Wilkins Hunter provides high quality, skilled, experienced and connected professionals to energy and technology sector clients globally. We offer a highly effective recruitment service that carefully links clients with the very best candidates. Irrespective of where your business is based, or where you need to expand, you can be sure of an intelligent and effective recruitment process.
Wilkins Hunter serve a wide range of clients globally, from pre-IPO start-ups to large global corporations. Our service facilitates business growth by meeting client requirements and milestones through securing the best qualified and most experienced candidates.
We have a well-developed and proven search and selection process that carefully identifies the most talented professionals with a strong focus on State-of-the-art Energy Technology.
Based in London, Wilkins Hunter was founded by Leo Wilkins in 2015. Leo started working in recruitment in 2005 following on from a successful career in the telecoms industry. He instantly developed a clear passion for driving and delivering successful recruitment services to all clients and candidates, building and maintaining strong trustful relationships.
If you are looking for a fast and effective recruitment service in the Energy and Technology sectors you have come to the right place. The Wilkins Hunter team has specialised in these core fields for many years. We offer a highly effective service that carefully links corporate clients with the very best available candidates. Irrespective of where your business is based, or where you need to expand, you can be sure of an intelligent and effective recruitment process.
Wilkins Hunter have the tools, experience and the contacts that you need. We also have a business model that adapts to these recruitment requirements and delivers the talent needed for businesses to grow and compete at the highest level.
The shift towards electric vehicles continues to accelerate in 2019 as Honda are the latest to announce new targets with an ambition to have all European sales from electric vehicles by 2025. Electric Vehicle and Charging industries are growing rapidly as global targets are set to reduce emissions.
Honda’s announcement comes after several notable commitments have been recently introduced including; European postal giants Swiss Port and Austrian Post to switch fleets to EV by 2030, major corporations including EDF, EON and Heathrow Airport join the global EV100 group initiative to shift towards 100% electric fleets; and BMW Group and Daimler AG combine mobility services to become a new global payer in providing sustainable urban mobility.
The increase in electric vehicle demand has impacts across the grid, storage, regulation and charging. Wilkins Hunter actively recruit specialists within these areas, so contact the team if you wish to discuss recruitment services further.
To read more about Honda’s announcements visit https://www.energylivenews.com/
You may be the perfect candidate on paper, but it is the interview(s) where your fate will be decided.
Here are some tips from Wilkins Hunter based on feedback from hiring managers that we work with, to help you succeed in the interview and secure the job. They may seem obvious but we often see at least one of these as a reason for candidates missing out on a role.
Timing: Stop the waffle… Keep your answers concise and to the point; it demonstrates confidence and understanding of the question being asked. The interviewer is usually under a time constraint and too much waffle around an answer can not only lose engagement but reduces critical time on a dialogue that could spark that hire! Don’t forget to actually answer the original question!
Research and preparation: Preparation is always key. Read their website fully, research them online through LinkedIn and other Social Media platforms. Look at recent press releases about them and their competition. Understand the strategic direction of the organisation and how that might impact the interviewer and the role you have applied for. Make sure you know enough (but not too much!) about the person you are meeting – LinkedIn is helpful for this research.
Want the job: If you are not passionate about the role or company, it shows. Hiring managers want to build their teams with someone who will dedicate their time, add value and be proud to be part of the team. Demonstrate your passion with enthusiasm, motivation and knowledge from research on the company and what it delivers for it’s customers and stakeholders.
Ask relevant questions: Have questions prepared, preferably written down, so that the interviewer can see evidence of preparation, the interview is as much about you getting to know the company as the employer getting to know you. Dig deeper into the role, the company, ask about next steps to close the interview.
Know your resume: Have examples to support and evidence your CV statements and avoid fluffy statements. Make sure the interviewer is clear about your current situation. For example if you have had three roles in the same company over seven years, say so. If you are not employed don’t try and hide this fact, you are not the first.
Lastly be confident and be yourself: Interviews are about building rapport which arguably makes it the hardest and most crucial part of an interview. Be careful not to be arrogant as this will ring alarm bells to the hiring manager that you could be difficult to work with. Hold eye contact, be polite, confident and engaging.
National Grid has switched on the Nemo Link power interconnector, a 50:50 joint venture between UK National Grid and Belgium system operator Elia.
The energy link will enhance security of supply on both sides of the North Sea and allow a greater flow of clean energy between the UK and mainland Europe. “Interconnectors like Nemo Link are the perfect tool to move renewable energy from where it is produced to where it is needed most” said National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew.
Nemo is the first of four interconnector projects that the National Grid has invested in. The 1,000 MW IFA2 project to France and the 1,400 NW North Sea Link to Norway are currently under construction and projected to be in operation in 2021 and 2022 respectively. A 1,400 MW Viking Link to Denmark will begin construction later this year.
Read more at Industryeurope.com
National Grid has launched a new "Distributed Resource Desk" in its control room, enabling the Electricity System Operator (ESO) to allow smaller market players to participate much faster.
Through this, the grid will more easily tap into renewable energy; generated and stored by asset owners.
The new communication system will increase access to clean energy while ensuring that the grid stays balanced.
The desk enables the ESO’s power system engineers to issue instructions to smaller power generators, battery storage operators and demand side response (DSR) providers quicker than before, building on National Grid’s opening up of the Balancing Mechanism market last year.
Read more here...
Blockchain is on the horizon and expected to make profound impacts on the Energy Industry.
Spain's major energy company, Iberdrola, has already started to use blockchain to track renewable energy with a pilot to monitor the renewable energy delivered from two wind farms and one power station to banks' offices located in the Basque Country and the southern city of Cardoba.
But what is Blockchain?
The video below breaks down the explanation of how it works in simple terms...
If you want to read more about how Blockchain technology works you can read more here...
The convergence between the automotive, energy, technology sectors took another major step forward yesterday, as the Volkswagen Group unveiled plans to become a power supplier.
The German auto giant announced it is establishing a new company within the group to provide "energy offerings and charging solutions". Working under the banner Elli Group GmbH, the company will be headquartered in Berlin and is tasked with developing products and services connected with energy and charging for the brands across the VW Group.
Thomas Ulbrich, VW brand board member responsible for E-Mobility, said the new division underscored the company's commitment to driving the transition towards zero emission mobility.
"As one of the world's largest automakers, Volkswagen is going to force the pace of the urgently needed transport and energy transition to emission-neutral e-mobility," he said in a statement. "The new company will play its part with energy offerings from renewable sources and smart charging solutions. This way, we are entering a strategically relevant, extremely exciting business area that offers considerable opportunities for strengthening ties with existing customers as well as accessing entirely new customer groups."
The move follows a raft of electric vehicle commitments from VW last year, which saw the company attempt to move on from the 'dieselgate' scandal with plans to invest €34bn in a drastically expanded fleet of zero emission models, beef up EV production capacity around the world, introduce new EV sharing schemes, and end production of conventional internal combustion engine cars as early as 2026.
Former CEO of the company's Digital Energy Solutions joint venture, Thorsten Nicklaß, has been designated as CEO of Elli and is set to lead the development of a wide range of new energy supply and EV charging services and technologies.
"Our mission is to take e-mobility out of its niche and to place it firmly in the mainstream," he said in a statement. "The name 'Elli' stands for 'electric life', because we intend to enable a lifestyle that fully integrates the electric car in people's everyday lives. This approach could be compared with the use of a mobile phone, which is taken for granted nowadays."
Read more at businessgreen.com
The output of British power stations fell this year to levels last seen almost a quarter of a century ago, while renewables achieved a record share of the UK electricity supply.
Electricity generation in 2018 was the lowest since 1994.
The reduced need for power came despite there being 8 million more people living in the UK. Analysts said the figures were a sign of increasingly efficient use of energy and the country’s changing economy.
Read more on this story on the theguardian.com
Wilkins Hunter are proud to welcome a new logo as we end the year ready for 2019!
Following a successful three years, we felt that the logo and website needed a refresh to truly represent where the company has grown to since being founded in 2015.
The new logo demonstrates the dynamic energetic delivery that Wilkins Hunter strive to achive in recruiting within the energy and technology space.
We hope you like it as much as we do, we would love to hear your thoughts...
The US DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) was awarded nearly $2.8 million in funding from DOE's ARPA-E to develop a system for grid electricity storage and power generation, NREL said yesterday. The system includes a high-temperature charging device, low-cost thermal energy storage modules, a high-performance heat exchanger, and a closed-loop Brayton cycle turbine, it added.
NREL will lead the project to develop economic long-duration electricity storage (LDES) by using low-cost thermal energy storage, which it shortened to "ENDURING."
"When electric power is cheapest, electric heaters will 'charge' the storage modules by heating stable, inexpensive solid particles to more than 1,100 degrees Celsius," said NREL Principal Investigator Zhiwen Ma in prepared remarks. "When it's time to discharge this energy, the hot particles will move through a heat exchanger to heat a working fluid that drives a high-efficiency closed-Brayton combined cycle attached to an electric generator."
The proposed system will focus on scalability, the lab said, noting for example, a 55-GWH thermal storage system would be enough to power 50,000 homes for 100 hours during an outage. This scalability would not only support the DAYS goals but could also help enhance grid resilience and promote the growth of domestic energy sources, the lab said.
Please visit https://www.smartgridtoday.com/members/NREL-to-develop-storage-that-scales-to-hundreds-of-GW.cfm for more on the story...
I was approached by Wilkins Hunter for a very interesting international software sales job for a big organization. The approach was very personal and also showed the ability to match candidates with job profiles very well. Wilkins Hunter are one of the few headhunters that I know that keep in touch with you, also after the employment agreement has been signed. Recently they brought a very interesting and challenging international sales opportunity to my attention at a Silicon Valley based software startup. Again, timing and job profile were spot on and after a very challenging selection process I got the job as Sales Director Europe. During the process Leo has been very helpful with excellent information and good coaching. Whenever I decide to look around for a new job, Wilkins Hunter will be one of the first recruitment organizations that I will approach!
We first engaged with Wilkins Hunter earlier this year when we were having difficulties recruiting in Europe, particularly Germany, and they have helped to turn this around and found some key hires in the team, whilst also successfully worked with us on positions in Latin and North America. Leo is great to work with – very reactive to new roles and persistent to find the right candidate, and balances that with a consultative approach to the hiring process.
After my successful transfer into a new role I can say that the support of Wilkins Hunter was professional and passionate. They knew when to ask the right questions to keep the focus on the critical aspects during the process.
Unlike most recruiters, I found Wilkins Hunter to be refreshingly straight forward to deal with. Conversations were always two way and feedback taken onboard and acted upon!
Leo and his team listened to my needs and were patient in finding me a fantastic role that has helped shape my career in utilities.
Hearing from an interested employer without having to do any work is always exciting, that is exactly what had happened to me. I have been contacted by Wilkins Hunter for an exciting job opportunity. The follow up and the tips that I have been provided with were really useful. A real interest was shown and I was kept informed at all the times about the process. With the support I was more confident when having my interviews. I really appreciated the effort and time.
I’ve been working with Wilkins Hunter for over 12 months, primarily they identified a job role within the energy industry which suited me and set me on my way as my first role as a contractor. Becoming a contractor and working for myself initially was a daunting task for me. I didn’t know where to begin or what questions to ask to get the contract off the ground. WH did everything - with almost no time or effort for me! The best part was that I could completely trust them to represent me when negotiating the contract. I am still in constant dialect with regards to my role and ensuring payment is collected on a monthly basis. He has put me on a good stead for future contract work and will definitely be using Wilkins Hunter for any future employment opportunities.
Having worked with Leo before, he was the first person I called when I needed help finding the next role. The best thing about working with Leo was that he is a great listener and took the time to understand exactly what I was looking for. Consequently he did not waste any of my time or energy on inappropriate opportunities; combined with his network and deep understanding of the market, it meant that the roles Leo brought to me were an excellent fit. Leo stays in touch just the right amount through the process and deals with the offer and negotiation fairly and professionally. He has high integrity
I have had the opportunity to source several roles with Wilkins Hunter as our organization expanded from the US into the UK and Europe. Sourcing second level technical support, field support, and leadership in the region was an effortless endeavor with Wilkins Hunter. The recruiter I worked with was able to quickly understand what qualities I was looking for, source initial candidates, and adjust very quickly when given feedback on candidates and process. Where most sourcing firms post and pray for candidates, Wilkins Hunter truly hunts the right talent customized for our organization and industry. This resulted in an exceptionally fast recruitment time, and high quality talent.