Recruitment Assistant

Who are we? South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight. Join our team and help us continue to improve quality of life by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

SWR is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier. FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

About the job: An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Recruitment team that will be primarily focused on providing effective recruitment and selection solutions in accordance with the needs of an evolving and diverse business.

Main Purpose: The successful applicant will need to demonstrate a positive, proactive and adaptable approach to their work, possess the ability to manage and prioritise potentially competing stakeholder interests and have a passion for delivering service excellence to internal and external customers. You must be good at networking, a strong team player and have the ability to build and maintain rapport throughout the customer experience.

The role will encompass large scale vacancy and applicant management such as assisting in the running of talent attraction events, conducting candidate short-listing, running assessment centres, assisting others with interview processes and ensuring that effective candidate feedback is provided.

As a strong influential communicator you will also be required to respond to enquiries of varying complexity concerning terms and conditions of employment, generate all correspondence regarding offer and contractual paperwork, assist with any special projects and support the Recruitment team as necessary.

As a minimum, you will need to have:

• Experience of working in a fast paced and challenging environment.
• A flexible approach in ensuring business needs are met.
• Excellent time management, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Conscientious and attention to detail particularly in relation to producing formal documentation such as contracts of employment.
• Strong planning and time management skills with a proven ability to prioritise workload and meet strict deadlines.
• Strong teamwork skills are essential but also having the ability to work on own and use initiative.
• Confidence in appropriate IT packages including Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Familiarity with talent management systems or HR databases would be desirable but not essential.
• A willingness to learn new systems, skills and behaviours and to acquire job related formal qualifications as and when required.

Desirable:

• Qualified training in candidate recruitment, assessment or selection techniques would be an advantage (Level A).
• Previous experience of working in a recruitment environment is desirable but not essential.

Working pattern: Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days, office hours.

The Reward: In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits including free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employee, free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependant), 75% discount on many other train operating companies, a range of retail benefits and an excellent pension scheme.

We all belong at SWR. FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment. We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent. We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.