One Way – a specialist rail and construction recruiter with offices across England.
One of the major problems facing the construction industry is the lack of skilled professionals in the current market. One Way, while continuing to successfully resource projects because of its robust yet agile model, had noted the increasing challenge of finding enough workers to meet the demand driven by the need for new housing and major infrastructure developments.
After engaging with the senior leadership at One Way, BlueSky drafted a press release highlighting that the impact of Brexit could take a potentially devastating toll on the industry as it relies heavily on the skills of foreign workers. The release highlighted that removing freedom of movement and bolstering immigration laws could leave the sector in desperate need of skills.
The comments of Paul Payne, the managing director and co-founder of One Way, were featured across the construction and recruitment media, including Builder & Engineer. Off the back of this piece we received an email on a Sunday night from a producer at Sky News who was looking to speak to Paul to expand on his views and film a potential segment to be featured on the channel the next day.
BlueSky worked fast to ascertain Paul’s movements on the day and to find out exactly what the journalist wanted to focus on. We faced additional challenges as on the way to Southampton, where the filming would take place, reports came out revealing that the sector had bounced back from a slump noted in July. Rather than the Brexit angle, the journalist now wanted to focus on this.
We spoke with Paul and gave him tips on engaging with the media and how to carry himself on camera. The interview took place and One Way were able to provide a live construction site to film the footage on, which was greatly welcomed by Sky News.
Ultimately, the segment was featured on the six o’clock news and repeated over the next three hours putting Paul in front of a potential audience of millions. This is one of the most viewed news channels across the whole of the UK and gave One Way the exposure it was looking for.
“Being featured on one of the busiest news segments in UK TV is obviously great news for us and allows our skills and expertise to reach a potentially enormous audience. We were hugely impressed at the speed with which it came together. We were contacted on a Sunday night and were interviewed on the Monday afternoon which involved having a full camera and recording team come to Southampton from London to film the segment. Without BlueSky this wouldn’t have happened and we’re very grateful for their help.” - Paul Payne, Managing Director and Co-Founder of One Way
The clip - http://news.sky.com/story/uk-service-industry-rebounds-after-brexit-drop-10565831