Recruiters, do they really work?

Recruiters, do they really work? Stopgap certainly helped me. We all have those moments that change our career path. I was talking to a friend the other day and for us, that moment was finding Stopgap; A Recruiter with a difference!

For those of you who don’t know Stopgap they were one of the first marketing recruitment companies with a difference. All their consultants are marketers specialising in freelance and permanent work on both agency and client side. The candidate is as important as the client.

Originally started to provide a much needed short term staffing solution for marketing teams across the UK. At the same time, giving marketers the opportunity to fill in between permanent jobs, pursue a portfolio career, focus on what they were good at rather than just career development and in many instances get a better work life balance. Many of the mums, electing to take contracts that allowed them to be at home with the kids over the school summer holidays.

Stopgap, was the recommended recruitment agency

Having come to the UK for a role in publishing. I learnt the company had plans to sell its holdings and I would be made redundant, scary when you just moved your life across the pond. I panicked and found another job in a week. After a year and a bit in a toxic work environment with a long commute I decided to leave and quit with no other job in sight. Yikes!

Stopgap, was the recommended recruitment agency, they found me a new role in local government working with five others to take a non-profit company from deficit to profitability. I was way out of my comfort zone. We were tasked with setting up a business in recruitment, outplacement and coaching.

It was an amazing learning experience. I met incredible people including my boss and small team who were exceptional. I learned so much starting with a crash course in local government, recruiting a team of 9 Sales and Marketers’ and the importance of teamwork. We were three months away from turning a profit and public funding was withdrawn. It was my first time making people redundant and myself.

Understanding and articulating my transferable skills helped me make the change

I found myself back at Stopgap where I was asked to cover a maternity leave for their IT Telecoms, Publishing and Government team. When I started I was out of my comfort zone yet again but able to utilise my sales, marketing and management knowledge. Understanding and articulating my transferable skills helped me make the change to working in various industries and roles.

A few months in I was asked to take on the Genie account which was a spin-off of BT and the first to offer WAP, that is where I met Donna, now a lifelong friend who was their marketing director, my team ended recruiting her whole marketing team. As two Canadians it marked the beginning of a great friendship.

That was a long time ago but what Stopgap and their consultants did was think outside the box and offer both of us opportunities to grow, learn and work outside of our comfort zone.
As recruiters, we believed we could do whatever we wanted in our career as long as we could highlight our achievements and underlying transferable skills, create a short focused CV and ace the interview. I went on to work in technology and now run my own business, Cooking up Success.

Recruiters helping people find the right jobs

Donna went on to do amazing work in Telecoms before heading back in Canada where she a successful business owner. We both agreed it is unlikely we would be on this path without the help of Stopgap so we want to raise a glass and say thank you to Claire and the team for believing in us and stepping outside the recruitment box, take the time to understand our skills and achievements and allow us to push our boundaries.

They were and still are a remarkable business, working on both client and agency side and focused on helping people find the right jobs and finding employers the best people for the role

If you want to make the most of your skills and achievements, working with recruiters transferable skills then contact me at Cooking up Success. I would love to hear from you?