The people behind the process: Connect Appointments supporting every step of the food industry
Let’s Connect
At Connect Appointments, we understand the fast-moving nature of the food industry, requiring teams who are reliable, skilled and flexible. Whether you’re navigating seasonal demands, expanding your operations, or managing high-volume projects, having the right people in place is key to delivering results
With over six decades of recruitment expertise, Connect Appointments has built lasting relationships with businesses across the UK, earning a reputation for providing first-class staffing solutions designed to meet the unique demands of the food industry. Our mission is simple: to meet our client’s needs. Priding ourselves on understanding your specific challenges and opportunities. By doing so, we position ourselves as more than just a recruitment agencywe become a trusted partner in your success.
OUR COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES
We offer a wide range of services tailored to meet the demands of the food industry:
Temporary Staffing: Ideal for daily operations and peak production periods, we ensure you have the right team in place when you need them.
Specialist Recruitment: For skilled and permanent roles, our targeted approach connects you with reliable talent that drives success.
End-to-End Recruitment: From job posting and candidate screening to onboarding and compliance checks, we handle the entire recruitment process, allowing you to focus on what you do best.
With our expertise and resources, you benefit from a seamless recruitment process that’s flexible, efficient and focused on delivering results for you.
OUR INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Food production is one of the UK’s largest and most dynamic industries, providing goods to households and businesses worldwide. The fast-pace of the food industry demands a workforce that can adapt to shifting requirements while consistently meeting high standards - that’s where we come in.
At Connect Appointments, we take pride in connecting businesses like yours with skilled and reliable talent. Over the years we’ve had the privilege of supporting some of the biggest names in the food industry, including McGhee’s Bakery, Nairn’s Oatcakes, Malcolm Allan, and others. These partnerships have allowed us to refine our approach and gain a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in this vibrant sector.
On the following pages, you will discover testimonials that showcase our track record of success and what
it will look like, if you choose us as your recruitment partner.
Our expertise spans a broad range of roles, such as:
• Picker Packers
• Forklift Drivers
• Machine Operators
• Hygiene Operatives
• Production Operatives
• Quality Controllers
• Team Leaders
• And More!
This diverse experience allows us to provide staffing solutions designed to meet the specific demands of your business.
We understand the importance of maintaining compliance with regulatory standards and are fully GLAA compliant, meeting tight production schedules, and ensuring seamless integration between teams.
WHY CHOOSE CONNECT APPOINTMENTS?
Choosing the right recruitment partner is critical to the success of your business. Here’s a few reasons why Connect Appointments stands out from other recruitment agencies (read more on page 5):
A Legacy of Excellence
With over 60 years of experience, we’ve built a legacy of trust, reliability, and results. Our extensive industry knowledge and recruitment expertise, ensure we understand the unique challenges faced by businesses within the food industry.
Local Expertise, National Reach
While we operate nationally, our local teams bring a deep understanding of regional challenges and opportunities. This combination of local insight and national resources, allows us to provide tailored solutions that meet your needs.
Passionate Team
Our dedicated teams are passionate about helping your business thrive. We take the time to understand your goals and work tirelessly to connect you with the right talent.
Proven Track Record
Our partnerships with leading businesses speak for itself. From distilleries like Bruichladdich and Benriach, to bottling halls and packaging facilities like Broxburn Bottlers and West Rock, we consistently deliver exceptional results for our clients.
Flexible and Responsive
We understand that the food industry can be very fluid. That’s why we prioritise flexibility and responsiveness, ensuring we’re always ready to adapt to your changing needs.
Building your team
Great teams are the foundation of every successful business. Whether you’re scaling up for a seasonal rush, launching a new product line, or optimising your operations, our tailored recruitment solutions are here to help. Let us take the stress out of hiring so you can focus on what you do best.
Connect with Connect Appointments today and discover how we can support your success in the food industry.
How we work
At Connect Appointments we pride ourselves on our comprehensive recruitment services, ensuring that every candidate we send meets your requirements. Here are just a few of the steps we take to source top talent for your business
ACCOUNT MANAGER
Working with us, you’ll have a dedicated Account Manager, operating with one mission: to deliver a first-class service. Working from a local branch, they will be your main point of contact:
• Overseeing your full recruitment process
• Checking that our workforce has arrived and commenced work safely every day
• Carrying out timesheet and payroll procedures
• Undertaking disciplinary requirements
• Compiling KPI statistics for reviews
SUPPORT STRUCTURE
We understand that every business has unique needs. That’s why we provide flexible account management support that adapts to the highs and lows of your business throughout the year.
Our network of branches across the UK work together to provide knowledge, backup staffing, and account management support at peak times. Our bespoke software, stored on the cloud, ensures that our labour pools are accessible from all
our sites and devices, allowing you to feel confident that there will always be staff and support available when you need them.
REVIEW STRUCTURE
Clear and constant communication is the foundation of good service. That’s why we prioritise staying in touch with our clients and making sure we’re always listening to their needs. We pride ourselves on our ability to communicate effectively, ensuring that every aspect of our service is transparent and aligned with your goals and requirements:
• Daily Contact: problem resolution and check-in
• Weekly Meetings: progress updates and feedback
• Bi-Weekly Meetings: strategic planning and support
• Quarterly Review: performance examination and optimisation
• Bi-Annual/Annual Review: overall performance and rate reviews
All our processes are fully GLAA complaint, ensuring our workers and yourselves, are protected at all times - GLAA license number DCRE0003
Recruitment Campaigns
Tailored to meet your specific requirements, enabling us to attract a pool of high-quality applicants.
Telephone Assessments
To gain a better understanding of each candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Structured Interviews
To assess a candidate’s suitability for the role and company fit.
Reference Checks
To ensure that each candidate has a strong track record of success.
Bespoke Skill Assessments
Tailored to the role, evaluating a candidate’s proficiency and aptitude.
Pre-Brief and
Inductions
To fully prepare each candidate for their assignment. 3 3 3 3 3 3
What makes us DIFFERENT?
As experts within the food industry, we’re continually expanding our range of bespoke services that cater to the unique needs of businesses across this specialist industry, ensuring that we not only source the best candidates but provide a first-class service. Here’s what sets us apart....
TAILORED ADVERTS
Our dedicated and motivated team of experienced staff create adverts for your vacancies based on the latest hiring insights and industry knowledge, ensuring it’s tailored to attract the best candidates for the job.
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3 3 IN-HOUSE PAYROLL DEPARTMENT
IN-HOUSE DESIGN AND MARKETING TEAMS
Working in partnership, our in-house design and marketing teams create, edit, and optimise a variety of content that appeals to candidates. This includes eyecatching adverts, engaging social media content, and effective email and text campaigns.
Take the hassle out of payroll administration, our in-house payroll department ensures workers are paid correctly and on time.
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SPECIALISED DIVISIONS AND BRANCH NETWORK
With specialised divisions covering the UK’s largest industries and a national branch network, we can provide targeted recruitment solutions across a wide range of sectors and locations. Whether you need an Operative to help bottle your product, a FLT Driver to move pallets, or a HGV Driver to transport it from point A to B - Connect is here to help.
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JOB BOARDS AND CV DATABASES
An extensive network of job boards, partner networks, and CV databases ensures that your vacancy is seen by a vast pool of jobseekers, increasing your chances of finding the right person for the job – that’s without mentioning our internal database of 120,000+ candidates already on our system.
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ACCREDITED AND COMPLIANT
We’re members of industry leading accreditation bodies, such as: The REC, GLAA, JobsAware, The ALP, and Stronger Together, working in partnership to guarantee the best service to candidates and clients.
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SALARY BENCHMARKING AND HIRING CHECKS
Unsure about your salary competitiveness? We can survey the job title, area and industry, offering constructive feedback. Whilst providing wide-ranging hiring checks where candidates are vetted and verified by our team, giving you peace of mind that you’re hiring the right person for your company.
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SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
We will actively promote your vacancy across our social media channels, ensuring it gains maximum visibility. In addition, we will share your opportunity within the most active and relevant job search groups online, connecting your vacancy with an additional candidate pool of 300,000+.
Standing out from
With a friendly, approachable, and professional team of specialist consultants, Connect Appointments ensures the highest possible level of service for employers and great prospects for jobseekers. Our commitment to quality, flexibility, and understanding the unique needs of every client allows us to stand out in the recruitment industry. By building long-lasting partnerships, we’ve helped businesses across the food industry, find tailored staffing solutions. See what some of our valued clients have to say about their experiences working with us
MATHIESON’S BAKERY
We’ve been using Connect Appointments to help with our recruitment needs for several years, and would highly recommend them for their reliable and efficient service.
BELLA & DUKE
Connect cover all aspects from finding candidates, vetting, site inductions and bringing the candidates to site on their first day. They’re a professional and well organised business; we have no hesitation in recommending Connect Appointments as a business partner.
MCGHEE’S BAKERY
Since using the services of Connect Appointments we’ve been impressed with their ability to supply competent staff for all our shifts. In particular, the dedication of the team in ensuring each new candidate is well prepared, and completed the necessary induction. I fully expect we will continue to use Connect Appointments for the long-term.
WEST ROCK
Connect Appointments are amongst the best providers of temporary staff; a testament to the dedication and commitment of their staff. They’re a dependable and vital partner in both our daily production planning and long-term recruitment process.
FYFFES
The service from Connect Appointments has been excellent, their staff genuinely care about our requirements and the vacancies that we have.
from the crowd
NAIRN’S OATCAKES
We’ve had a positive experience working with Connect Appointments. As a food manufacturing business, we rely on finding skilled and reliable workers, and the team has consistently delivered by understanding our needs and providing excellent support. Their responsiveness and attention to detail has been a great help in meeting our recruitment challenges. We’d happily recommend Connect Appointments to other businesses looking for dependable recruitment partners.
OCHIL FUDGE
Connect Appointments simplified our hiring process. The quality of service is excellent, always adopting professionalism, efficiency, and care. Thanks to Connect, we’re building a strong and talented team as our business grows, and I couldn’t recommend them more highly, a national business with a local feel.
CROLLA ICE CREAM
We are very happy with the quality and calibre of staff provided by Connect Appointments, and would recommend them to any company looking for staff.
BRIDGE JOHNSON
Operating in an industry where reactiveness and speed are key, means we occasionally have the need for additional staff to supplement our warehousing team. From the first-time using Connect Appointments, they have been invaluable for us as a business. From the beginning our Account Manager been approachable, friendly, and knowledgeable – with her communication and customer service being second to none.
A.K. STODDART
We’ve worked with Connect Appointments for the supply of temporary workers, and couldn’t be happier with the service they provide. No vacancy is too big or small, always hitting the mark. Connect are now our go to for Production Recruitment requirements.
Connect
CREDENTIALS
At Connect Appointments, we hold ourselves to the highest industry standards, with a firm commitment to meeting all relevant certification and compliance accreditations. Our credentials speak for themselves, demonstrating our unwavering dedication to providing a first-class service
GLAA
We’re fully accredited members of the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) scheme, focused on protecting candidates from exploitation within industries such as: agriculture, shellfish, food, and drink. Regularly conducting our own audits to ensure we are always compliant.
We understand that our work in the labour sector has a direct impact on our clients’ reputation and position in the goods supply chain. For this reason, Connect Appointments maintains the same high operational standards that we set for our clients. Through our partnership with Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), we can effectively manage and minimise risks related to labour rights, health and safety, and the environment.
We’re proud to be part of The REC, a leading representative body for the recruitment sector. Our membership gives us access to cutting-edge professional support services covering a wide range of areas, such as: employee relations, employment law, immigration, and labour market trends.
We are extremely proud members of Stronger Together, a business-led co-operative that works closely with the GLAA, charities, and other orgnisations, to identify and tackle human exploitation. Integrating this critical issue into our recruitment and ongoing labour coordination efforts; undergoing an annual accreditation and regular auditing process. Ensuring we only supply fully vetted and compliant candidates.
At Connect, we take the safety of jobseekers very seriously. Partnering with JobsAware, to ensure individuals are always protected when searching for employment. Providing jobseekers with the resources they need to find meaningful opportunities, while protecting them from any potential scams or exploitation.
Connect Appointments are proud to be associated with the ALP, a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to promoting responsible recruitment and best practices for companies that supply workers in a wide range of sectors, including: industrial, construction, food and drink, logistics, and more.
As a member of the ALP, we have access to the latest information, services and support to ensure that our recruitment practices are always in line with industry standards and regulations.
KNOWLEDGE DRIVEN HIRING SOLUTIONS
At Connect Appointments, we’re committed to staying ahead of market trends and leveraging this knowledge to deliver a firstclass service to all our clients across the food industry
To achieve this, we consistently monitor the job market, drawing on a wealth of industry insights and cuttingedge data. We have access to Indeed’s comprehensive data and analytics portal, a valuable resource for insights and analysis.
Through our review of last year’s data, we’re proud to report that Connect continually ranked first among the top employers by clicks on Indeed for the Production & Manufacturing sector across Scotland, throughout 2024. Underscoring the trust that jobseekers place in our opportunities and our brand.
As the world’s largest and most active job board, this powerful tool helps inform the service that we provide to our clients. Gaining valuable insights into market trends, including:
• Shifts in specific industries and locations
• Job competitiveness by region and/or role
• Volumes of job postings and jobseeker interest
• Active employers within a given sector and/or location
• Top search terms and salary benchmarks
In addition, we have access to detailed jobseeker information, such as average years of experience, education levels, and commonly listed employers on CV’s. These insights enable us to refine our recruitment strategies, ensuring we connect clients with skilled workers. By understanding the bigger picture and closely examining specific trends, we continue to deliver the exceptional recruitment services our clients expect and deserve.
EDINBURGH 01506 449 944 edinburgh@connectappointments.co.uk
GLASGOW 0141 212 3740 glasgow@connectappointments.co.uk
GRANGEMOUTH 01324 464 951 grangemouth@connectappointments.co.uk
HAMILTON 01698 535 870 hamilton@connectappointments.co.uk
KIRKCALDY 01592 802 541 kirkcaldy@connectappointments.co.uk
LIVINGSTON 01506 449 944 livingston@connectappointments.co.uk
SUNDERLAND
0191 731 4800 sunderland@connectappointments.co.uk
Sunderland
Edinburgh
Kirkcaldy
Grangemouth
Livingston Glasgow
Hamilton