Our quest to find the UK’s champion temporary, contract and interim workers has met with a fantastic response from all sectors of the industry and all parts of the UK.

Recruiter was deluged with submissions from agencies who wanted to highlight the achievements and attributes of their temporary, contract and interim workers during National Temporary Workers Week 2009. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation first designated a special week eight years ago to recognise temporary and interim workers and contractors.

Recruiter set out to celebrate the creme de la creme of flexible workers and our entrants have all been keen to show that their agency has that special someone willing to go the extra mile.

From a wide and deserving field, Recruiter has chosen five of the best.

• Emil Basiuk, a temp with Kelly Services, has regularly exceeded targets while working as a customer services adviser for business process outsourcing company Vertex in Bolton. Basiuk collects outstanding payments as part of a public sector contract and has collected more than £2,120 to date. He has held the role since February. Sarah Lockwood, global account manager at Kelly Services, told Recruiter: “The contract that he’s working on is intense and stressful, and to collect that amount so far is very impressive. He’s just a really good ambassador for us.”
• Hannah Ketchin has shown herself to be a ‘top cat’ when it comes to various posts as a receptionist for leading media and entertainment companies, while temping for London-based Yellow Cat Recruitment. In fact, a client was so impressed with her work and the agency’s matching process that Yellow Cat was referred to yet another company to help with their recruitment needs. Om Ruparel, head of the temporary division at Yellow Cat, told Recruiter: “Hannah possesses excellent communication and interpersonal skills. She is a strong team player but equally can use her initiative to work confidently as an individual.”
• Janet Morgan, from Hays, has shone since taking up a temporary role as a PA to the director of the Cancer Services Centre in Whitchurch, part of Velindre NHS Trust. But it is not just her work that is impressive. She has also raised £10,000 for the trust by holding gala events - particularly poignant since her sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
  Tommy Keeling, business manager at Hays Office Support’s Cardiff office, said: “If you could package the perfect temp, she would tick all the boxes.”
• Stephen Penny, an interim project manager who is on the books of Practicus, delivered far beyond his brief when he helped a borough council transform their waste services. The council had a history of poor performance, but Penny was able to deliver a high performance level for recycling and saved £2.5m in the process — 25% of the yearly budget. Matthew Rhodes, senior consultant at Practicus, told Recruiter: “He just ensures that public money is going to be spent in the most cost-effective way.”
• Student Sarah Stancer has proved to be an outstanding worker in the challenging arena of social care.
  Stancer, who is on the books of Castleford-based AJ Social Care, has been juggling working for a client while studying for her social work exams at university. She even went in to work on the day she was due to move house, and planned her work around her exam timetable.
  Andrew Brindley, director at AJ Social Care, told Recruiter: “She always keeps me up-to-date on what she is doing. I never have to chase her for anything. She also worked very closely with a client on a very delicate matter and produced an outstanding, well-written report that must’ve taken her a lot of thought, time and effort.”
• Other outstanding temps included: Jim White (NES); Scott Griffin (Kelly Services); Tanya Davies (Bluecare); Jackie O’Sullivan (Linda Taylors); Adam Cove (Lucid Support Services); Elaine Jackson (AJ Social Care); Kate Ellen (Cocoabean); Marion Thatcher (Tate); Jane Newland (NEWgroup); Colin Malone (Kelly Services); Jenny Brunt (Jobshop UK).
  temping branch manager

Temping Branch manager
Manpower kept their efforts to find an outstanding temp in-house by nominating one of their own branch managers!
Val Browning retired nearly four years ago, having worked for the company for 20 years. When the Bridgend branch of Manpower was looking for a new manager, Browning was persuaded to come out of retirement to run the office as a stopgap measure. That stopgap is still in place three-and-a-half years on. Browning still champions new projects and travels to sites across the UK for various business meetings. All the more remarkable given that Browning is actually a temp, payrolled via a timesheet on a weekly basis. Moyra Davis, business consultant at the Bridgend branch, told <I>Recruiter</I>: “Our branch is run like clockwork. We have the best support and training from one of the best in the business. In these worrying times, our success is due to her guidance and very hard work.”