Oxfordshire enjoys a rich variety of high-tech industry, which helps to attract and maintain a highly-skilled workforce. This benefits local employers by ensuring a rich and vibrant pool of potential employees, but similarly has its drawbacks, most notably a relatively competitive and potentially mobile workforce.

As a result, innovative and expanding companies need to ensure they devote time and resources to recruiting for future growth, while also ensuring existing staff remain suitably challenged and are provided with ongoing professional development.

At Tessella we provide software development and support services to clients including global and UK blue-chip companies, national governments, academic institutions and the UK public sector. We employ more than 170 staff.

Being a services rather than a product-based company, our main asset is our workforce. All technical staff are graduates from a scientific or numerate background, with many having further academic qualifications and research experience.

We devote much attention to ensuring they are well supported, enjoy excellent career progression opportunities and are provided with the best training.

We are fortunate to enjoy a relatively low attrition rate, with many staff taking opportunities to progress through the company to roles with increasing responsibility.

This, together with the demands of our ambitious growth plans, means we need to maintain a continual programme of recruiting significant numbers of excellent quality staff, a fair percentage of whom will ideally be in the early stages of their careers.

We find one of the best ways to attract these candidates is by building relationships with local universities.

University careers departments usually have programmes of events including careers fairs, mechanisms for advertising current and future vacancies, as well as a wealth of other services to help both students and recruiters.

Attending careers fairs and events not only allows Tessella the opportunity to meet with students from that specific university, but they often attract students from other establishments seeking career opportunities in the Oxford area.

We find advertising in graduate directories, both local and national, helps maintain a continued presence.

Tessella has also developed links within specific academic departments, which has proved to be fruitful in enabling students with directly relevant experience and expertise to be made aware of our career opportunities.

However, currently the company's biggest challenge is its ability to attract sufficient numbers of appropriate high-calibre applicants.

The business climate seems particularly buoyant at present and we are, at times, struggling to recruit fast enough.

Many people are looking for a good balance between work and home life, so seeking a career in a specific locality is often critical.

It is here that Tessella finds advertising in the local press to be particularly useful.

As a company, we tend to recruit directly, rather than through agencies, but again, there are times when local recruitment agencies have been very successful in helping us to fill some of our less usual vacancies.

It is critical employers recognise the need to respond efficiently and effectively to applicants' enquiries throughout the recruitment process, to help combat the challenges associated with recruiting in a competitive and mobile labour market.

Ensuring all applicants are kept well informed of their progress through the selection process and that decisions following an interview are both made and communicated swiftly, are of great importance.

Significant time and resource needs to be devoted to the recruitment process by both employer and potential applicant.

To ensure confidence in achieving the right outcome for all, there needs to be an excellent mutual fit between the business needs of the company and the desires and expectations of the potential employee.

This needs to incorporate not only a match in skills and expertise, but also a fit with company culture, working practices and future career expectations.

My advice to potential recruits would be to ensure you have adequate exposure to the usual working environment and, ideally, an opportunity to meet or speak with a range of employees, within the company.

If not possible during the formal selection or interview process, the chance for a further informal visit following a job offer could be extremely beneficial in ensuring a strong long term partnership.

Contact: www.tessella.com This page is compiled by The Oxford Trust. www.oxtrust.org.uk