the business.

Jenna added ‘I would, without doubt, work with Juice again to help us recruit new staff. If you’re looking to recruit, and don’t have the time or resources to find the right person for your business, reach out to the team at Juice. Friendly, professional, and a “non-pushy” approach to recruitment. They want to get it right first time and put the graft in to do so!

Juice Personnel loved working with the team at Re-Work and look forward to becoming a recruitment partner to the business in the future.

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish Debbie all the best in her new role with them!