Defining Moments

After university I went to work for a large national recruitment organisation, starting at the bottom. I just wasn’t interested in building an empire. It’s all very sales orientated; the figures on the board are all that matter and you live and die by… read more

Defining Moments

I was being made to constantly travel across the country, and with a baby on the way I knew that that was something I didn’t want to continue. I had to figure out what I really wanted to do. So I started to think seriously about setting up my own… read more

Defining Moments

I wasn’t keen on starting it straight away as I had shares maturing in early 2008. I thought you needed quite a lot of capital to put into a new business so I couldn’t see the point in not waiting. Someone said to me, ‘If you’re not happy now, they’ll… read more

Lifestyle Story

The first day in the office was pretty bizarre. I was always used to phone calls and general chatter in the office but it was just silent. When there’s no phone calls coming in you’ve got to tell yourself that it’s not because no one likes you, it’s… read more

Secret

I would really advise going out and talking to as many people as possible about your idea, preferably individuals who’ve been there and done it because if you can get even one inspirational gem of advice, it will all have been worth it. Your business… read more

How I... Guide

When I started out, I didn’t have a bottomless pit of money by any means; my family and I risked everything to do this. We had to make sure that we could survive for the first three to six months because there was no guaranteed income. We didn’t… read more

How I... Guide

To get our name out as quickly as possible, we sponsored a few events hosted by the CIPD which is the professional body for HR. Suddenly our name went out to 2800 HR professionals and was associated with a well ran body. People started to ring up and… read more

How I... Guide

I worked very closely with a web development company who did a fantastic job of designing the website. It needed to be clear, concise and easy to use. If the client doesn’t understand the message, it’s going to take him twice as long to pick up the… read more

Pearl Of Wisdom

You can’t think, this could be the difference between paying the mortgage next month or not. You need to have the belief that you’re perfectly capable of delivering that service.… read more

Challenge

I knew that I was about to feel the force of a huge, national competition, and that took a lot to get my head round and it was a very difficult period. I also knew though, that I was definitely going to compete, and get my business off the ground.… read more

Challenge

One of the biggest challenges I faced was getting the name of the business, Exclusive Human Resources, into the market. Although I knew the market, HR, very well, I had no idea about how to create a brand, or what makes a good website. I definitely… read more

Success

When the clients and candidates started to come in, all of a sudden those databases and websites; systems that you’ve put in place, start to be tested, such as sending a CV out to a client. You’ve actually got someone who’s utilising the service that… read more