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At the end of November, the RideTandem In-house recruiter (individual) award will be up for grabs at the IHR Awards 2022, one of the individuals shortlisted is Alex Jeyes, Resourcing manager at West Northamptonshire Council.
Speaking on being nominated for this prestigious IHR award, Alex says “It was very flattering to be shortlisted for the RideTandem individual in-house recruiter award."
"The Director for HR at West Northants Council told me she’d like to nominate me, and also the Resourcing Team for awards, which was a lovely surprise! When you are so immersed in setting up a new resourcing team, you’re not really thinking about how your efforts are necessarily being perceived within the organisation."
Alex was “thrilled” that the rest of the team at West Northamptonshire Council were also nominated for the IHR’s Newcomer (team) award, so it could be a great night for the East Midlands-based team.
“I was also thrilled to bits for the two Resourcing Advisors in my team, Martin and Jacob because they joined me five months ago and it's been lovely to have them with me on the journey of growing the service we offer to West Northants Council and to be a finalist as well.”
Speaking on why she thinks she may have been nominated for the award by her team, Alex says, “I think the Director for HR suggested nominating us for the awards because there has been a lot of energy and hard work around creating a recruitment strategy and developing a recruitment function for the council, which has just under 3000 employees currently. When I joined West Northamptonshire Council back in September last year, they had only been operating as a new local authority since April that year, so everything was brand new, so there was literally nothing in the way of a recruitment strategy yet."
“It was a very complex situation because we weren't just a new organisation, but West Northants Council was created as the result of three other local authorities merging. So not only was it starting everything from scratch with a clean slate but also bringing each organisation’s people, policies, procedures, cultures and structures together at the same time. It was a really unique situation and exciting to be part of!”
“There were some noticeable differences quite quickly, which was really nice to be able to make, and we now have a new applicant tracking system, a new employer brand, processes in place and we’re getting West Northants Council out there as an employer of choice in the local community.”
Winning this award would be the cherry on the cake for Alex after years of doing her best to help organisations to recruit in what has been a “very tricky time”, working in various “challenging recruitment landscapes”.
Based on Alex’s passion and experience of helping people, her advice for other in-house recruiters would be “Find out what motivates you, because I think when you work in recruitment, you have to have a real affinity for the company that you work for. Because otherwise, I just don't see how you can promote your organisation to prospective employees, you need to be genuine and authentic.”
“Starting out in recruitment, I knew that what motivated me was making a difference to people’s wellbeing, I knew that I wanted to work for an organisation that did that, so I’ve worked in healthcare, social care and now councils."
"What I love about working for a council is the diversity of role we have; there are so many people working in unseen roles, in the background, providing services and making decisions that affect people in the community – from providing or organising care for vulnerable people, to ensuring our public areas are safe. Councils are there for people in their communities from the cradle - for example registrars, to the grave – with coroners, and everything in between."
Alex also emphasises the importance of keeping the personal relationships with the people you interact with: “Human beings are not products, they're not items to be moved from one place to another. They're real people with real lives. And when you work in recruitment, you have a very big impact on people's lives, both those employed by your organisation and those your organisation supports or provides a service to".
The IHR team were also complimented, being labelled as “fantastic” by Alex for their resources.
“IHR are a really great community and they're a huge support to in-house recruiters”.
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You can find out more about the In-House Recruitment group and West Northamptonshire Council via the links below.
West Northamptonshire Council: https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/
In-House Recruitment: www.inhouserecruitment.co.uk
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