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Press Release: Blue Octopus Nominated for 4 Prestigious Awards

October 26th, 2011 by Jamie Rock

For the second year running Otley based flat fee recruitment experts Blue Octopus have been named finalists in categories across the board in the RecruitRank Awards. The awards established by Jobsite six years ago, serve to recognise the recruitment organisations that have received the best candidate feedback over the course of the year.

Having scooped the prestigious “Most Improved Recruiter” award in the Low Volume Jobsite User class last year, the company are now in contention for 4 out of the 5 awards in the High Volume Jobsite User class. This step up from low to high volume user classification demonstrates just how much Blue Octopus have grown over the past year and Director Chris Coleman is over the moon with the organisation’s nominations:

It’s been an incredible first couple of years that we’ve had here at Blue Octopus and to be finalists for the 2nd year running is a great reward for the team’s hard work and effort. Our goal has always been to be a leading recruitment service provider, not only for clients but also candidates too – and being named finalists again shows that our candidates value the service we provide. Let’s hope we can come away with another Winner’s trophy like we did in our first year.

All finalists in the RecruitRank Awards have earned their position as a result of feedback provided by candidates who have used their service over the course of the year, and the fact that the awards reward those who have demonstrated value to the end user as opposed to relying on a panel of judges has resulted in the RecruitRank Awards developing a unique prestige in the industry. Keith Potts, CEO of Jobsite acknowledges the long hard journey to success in the awards in his congratulatory statement to Blue Octopus following their victory last year:

“With several thousand recruitment consultancies eligible for inclusion in the RecruitRank Awards every year, Blue Octopus stand-out as an example of providing exceptional customer service. There is a lot we can learn from the RecruitRank Award winners, who epitomise best practice in the area of customer service. Jobsite congratulates Blue Octopus on their accolade.”

In this year’s awards Blue Octopus have been named finalists in the following categories:

-          Best Candidate Communication: High volume Jobsite user

-          Best Understanding of Candidate Needs: High volume Jobsite user

-          Best Industry Knowledge: High volume Jobsite user

-          Best Recruiter: High volume Jobsite user

The winners of the 2011 RecruitRank Awards will be announced on 15th November.

Posted in Blue Octopus, News |

Press Release – Recruiting Support for Our Troops

June 7th, 2011 by Jamie Rock

sunshine challenge

Otley based online recruitment experts Blue Octopus are proud to have pledged their support and a hefty sponsorship endorsement to the ‘Sunshine Challenge’. The challenge, undertaken by active philanthropists ‘The Yorkshire Duo’ on behalf of the ABF Soldiers Charity will see the Duo – Andy North and Dave Edwards complete a gruelling 5 week trial travelling from Yorkshire to Gibraltar by foot, bike and kayak.

Consisting of 25 marathons, 1,250 miles of cycling and a 26 mile kayak adventure across the Channel, the Sunshine Challenge is set to be Andy and Dave’s biggest challenge yet. Their previous charitable venture the “Support our Troops Challenge” saw the pair travel from Lands End to John O’groats by foot and bicycle – raising £31,450 for the ABF Soldiers Charity in the process. This new mission looks set to push them to the very limit for a very worthy cause.

Blue Octopus Director Chris Coleman is a firm supporter of the ABF Soldiers Charity and heaped praise on the commitment and determination of The Yorkshire Duo:

“We’ve been really impressed by Andy and Dave’s enthusiasm and determination to raise vital income for the Soldiers Charity and are really pleased Blue Octopus Recruitment Limited are in a position to contribute and help move towards their target. We all know that our soldiers face extreme danger everyday whilst we’re in the familiar surroundings of our day to day work or home life however it then becomes a reality when we you learn the numbers of killed and injured soldiers keeps increasing as conflicts continue across the world. It’s an honour for Blue Octopus to support the Yorkshire Duo and the ABF Soldiers Charity and we hope others will join us in supporting what really is a fantastic challenge and we look forward to supporting the Yorkshire Duo/ABF Soldiers Charity in future challenges too.”

Blue Octopus actively encourage others to lend their support and donations to Andy and Dave and have added a link to the Duo’s Just Giving donations page to the http://www.blueoctopus.co.uk homepage in the hope that others will follow the company’s lead in pledging funds to this worthy cause.

Posted in Blue Octopus |

Press Release – Blue Octopus engages with Sleepmasters to cut hiring time

April 6th, 2011 by Jamie Rock

This wonderful article was published on The Recruiter website earlier today, we thought you might like to give it a read!:

Blue Octopus engages with Sleepmasters to cut hiring time

Sleepmasters, one of the UK’s largest bed retailers, has reduced its average vacancy length from over 50 days to 22 using the Engage Recruitment Technology from Blue Octopus.

Noel Jolly, head of HR at Sleepmasters, which is the first company to use the product, told Recruiter that the simplicity of the system and its self-sifting abilities are the two main reasons for the improvement. “We have a system that has reduced spend and crucially time spent on recruitment for our sales managers. A store manager who has never seen the system can be given enough information to use it effectively in 15 minutes over the phone,” he says. “This year is the first year of the last eight where we have entered our busiest trading period fully staffed.”

The retailer has 180 locations nationwide, including stores, a network of four distribution centres and headquarters in Accrington in the North-West of England, and all of these are integrated into the web-based e-recruitment platform. Jolly said the system has also proved invaluable in the visibility of recruitment activity and has enabled them to closely monitor line managers when they are involved in the process. “The system makes this easy because of the audit trail that clearly shows on each vacancy,” he said.

Jolly could not comment on the impact on recruitment spend yet but said the company is well “ahead of budget this year”, whereas last year it overspent.

The Engage family of e-recruitment systems has been developed by West Yorkshire-based Blue Octopus Software Solutions, a division of recruiter Blue Octopus Recruitment. All the software development work is done in-house by a team led by brothers Talvinder and Sandeep Nagra.

Blue Octopus itself specialises in flat-free recruitment advertising and candidate management services, and the Engage technology is based on a system it developed for its own use.

Chris Coleman, a former headhunter who founded the company with his brother Liam, said they decided to develop a version for clients after listening to clients’ frustrations about other systems.

“We took on board their comments of it needing to be really simple to use and easily rolled out to line managers. Every implementation is bespoke and can fit in with a client’s processes,” said Coleman, who has been involved in online recruitment for several years. “One element, for instance, takes into account a vacancy requisition process that has to take place first.”

Applicants apply online and are screened and managed through the system. As well as a filtering system, the features include a talent pool facility, which can help to reduce advertising and re-advertising costs. Candidates can register for alerts when a job becomes available at the company and be matched to particular roles according to their preferences.

Posted in Blue Octopus, News, Recruitment |

Engage: The Visionary all-seeing Recruitment System from Blue Octopus

March 9th, 2011 by Jamie Rock

Blue Octopus, the no nonsense flat fee recruitment company has developed a visionary recruitment system specially created and designed for its clients to have an all seeing instantaneous view of all recruitment activity.

Uniquely, Engage Recruitment Technology™, allows a total and instantly updated overview of all job applicants: which to pursue, which to discard and which to put on hold. And it doesn’t stop there, each candidate’s details can be quickly accessed and it is ingeniously simple to use so there is no down time or expensive training.

Each client of Blue Octopus can have a tailor-made system which ensures they get just what they need. The old, agonising process of filtering paper applications is now firmly in the dustbin. Applicants apply online, get screened in the first instance and are managed through the recruitment process via the innovative Engage Recruitment Technology™. There is an effective traffic light system which takes minutes to assess.

Blue Octopus Joint Founder and Director, Chris Coleman says: “We have developed our Engage Recruitment Technology over the last few months specifically based on what our clients have told us they need to run an efficient HR and recruitment department. We tailor each system to absolutely match their requirements to ensure they have a highly efficient and speedy solution.”

Already one of the UK’s largest bed retailers, Sleepmasters, has bought into Engage and now use it to maintain its 650 strong workforce for recruiting. It currently has over 150 stores and a network of 4 distribution centres in England, Wales and Ireland, with its HQ in Accrington, all of which will be integrated into their new recruitment system.

Noel Jolly, Head of HR, Sleepmasters, says: “Sleepmasters has used E-recruitment as its primary source of filling vacancies for the past 5 years. We have found it essential for a retail business like ours to effectively recruit at the speed and in the quantity we need to remain successful and a leader in our field. Although systems have developed dramatically recently, Blue Octopus has revolutionised the way we now operate. By simply listening to what we need, they built a system that perfectly fits like our business and is of immense benefit, providing the key to employment success.

He continues “Our key issues and pressures were taken extremely seriously by the Blue Octopus programming team, with speed, flexibility and simplicity taking priority. We have a system that has reduced spend and crucially the time spent on recruitment for our Sales Managers. 2011 is the first year of the last eight where we have entered our busiest trading period fully staffed. The team at Blue Octopus has played a truly significant part with its levels of commitment, professionalism and advice, second to none, and are proud to say that Blue Octopus is our recruitment partner.”

Blue Octopus Software Solutions, a division of Blue Octopus Recruitment Limited is run by Talvinder Nagra along with his brother Sandeep. It has developed Engage Recruitment Technology™ and maintains the internal sales and support systems within the Company and provides the design and implementation of integrated careers websites for clients.

For a free consultation on Blue Octopus’ Engage Recruitment Technology™ please contact Chris Coleman or Talvinder Nagra on 0845 671 1189 or use the Blue Octopus contact form.

Posted in News, Recruiters, Recruitment |