Watford based car benefit company, Tusker, takes pride in employee engagement and investing in young talent. We caught up with Tusker’s Head of HR, Neil Scott, to find out his experience of recruiting young people…

Do Tusker actively recruit young people?

“Yes. We have an average demographic of 35 years old and under. We encourage employees to refer friends and this year we also introduced an entry level admin role that was positioned as a role with progression to help someone get their career started.”

What do you see as the benefits to recruiting young people?

“There are a number of benefits to recruiting young people – they are often very keen to learn and are driven to achieve their goals. As an organisation where we use a great deal of new technology, younger team members often find this easier to pick up and use. We have built a few teams with young people and I wouldn’t hesitate to incorporate the right people, into our company – we recruit based on attitude rather than age.”

What’s your current retention rate and how do you maintain it?

“We have an 87% retention rate for employees. As soon as someone joins our team we buddy them up with a more experienced team member in order to ensure they have the right support. We have an inclusive office culture and make employee engagement a top priority with a full training and development programme. This is fairly unique as it’s an online gamified platform called Tuskerville which is hosted by our Academy and is based on making superheroes from our staff. It provides online learning and new team members are encouraged to make use of it in working hours when they are new starters and throughout their careers at Tusker.”

How long does it take for the business to see your new employees adding value?

“Each new person we recruit spends time with each department in the business in order to understand how each team works together and how we support our customers. An individual’s contribution to the organisation will depend on the role and the skills they bring with them to the role at the start, but can be as little as 3-6 months or as many as 12 months.”

What are your top tips for someone looking to create an entry level role?

• Make it realistic – don’t set the goals too high
• Give the role varied responsibilities through different departments
• Identify opportunities to progress and learn.

Does using an employee referral scheme to encourage recommendations for new recruits save the business money?

“Yes. We typically save 50% of recruitment costs by using referrals through existing employees rather than recruiting all new hires through agencies.”

In your experience, what do young people look for when job hunting?

• Young people I have interviewed have been interested in the culture of the business
• They want to know it’s a good place to work
• They like to know that there are opportunities to progress
• Importance is placed on a good social calendar outside of work with colleagues
• Salary, and the opportunities for this to progress as they develop is important.

What are the behaviour and attributes you look for to fit within the Tusker team?

“Individuals who are enthusiastic, engaged, who can illustrate competency in their role, and a willingness to work are all valued at Tusker. New recruits don’t necessarily have to be academic, as I said before, it’s more about attitude than anything else.”

Thanks Neil for supporting our work and sharing your insights into employing young people.

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