With many recruiters waiting to hear how they might contribute to government’s £2.9bn ReStart initiative to support unemployed people who lost jobs as a result of the Covid pandemic, Shoesmith said that such co-operation at the local level “doesn’t need framework arrangements. It just needs a clear understanding between each other – such as what happens where. DWP just need to enable that situation, and they need to empower Jobcentres to work with those local recruiters. And I know we’ve got members that are just ready to get on with it”.

Shoesmith was speaking with recruiter.co.uk about the seemingly slow start to ReStart. A key concern for Shoesmith and the REC is the role that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to play in the programme. Whilst large players have been identified as Tier 1 providers for the programme, Shoesmith said there is a wait for information about subcontracting bids which SMEs will want to tender for. “We want a very clear set of subcontracting arrangements,” she said.

“How do we make sure that SMEs’ voices are heard in this? Because there are so many good quality recruiters who are absolute experts in their local jobs market,” Shoesmith said. “They may have a particular professional specialism where they can add so much value.”

Much is made about the provision of CV-writing support for jobless candidates, however Shoesmith believes that “you can have a digital online platform that provides you with some really basic advice about how to construct a CV and what types of tasks you can do in order to put yourself in the best possible situation to find a job.

“But really and truly, people that are facing unemployment, they need as much bespoke advice as they possibly can get. Recruiters are the people that will sit there with a candidate and explore with them their CV, they’ll talk to them about their experiences…there has to be something that is far more bespoke, and it comes from conversations that recruiters will have with their candidates.

Shoesmith went on to say, “A work coach in a job centre has a very important role, to be able to support that individual with their benefit claims but they don’t have the skill set that recruiters do in order to help them with proper work-finding services, though.  To me, this is where the public and private partnership should be in its element.”

Shoesmith said that the REC is to meet with the DWP early in 2021 to pursue the top. “What they’re trying to do is,” she explained, “they’re obviously keen to have a system where they have a primary supplier, this is like the Tier One suppliers. And then they want to work out how they have subcontracting arrangements. And for us, that’s where we say, the SME recruiters have to come in and have to be given a fair chance to bid.”