Shopping Centre Management Conference 2014

Last week saw the return of the Shopping Centre Management conference in Birmingham and firstly I would like to say on behalf of all the shopping centre team at Foundation Recruitment how great it was to put more faces to names and catch up with those we have met before.

One question we were all asked during the event was how useful it is for us to attend given that as a recruitment business, we will not be able to put the theories and ideas into practice? The short answer is that it is essential for us to be there. Like Shopping Centre Management, recruitment is a human business. All of our activity revolves around our interactions with people and whilst telephone, e-mail and Skype all serve a purpose, across the World, the strongest relationships are built face to face.

At Foundation Recruitment, we have built our platform on being immersed in the sectors we operate in. In order for us to be able to effectively find excellent candidates who fit with a role’s requirements as well as an employers culture and aspirations we have to understand an individual’s personality. And for us to be able to offer constructive and genuinely valuable insight and advice to candidates, we have to know what the industry trends are and what employers want from the people who work with them.

For those who didn’t manage to attend, the event consisted of a day of talks and debates (some of which we have covered in previous newsletters) sandwiched between a welcome drinks reception and a black tie dinner. We were fortunate enough to speak with many individuals throughout the day and whilst it is difficult to please everyone, the general consensus was that everybody had a few ideas to take back to their own centres to try for themselves. Importantly it was reassuring to hear such a positive speech from Adam Shaw on the growing economy!

It was also great to see so many people sharing ideas and thoughts in the networking breaks. Aside from key indicators such as footfall or average spend, it is not always easy to benchmark your work against others in the industry and we hope that people came away with as many innovative ideas from their peers as they did from the official speakers.

The event drew to a close with the gala dinner, ACE awards ceremony and a few questionable dance moves (I wasn’t allowed to mention names unfortunately!)

I would like to end with a quick note on The ACE Awards which address excellence in customer service; something which is essential to the industry and possibly not as rewarded as much as it should be. The contestants are assessed using mystery shopping and both winning individuals and schemes deserve recognition for going above and beyond the call of duty.

We would also like to say congratulations to all winners of the ACE awards on your well deserved accolade. Well done to you all!

We look forward to seeing you again next year but of course if you would like to speak to us or meet us before then, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!