If you follow us on social media, you will know that 2018 has seen us celebrate four years of Journey Recruitment and what a fantastic four years they have been. I’m Alice and as the newest recruit at Journey Recruitment, I thought I would sit down with Carole, the director of the company, to catch up with her heading into her fifth year and ask her for some pearls of wisdom… Please see below an interview with director of Journey recruitment company.
A: Firstly, congratulations on four fabulous years Carole, how does it feel to have achieved four successful years of Journey Recruitment?
C: It actually feels amazing Alice! …Before I started Journey Recruitment I had read lots of different statistical research showing that only four out of ten small businesses survive the first five years and I was determined that mine wouldn’t fail, as to be honest, I didn’t have a Plan B! It needed to work!
A: So, when did you decide to make creating your own recruitment company plan A?
C: Well, I had actually thought about it years ago, but my children were young at the time and I didn’t feel I would be able to dedicate enough time and effort into making it work. And then about five years ago I had a conversation with someone who owns their own successful recruitment company and they basically said, “why on earth aren’t you doing this for yourself?” It really got me thinking yet again, and then one day shortly afterwards, I woke up and had a “lightbulb moment” and said to myself “the time is right now”. I handed my notice in as an employee and have never looked back.
A: Wow, what a success and no need to look back! What has been your highlight?
C: I guess the main highlight has been the realisation that after only a few months in business that I was able to make it work and that Journey Recruitment was here to stay! But I have had other personal highlights and rewards. As an employee, I got very used to having an infrastructure and operation at my disposal, if a candidate had a payroll query, I would transfer the call through to accounts….if we needed to brush up our marketing we hired a marketing company….if a client was slow to pay, the credit controller would get on the case….if our database crashed, I got frustrated(!) but would just contact our IT company to look at it and so on. I have the opportunity to embrace wearing so many different hats at Journey Recruitment instead of just one and I am still learning so much in the process.
A: What advice would you give to someone starting out in the recruitment industry?
C: Be prepared to work hard and put in the effort, the more you put in the more you get out. I guess that this can apply to lots of things in life, but it is really what I believe! Also, it is a highly sociable role, so you need to be driven to communicate and network with others fully in order to gain a good reputation and to provide the best service to both candidates and clients.
A: Some great advice! What, from your own experience, is the best thing about working in recruitment?
C: I just love the buzz that you get from getting it right and helping people find new roles, sometimes often changing their life! It can be a truly rewarding role and there is nothing better than hearing how happy our candidates are with their experience with Journey Recruitment.
*Click on the link below to view some of the touching testimonies which Carole is talking about above*
https://www.facebook.com/pg/journeyrecruitment/reviews/?ref=page_internal
A: What is the ethos behind Journey Recruitment?
C: I wanted to create an agency that I would want to go to if I was looking for a job. An agency that would always go that extra mile and that would really take the time to truly listen and understand your requirements. I do believe that we do this, and I like to think of us as being a “small, friendly, independent, modern consultancy with old fashioned values”. We understand that we are working with people and not just numbers and we operate in an honest, open manner, creating a strong consultative approach.
A: And finally, what makes you excited about Mondays?
C: There’s nothing worse than being unhappy in your job as your work takes up so much of your life. It is said that you spend more time with your work colleagues in your day than you do with your family, so it needs to be right!
I am very lucky to say I never wake up on a Monday dreading going into work, quite the opposite in fact, I always look forward to the week ahead and all the positives it will bring.
And there we have it, some wise words from the wonderful woman herself, what an amazing four years and here’s to many more!
Good luck.
Journey Recruitment hopes you have a great day.