posted 31st January 2023
The date was 19th March 2020. Lockdown. Supposedly it would be 2 to 3 weeks at home and then back in the office. It was not a situation that I had ever considered could happen in my work life. It was all very strange, but not life changing, we thought.
At that time TSR operated out of an office in Twickenham Green. We were eight people in total. A mix of two owners, a manager, and a number of younger consultants in their 20s. The biggest common denominator was that everybody lived within 3 miles of the office in places such as Richmond, Brentford Witton, and an outlier in Carshalton. You could throw over a towel over where everybody came from. The reality was a quite tired IT recruitment business that had, to some extent, lost its identity. This was an IT recruitment agency that was lacking a real direction. Figures down year-on-year and in need of a rebirth. We were operating with an outdated database, very limited marketing, and a website that had seen far, far better days. And unfortunately, many consultants lacked experience. All in all, it was quite a draining IT recruitment agency to run and it was difficult to drive change.
The company was operating in two main business areas: sales and technical staff, with a heavy focus in the Managed Service Provider space as well as Cloud Computing, cyber security, and other related technologies. The core IT sales and technical recruitment offering was good, but consultants really needed a bit more commercial and general life experience to offer a level of service that would please both candidates and clients.
Then, as today, there was a demand for what we did, but only if it was done well. The recruitment market existed, but clients in particular, are sceptical of the IT recruitment sector's ability to deliver in general. And we were worthy of some scepticism at that time.
Moving forward to the status of our IT recruitment agency in January 2023: It is a company that we can be really proud of. We have a new recruitment database taking advantage of the benefits that automation can offer to recruitment companies; 3 monthly emails to clients and candidates telling the story of the new TSR; a new constantly evolving and up-to-date website which is run and operated in-house; and an outstanding marketing programme, designed to create a modern image for a company offering high quality recruitment services for IT sales and technical staff into companies such as Managed Service Providers, IT security, and other VARs. Plus, we are currently recruiting for five of the top 10 system integrators within the UK. Average salaries of candidates that we have placed is now £58,000, which is up from £41,000. We are successfully operating and thriving with no offices and with a complete commitment to remote working.
How have we achieved this? We realised that we needed to expand the talent pool available to us. We made a conscious decision to move to a completely remote working model and we also decided that certain key functions could be fulfilled by people in part-time roles. Moving forward we have staff based in locations such as Cheltenham, Henley-upon-Thames, Brighton, Bracknell, Gerrards Cross, and others. Plus, due to the remote nature of the work, at times work is still being done to an amazing standard from places such as Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Just the one person in the Twickenham area (guess who - Gary, our Managing Director). The talent pool available to us by moving to a remote working model has massively increased. We also have high-quality people working part-time in marketing, operations, and LinkedIn outreach.
At the time of writing, we are having our most profitable month in the history of the company. Due to the quality of the staff that we are now able to recruit as a result of remote working and an intelligent use of offering high-quality, well paid part-time roles. I firmly believe we have transitioned from an agency model to being a true recruitment consultancy offering great advice, an efficient service, and finding high-quality candidates that our clients are delighted to recruit.
To summarise - Excited owners with a smile on their faces. And an exciting future and an amazing basis to build upon!
If you are an IT professional looking for a new role or a potential client looking to recruit new IT sales or IT technical professionals, we can help you.
Get in touch with us by emailing contact@tsrltd.co.uk or calling 020 3837 9180. We look forward to working with you!