The managing director of multi-sector recruiter Search Consultancy, which won the contract to supply staff to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is confident the firm can avoid the problems experienced by G4S in recruiting for the London Games.

Search Consultancy won the contract to fill 1,044 jobs with the Commonwealth Games organisers in summer 2011. Simone Lockhart told Recruiter that more than 200 staff were already in post, with another 50-60 due to be hired by the end of the year. “It’s all on course,” said Lockhart.

Lockhart said she had “empathy” for G4S, which failed to deliver on its contract with LOCOG, the London 2012 organisers, but that good planning and attention to detail would ensure there was no repeat in Glasgow. “We are project planning what we need to deliver… two years in advance,” said Lockhart. This included already having scheduled assessment centre dates for people that the company will be recruiting in 2014, and checking that potential hires have the right notice period, so they can start on time, she explained.

Following the success of the London Games, Lockhart admitted “the pressure is on to make sure the Commonwealth Games are equally good”. However, she said Search had been able to take advantage of “a bounce effect” by hiring more than 35 staff who had worked at the London Games. This had also been reflected in an “amazing level of interest”, in working at the Games with more than 10,000 applications in the 12 months to September 2012. This included a lot of “aspirational applications” from people who just wanted a job at the Games, she said. 

Lockhart said that LinkedIn and networking had been “without doubt” the most successful methods of recruiting. They were particularly important for identifying people with specialist skills, such as venue managers. 

A spokesperson for Glasgow 2014 told Recruiter that information about recruiting Games volunteers will be released in November.