Find your next recruit in Bristol

With everyone back to school and summer holidays coming to an end, some businesses will be looking to step things up a gear in the run up to Christmas, which could involve recruiting new staff. If this sounds like your plan, you could find your next recruit waiting for you in Bristol.

LEGO® mechanics, chefs and business women, alongside doctors, builders and even a scientist will be lining the streets of Bristol from Wednesday 19 September hoping to be snapped up by an employer.

It’s all part of the ‘Find Your New Recruit’ campaign run by Skills West, a project delivered by Business West, to raise awareness of the skills gap affecting Bristol and surrounding West of England regions, whilst encouraging employers to think about how they can support the future workforce.

Skills West is hiding 30 LEGO® figures of various professions in a variety of famous locations across Bristol. Once found, the finder will be encouraged to take the ‘new recruit’ back to their place of work, take a selfie and tweet Business West (@bw_businesswest) with the hashtag #pledgeyoursupport. Every selfie will be entered into a prize draw to an experience day to learn a new skill of their choice. This could be a flying lesson, cookery lesson or even a photography course.

“The ‘Find Your New Recruit’ campaign is a bit of fun to highlight a serious issue,” explains Nicky Williams, Head of Skills West.

“We’re currently experiencing the lowest unemployment rate since 1975 which, whilst great in one way, intensifies the problems local businesses are having when it comes to finding skilled people to join their team. Our Business Skills and Training Survey revealed that 68% of businesses in the West of England found vacancies hard to fill due to a lack of applicants with relevant skills.  This campaign aims to emphasise this point and let businesses know how they can work with us to help ensure workers have the relevant skills they need in the future.

“Pledge your support refers to the promise of time or knowledge from a business via the Skills West programme”, Nicky explains. “It allows businesses to pledge an activity of their choice to support the future workforce and my team then match them up with an appropriate person or organisation to action this. Activities can include anything from taking on an apprentice, having a student for work experience, taking part in a careers fair or talking about your job role.

“Just as occurs with great candidates in the recruitment process, we’re not expecting the LEGO® figures to hang around for long”, says Nicky, “so if you’re keen to get involved and want to spread the word about how businesses can support the future workforce, keep your eyes peeled for your next employee around Bristol and don’t forget to send us your selfie!”

A full map of locations (plus terms and conditions) can be viewed on the Business West website.

For more information about this campaign, visit www.businesswest.co.uk/new-recruit.

Please note - LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this campaign.