It's a while since we provided an update on Paralympic Athlete Callum Hall (who we are delighted to be sponsoring); So we've asked him to bring everyone up to speed on what he's been up to since the end of 2018.

Callum explains "In January I competed in my first marathon of the year in Dubai where I finished 7th. Unfortunately I had food poisoning the week before, which drained my energy levels and affected my lead up into the race, however I still pushed 1 minute outside my PB, a good sign that training has been working!

It’s an exciting, intriguing and nail-biting time for facilities management (FM). With each month that passes, the FM sector is required to meet the present and predicted needs of a market filled with challenges and complexities.

From workplace tech to wellbeing, all this talk of change has got us thinking about the trends beginning to seriously shape the future of FM.

Discussing Mental Health and Wellbeing can still be difficult for some people, so this ‘Time to Talk Day’ we want to encourage people to have the confidence to speak up. 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our life time, so it is important for everyone to feel that they can open up and discuss how they are feeling. Often speaking about an issue can be the beginning of recovery as you are opening yourself up to access help.

300 North are pleased to be a formal signatory to The Charter for Employers who are Positive about Mental Health. The Charter is one element of the MINDFUL EMPLOYER® initiative which is aimed at increasing awareness of mental health in the workplace and supporting businesses in recruiting and retaining staff.
One in four of us will experience mental ill health at some point in our lives. The World Health Organization defines positive mental health as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”.

After weeks, months and sometimes years of good sales and hard work completing tenders, RFI's and proposals, detailed legal contracts and lots of late nights, you have won the new contract – yipppeee! Its great news for your client, for the business, for the sales teams and for marketing but what happens now? The reality dawns….. now we have to deliver it, we need to deliver what we agreed in the contract, we need to mobilise…..fast.

What makes a successful mobilisation?

Winning a new contract can often be stressful and very time consuming. Beyond the signed contract it is mobilisation that kicks off the life of a new project and makes it easy for everyone to do his or her jobs well. A good mobilisation can make the difference between a successful FM contract and one that is besieged by problems. This is why it is really important to consider having a specialist mobilisation team with the unique skills to create a specific mobilisation plan involving all the stakeholders to deliver a new contract smoothly and successfully.

300 North are delighted to be sponsoring Paralympic Athlete Callum Hall. Callum is 26 years old and originally from Yeadon in West Yorkshire. He was paralysed in September 2012 after stepping on a sea urchin in Greece. This caused an epidural abscess on his spine and resulted in paraplegia. Callum was passionate about sport, being a PE teacher and playing football before his accident. He took up wheelchair racing in 2014 after hearing about it from ex patients at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

With virtually full employment in the UK, what does this mean to your FM recruitment strategy?

Stay calm and work with experts!

What is meant by full employment?

Do we have full employment in FM?

So what does this mean for your FM recruitment strategy?

Stay calm and work with experts!

With recent announcements that the UK has reached full employment, and has the lowest levels of unemployment since 1975 at just 4%, we take a look at what that means to our clients who are in pursuit of the highest quality FM candidates.

We are delighted to announce the launch of the brand new 300 North website and blog. You will hopefully by now have seen our new, modern and easily navigable website. You will notice I am sure, the easy to find latest jobs and simple options to upload your cv's, post new job opportunities, apply for posts or just find out a bit more about us and the team who are working with you.

Moby & Louie - Chief Happiness Officers

Mr Moby decided 300 North was the place where he wanted to start his doggy career in 2022. He knew it would the perfect place for him to bring some much required cuddles, support and relaxation to the growing team. Little Louie joined in June 2021 to bring some more joy to the team, and to give Moby a playmate.

Moby is a keen fetcher and the best office guard dog you could ask for; and Louie often gets his own way by putting his “cute face” on and looking at us with his adorable puppy dog eyes.

Moby and Louie's vision for the future is to be rewarded with as many treats as possible by keeping their 300 North family motivated, happy and healthy with regular walks. Their favourite hobbies outside of work are running after cats, chewing bones, eating anything dropped and cuddling up for lap time.

If they won the lottery they'd buy themselves a holiday home for even better quality walks and a mountain of dog food!

WHAT IS THE BEST APPROACH FOR YOUR FM RECRUITMENT STRATEGY?

In a full employment market where good quality facilities management candidates are few and far between it is easy to think that the more recruiters you throw at a problem, the better the result. Surely the wider you throw the net the more fish you will catch? Where fish are abundant this might be true but if you need a specific type, size and shape of fish more nets will just result in catching lots of the wrong types of fish. This means spending more of your time and energy doing the hard work to select the right one, whilst the recruiters hard sell you on their specific candidates.