Connecting...

Blog Img

Change is good - Our journey begins

Back to Blogs

Change is good

Earlier this year, I co-founded Amicus Recruitment, taking one of the biggest leaps of faith in my life. With a mortgage, wife, kids and bills to pay, the biggest pressure for anyone starting their own business is walking away from the security of being a permanent employee and the benefits that come with it.

For most people, changing jobs is a very stressful time. It’s not something you do every day and when you’re happily in your comfort zone, change is a scary prospect. We’ve all had those dark thoughts of ‘what if’ when deciding whether to change or not. What if things don’t work out the way I plan? What if I make the wrong choice? What if I’m not happy after I change? But what if we don’t change and then wonder ‘what if’? In my opinion, there’s no worse feeling than regret.

That was the moment I made the decision to jump. I wasn’t going to be sat here in 10 years’ time saying, ‘what if I would have done that?’. I’d rather fail trying, rather than not trying at all.

Organisation is key

Anyone thinking that working for yourself is a breeze can think again. It’s a hard-old slog. Evenings have disappeared and my nights are spent planning, speaking to candidates and doing administration duties. My weekends are spent catching up on emails, speaking to people who have made fresh applications and preparing documents for the business. There’s so much I took for granted in the past and mainly it’s the small things like having milk in the fridge for a coffee on a Monday morning! :) Who fixes the computer when it doesn’t connect to the internet? Who makes sure our contractors are paid on time? Who creates all our marketing material? Who designs the website and prepares its content? More than ever I’ve had to be so structured and organised (those who mocked my OCD, who’s laughing now!) but luckily, I have two business partners that can share the workload.

Not another recruitment company!

As of December 2016, there were almost 24,000 registered recruitment agencies in the UK and that figure’s rising, rapidly. In an industry whose general reputation diminishes little by little on a daily basis (every 3rd world problem is a recruiters fault, right? Ha!), you’ll probably be right in thinking ‘who in their right mind would want to start their own recruitment business?!’. I’m under no illusion that our biggest challenge will be to build the Amicus Recruitment brand to be as reputable as humanly possible. The day I phone a business and I’m not met with ‘you’re calling from where sorry?’ will be a very special day indeed.

What’s the goal?

As mentioned above, the recruitment industry comes with a stereotypical tag wrapped tightly around its neck and it’s my personal goal to make sure that Amicus Recruitment doesn’t fall into that bracket. We aim to do that by treating people like people and not just a number.

As a recruitment consultant, I’ve been KPI’d to death throughout my recruitment career and I’ve sat and watched people lose sight of the fact that we’re here to help professionals progress their careers and to help businesses find the best people to help them grow but instead have just focused on irrelevant statistics.

People love to deal with people who they like and its absolutely baffling how many simply lose sight of this and think they can replace this fact with ‘more numbers’. That won’t happen here. We'll never lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s time for recruitment to move into the 21st century and we’re ready for the challenge of moving with the ever-changing demands that are expected of us.

Get in touch and join us on our journey, I have a feeling it’s going to be one hell of a ride! :)

Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)

Episode 50 | Managing Your Tech Team Effectively

Untitled (1000 X 1000 Px)

Episode 49 | Building Empathy & Trust Within Your Team

Untitled (1000 X 1000 Px)

Roundtable | Performance Management Culture Within Software Engineering

Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)
Website Blog (38)

5 LGBTQ+ Names in Tech You should Know

Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)
Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)

Episode 48 | Hiring a Diverse Team Without Overthinking It

9 (1)

Diversity in Tech: Where Are We Now? An LGBT History Month Feature

9

​Tips For Managing Introverts on Your Tech Team

Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)

Episode 45 | Psychological Safety in Tech Teams & How to Implement it

Copy Of Live Series Podcast Episode (1000 X 1000 Px) (1)

Episode 44 | Scaling Your Engineering Team Effectively