Sunderland start-up Gillespie Recruitment hires new workers to bolster growth
Laura Gillespie launched her recruitment business in 2021 smack bang in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the huge challenges of launching a company while the nation got to grips with lockdown, her company soon doubled its expected turnover in the first year of business, grew from a one-woman operation to a six-person team and found employment for over 100 people.
Gillespie Recruitment has grown organically over the past year with no marketing or sales efforts, fostering a solid and assorted client base purely by word of mouth. Under Laura’s experienced guidance, the firm is now setting its sights on further growth, with plans to hire three new employees by the end of the year.
Where it all began
When Laura was at school in Washington, she was told by the school’s career officer that unless she moved away from her hometown, the only real work opportunities available to her were within the civil service or the army. A home bird, she knew she wanted to remain close to her friends and family and settled on the civil service. But after 6 long tedious years, she “hated” the job.
Laura’s entrepreneurial spirit began to materialise early in life as she embarked on a major career change at just 23. She entered the world of media, which she would work in for the next 22 years. Initially landing a job in telesales, she recalls her line manager telling her she wasn’t cut out for the job. The comment knocked her confidence, and she promptly left the role.
However, over the next 20 years, she proved her former manager wrong time and time again having worked for some of the leading media platforms in the North East and nationally, including the likes of the Sunderland Echo, Trinity Mirror and the Daily Mirror Xtra.
Laura’s time working in media saw her involvement in the launch of several niche publications, including working alongside key clients and publishing their in house magazines, as well as business magazines for various publishers, including Trinity Mirror’s Enterprise North East. 15 years after being told to look for another job, she found herself managing her former manager!
In 2004, Laura changed direction again, leaving her established career in media to pursue a new role for the charity Young Enterprise.
A natural people person, Laura said she fell into her recruitment career easily.
“While I worked for the civil service, I never got promoted because of my habit of talking and distracting people too much,” Laura explains. “Recruitment is the perfect fit for me. I love helping people where I can.”
Laura worked in recruitment for various independent and high street businesses for several years but when she reached her 58th birthday, she decided to take the plunge and branch out on her own.
Taking a people-oriented approach
Working for regional and national recruitment companies, Laura was disheartened by the industry’s focus on volume and the lack of attention given to candidates. She wanted to approach recruitment in her own way and create a company culture that prioritised the wellbeing of her team and candidates.
“I’ve worked with nationals and I’ve worked with some of the smaller local agencies and it’s all about volume, volume, volume; traffic, traffic, traffic.
“Through the pandemic, while I was working within healthcare, I realised that I had spent years making money for other people.”
“On my 58th birthday, I said to my husband, I’m going to have to leave, I’m going to have to do this myself. I don’t know what the trigger was, other than I didn’t want to be doing this for somebody else anymore.”
“I wanted to do it for me where I don’t have to work with people I don’t want to work with, or work to targets that aren’t achievable, or not just be bothered about the bottom line. All those things that recruitment agencies have a bad name for, I didn’t want to do anymore. Ultimately, I want to revitalise the recruitment sector.”
When she started her own business, Laura was determined to foster a supportive company culture that put people first.
I’m very people orientated,” Laura added. “I care about the candidate as much as I do about the clients. So, when I look at my day, it’s not ‘I’m sending 50 CVs today. It’s not ‘I’m making 100 calls today, it’s about which client I’m working on today and how many candidates of quality can I get across to them.”
“Launching the business was overwhelming”
The success of her first year in business was “overwhelming.”
“I remember sitting down with my husband and saying ‘if I manage to get to a certain figure by the end of the year, I’d be comfortable. I ended up doubling that figure. If current financial forecasts are correct, by the end of 2023 we will increase our turnover by 150%.
“We’re now established, and our client base is amazing. They come back to us, and people are continually recommending clients to us.”
Growing the team
After deciding to launch Gillespie Recruitment in May 2021, Laura started where many new business owners do, LinkedIn. She posted a call-out for new business and within a day she had already received 14 contracts.
She later set up shop at the BIC (Business Innovation Centre) in Sunderland. She ran the company as a one-woman operation for just a month before it became clear that the company needed a team behind it.
In the space of two weeks, Laura recruited two part-time staff and soon she brought her husband on board who works as operations director.
There is now a team of six that make up the business, including Laura, her husband Del Rowbotham, senior recruitment coordinator, Adele, recruitment resourcer, Melissa, recruitment consultant, Kirstin and marketing assistant, Becky.
Fostering a supportive company culture
With her first two employees both being mums, the company quickly developed a family-oriented culture built around flexibility, wellbeing and work-life balance.
At the centre of Gillespie Recruitment’s work is honesty, good communication and a collaborative work ethic, Laura said. Candidate and client transparency come first, along with candidate wellbeing. Rather than “sell” a candidate into a role, Laura and her team give them time, space and advice before accepting the job.
“If a client was to give me a job specification and I didn’t think the salary was right, I would tell them,” continues Laura.
“Equally, if a candidate was offered a job with one of my clients and they weren’t sure. I’ll say go away and think about it and come back to me because it’s got to be right.”
Right until the end of the process, Gillespie Recruitment takes a sensitive approach to recruitment that can be a rare find in this fast-paced sector. Even unsuccessful candidates are rejected over the phone and never via email.
“90% of recruiters will sell candidates into the role, but I wouldn’t do that, because at the end of the day changing your job is one of the most stressful things in your life. It’s alongside moving house,” Laura added.
“You’ve got to get it right. It’s no good pushing somebody into a job that they’re going to hate two months down the line. It will affect their CV and it will waste the client’s time because obviously there’s a cost implication.”
Working across disparate Industries
Gillespie Recruiting covers various industries. Although Laura had a solid grounding in healthcare thanks to her previous role, she could not contractually work in the industry for a year after leaving to start her business.
The result is a client base that spans a disparate range of sectors. For Laura, it isn’t so much about the industry but the relationships she and her team have with the clients and potential candidates.
From healthcare organisations to huge retailers and niche companies including a high-end fish and meat retailer, Laura and her team are willing to go where the clients and candidates need them.
Looking to the future
Currently serving around 70 clients, Gillespie Recruitment has plans to continue growing its reach in the North East and nationally as it looks to hire new employees.
The company has just appointed two new members of staff, Suzanne – an additional recruitment resourcer with a strong background in healthcare recruitment – and in September it will see the addition of the firm’s Commercial Manager.
At 59, Laura is starting to consider a phased retirement with plans to go part-time in the coming years. Before then, she wants to prepare her team to take on the baton and drive the business forward.
“We will have more people by the time my husband and I retire so the next few years will be about developing and retaining the team,” Laura said. “We’ll be working on moving people up the ladder and taking over which will allow me to work part-time and oversee the business.”
Advice to budding entrepreneurs
As anyone who has been involved with early-stage businesses knows, the road to success is never easy.
For Laura, having the right people around her along with a passion for her work was central to her business’ success.
“Have a good support network and make sure you enjoy what you do because if you don’t enjoy it, it’s not going to work,” Laura concludes.
“If it is something you want to do, give it a go. I wish I’d done it years ago.”
Head to www.gillespierecruitment.co.uk for more information.
