Member Article

Major recruitment drive to bring jobs to North East and Yorkshire

A global energy company is to create 15-20 jobs in the North East and Yorkshire as part of a major UK recruitment drive.

Mark Group, who specialise in energy saving for homes and businesses, plan to create 100 new sales positions by July next year, almost a fifth of which will be at their depots in Gateshead and Leeds.

Further jobs in the regions are expected to be created as a consequence of the recruitment drive, in field based operations, engineering and management.

Jon Sleightholme, global recruitment and talent management director of Mark Group, said: “We are in the process of expanding into different sectors and have ambitious growth plans, which will include emerging economies going into 2014.

“Everyone is suffering from high energy bills due to the price hikes by energy suppliers, so there is a definite need for our services.”

The UK government is pushing hard to cut national carbon emissions from the domestic sector and this, coupled with an increase in demand for their commercial work, helped Mark Group see an increase in global sales of 513%, to £27.2 million, between 2010 and 2012.

The company generate most of their commercial revenue through energy efficient lighting and solar electricity sales.

Mark Group, headquartered in Leicestershire, are the largest dedicated home insulation and energy-saving business worldwide, and were named the UK’s fastest-growing overseas trader by the Sunday Times earlier this year.

Jon Sleightholme emphasised the group’s roots as the fundamental factor behind its success. Mark Group is owned and operated by the Cottingham family, and any profit is reinvested in the business to further growth.

Under the government’s £1.3 billion a year Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, introduced in January 2013 to reduce the UK’s energy consumption and support people living in or at risk of fuel poverty, eligible households can get loft insulation and cavity wall insulation fitted free of charge. The Mark Group is a major contractor of such work.

The recruitment drive is supported by an comprehensive marketing program. Mark Group have a fleet of over 1,100 branded vehicles currently on the roads across the UK, and the firm is a sponsor of current Aviva Premiership rugby champions Leicester Tigers.

The job vacancies will be in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales.

“We’re also starting to become a lot more interactive with candidates”, Jon added, when discussing their broader recruitment strategy. “And we will be launching a new careers site in the near future where you’ll be able to find more interactive content, including employee videos and other exciting elements.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .