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Market-leading procurement recruitment solutions
Sellick Partnership is a specialist procurement recruiter with an expert team of Consultants who offer a complete recruitment service on a permanent, contract and interim basis. Our Procurement recruitment team have a proven track record of developing long-standing relationships with our clients and candidates, offering trusted insights and solutions, bringing to market the very best procurement talent.
From entry level positions, to senior and board level appointments, we are happy to assist you with all of your recruitment needs on a permanent, contract and interim basis. Roles that we regularly recruit for include:
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With a particular focus on the public & not-for-profit sectors, we work in partnership with our clients and candidates to ensure everyone we work with receives the best level of service. To ensure this we have tailored our recruitment processes over the years to better suit the needs of the public & not-for-profit organisations we work with, ensuring that we provide our expert recruitment services at a transparent and compliant rate through approved supply chains. We supply to the public & not-for-profit sectors through the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Non-Medical, Non-Clinical Framework RM971 and the ESPO Strategic HR Services Framework 3S_18.
We listen to the needs of our clients and candidates and ensure we represent everyone we work with to the best of our abilities. We are always on hand to offer advice to organisations on how to handle their onboarding process and can provide invaluable resources on everything from the interview process to hiring a diverse and inclusive workforce. We also work closely with all of our candidates to ensure we find them a role suited to their expertise and requirements. We regularly assist candidates with CV writing and interview skills and are always happy to answer any questions they have and give feedback throughout the interview process.
Because of this approach and our expert knowledge of the sector, our expert procurement recruitment specialists are perfectly placed to attract both passive and active candidates, ensuring we represent the best procurement talent across the UK. We listen to the needs of both our clients and candidates to ensure we always place candidates that are the right fit culturally and professionally.
Whether you are a client looking to fill a vacancy in procurement or a candidate looking for a new challenge in this sector get in touch today to find out how we can help you.
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Procurement team
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Nikki Kinsey
Director
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Daniella Pye
Senior Manager
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Adam Burgess
Senior Consultant
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Liam Cox
Consultant
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Gemma Jordan
Office Manager
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Adam Rouse
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Sarah Childs
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Meet the Team
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Insights
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Digital skills checklist
In the modern workplace, digital skills are highly valued and in the future they will be absolutely vital. The digital age is expanding into all areas of our lives, and it is not just those who work in IT that will need to be aware of digital and technological advancements. Here we detail what we think are the top digital skills that will help you secure a role and progress within professional services. Social media: social media is one of the fastest growing digital tools available. From networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat there is an abundance of choice. For example, most business professionals should ensure they have a fully optimised LinkedIn profile as a minimum, but the likes of Facebook and Twitter are also great ways to improve your online personal brand. You can do this by regularly sharing and writing thought leadership articles and posts to showcase your knowledge of the sectors you work in and interact with your connections and followers. Sector specific technology: every sector within professional services will have technological and digital advancements that are specific to them. It would be beneficial therefore to research into your sector and find out what skills may be relevant to you. By having an understanding of these and an ability to showcase relevant skills you will make yourself a more employable candidate long-term. The Cloud: knowing how to choose, use and benefit from a Cloud service can save you from many future problems. Cloud software allows you to access information that is saved from anywhere, opening up the option to work from home and being a great way of promoting home working and creating a healthy work/life balance. Given that we create and use online content on a daily basis, from images and audio files to apps and personal details, backing it up in The Cloud is a skill you should (already) have. Microsoft Office: Microsoft’s Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint software programmes are essential processing tools for virtually any profession. Creating presentations and spreadsheets are skills that many employees will assume you already have, so knowing your way around these applications will save you time and effort and allow you to come across as a competent professional, no matter the field. Analytics: Analysing and reporting data will continue to be a skill that is sought after. Reporting on return on investment (ROI) and performance is a must in today’s digital world. If you are not already using analytics to measure your PR coverage, website performance and social media must be top of your list for 2018, and having an understanding of this will greatly benefit your job search. Creating and curating content: from creating infographics or spreadsheets to editing or cutting videos, online content creation covers a wide range of applications, and its benefits are huge. The ability to collect, assess and create meaningful and worthwhile content is expected to become even more important in the years to come. You should therefore be looking at ways you can harness this skill. Write blogs on topical events, share your work experiences and write about topics your networks will be interested in. By doing this you will greatly enhance your online brand and will promote yourself as a thought leader in your specialist area. Network and information security: with digital threats, viruses, spam and the new GDPR legislation this is more important than ever before. Network and information security skills are crucial for any business, and candidates with experience in this area may stand a better chance of being employed, especially for technical roles. A business may have its own network or outsource this to an external supplier. In either case, the need for those skills remain critical and intricate to the good functioning of all digital operations. Also, if you are dealing with personal data in your organisation you will need to know about and have some experience with The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that came into force in May this year. For more tips on how you can ensure you are ready for the digital world check out our handy candidate resources section using the link below. Alternatively you can get in touch with one of our expert consultants today to discuss your options by calling 0161 834 1642. Candidate resources
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Women in professional services
Professional services is a particularly demanding sector, and it is great to see that there is a wealth of senior females coming through the ranks. JMW, Hill Dickinson and Slater & Gordon (formerly Pannone) are just some examples of companies that have high percentages of women at the upper echelons of their sector. However, with equal numbers of men and women now entering professional services I do wonder why this number still remains in the low 20s. Research states that women now occupy just 26 percent of all FTSE100 boardroom positions, making little progress from 23.5 percent in March 2015. I believe this small increase has been steered by a rise in well-qualified female talent graduating from universities and the advancement of effective diversity programmes making roles more attractive to females in professional services. However, more needs to be done to ensure women have the same opportunities as their ale counterparts to progress as their male counterparts. I believe the problem lies in the retention and promotion of women, or lack of in many cases, and as a result organisations are losing some of their best talent. This in turn means that the majority of Boards, Partners and senior leaders in professional services companies remain overwhelmingly male, particularly in larger firms. This could be down to women not being as motivated to stay at an organisation or progress to senior positions in favour of a better work/life balance. One of the main reasons for this is that women are still generally perceived as the primary carer for children and new born babies despite the introduction of shared parental leave in 2014. It was recently reported by the BBC that as little as two percent of all men have taken advantage of the policy citing an understanding of what is on offer, cultural barriers and financial penalties as barriers and often deterring parents from sharing parental leave. Whatever the reason, it worries me that this is still the case as the promotion and retention of women should no longer be perceived as simply a social issue. Business leaders recognise there is a clear business case for tackling barriers to equality, with research estimating that better engagement of women greatly benefits the UK economy. It is therefore surprising that more women are not achieving their full potential. Recent studies have suggested that this may be down to a lack of confidence with many women questioning their own ability to reach senior management positions. This could be the reason why large numbers of talented female professionals are continuing to settle for non-executive positions, and we must work harder to ensure all female professionals have the confidence and support to achieve their full potential. In my opinion this has to be done as early as possible, and I would advise the government to look at universities to help promote female role models and increase confidence prior to starting their career. Last year UCAS reported that young women are a third more likely to go to university than men and this could be the perfect platform for encouraging and promoting women in business. If businesses and lecturers worked closely together to promote strong female role models and give students access to inspirational stories I believe we could instil more women with the confidence to achieve their full potential and help reduce the gender gap once and for all across all industries and sectors. Are you interested in finding out more about the role of women in business? Check out our insights section for blogs from Sellick Partnership staff including Managing Director Jo Sellick.
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The importance of having a dress code in the Professional Services workplace
The 2018 Golden Globes saw the nominees and attendees wearing all-black at the awards ceremony to protest against sexual harassment. The next day, the demonstration swept the headlines, highlighting how what you wear can make an impact beyond you looking great. Oprah Winfrey commented that the all black protest was a “powerful symbol of solidarity”. I found this event extremely interesting and made me examine the power clothes can have in business, and why dressing in business-wear for work can enhance your career. Last summer for the entire month of August, Sellick Partnership employees were permitted to attend work every day in ‘dress down’. It was as though we were on school holidays and could enjoy the novelty of not wearing our ‘uniforms’ every day. It was fascinating to hear different colleagues’ opinions on the dress down experiment. Whilst some commented that it was great for boosting morale, claiming it created a sense of relationship building amongst peers – some employees used it as an excuse to strike up conversation using what their colleague was wearing as a talking point. Others found it affected their mind set and attitude towards work. It is this psychological element of dressing in ‘business attire’ that has provoked me to explore the positive and negative impacts dressing down can have within the professional services workplace: It is one less decision to make in a morning We are already faced with hundreds of choices each day: from what to have for breakfast to which task on my to-do list should I do first. Every day – consciously or unconsciously – we have to make decisions. By eliminating the option to dress in “whatever you want” for work, we are effectively streamlining our day from the offset. Mind set and attitude It can be argued that dressing in business-wear increases productivity at work. Let’s say two employees turn up to work; one dresses in a tracksuit, the other in a suit. Whether or not we like to think of ourselves, studies show that around 80 percent of people evaluate other people’s appearance (survey by Allure.com). How you are dressed determines how you are addressed. The employee who dressed in the tracksuit on first glance can appear slack, whereas the employee who opted for the suit is likely to be perceived as having made an effort. From a mind-set perspective, studies show that the way we dress alters how we feel internally. In 2015, a study by Social Psychological and Personality Science asked participants to change into formal or casual clothing before taking cognitive tests. The results showed that those wearing the formal business attire increased abstract thinking (a crucial credential for creativity and decision-making). Making a statement The Golden Globes demonstration took the world by storm and so can you! The way you dress can increase feelings of power and authority, as demonstrated in the example above of the experience carried out by Social Psychological and Personality Science The “just in case…” scenario You never know when you will have to attend a spontaneous, unexpected meeting. Dressing smartly allows you to be prepared for anything the day throws at you. You are also more likely to feel confident in an important meeting with contacts you have not previously met if you are smartly presented in front of your clientele. The novelty of “dress down” Fridays The excitement of having a dress down day is removed when every day is dress down. Dress down days are a great way to boost morale. According to Love to Know, when people are dressed more casually – when workers across the entire workplace at all levels are wearing similar attire – they may be more likely to interact with people they wouldn't ordinarily feel comfortable approaching. It is easier to chat and share ideas with someone who is dressed similarly to you than with someone in more formal attire than you are wearing. This can lead to cultivating positive working relationships that will strengthen the overall team, and that's always a good thing for any business. You wouldn’t be in the best frame of mind to do a fitness class if you were wearing a tailored jacket. Likewise, many of my colleagues found that during last summer’s experiment, they felt psychologically more productive when wearing “traditional” business attire. In the words of Rachel Zoe, “style is a way of saying who you are without having to speak”. Dressing in business attire for work in a Professional Services office shows, in my opinion, a desire to be at work, and increases productivity and motivation amongst employees. To read more blogs from the team at Sellick Partnership check out the insights section of out website.
