In a year that has seen it celebrate its tenth anniversary, ACS Recruitment put the icing firmly on the cake by picking up two titles in the Northamptonshire Logistics Awards.
After a year and a half of working hard for clients in the logistics and warehousing sector who were dealing with the demands of a country in lockdown, when the pressure on online retail reached pre-Christmas levels, the team were proud to be named winners of the Logistics Company of the Year Under 50 Employees.
The company’s work with TRACK nn, which supports autistic people to access employment through training, consultancy and creating opportunities, saw them also pick up the Diversity and Inclusion Award.
Alexandra Kurila, Sales Manager at ACS Recruitment, who helped bring the entries together, said:
“It’s been a crazy time in the logistics sector with demand for staff soaring when the pandemic hit, and remaining high even today. With vacancies at high levels, it has been a candidates’ market for some time and we’ve had to work hard for our clients to serve their needs and make sure they were getting the best people for the job.
“We’ve had to think outside the box and use all our experience to match the right people to right job and then help our clients retain good people once they find them. As a service provider, we are incredibly proud to have won the Company of the Year Award.”
One aspect of ACS Recruitment’s work that impressed the judges was the Supertemp or engagement lead scheme. The programme was devised by ACS to develop home-grown talent and recognises progressive talent within its candidate pool.
ACS Recruitment has teams on site with a number of its biggest clients, including John Lewis, URBN and Paperchase, headed up by an account manager and providing a complete on-site recruitment partnership.
Within each of its sites, ACS Recruitment identifies ‘key’ temps who are asked to support the account manager in day-to-day engagement. They are on the warehouse floor, doing the same job as their co-workers, whilst acting as a bridge between the temps and management. Their role includes helping new starters settle in, making sure they are happy and engaged, and taking any issues to the account manager in a situation where the temp worker might not feel comfortable doing so.
A number of Supertemps have seen this enhanced role leading to further development, into account manager and then on to regional management roles.
The work with TRACK nn and its Director Tom Cliffe has seen ACS Recruitment put processes in place to support young people with autism looking for employment. This involves not only preparing the candidate for the interview process and then settling into a role, but also helping potential employers understand the candidate’s strengths and different needs, and tailoring the interview and recruitment process so that it works well for both sides.
Alexandra Kurila added:
“We were put forward anonymously for the award in recognition of the work we have done with Tom over the past couple of years to place some of the young people who reach out to him, or visit his café, into permanent employment. We reached out to companies to make them aware of what TRACK nn does and where necessary, take both sides through the process so that when the candidate arrives, both parties know exactly what to expect.”
ACS Recruitment Sales Director, Chris Wright, said:
“To win two awards at the Northamptonshire Logistics Awards was a great achievement and is very much the icing on the cake of what has already been an amazing year for us.
“We faced the pandemic and all the unknowns that threw up, and we navigated our way through it successfully and did what we needed to do for our clients to make sure they could face the demands on them.
“You need to be able to diversify in this industry and we’ve done that, going beyond what was once normal and adapt quickly to new ways of working, and to have been recognised for the part we’ve played in all that is a massive boost for the whole team.”
To find out more about ACS Recruitment, call 01604 704058 or visit www.acsrecruitment.co.uk
