aspire - graduate trainee scheme brochure

| achieving more together www.weareaspire.com

Work With Us Graduate Trainee Scheme

Welcome to AspireOur vision is to be a global network of leading specialist recruiters


Introduction from the Chairman“Only when all parties are truly committed do you get the best result”

This sums up what we call ‘More Together’ the words that define

our values as an organisation and if you join us you will have

demonstrated these during the selection process and expand

them further as you develop your career with us.

We are part of a sector that generates over £130b per year

globally and without the recruitment industry many economies

across the world would falter.

Aspire’s vision is to be a ‘global network of leading specialist

recruiters’. Initially established as Phee Farrer Jones in 1992

we rebranded to Aspire in May 2014, joining together our

five brands PFJ, The Graduate Recruitment Company, Periscope, RPCushing and Aspire Global

Network Asia.

We now employ over 100 people in three offices across two continents, Europe and Asia.

We have work environments that reflects the markets we serve, strong brands, a state of the art

CRM and some of the best training and development programmes you can find.

As always, we are only as good as our people which is why we focus on recruiting and selecting

the best possible talent and to provide a genuine career path. What sets us apart from the crowd

is our bespoke career development programme - Aspire. So good we named the company after it!

Whatever your role, you can develop your career according to your ambition, skills and

competencies. As a result in the UK we hold the Investors in People Gold Award.

We are a Sunday Times Best 100 Company to Work For, are accredited with the international

quality standard ISO 9001 and are winners of multiple recruitment awards and are Agency of the

Year.

We have a lot of flexibility towards work and also try and make sure that it is not all about

recruitment which is why we make sure there are regular events that enable our people to

socialise out of the office.

But it’s not all about us, we donate £12,000 a year to Charity and many of our people are

supported running, swimming, climbing and even baking for charity.

In a crowded market I believe we have something genuinely special and different to offer.

Paul Farrer, Chairman, Aspire


About AspireAspire specialises in recruiting for the media & marketing communications industry.

We draw on heritage and experience spanning more than two decades and recruit a wide range of roles and disciplines from graduate entry to Director level. Our clients include marketing services agencies, media owners, not for profit, client side and corporate organisations seeking media and marketing communications talent. The scope of disciplines we specialise in ranges from sales to content, technology to design, marketing to research and many others.

Established since 1992 and previously trading as a number of specialist recruitment brands – pfj (Phee Farrer Jones), The Graduate Recruitment Company, RP Cushing, Periscope and Aspire Global Network Asia – we unified in 2014 under one brand: Aspire.

• We have been involved in media recruitment since 1992

• We have been involved in graduate recruitment since 1993

• We have been involved in creative and design recruitment since 1998

• We have been involved in digital recruitment since 1999

• We have been involved in market research recruitment since 2000

• We have been operating in Manchester and North West since 2001

• We have been operating in Asia since 2011

We employ around 100 people based in four locations; London, Manchester, Singapore & Hong Kong and are therefore able to satisfy the needs of our clients and aspirations of our candidates and our people both locally and on an international level.

We are a ‘high touch’ recruitment business meeting and interviewing over 11,100 candidates a year of which 64% come to us via our own sources and channels enabling a unique supply of talent.Over the last 22 years we have established a clean and coded database of over 175,000 specialist media and marketing communications related candidates. Our clients brief us on over 5,000 permanent job opportunities a year and we boast a 96% success rate of placing the right people in the right job.

We have over 180 specialist interim candidates working for our clients every day.

We are a Sunday Times Top 100 Company to Work For, an Investors in People Gold Award Company and ISO 9001 Accredited Company – we are Aspire.

Graduate Trainee SchemeAspire has held the Investors in People Award since 2000 and were awarded a Gold award in 2012. This is because we take our training and development extremely seriously. The more skilled our people, the better our performance. The better our development plans, the easier it is to retain talent.

Over the last 12 months all of our markets and teams have grown dramatically, so finding the right people to fulfil our clients and candidates requirements has become more challenging. As a successful and influential businesss we have decided to invest in up to 10 exceptional people who have decided that recruitment is their career choice and who want to work for one of the best recruitment agencies in the industry and learn to be the best.

So what does this mean?

Here at Aspire we have developed an accelerated development programme which focusses on the core skills necessary to develop inexperienced trainees into skilled Researchers and then onto being full 360 recruiters in a three month period.

We will have a blended approach combining workshops delivered by Directors in the business and external trainers; sessions with managers and at desk activities to fully embed the learning and develop the skills and behaviours you require.

The entire programme is centred on the following core principles:

• Practice makes permanent - what we practice is as important as the practice itself

• Purposeful practice requires regular review of both the inputs and outputs of the activity

• The real learning takes place in the doing

• To achieve mastery of a specific skill requires 10,000 hours purposeful practice

“There are clear strategies in place to ensure that staff across the organisation are equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours they require to deliver the organisation’s aims and objectives.”

“People believe that the company’s flexible approaches to learning anddevelopment has helped them individually and as a team as a whole.” IIP Gold Report


Achieving More Together

More Together is a set of values that drive how we work at Aspire.

Commitment at all these levels engenders better relationships with our clients, our staff and our candidates.

The 4 behaviours:

FlexibilityConsider the options, look for solutions, be adaptable and embrace change

AccountabilityDo what you say you will do. Be honest about what you can and can’t do. Take responsibility for your actions. Take a consultative approach

PerformanceSatisfy the needs of your customers, work to a fast pace, be commercially aware of your decisions

CommunicationListen to and inform your stakeholders (clients, candidates and colleagues)


Achieving More Together

Bonus Scheme - you won’t earn less than 30% guaranteed.As a recruitment consultant we know that money is important to you. With the help of our Non Executive Director John O’Sullivan and much benchmarking with fellow recruiters, we feel we have come up with a generous and regularly rewarding scheme.

In addition to this, the top biller each quarter receives an extra £500 bonus.

In the last year, Aspire has paid their employees £1.25 million in bonuses.

Aspire spends on average £7,500 in addition per head on benefits.

Our financial year runs from May 1st to April 30th.

Salaries range from £22,000 to £50,000 basic based on competency, proven previous billings and strong track records.

Monthly Bonus

Once you hit £7,200 you can calculate your bonus as follows:

Revenue Bonus Amount:

First £7,200 5% = £360 £7,201 - 15,500 10% = £830 £15,501 - 20,500 15% = £750 £20,501 - 25,500 20% = £1000 £25,001 + 25% = uncapped

Basically you earn the percentage in each band and then add it up. For example, if you invoiced £18,000 in a month the scheme would work as follows:

First £7,200 5% of 8,000 = £360 £7,201 - 15,500 10% of 7,500 + £830 £15,501 - 18,000 15% of 2,500 + £375 Total Bonus = £1,565

On top of this a 6 month reconciliation (in October) will offer a guaranteed remuneration of 30% OTE of your billings. A 12 month reconciliation will be applied in April which is also guaranteed.

My Reconciliation

We will guarantee you will not earn less than the following amounts:

NDR levels OTEUp to £140,000 30% £42,000 £140,001 - £150,000 31% £43,400 - £46,500£150,001 - £160,000 32% £48,000 - £51,200£160,001 - £220,000 33% £52,800 - £72,600 £220,001 - £249,999 34% £74,800 - £85,000 £250,000 - £279,999 35% £87,500 - £98,000 >£280,000 36% £100,800


BenefitsMobile phoneYou will benefit from a smart phone for work purposes.

Holiday leave (runs January to December)When you first join you have a minimum of 23.5 days (of which 3.5 days must be taken at Christ-mas as agreed in the business). After one year’s service this rises to 25 days and after 2 years it is increased to 28.5 days.

Holiday ExtravaganzaAchieve 130% or more of your revenue target for the month, you will gain an extra day’s holiday - potential for an extra 12 days holiday a year!

Flexible WorkingAspire offers all staff the chance to manage their own hours through flexible working. If you start at 8am you can finish at 5pm – or have a lie in, start at 9.30am and finish at 6.30pm. At Executive Consultant and Manager level there is the option to work some days from home.

Duvet daysYou can enjoy one duvet day per quarter, which will be taken from your holiday allowance.

SabbaticalsAfter 4 years’ service you will have the opportunity to take a career break for up to 3 months, at 50% pay.

Relaxed Dress Code Our sector is not a suited and booted environment so we have a dress code to match!

Travelcard loanOn passing your probation you’re entitled to an interest free loan to pay for an annual travel card, deducted from your pay in equal instalments.

Life Assurance4x base salary – entitled from the first day of employment.

Pension planEmployees will be automatically enrolled in the Aspire pension scheme after completing three months of employment. Aspire will contribute 2% of your basic salary and you will contribute 1%.

After 12 month’s service, your pension can increase to the following:

Job Grade Employee Contribution Aspire Contribution

Grade A 3% 3%

Grade B and C 5% 5%

Grade D and E 8% 8%

Private health cover

Grade A After 2 years Individual

Grade B After 12 months Individual

Grade C After passing probation Individual

Grade D and above After passing probation Individual and Family option


Benefits Free Flu JabsWe provide a free vaccination service every year for those who would like to protect themselves against flu.

Free Breakfast and FruitIn addition to our own café style kitchen where you have access to free hot and cold drinks all day, we also offer free breakfast (cereals & toast) and free fruit.

Voucher schemeIf you have children, Aspire is in partnership with the childcare voucher scheme - Edenred www.edenred.co.uk. This means that you can pay their childcare provision via a voucher scheme. Aspire gives an additional contribution to working parents by giving a pro rata contribution of up to £243 per child.

MassageEvery month you are entitled to a free monthly 20 minute back and shoulder massage in our offices.

Bike to Work schemeYou can purchase a bike tax and NI free. All you need to do is go to a cycle shop that is part of the scheme, choose your bike and helmet etc and then they will invoice Aspire. You will then repay the cost of the bike over 12 months with an interest free loan.

Healthshield Annual Cash back benefit scheme

Benefit Amount Annually

Dental £50

Optical £50

Physio, chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture, homeopathy

£150

Specialist consultation £200

Chiropody £50

Health and wellbeing £70

Health screening £100

Discounted Gym Membership Provided by LA Fitness at a discounted rate. You can hand pick one of the membership types to suit your needs and you also have the opportunity to try before you buy with one of our free gym passes.

Bonnie’s BootcampTaking place every week and instructed by our very own Executive Consultant Bonnie, a group of attendees are subjected to a challenging yet extremely rewarding one hour work out! And it’s free for anyone to attend.

ShowersFor those that cycle or run in or for any other reason we have showers available for all staff.

Book Club For those who already enjoy or want to get into the habit of reading, our Book Club meet on a monthly basis to discuss the hot topics of their latest chosen title.

Leah’s Good Vibe TribeThe free to attend sessions take place twice a month and are led by our very own Senior Manager Leah. They are designed to help attendees to relieve stress, make positive changes to behaviour, in-crease energy levels and much more! The sessions may include Emotional Freedom Technique; NLP Coaching; Hypnotherapy; Reiki and TFH Kinesiology – all of which Leah holds qualifications for.


Benefits

Ministry of Fun Our Ministry of Fun team ensures we are constantly entertained! We’ve enjoyed Brazilian themed parties, summer rounders, quiz nights and much more... there’s always something going on at Aspire!

Give as You Earn scheme This is brilliant for those that have a standing order or a direct debit to a charity. The scheme en-ables you to pay from your gross salary pre tax.

Boardroom BucksThis is the opportunity for anyone in the business to get an Aspire bursary towards something to do with your own personal growth. It is held twice a year – March and September and in a year there is £2,500 up for grabs.

Club Wembley Whatever the entertainment from sport to music, there are opportunities to attend in our own Club Wembley seats.

Prizes and AwardsWe have Quarterly Prizes for top biller, Monthly Cups, Millionaires Club and various incentives run-ning throughout the year.

Long Service AwardsWe reward staff members with long service awards. At 5 years of service you will receive £500 and at 10 years you will receive £1,000.

Millionaires Club All those that accumulate £1million in billings receive a special trophy!

Managers Club An annual all expenses paid night out for the best performing managers over target.

Club AspireIs open to all fee earners in all offices who achieve £200k or more in the 12 months to end of April 2016. In London, Club Aspire will depart on the evening of Thursday 9th June 2016 and fly to Bar-celona for the weekend. The main event will be on the Friday with the weekend at your leisure. Achievers’ ClubThis is a bi-Annual event taking place on 14th August 2015 and 19th February 2016. To be in the Achievers’ Club you need to be annualising at £140k or more on 31st July 2015 and/or 31st January 2016. Annualising is your total revenue for the 12 months up to those two trigger dates.


Wellbeing MonthsAspire takes an active interest in the Wellbeing of our employees – happy and healthy staff with a good work life balance are more productive.

As well as the monthly massage, Healthshield membership and free daily fruit for all of our employees, we also run quarterly Wellbeing months. This involves fresh fruit juice or smoothies for breakfast and healthy afternoon snacks provided.

We have an on site reflexologist for appointments, as well as a doctor for full health MOTs. Weather permitting, we also hold outdoor activities such as running club, rounders in the park and boot camp sessions.

80% of employees rated our last Wellbeing week as being either ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’.


Ministry of FunThe Ministry of Fun is Aspire’s social committee who organise regular company events for the whole company to enjoy.

Recent events that the Ministry of Fun have put on include our Brazilian themed company conference party, summer rounders in the park, high school prom themed annual company party and awards night Christmas party. The committee is changed on an annual basis so anyone that wishes to be can get involved!

High school prom themedcompany party

Brazilian themed company conference party

Awards Christmas party


“A clear learning and development strategy based around the ‘aspire’ performance management and development process; this process provides a clear and structured development plan for individuals.”

“People across the organisation talk very positively about their experiences of the ‘Aspire’ process and how it has helped to improve both their performance and develop their skills and knowledge.” IIP Gold Report


Your AspireAspire is a bespoke career progression programme, based on both performance and competency, in the form of six monthly appraisals.

Aspire shows you where you fit into the business and gives you clear objectives to progress your career here with us. Aspire will assist you with your personal development plan and it really gives you the choice of where your career goes.

At Aspire there are three paths to choose from, each enabling you to move up the career ladder. We invest heavily in our most committed staff to make this happen.

Aspire to consultAt Aspire we recognise that not all successful fee earners want to become managers but they do want to enhance their career. With the ‘Aspire to consult’ route you can move through the ranks as a successful biller to director level, developing your key account management skills.

Aspire to manageYou have been a successful biller and now you want to develop and nurture a team. Again at Aspire you can work towards becoming a director on this route.

Aspire to supportYou are in a support or functional role but are just as interested in progressing your career with us. With this route you can explore your options and again work towards becoming a director.

You will be given a full introduction to Aspire once you have passed your probation with us.

TrainingAspire has held the Investors in People Award since 2000 and were awarded a Gold award in 2012. We are also a Sunday Times Top 100 Best Small Company to work for, in recognition of our people centered culture and the importance we place in training and development.

The more skilled our people, the better our performance. The better our development plans, the easier it is to retain talent. All our management staff have been trained to train which enables us to deliver training across the business on a continuous basis as the demand arises. We also use external trainers for developing our skills in areas that are new to us. Recently, our external train-er Jackie Handy has provided our staff with NLP training and the Directors have led one-to-one coaching sessions with those who have requested it. We also offer our staff the option to take the APSCo RPS recruitment qualification which provides recognition for their recruitment knowledge.

Upon joining Aspire, you will be enrolled on a three month induction course where we will demon-strate to you the key skills to do the job. There is a lot to learn and it lays down the foundations for the future. After induction training you will receive ongoing training and development, delivered as and when requested. Needless to say, those that put the training into practice seem to do the best. All our training is evaluated by each delegate and the delegates are evaluated by the trainer. This way we can constantly improve the quality of the training we deliver.

Early on in your career with us you will be given a clear set of objectives to achieve in your initial three months. This enables you to keep track of your own progress and is used as a reference for discussion in your weekly one to one sessions with your line manager. Out of those meetings, training and development issues will be raised that we can then address. We also have regular morning meetings for each team, and company wide meetings on a Friday afternoon.

Consultants are also given the opportunity to develop themselves and can access further training modules on the intranet. We also hold optional Masterclass sessions, run by our own top consul-tants.

“My training was thorough and extremely detailed – at no point did I feel overwhelmed; the structure of the training enables you to really take everything in and it is so interactive that I felt completely comfortable along the way.”

Katie O’Brien


Testimonials

“I can’t recommend the Graduate Trainee Scheme highly enough. I first heard about it when applying for roles elsewhere through the graduate team - a career in recruitment hadn’t yet occurred to me. From my first meeting with a consultant, through interviewing, training and consequent progression to becoming a consultant myself, the genuine interest in investing in the company’s employees shone through. The other trainees were from varying backgrounds, from no experience to a couple of years, and the training was well tailored to suit all, with emphasis on both As-pire’s and our own feedback. If you’re considering recruitment I would say absolutely go for it – come join us!” Laura Franek

“I specialise in digital roles within the Graduate team and it is such a broad and varied role; no two days are the same! My team are a sociable bunch; I fitted in straight away and am thrilled by how much I have learnt and developed just within the first few months of the scheme.Juggling all of the different tasks in an extremely fast environment is an exciting challenge and one of the main reasons I love the job – the pace of the role!I am thankful that I joined Aspire on the Graduate Trainee Scheme, as I have found a brand new career path and I love every minute of it.” Katie O’Brien

“I was really impressed with the interview process here at Aspire. The initial meeting I had with Charlotte was a great introduction to the company as she was warm and personable but also detailed and thorough in her questioning. I felt that she really got to know me and understand my skillset and what I was looking for in my next role. Following this I was successful in gaining a second interview with two of the Directors in the company. I was required to do a presentation which gave me the opportuni-ty to research a sector that I was considering working within and was given some valuable and encouraging feedback. I also took part in a role play, which whilst challenging gave me a good insight into the expectations and way of working within Aspire. I couldn’t be happier with my decision to join the company and the processes they follow in securing the right people for Aspire.” Laura Perks


Testimonials

“I work within the Content Team; it’s a constantly evolving market which means that you can never stand still and no two days are the same! The training programme consisted of a mixture of classroom sessions and desk coaching, which, blended together, gave me all the necessary tools to hit the ground running. Aspire ensures that our personal and professional goals are con-stantly reviewed so that we work to our maximum level and get the most out of each and every day. The environment is fun, vibrant and the office itself is bright, colourful and situated in a great location in the West End.The company also looks after its staff and there are a host of benefits that Aspire employees receive, including free breakfast; discounted gym membership; flexible working; travelcard loan to name a few! To anyone thinking of joining Aspire, I couldn’t recommend the company highly enough!”

” Robbie Pringle

“The Graduate Trainee Scheme really enhanced my development as a consultant. I grew in confidence through the training provided and felt fully supported through my first few months at Aspire.” Katie Edwards

“What appealed to me about the Graduate Trainee Scheme is the training and support that Aspire invests into each employee. The training that I received has been invaluable, helping me to thoroughly understand the role and has really enabled me establish myself as a recruiter. I specialise in digital marketing; my team work with the top 20 network media and digital agencies and have established strong relationships with these clients. I enjoy the variety of the role, which means that every day is different and it keeps you on your toes. Plus the earning po-tential is really up to you, which you can’t really say for most jobs!” Daniela Mamica

Average 1st year earnings for a Graduate Trainee is £40,000 per annum



Corporate Social Responsibility

We are proud to give back.

Here at Aspire, we know we can achieve more when we work together. Not just for our clients and candidates – but for the communities in which we operate too. That’s why every single one of us is committed to reducing our impact on the environment and making sure we do our bit to support our communities around the globe. Here’s how:

EnvironmentWe’re passionate about reducing our impact on the environment. Day-to-day, we take active steps to improve our carbon footprint. For instance, all of our offices have recycling facilities to reduce waste, not to mention video conferencing equipment to minimise unnecessary travel. Wherever possible, our people are actively encouraged to take public transport. And our technology is set up to turn off at night.

CommunityIt gives us great pride to support a number of brilliant charities. Shooting Star Chase Hospice and Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research are causes that are close to our hearts, and an employee ran the London marathon to raise money for this fantastic establishment. We also hold bi-monthly bake off’s, have staffed their shops on a Saturday for their Apprentice Challenge event and do-nated items to sell. At Christmas time, we collect gifts for Barnardo’s children as well as delivering food packs to the homeless in conjunction with Feed the Homeless. But it’s not just special occasions that see us playing our part to raise money for good causes – we also take part in just about every charity day going, from Wear it Pink to Red Nose Day. And we have plenty of fun doing it!

Outside of the UK, we organise the payroll for the Village education project in Tanzania.


Our Recruitment ProcessThe recruitment process to join Aspire is as streamlined as we can make it when allowing for the element of thoroughness that career decisions deserve. After an initial conversation where you declare an interest in Aspire, you will be able to assess us and we can assess you in a 2-3 stage process. The first interview will be with HR. Your second interview will be with an Aspire manager and director and will include role plays and a Q&A.

We may then ask you to do some work shadowing or have drinks with the team.

Best of luck!

aspire - graduate trainee scheme brochure

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