Posted January 14th, 2021 in Spotlight On..., Talent Solutions

Who are Talent Engagement?

Talent Engagement are a key part of our Reed Talent Solutions (RTS) business, based out of our offices in Bristol.

We spoke to James Thomas, Onboarding Team Manager, and members of his team to find out more about what they do, what they enjoy and advice to anyone thinking of a career with the team in the future.

What does the Talent Engagement Team do?

“The Talent Engagement Team is responsible for the registering,
onboarding, payrolling, management and offboarding of Professional Contractors, who have been directly sourced by large global private corporations and public sector clients.

“The team, in conjunction with our screening division, will help to administer and facilitate a variety of different vetting and compliance requirements. The team also manage complex tax, invoice and payroll queries across all payment methods including: PAYE, Umbrella PSC and Deemed.”

James Thomas, Onboarding Team Manager

James thomas - Talent engagement team manager - bristol RTS

Talent Engagement Team on a teams chat online in December 2020 — Talent Engagement Co-Members on a Teams call together Dec 2020.

What we look for when hiring

To be successful in the role, James believes that you need to enjoy being “process driven, use multiple systems, and be confident and articulate with written and verbal communication… We are working with some of the most senior people within industry so there has to be a strong customer focused work ethic and pride taken in our work.”

While most of our Onboarding Specialists have either a degree and/or experience of working within a customer service, compliance or audit setting, applicants from all backgrounds are welcomed, as the most important part of success is mindset.

All Bristol Vacancies

Top Tips from the Team

Each member of the team has a unique professional and/or educational background, creating a diverse team full of individual strengths and ideas that contribute to the team’s impressive output and growth.

> Swipe/scroll to meet more of our Co-Members on the Talent Engagement, and wider RTS teams.

> Tap/hover over each colleague to find out their backgrounds, favourite aspects of the job, and advice for anyone thinking of joining the team.

Harrison

Talent Onboarding Specialist

Harrison's Story

Prior to joining REED I was a complaints handler.

In my Talent Engagement role at REED I am responsible for coordinating the onboarding process for client-supplied candidates. I really enjoy updating and reviewing processes. I hope to move into a Team Leader role in the near future.

Anyone joining the team will have the chance to improve processes and shape the way we operate. Workloads and standards are high so you need to be someone who can pick things up quickly and put a shift in.

Shanice

Talent Onboarding Specialist

Shanice's Story

Prior to this role I was an Office Assistant.

My role involves the day-to-day onboarding of contractors who are going into roles in our clients’ banks and making sure that they are compliant to do so.

I love working together with my fantastic team and building rapport with our contractors.

To be successful in Talent Engagement you need to be motivated, have a good sense of humour, and the ability to work under pressure as things can change quite quickly around here!

Cassie

Talent Onboarding Specialist

Cassie's Story

Before taking on this role I was an Apprentice Recruitment Consultant.

I enjoy talking to the contractors and seeing the start to end process of compliance for a candidate being completed. It helps having a great team to work with too.

I would like to work my way up to Team Leader and eventually be a Manager as I love working with people.

Josh

Talent Acquisition Specialist

Josh's Story

I joined REED on the Graduate Training Scheme and have been here 3 years.

When I joined Talent Engagement I was given exposure to working with senior contractors, which has helped me progress within my career as I am now recruiting for senior roles within an investment bank.

Working in the team gave me an excellent platform for me to engage with stakeholders across the business, work with very supportive managers that helped me in my first role post-graduation, and gave me opportunities that spanned beyond my immediate team at REED.

Olivia

Talent Onboarding Specialist

Olivia's Story

I started with REED three years ago on the Graduate Training Scheme, and have held a few roles in Reed Talent Solutions.

As a Talent Delivery Specialist I have to work to tight SLAs (Service-Level Agreements) to ensure a consistently high standard of service to our clients.

The role is different every day, which I love, and it often involves working autonomously to improve processes before implementing these changes throughout the team.

Being organised and able to think on your feet is important!

Melanie

Talent Onboarding Specialist

Mel's Story

To be successful in Talent Engagement you need to have: attention to detail, focus, strong IT capabilities (including Teams and Excel), and excellent customer service skills.

An understanding of payment types would be an advantage too, such as the differences between PAYE, PSC and Umbrella.

At times you need to be thick skinned and confident to handle the professional contractors appropriately. Some of the contractors are on several thousand pounds per day and require a ‘white glove’ service.

Opportunity for Growth

“We are one of the fastest growing teams in REED – for anyone joining us there will be opportunities to grow, gain a more senior status or become a Team Leader.

“Beyond that, we have had team members move into delivery or sales consultancy positions too, and even the wider REED network. We sit as part of a large multi-purpose office in Bristol, so there are opportunities abound.”

“As a manager, I really like people to be able to flex their muscular braincells and play to their strengths. Our team is all about encouraging development opportunities. If someone can demonstrate good knowledge or passion for something outside of the day to day job role, we can explore how that might fit in to our continuous improvement programme.

“It’s not just about turning the wheel but looking at value ads. Because we are relatively new, the team are always coming up with ideas or better ways to improve our solution offering… I’m all for that!”

“We are one of the fastest growing teams in REED…”

At the time of writing all Talent Engagement team vacancies have been filled. Please make sure to regularly check our full job list for any suitable positions, and/or make sure to connect with James Thomas on LinkedIN.

All Bristol Vacancies

Your New Career Starts Here...

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Spotlight On… Talent Engagement

Who are Talent Engagement?

What does the Talent Engagement Team do?

What we look for when hiring

Top Tips from the Team

Harrison

Harrison's Story

Shanice

Shanice's Story

Cassie

Cassie's Story

Josh

Josh's Story

Olivia

Olivia's Story

Melanie

Mel's Story

Opportunity for Growth

“We are one of the fastest growing teams in REED…”

Your New Career Starts Here...