These are real FAQs gathered from people outside the business and whom our employees have spoken to in the past.

How many of you are there, and how much business do you do?

We have approximately 160 members of staff. In the financial year 09/10 our revenue was about £75 million.

What are the prospects for advancement?

This is dealt with in our career paths page.

We take very seriously our staff development and career progression, because the best way for us to succeed as a business is to ensure our staff have the skills they need to succeed for us.

You can read about our comprehensive staff development scheme here. The scheme is managed by an in-house learning and development manager, who delivers some training and also sources training from external suppliers. Most of four staff training is delivered onsite here at LTP for the convenience of our staff.

ARM is both an Investor in People and one of the 600 “Best Companies” to work for in the UK.

What is the atmosphere like there?

Very friendly and very busy, with an emphasis on team work. We are proud that most new starters remark on the friendliness of everyone within the company. It is one of the first things that new starters here tend to notice.

Do I have to make sales calls?

That depends entirely on the role for which you are being hired.

Recruitment is salesy and will involve lots of calls, although the nature of the calls you make will depend on whether you are a resourcer, a recruitment consultant, or something else. We occasionally have non-sales roles within our large business support teams.

Hours of work

Core hours are 0830 – 1730 with one hour for lunch, to be taken between midday and 1400. It is a truism that you get out what you put into recruitment and many of our staff work longer hours in order to earn more money, although working smart is just as important.

Parking facilities

ARM's head office is situated at Langstone Technology Park (LTP). LTP has plenty of free parking, although with about 3,700 workers commuting to LTP daily, car sharing is encouraged. You should not, however, struggle for parking. ARM also has an office in Bournemouth, again, where car parking is available.

What are the facilities at LTP like?

Good, and fairly comprehensive. We have a large canteen selling a variety of hot and cold food and drink for breakfast and lunch, a well-stocked general store that also offers a dry-cleaning service, a Starbucks counter that also sells food, and a cheap on-site gym with showers. Tesco and other local shops are within easy walking distance.

What is the dress code?

ARM’s dress code is smart: shirt and tie for men and the equivalent professional dress for women. We have dress down days once a quarter or sometimes for special occasions such as charity days.

What’s the social life like at ARM? Do people/teams go out after work etc?

We have a very active social scene here. We have a social committee (with a dedicated budget) that organizes our end-of-quarter, summer and Christmas parties. In addition to that we have charity events, football teams, and a lot of our employees socialize with one another in their spare time. There’s definitely a great atmosphere here.

What do recruitment consultants do on a daily basis?

See here for a breakdown of daily activities for different staff.

Broadly speaking, recruitment consultants develop business with new and existing clients, understand client requirements, and then meet these needs by identifying suitable candidates in the market. This involves face to face and telephone business development.

Do you have to work 12 hour days and finish at 8 in the evening?

No. It’s true that more you put into your role, the more you get out. Many of our most successful recruitment consultants average a day that begins at 8am and ends at 6pm. Others will work longer on occasion and some will not often work that long, although those who never work that long probably won’t achieve the high salaries that recruitment can offer.

It’s fair to say that if you’re looking to cruise through a job that you can ignore, we are definitely not for you and you are not for us!

Is it like working in a call centre?

No. Our consultants do spend a lot of time on the phone, but this is in order to develop long term relationships and speak with established customers. The atmosphere in the office is also very different to a call centre.

How much time do you spend on the phone and out with clients?

This varies. We spoke to one successful consultant who visits no less then 3 clients per quarter, and takes time out to visit contractors too, so will spend no less then 3-5 days on the road per quarter.

When in the office, making calls is an essential part of his work, so he will make anything from 40 - 50 calls per day.

What are the people like who work there?

The people who work here make ARM the success that it is. The office is full of driven professionals who are helpful and are genuinely nice people. We believe this is one of biggest selling points for internal recruitment. Why are we so successful at recruiting good people? Firstly, recruitment is our business, so we’d hardly be a good advertisement for ourselves if we didn’t recruit well internally! Secondly, we are very careful about who we take on, we have a fairly challenging entry process, and we attract new staff in a variety of ways. One method of recruiting staff we particularly favour is our regular open days. We like to invite people in so they can get a fairly relaxed view of our business, and we of them.

If I want to get into recruitment but have no experience of it, am I stuck in a “have no experience, can’t get any experience” catch-22?

No. We hire staff at many different levels. We can and do hire staff with no experience of recruitment so that we can train them in the ARM brand of quality-driven, professional recruitment. We tend to like people with transferable skills, so people from sales-based environments, or with qualifications or training relating to their recruitment sector, or who simply demonstrate great aptitude for the job, are often taken on.

Recruitment is a demanding career and the mixture of skills it requires means there is simply no blueprint for a great recruiter. The same is true of our other job functions, although we tend to have to take on staff with some qualifications in certain areas such as our legal, marketing and finance departments, depending on their particular function within these departments.

What is your staff retention like?

Our staff retention is excellent. Hopefully the reasons for this should be fairly clear by now, but to refresh, we believe it is because of the following reasons, and more:

• Our nurturing and training of new and established staff (continuous learning and development).
• Clear and well-understood progression opportunities.
• Inclusive culture, friendly atmosphere and emphasis on sharing and teamwork
• Free staff share scheme.
• Clear communication from the board and throughout the company via a number of media including weekly, monthly and half-yearly company meetings, step up meetings, and regular team meetings.
• Inspired and inspiring leadership from the board and management staff.
• Broad portfolio of incentives and rewards for both commission-earning and all other staff.
• Emphasis on corporate social responsibility, charity, quality and green accreditations.