You founded Ionic Recruitment in the recession. How did you cope?
We started the business about four years ago, smack bang in the middle of the recession, which was good and bad at the same time. When the rate of redundancy was massive it was quite a challenge for us to get the business off the ground and starting to generate some form of momentum. However, we have been growing at about 40% year on year since we started the company.
During the recession it was a less crowded marketplace – a lot of our competitors had very well-established construction companies, while consultants had opted to move into other markets. It was a desperate time for the employees of construction companies because a lot of those individuals that were holding director positions were now doing labouring jobs to pay the mortgage.
How does your brand differ to other construction agencies?
I did quite a lot of analysis and research on our competitors, and construction historically is a very old-school industry. If you look at construction recruitment websites they are generally quite dark and have pictures of men in hard hats pointing at things. They don’t have that personal touch and feel. What we wanted to achieve was to give ourselves a bit more of a personality, while obviously still taking it seriously, to make us seem a bit more friendly and approachable.
What’s been your approach to hiring staff?
We have brought in a small number of experienced people who are leading the teams, but our best success has probably been in national apprenticeships, as well as bringing in people with sales experience and training them to do recruitment.
For example, two girls came in aged 18 and have been here for two and a half years. It has been a real success story for us because they have come in and worked their socks off. The key thing for us was getting people that wanted to learn and had an appetite for learning - the desire to want to know more.
When were you satisfied that the business was a success?
I am never satisfied – I don’t think I will ever get to that point where I am sitting there saying this is a success. The thing that drives me is that we can always do more. My proudest moment really was getting paid for the first time by a client - that first cheque that you receive from a client with your company name on.
Some other high spots for me personally were helping individuals back into work who hadn’t worked for a long period and helping secure them a permanent job and get them back to where they belonged. I still get a buzz and satisfaction in helping people get a new job.
Is there a skills shortage in the construction industry?
In terms of candidates, we have got a database of around 72,000 people. We did an exercise about three months ago where we rang every single housing manager in our database. A third have left the industry – there’s very little new blood coming in.
During the recession companies haven’t been recruiting. As the market conditions have been improving the private developers have come out of hibernation. It has become this perfect storm where you have industrial growth and everybody wants the same person. Salary scales have absolutely ballooned and they are going through the roof because the companies are bidding against each other to get people.
What’s next for you and Ionic Recruitment?
I have been asked to go and speak to a school about recruitment and also about construction – I think more needs to be done at a school level to encourage children to move into construction.
As for the business, we’re looking at hopefully trying to grow the workforce by 25% next year, all the while getting the brand out there into the marketplace.
What advice would you pass on to budding entrepreneurs?
The main three things I would say are follow your gut, trust your instincts and don’t win business by being the cheapest company out there. There’s sometimes a natural feeling that you have to win business by being cheap. The key differentiation is quality not price.
Martyn Makinson is managing director of Ionic Recruitment.
Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.
