03/02/21 – How has Wolf Healthcare Adjusted during the pandemic?

The start of a new year is always an exciting prospect. The opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions to better one’s self; to further your career or prioritise self-care. Not me! My New Year’s resolution for 2021 was to work alongside our network of franchise owners and set up a new branch.

It has been different from the first pilot, which was founded in April 2019 (before the pandemic).

Has COVID-19 made it more difficult? In some ways yes, as I enjoy meeting candidates face-to-face and building meaningful relationships with employees, who represent myself and our company’s brand; Wolf Healthcare.

In other ways, it has made recruitment and selection easier and more convenient for the recruiter. Adapting to conducting video interviews has proved more convenient for myself and the candidate, plus the bonus of being able to schedule these appointments a lot sooner than if they were face-to-face. I am, however, hugely grateful for software where the completion of the necessary candidate documents can be completed on smart devices (including mobile phones), even allowing candidates to sign with ease.

I have not allowed the pandemic, tiers, and lockdowns to compromise our methods and time invested in assessing the suitability of candidates. More than ever, the need for skilled and trained staff is of paramount importance. Candidates are still required to participate in a 2-stage interview process; one being a video interview, plus the rigorous capability testing and training during our extensive compliance process.

From receiving a candidate’s CV/application:

1. Telephone interview, if successful, this then leads on to;
2. Video interview, if successful, this then leads on to;
3. The completion of documents and submission of Right To Work documents;
4. 3 years of employment referencing obtained and verified;
5. 10-year work history obtained and all gaps investigated and explained;
6. Enhanced DBS check sought;
7. Adult and Child barring checks completed;
8. 12 point capability testing and training process completed with a minimum requirement of 80% pass rate. 

Working with vulnerable adults and children (sometimes unsupervised) requires in-depth levels of due diligence to ensure Wolf Healthcare are doing their utmost to ensure colleagues and service users are well informed to make decisions and to protect those most vulnerable.

A lengthy process?

We have successfully managed to onboard 29 superb colleagues during January so far to work as our frontline heroes and the demand from our customers is increasing by the day. We are only just picking up the pace and intend to triple our workforce by the second week of March. 

‘Tis the season to be recruiting!”

Lisa Clyne Group Managing Director