Doing it for the children

By Nadia Owen, 4MAT Business Communications Executive

We live in an era where time is spent focusing on ourselves: our careers, our prospects, our future. Itís already been said that this, the post-feminism generation, prioritises social and economic well-being over everything else. For those who are career-focussed and want the best possible lifestyle for their family without sacrificing their jobs, there is Pearl Childcare Ltd (www.pearlchildcare.com). A brand new start-up focusing entirely on the wellbeing of the next generation, Pearl is a bilingual recruitment consultancy, based in London, and recruits nannies, governesses and housekeepers throughout the UK, across Europe and Asia.

Pearl Childcareís website is designed and powered by recruitment web design specialists 4MAT. The thematic content of the site is explored through the supporting visuals: the pearl metaphor is emphasised through the link to nature - children are precious, like pearls; pearls are delicate, like children. Both are natural elements of beauty that should be treasured. This attitude is what inspired Marie Lehmann, owner of Pearl Childcare Ltd, to set up this specialist site, and these business goals are certainly reflected through the siteís content.

Vacancies, which are registered directly by parents, are not simply left in the CMS and automatically processed: all registrations are followed up with telephone contact to determine specific childcare requirements in order to match a specific nanny to a specific job. The child carer registration form is much longer than the usual candidate registration form: due to the delicate nature of the job, Pearl need to ensure that they know as much as possible about a nanny. Pearl have adopted 4MATís sophisticated dotVacancy3 software in order to categorise all applicants and vacancies. As the platform is hosted online, it facilitates international communication, so when Pearl work abroad, they always have access to their database and can update their site accordingly.

The search functionality has also been expanded, in order for Pearl Childcare to explore nannyís skills and qualities. This differs from the usual black and white search function required in corporate recruitment, and Pearl chose 4MAT specifically for the allowances they can make with their technology. I appointed 4MAT because of their specialisation in SEO and website creation for recruitment consultancies,î says Marie Lehmann, ìI am absolutely delighted with the website and the content management system which they created for us. The project manager with whom I worked was incredibly helpful, understood my requirements very well and made the whole process run smoothly. The partnership with 4MAT will continue as we optimise the site.