Author Archive for: Benchmark

Sixth Form student Sam Powell shares an invaluable insight into the world of work experience during his time at Benchmark HQ: For every teen Work Experience (W.E.) is a daunting beast, existing only to spoil ones blissful holidays. Combined with parents constantly nagging about the benefits and bonuses makes it only less appealing. There are of course the unlucky ones

Benchmark Futures is working with partnership with Sheffield College to host an Apprenticeship Hub to inform young people of the benefits of an Apprenticeship. The unique session will present over 25 office based apprenticeship opportunities with interactive tasks designed to unlock people’s potential and help them clarify which roles are right for them to pursue For parents looking to guide

Do you have an office dog or pet that you think has the cute-factor to feature in our Benchmark 2018 Calendar? We’ve met some gorgeous pooches and pets out and about in Sheffield offices and know that there are more hiding out there. If you think your office pet warrants a place in our ‘Office Pet Pin Up’ 2018 calendar

On a cold November night our quiz go-ers certainly bought their ‘A game’ to the BM Big Fat Charity Quiz this week – our second annual charity quiz. It’s hard to out-quiz so many Sheffielders, and our business friends showed off their knowledge of the city and 2017. There were some challenging questions in there, and for those that were

The quarterly CDI (Creative, Digital and IT) Café event is running its final session on Thursday, 14th September focusing on the last stage in the candidate lifecycle, managing employee departures. The ‘Exiting Gracefully and Disgracefully’ session will be led by Benchmark Managing Director, Louisa Harrison-Walker, and Jay Bhayani from Bhayani HR and Employment Law; they will share advice on handling

Benchmark’s founder Louisa Harrison-Walker is celebrating after being shortlisted in the Forward Ladies National Awards 2017 in the SME Emerging Category. Louisa is the Managing Director of recruitment agency Benchmark which is in its 11th year of trading.  She is also the first female to chair Sheffield Chamber Council, Chair of the Common Purpose Advisory board for Yorkshire, plus trustee

Everyone enjoys a visitor in the office every now and again, but it’s a bonus when the visitor has 4 legs and barks. On Tuesday 18th July Benchmark had a visit from Luna a lovely Border Collie and her owner Wendy. Luna and Wendy were also joined by Danny from Support Dogs UK. As much as the team enjoyed cuddles

A major new campaign is being launched by the Sheffield City Region (SCR) to ask job hunters what they honestly think about the region’s employers. Turning the usual approach on its head, people across the region looking for work, or for another job, will be asked to describe when they’ve had a bad interview, or think they’ve been asked unfair

Caption (LtoR): Amelie De Candolle (Creative Consultant at Benchmark), Matt Ingram-Smith (IT & Digital Consultant at Benchmark), Jack Underwood (Code Make Win Overall Winner) and Robert Walker European and Strategic Project Manager at Sheffield City Council. Our IT & Digital consultant Matt Ingram-Smith this week (Tuesday, 4th July)  mixed with the  bright sparks of the city at the Sheffield Digifest

Benchmark Team Leader Rebecca Morris is smashing up the Benchmark record books by winning consultant of the month three times already in 2017. She certainly knows how to ‘lead by example’ as  she also recently went on an all expenses paid trip courtesy of Benchmark to Vienna to mark her winning Consultant of the year in 2016 – the third

Say Bonjour to our latest recruit Amelie De Candolle who is Parisian born.  Amelie has joined Benchmark HQ as a Consultant managing creative roles specifically working with clients seeking marketing and design candidates. Amelie has hit the ground running as she joins Benchmark with three years recruiting experience, and is already assisting candidates in their job search – plus she’s

Our Office Administrator Cortney Oneal was this week recognised for her professional and personal achievements with a Special Commendation Award at the North Midlands South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards. Cortney was shortlisted for the Sheffield Apprentice of the Year award and came second with a Special Commendation Award for her commitment and dedication to her role. “As an employer I was

Our Office Administrator Cortney Oneal is on tenterhooks in anticipation of  Tuesday’s North Midlands and South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards, when she will find out whether she is Sheffield’s Apprentice of the Year.  Cortney has been shortlisted for the awards and will go up against other high achievers of the city. Whatever the outcome we are so proud of Cortney who

Yes you read it right; we recently traded our office wear for active wear with grippy socks to bounce our way through our business brainstorm. We jumped out of bed with an extra skip in our step one fine Wednesday morning as we were spending the morning at JUMP INC.  As you would expect we had the best time and

5 minutes to tell Sheffield City Region about the gaps  As employers everywhere worry about finding skilled staff, a ground-breaking initiative by the Sheffield City Region (SCR) is being launched today (Thursday 27th April)  to find out exactly what business needs. In one of the most in-depth surveys into skills gaps and hard-to-fill vacancies, hundreds of business leaders across the

Is your company engaged with the Sheffield Fair City Employer Charter? Is the charter on your radar, and do you know which businesses in the city are already signed up? The Fair City Employer Charter is happening, and it’s happening in your city, and now is an opportune time to get behind it.  Businesses across Sheffield are championing fairness and

They say good things come in threes, well March has got off to a great start with three Benchmark employees all celebrating achievements.  Here we pay tribute to the hard work of Cortney Oneal, James Holding and Lucy Sibbald – each has their own story to tell….. First up there’s Cortney our receptionist and administrator who after just 10 months

Benchmark is all geared up to support Kelham Island Cyclo Cross (KICX) by sponsoring the new cycling event.  Due to take place on 6th May, this inspired race is a celebration of the industrial heritage of the steel city and combined with the passion for cycling from so many of Sheffield’s inhabitants.   The cyclo cross circuit will weave its

Benchmark has signed up to sponsor the Code>Make>Win awards for 2017 after their heads were turned by the hot bed of young talent at last year’s Code>Make>Win awards. This year young people will be invited to showcase their innovative ideas through Sheffield’s annual digital making competition, Code>Make>Win. Run by Sheffield City Council, the competition is open for entries in four

Senior Consultant Ellis Ridge has headed off to start a new chapter after four incredible years at Benchmark.  Ellis rose through the Benchmark ranks starting out as an apprentice at the age of 18 and finished her time here as a fully fledged consultant. “ Ellis’ success at Benchmark is testament to her determination and commitment, plus a result of

The CDI Café team are all geared up for the second event on Thursday, 16th February at the Showroom Bar.  After the success of the first event in November 2016 Benchmark and Bhayani Law will  cover the second stage of the employee life cycle – Managing, Motivating or Moving On. The workshop based event is designed for Decision Makers of

Benchmark has taken the privileged position as one of Connect Yorkshire’s partners for 2017-18. This unique business group acts to support and develop talent across the region to help companies grow. Connect Yorkshire taps into a wealth of expertise from the most successful entrepreneurs in Yorkshire to deliver a programme of monthly sessions focused on key business areas of development.

Benchmark polled candidates and clients of South Yorkshire to uncover what really happens at the Christmas works party.   Business leaders will be relieved to discover 73% of respondents enjoy the Christmas do and only 27% would rather be at home. Of largest concern is that half of people questioned admitted to revealing company secrets, and half regretted it.  It transpires

The work Christmas do is a highlight in the Christmas calendar but often the frivolities of one night can have a hangover that is more than just the alcohol. We thought it was about time we unveiled the fact and fiction when it comes to Christmas parties – can people hold back when it comes to sharing company secrets and

According the research from leading job board, CV Library Sheffield is the place to be as in November it had the largest job growth in the UK. The steel city led the way with a 28.5% growth in vacancies, closely followed by Southampton (23.1%). Louisa Harrison-Walker, Managing Director at Benchmark commented: “These latest statistics further cement our city’s status as