Business is all about opportunity. It’s about capitalising on opportunities that present themselves, not just from a revenue perspective, but also about growth and prosperity in other areas.
The FJR Group handled the COVID-19 Pandemic exceptionally well and whilst we did take a slight hit on our Contract and Permanent figures, it’s a true testament to our staff and the new recruits to our business that we are growing faster than ever.
With that in mind, I was of the opinion that we could grow as fast, if not faster, in other markets in other countries and having always had a keen desire to work in the US at some point in my career, this seemed like an obvious place to start.
The one good thing that’s come out of COVID-19, is the ability to work anywhere you want remotely. This has allowed us to set off on our American Adventure from the living room of my house as well as being in the office in our gradual move back to normal working life.
Having worked in the UK sector for over 7 years, I have a solid understanding of the recruitment process and whilst there are many differences in how the UK/USA operate, I was confident that we could rise to the challenge.
There were some concerns, however. We are known for our exceptional quality of service to both candidates and clients in the UK and how we were going to replicate that when I was sitting 4000 miles away was daunting, and yet an exciting challenge.
As it stands, I have spoken to close to 500 candidates across the Business Change sector and have already formed excellent relationships with a lot of them. The level of trust is expanding all the time, and they are starting to put confidence in me as a recruiter that can find them the best opportunities on the market.
From a client perspective, I am astonished by how welcoming and interested our new friends across the Atlantic have been in finding out more about our business, our reasons for why we have set up in the US and they are willing to help me in any way they can.
We are a month into our FJR American Adventure, but already we have some excellent candidates in the process for interviews and I’m confident that they see can see out the process and join the company of their dreams.
As recruiters, this is the highlight of our role. We sometimes get a bit of flack in the market for the stereotypes that recruiters were known for back in the 90s, but I think that’s changed and certainly, I have been welcomed to the new US market with open arms from both candidates and clients.
We have set ourselves some bold and conservative targets to achieve by the end of 2021, but if we continue on the trajectory we have started, I do not doubt that we will go above and beyond the numbers we have set ourselves. As well as this, we are currently in the process of recruiting new Recruitment Consultants to join us on this very big, but exciting adventure!
I can’t wait to see what happens in the next 6 months!
James Holder – VP of Technology Contract Recruitment | USA