A Time To Give Thanks: 8 Short Years
Originally Published on LinkedIn- November 2018
This very month in 2010 I sat in a room with Joanne Suter from a Rec2Rec company who told me about many IT recruitment companies in Reading, UK, who were looking for ambitious graduates to join their company, and I fitted their description.
I interviewed with most of them, got many offers (obviously) and decided to go with the one I was most impressed with its leadership team, was a clear meritocracy and the one in which I'd be able to achieve success quickly.
That company was GCS Recruitment Specialists. There is not a day that goes by that I have ever questioned my decision…….Ok maybe that's not entirely true; I was questioning it for the first 3 months on a daily basis as I wasn't a natural at recruitment and needed to learn it, but I could see what other people in my office and in the business were achieving and knew I could reach my goals as long as I stuck to my goals and soaked up all the training and advice I was given.
With the guidance from my now great friend, Doug Viney, I quickly saw that recruitment was the life for me. Huge earning potential and many other perks: trips abroad, lunch at great restaurants, meeting impressive - and some famous - clients, dealing with brilliant candidates and overall an office culture and a team I eventually fell in love with. Ok, the last two are not recruitment perks but specific to GCS which brings us to my next confession.
I’ll have been at GCS for 8 years! Yes. EIGHT whole years. Not a typo. That’s extremely rare in most business or industry in this day and age but especially in Sales and Recruitment. I was blessed enough to find a company that not only wanted to see me grow but did everything to make this happen. What did GCS do for me?
In 2014 I decided I had given everything I could to the RG market and I was determined to explore my dream of moving to the USA. I was offered multiple roles in Chicago and NYC (obviously), accepted one and told GCS I was leaving. I’m a rare example of how accepting a counteroffer works out for the best, because they gave me an offer I couldn't refuse…….without the horses head in my bed.
This allowed me to not only follow my dream but build something extremely exciting with I company that I believed in. But more importantly, this is proof of how much the leadership team believes in its people and how far it's willing to go to see them progress and fulfil their potential; trusting me the expansion into a different market-continent and supporting me every step of the way, instead of seeing me go.
Since then we’ve grown to 30 people in the USA, with a robust year on year growth on GP and EBIT figures, plans for 2 new offices in new locations in the pipeline, and the best thing on a personal level? I’ve had the opportunity and pleasure to grow this business with the incredible people we have in the company.
People stay where they are loved, supported, given opportunities, trained well, motivated and where they share the company's vision.
I can certainly agree with and relate to all of the above.
It’s no surprise to say that our CEO, COO, Head of our European operations, Head of Sales and our Business Manager – London, are all homegrown talent. It’s a testament to our statement of values and ambitions that the majority of our senior leaders have come through the ranks at GCS. We’ve supplemented this by bringing in other members of the leadership team from competitors to broaden our horizons and keep things fresh.
But we are not stopping there. There has never been a better time to join us. I will let you on a little secret. I’ve never been this excited and motivated about our future. There are so many good things going on across the business that every current employee knows how big an opportunity they have to be a part of this now.
Within the next 18 months, we will have:
• New office locations and brand new offices across Europe and America
• New bespoke technology
• DOUBLED the headcount in the USA by the end of 2019
Not only is the US the best tech recruitment market on the planet right now (I may be biased), but we know how to be successful, and we have examples of graduates coming in with no experience and billing quickly; not to mention bringing experienced consultants over and making them more successful than they’ve ever been.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s very apt that I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has impacted my career, good and bad, throughout these 8 years. Everyone who is currently with and has left GCS Inc. and of course the fantastic clients and candidates I’ve been lucky enough to work with. Thank you all, as I wouldn’t be where I am today without you.
As for you reading this blog, your next step should be to talk to me about your ambitions and whether they match what we're doing at GCS.
Come to join us, and I promise you this: one day you'll be thankful you did.