It's always very satisfying when people take the trouble to write about their positive experiences of working with us. Here are some recent employers who have been happy with what we've done.
Jak - National Health and Safety Manager - Foods
"Shirley Parsons Associates
With some agencies you avoid their calls. They are overly familiar and speculative in their approach. You know the sort; at the first sight of a company advert in the ‘trade press’ the phone starts ringing and the in box pinging and the offers of so called suitable but mostly unsuitable CV’s come rolling in. It doesn’t matter that you tell them about the company rules of engagement with agencies; they just persist and become a nuisance. Sound familiar?
During a long association with Shirley Parsons Associates I have found them to be the antithesis of this stereotype.
Friendly but not intrusive, they keep in touch but don’t pester. We have a long term relationship with a particular associate who understands the dynamics of our business, the nature of our health and safety programme and our particular recruitment process.
They only provide candidates who appear to fit our culture and expectations and react quickly and efficiently during the interviewing, feedback and negotiating phase. This enables us to secure and engage preferred candidates in a timely fashion. It makes for a decent experience for the candidate as well as the prospective employer. I am pleased to be able to recommend them."
Mark - HR Manager - Major Food Manufacturer
"We used Shirley Parsons Associates to recruit our new Health, Safety and Environment Director. Initially we approached a senior executive headhunter but eventually found that they had neither the specialist knowledge of health and safety nor the networks in the field that were required to source first class candidates at a senior level.
When Shirley Parsons came in to see us, they gave us instant confidence in their understanding of the field of Health and Safety and were able to demonstrate to us that they had an extensive network of senior-level Health and Safety professionals, which helped us to get to the right kind of candidates. Shirley Parsons took the time to listen to our needs and understand the unique culture of our business in order to tailor the search to meet our needs. Following the successful appointment of our Health, Safety and Environment Director, we have continued to work with SPA on a number of other health and safety recruitment assignments in our business."
Steve - Group Health and Safety Manager - Energy Company
“We recently employed the services of Shirley Parsons Associates to carry out a major recruitment of SHE professionals for us. In working with SPA throughout this process, the key items for me that make them stand out from other agencies I have dealt with are:
- Base knowledge of profession and key aspects of the roles;
- Understanding the current HR and SHE culture of business – crucial is to understand the world the client SHE professional lives in;
- Scoping – taking the time and effort to clearly understand the client needs, through personal engagement with the key stakeholders;
- Candidate selection – great care was taken to clearly align candidate skills and experience to roles. To that end, SPA were clear in saying on occasion “this candidate is not a good fit for you or this role”, as well as “this one is”;
- Communications – close contact, when needed at different stages of the process
- Learning – review of what works on successful appointment and when we fail, why did this happen;
- It’s a journey – one piece of work is only the start – when you grow a longer-term relationship you get a much better understanding of needs. SPA values and exhibits this for me”.
Colin - Group HR Manager - Property and Asset Management Company
"We used Shirley Parsons Associates in the recruitment of a Group Head of HSEQ for our Group. We were very pleased with the service we received from SPA. From our initial contact with SPA they were keen to learn more about our business and took time to scope out the role through a series of telephone calls and meetings. The whole recruitment process was dealt with in a professional and efficient manner by SPA. We feel we have appointed a candidate that we otherwise may not have identified had it not been for Shirley and her team. Quality, Health & Safety and Environment are a high priority within our Group and I can recommend SPA to any company with a similar outlook. We have already engaged Shirley Parsons Associates on other assignments and we look forward to raising the calibre of HSEQ professionals within our business.”
Neale - Director of Health and Safety - Property Management Company
"We used Shirley Parsons Associates in the recruitment of a Group Head of HSEQ for our Group. We were very pleased with the service we received from SPA. From our initial contact with SPA they were keen to learn more about our business and took time to scope out the role through a series of telephone calls and meetings. The whole recruitment process was dealt with in a professional and efficient manner by SPA. We feel we have appointed a candidate that we otherwise may not have identified had it not been for Shirley and her team. Quality, Health & Safety and Environment are a high priority within our Group and I can recommend SPA to any company with a similar outlook. We have already engaged Shirley Parsons Associates on other assignments and we look forward to raising the calibre of HSEQ professionals within our business.”
Andrew - Head of HR - Energy Company
"Shirley Parsons Associates have been a specialist HSE recruitment partner with us for the past 2 years.
I initially engaged them to recruit an interim Head of Health and Safety which they successfully placed. Based on this success we asked them to recruit a Health and Safety Manager for our corporate centre (reporting to the board). Again, they helped us make a successful appointment.
I was impressed by the speed at which they were able to act: they were able to put forward a candidate for the interim position on the same day that I made the enquiry with them.
Before recruiting for the permanent position they took time to come and meet me at our head office and asked intelligent questions which helped us develop a mutual understanding of what we were looking for. They provided a strong shortlist of four candidates complete with full professional assessments. From these interviews we were able to appoint an outstanding candidate.
We had previously engaged an executive search company on our senior HSE positions who were unable to deliver. I found that being a specialist in their field; Shirley Parsons Associates were able to identify far more suitable candidates whilst providing the professionalism and expertise you would expect.
Since then they have provided us with 9 Health and Safety professionals across our Generationl Retail, and Central Networks businesses.
These subsequent placements were made via relationships formed with the relevant hiring managers so I cannot comment directly on the processes and success of these but the feedback via our HR One team has been good.
I would highly recommend Shirley Parsons Associates to any company seeking to fill any health and safety positions.
Yours Faithfully
Andrew”
John - Director Safety, Health and Environmental - Construction Group
"We have used the services of Shirley Parsons Associates (SPA) for many years to facilitate the training and recruitment of good Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) professionals.
We have a very competent team of SHE Advisors many of whom were either trained by Shirley and her staff or recruited for bespoke assignments.
The services from Shirley Parsons Associates is professional, focussed and of great value to the end user. This is not just another head hunting company, SPA rely on the personal communication approach to ensure they get the best fit recruitment for their clients.
We will continue to use SPA for our current and future SHE recruitment needs and would highly recommend SPA to the market place."
Steve - Head of Safety, Health and Environment - Utilities Group
"I have had the pleasure of working with Shirley and her team at Shirley Parsons Associates on numerous occasions and each time the quality of candidates, the professional level of detail and the candidates Shirley and her team have placed for me have surpassed my expectations. Shirley Parsons Associates does exactly what it says on the tin - it gives me good candidates, it gives me professional people to deal with and it gives me time to do my job as a leader.”