Meet the YTS Team: Kasar Shaid

1. How do you like to spend your time outside of work?

a. I enjoy playing 5 side football on a Friday night, after a demanding week it’s good to unleash any frustrations out with my friends! I also like to get to the gym 2 or 3 times a week, but I fit all my activities in and round my kids and their clubs and events.

2. What’s something you’re learning or have learned recently?

a. I have learnt to adapt to a different way of working in terms of systems and processes, I would say, and I think my manager James would agree, I am still learning some systems here, but that’s because I’m the newest member of the team.

3. What are you passionate about?

a. I am passionate about providing my family and my young kids with the best possible life I can provide them, and I do not just mean, financially. Also being present, and always available to them is very important to me, not too busy working. A healthy work / life balance where my priorities are in the right place.

4. Are you currently binging any shows?

a. This is an area I do need to improve in! I have recently subscribed to Netflix, so me and my wife can watch a series or two when the kids are in bed. I am thinking some sort of gangster series next, my wife will no doubt have other ideas. At the moment I’m more of a YouTube guy, that’s where I tend to do my binging and it tends to be personal development and fitness content.

 5. What do you do at YTS, and what would I come to you for help with?

a. So, I am one of our Recruiters, and I work with James as a part of our delivery team. My role is to be the liaison between our clients and any potential candidates. I will review candidate’s CV’s and engage with them to understand their motivations and to screen them against specific roles and requirements. My role is also to act as the go between in any negotiations, and to get the answers to any questions either party might have outstanding. I see my role as more of a coach than a recruiter, throughout the process for both parties I will advise and give opinion based on the information I’ve gathered about each other. Of course, a part of my role is negotiating the nitty gritty including salaries, and it’s important to try to find a position where everyone is happy and in the right frame of mind to move on jointly and on a good platform.

 6. What one thing do you wish you knew when you started working at YTS, or what advice would you give the new person?

a. That the onboarding and checking of documents for contractors and temp workers was new to me. The level of compliance can be stressful at times, but that’s a part of our role to take that responsibility on behalf of our clients. My advice to any new person starting with us, if you are unsure about anything at all, just ask for help and we’ll get stuck in.

7. What’s your biggest accomplishment?

a. That’s easy, I’m going to say my two boys, Isa and Ismail.

8. What advice would you give to hiring managers right now?

a. Right now there’s a massive shortage of talent out there, if you’re hiring and you interview a good candidate who you also like and fits your culture, and who ticks 80% of the boxes, consider hiring them because the likelihood is someone will beat you to it while you’re thinking about it. And please give anyone you interview meaningful feedback ASAP, no more than 24 hours. They may have taken time off to interview with you, but it’s more about the experience the candidates gets from your organisation.  A disgruntled candidate is going to tell 8-10 people in their network about a lousy experience, so you could be making future recruitment much harder for you and your colleagues.

9. What advice would you give to candidates?

a. Do your homework on the company you’re interviewing with, research the website, people who work there, hiring managers LinkedIn profile, and have at least 8 questions written down (you might not need them all, but better to have some spare). Show off your experience and be enthusiastic during the interview, and always follow up with the hiring manager after you’ve left by email to thank them for their time.

Additional Questions

Retention:

10. What advice would you give to organisations worried about their retention right now?

a. Work to understand what the problem is, or the problems are. The sooner you address the root causes, the better your chances of long term success are and the more money you’ll save on recruitment. Talk to YTS about the retention diagnostic tool, it will help identify what the problems are and what your priorities need to be. If you know you have a problem, get some help and don’t just sit on it hoping it will fix itself.

 11. What is the best thing you’ve heard about that’s aimed at keeping people happy and engaged within an organisation?

a. Simple, flexibility. Not everyone can offer hybrid working, but the more of a sense of control people have over their lives, including while at work, the happier they are. All the research backs this up, and if you’re not the type of business that can let people work from home, find other ways to be flexible and to support your workers. Candidates will understand if there’s legitimate reasons for not working from home four days a week but find some compromise with them for those times when they need added flexibility. The more you respect your workers, the more they will respect you and the more productive they will be.