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HR executives share their experience in human resources
Annamarie Petsis Jones has been Head of HR, Learning and Development at Opus Energy since October 201 1 . She has worked in HR for five years and her experience has raised a single major challenge: the sourcing and recruitment of appropriately skilled employees.
It is her view that, despite the economic recession, there are not a great number of skilled people out there looking for work. With the benefits system set up as it is, those on benefits are required to apply for jobs, and therefore many applicants - approximately 80 percent that she comes across - are not appropriately skilled or correctly motivated for the job.
Since her appointment at Opus Energy last year, Petsis Jones has been looking to establish innovative ways to recruit people into the company and to retain them.
A robust recruitment process
Having secured a placement in the 201 1 Sunday Times Top Track 250 league table, Opus Energy experienced an unprecedented 31 percent growth on 2010 sales figures in 201 1 , and has continued to see a rapid rate of growth in this financial year, leading to the creation of 100 new jobs. In order to match appropriately skilled workers to these newly created roles, Petsis Jones introduced monthly assessment days at Opus Energy's offices in Northampton.