ARV Solutions has been shortlisted for the Building Innovation Awards’ Best Recruitment Innovation, as they showcase a collaborative and innovative culture
The recruitment agency sector is too well known for a hard sell attitude, often with mixed quality levels, and a fiercely competitive culture within. Ever since ARV Solutions was established back in 2004, they have worked to change this. Call it idealistic, stubbornness, reluctance to follow the pack, or hopefully good business sense, Jim Roach has taken a more innovative path – with the aim of ADDING REAL VALUE in all that ARV do.
Key to this success was the new business model of working collaboratively across our team, not in competition. The staff works for each other’s success, promoting all areas of the business to its clients, not just their own specialism. This is promoted with a generous team-based bonus system that rewards for good and high performance.
Staff at ARV Solutions collaborate on visiting clients, bringing all relevant skills to meetings. They have developed close working teams and supportive leaders, (accredited with Investors in People Gold) culturally working very differently to many other agencies.
ARV Solutions staff spend the vast majority of their time in recruitment activities, rather than selling. This is the biggest change in how the industry works overall. Clients do not receive unwarranted cold calls from them. Rather, ARV builds awareness through all of its marketing and networking activities. Clients now largely come to them with their needs, and ARV works to agreed service level agreements, often exclusively.
Clients have trust in the people and services at ARV Solutions, meaning they are confident they no longer need to take the cold calls from others. The company has greatly facilitated the growth and development of many of the newer “disruptors” to the market, particularly in modular housing, by having unique access to, and understanding of available and suitable skills. The recruitment agency has introduced new skills to the offsite sector, recognising which will work well for the industry.
ARV Solutions actively work to draw in business as trusted advisors rather than traditional cold calling. The agency identified that it could hugely reduce selling activities that add no value, by developing a higher quality service, and marketing activities that add significant value to clients and candidates. This has resulted in consistently better results than others, in gaining repeat business, referral business, and client loyalty.
ARV consistently achieves 80-90% repeat business levels, whilst constantly developing new clients (who rapidly become repeat and ongoing clients). It has built and actively maintained an advanced searchable database of c75,000 candidates grown over 15 years, representing the largest collection of potential skills for offsite. This means clients can be assured of high-quality applicants, and gain time savings in the recruitment process largely cutting out lengthy advertising and streamlining selection processes.
Around 60% of placements come from ARV’s database and other unique sources (the website, referrals and social media particularly). Costs are reduced by agreeing to service level agreements and preferred status with clients, who would otherwise negotiate multiple arrangements with different agencies of differing skills. The high levels of success reduce the time (and therefore cost) of unfilled vacancies. The agency constantly works with clients educating them on the needs of a robust, yet rapid recruitment process to reduce dropout rates and gain candidate commitment.
ARV Solutions is acknowledged as the clear market leaders as recruiters to the offsite construction industry; a sector which is growing and developing at pace, and needs skills that cross over between construction and manufacturing, with a good understanding of each. Its founder Jim Roach recognised this back in 2004, and with his prior experience in senior roles recruiting both in construction and manufacturing developed the business to be the market-leading position it holds today. He also realised other recruitment agencies whilst skilled in one or other sector, didn’t have experience of both and didn’t understand the key crossover between the two. ARV’s involvement has led them to become active members of industry trade bodies, and supporters and exhibitors at many industry events and awards, as well as publishers of the widely regarded offsite sector salary guide.
ARV Solutions continues to innovate and have been rolling out its range of added value consultancy services relating to: succession planning, salary benchmarking, staff retention and reward, interviewer skills development, competency-based interviews, outplacement and more.
ARV Solutions
