16 minute read
COVER STORY: ROB SHAW OF GLU RECRUIT
From a home office with no intention to expand, to an ever-growing revolutionising recruitment agency that has no desire to stop, Glu Recruit is a company you should know about. unLTD’s Rachel Measures spoke to founder and managing director Rob Shaw to find out more about the company’s recent growth, their innovative approach to partnerships and how being down-to-earth is perhaps the most disruptive thing a company needs to do in 2022.
When Glu Recruit was started by founder and managing director Rob Shaw in 2016 from his own home, he never expected the business to be where it is now – expanding rapidly, registering a record number of candidates in 2022, as well as building more new client partnerships than ever before.
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Aiming to use his extensive knowledge after a decade in the recruitment industry in Yorkshire and the Midlands, Rob set up the business not to revolutionise the market or with any insanely wild idea to go against the grain, but simply because he wanted more time at home to support his family as he welcomed in two newly adopted children, a four-yearold boy and his 11-month-old sister.
Wanting what he called a ‘lifestyle’ business, set up at home from just an IKEA desk, a laptop, and a phone, he always viewed the venture as something that would stay small, simply allowing him the flexibility to do the school drop-offs and pickups while still paying the bills. That’s where Glu Recruit started.
With over 50 years’ combined experience within the recruitment industry and a drive to challenge the norm, Glu, an independent recruitment agency based in Rotherham, is there to help employers and job seekers, primarily in the Sheffield City Region, find their perfect match by delivering exceptional recruitment solutions.
Rob said: “Glu grew organically over time to a point where there’s 14 of us now. I’ll be honest, that was never the intention at all, but we’ve gone with it as we’ve grown and while the opportunities are there.”
Now, with their sixth birthday fast approaching this month, the business has
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evolved vastly and is looking forward to its next phase as it opens a second office in the centre of Sheffield.
Rob added: “I’m always looking for opportunities for us to grow as well as provide more opportunities to the people who work here. We must keep developing and retaining them, and the Sheffield office is an excellent part of this.
“We’ve placed candidates all over the country and some in Europe as well and we do temporary, permanent, or contracted recruitment across our specialist areas, and most recently, we’ve set up a specialist construction arm of the business too.
“Our new offices, based in Electric Works, will provide a great foundation for us to do more business in the Sheffield area and, much like the construction arm of the business, it’s something we might be able to replicate in the future in other towns and cities locally.”
When asked what else is happening for Glu Recruit, Rob joked that he doesn’t sleep much.
He said: “There’s so much happening at the moment; we’re always looking for ways to be disruptive as a business and challenge the norm of the industry and the stereotypes that come with being in recruitment.
“We’re always trying to be fresh, modern and have the best, most current and upto-date processes in place to ensure that people are getting the best candidates in the most efficient way.
“To make that more accessible for people, we expose them to the best jobs on the market to save them time and hassle, but we also set up excellent partnerships and collaborations with other brands and businesses. For example, we work very closely with unLTD, and they sponsor our Office Heroes Awards, which happen every December.
“Most recently, however, we collaborated with a Sheffield business called Whyy Change. They provide accredited training courses for businesses
across the region. Through this, we’re looking at value-added and not just transactional recruitment – always looking at what else we can offer companies to ensure they get the best people for their vacancies and hold onto them.
“Whatever I say might not sound particularly against the grain, but for us, the thing that is our primary disruptive innovator is our down-to-earth, personable and non-corporate recruitment style. A lot of other recruitment agencies are very transactional, almost CV farming-esque, and are focused on experience and skills rather than matching them to the company based on culture and potential.
“Skills and experience are important, but what is truly great is finding a person with that magic formula who will fit in with the culture of the business. Ultimately, they will have the best chance of staying long-term and sticking. That’s where the ‘Glu’ thing came from – the stick of the placement – and the bond between our clients and our candidates.
“As part of this, we try our best to be personable, friendly and approachable. Our website has been designed to be very intentionally cartoony and humour-led using local language – we’ve even used ‘ey up’ in our email address. We’re not the kind of business that has two people on a website shaking hands, wearing suits with their briefcases in hand.”
It’s clear that Glu Recruit intentionally aims to break that norm and bring a new lease of life to the recruitment industry. The way the company is so unapologetically down-to-earth is precisely how they remain disruptive and forward-thinking.
Things have changed massively since the COVID-19 – with so many businesses now ditching the strict dress code and adopting a more casual approach – and Glu’s relatable style really reflects this. Even on their website avatars, they don’t hide their employee’s personalities, and Rob’s own avatar shows off his tattoos.
He said: “Without sounding but there was an opportunity to be had because many agencies were nervous about retaining their teams.
“We continue to utilise the opportunities that appear. So, we take chances, try to be innovative, and do the unexpected, but it’s always thought out and seems to be working for us so far.
“Similarly, we work closely with our charity partners. We’ve been supporting Paces for the last couple of years, and we’ve helped them launch a business club named ‘Club 300’ - we’re one of 12 founding members – and it supports them while further expanding our brand in the business community.
“As well as this, we’re working with Cavendish Cancer Care on their Master Cutler Challenge, which launched on March 9, helping raise money through various activities.
“What is very clear is that we’re always open to opportunities, particularly those for the greater good.
“We’re really excited for everything right now, and to celebrate that, we’re having a sixth birthday and Sheffield office launch party at Steel Yard Kelham on July 14. We can’t wait to get loads of businesses in the room – those we work with and those we don’t – to celebrate such a big landmark for us.”
Glu Recruit’s culture continues to be centred around its core company values - collaborative, personable, committed, distinct, and the long-term stick of their relationships and placements.
Their experienced team recruit permanent, contract, and temporary workers on a nationwide basis across key sectors such as office support, sales, creative and digital, IT, warehouse and driving.
arrogant, I think if you’re the kind of person that would take offence to me having my tattoos on our website or my email signature, we’re probably just not right to work together. We’re just us, and being approachable and working collaboratively with businesses, rather than just order taking and ticking boxes, is truly the most important thing.
“We’re very consultative in the way that we do business. In the current marketplace, where it’s very candidate-short and vacancy-rich, we’ve got to work closely with employers on filling their vacancies. It’s a very, very difficult market right now, so while an organisation might be going out to market for a particular skill or specific experience, it just might not be available.
“That’s where working closely, collaboratively and innovatively with businesses is useful. We can figure out what other options might be available to them and make sure they fill their vacancy gap in the best way.
“We can also direct candidates to training from Whyy Change to get them where they need to be, or we can help someone internally at a company progress, helping employers think outside the box by considering different possibilities within their organisations. For example, we might more easily backfill a position left behind by someone progressing into the original role we were trying to fill.
“We’ve seen accelerated growth over the last 12 to 24 months. We never sit around waiting for things to happen; we take a lot of chances and make things happen.
“Looking back to lockdown, many recruitment agencies scaled back in staffing numbers, which made sense, but I decided to scale up instead. It was a very brave decision at the time, and some people would have said we were borderline stupid for it,
If you are looking for a new challenge in a job or a bright new spark to recruit for your team, contact the team and let Glu Recruit exceed your expectations. Head to their website www.glurecruit.co.uk or get in touch via eyup@ glurecruit.co.uk.
RUNNING TEAM FROM THE 2019 EVENT’
SHEFFIELD CHAMBER SUPPORT RUN FOR ALL
On Sunday, September 25, six members from across the Sheffield Chamber Council and Board will come together to tackle the Sheffield 10K Corporate Challenge, supported by Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.
Antony Davies, Tim Latham, Tim Elgar, Alex Hill, James Berry and Steven Cheng will be representing the Chamber, and we can’t wait to see them enjoying the glorious sights of the Steel City, supporting other teams, and working together to complete the event.
The Board exists to assure the Chamber achieve their strategic goals, whereas the Council is made up of elected members from the region’s leading firms. They serve as the Chamber’s main forum for discussing business concerns and making decisions. Both make an important contribution to the Chamber’s overall goal of making Sheffield one of the UK’s best places to start, grow and run a successful and sustainable business.
The Chamber is highly committed to employee wellbeing, as well as encouraging the people of Sheffield to get active and live a healthy lifestyle. This is why we have chosen to partner with Run For All, who are also delighted to have Sheffield Chamber on board. Together, Run For All and Sheffield Chamber look forward to seeing increasing numbers of local businesses using running as a way to boost office morale and enjoy team achievements outside of the work environment.
This is more important than ever after the gruelling and lonely restrictions that have been in place over the last two years. With so many people now working from home, it’s vital that businesses find opportunities for their employees to connect with each other and have fun outside of a work environment.
The Chamber team will be joining all corporate entrants in the hospitality area where they will be sporting their matching team t-shirts, networking with others, offering a friendly face before the race and enjoying a post-event refuel after battling it out amongst the other teams on the day.
Whether your team are seasoned pros or first-time runners, everyone is welcome at this fun-filled event day. With additional perks to in the exclusive race package, it is a fabulous opportunity to gather the corporate community, with a little healthy local competition involved too.
Register your interest today via corporate@ runforall.com or sign up on the website: https://tinyurl. com/2p8waf8s
SECURING YOUR ASSETS
BY SAM LEEDER, DIRECTOR AT ACTUS INSURANCE
Our columnist explains the steps you need to take to offer flexible working.
MANAGING THE RISKS OF A FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE
The return to work postCOVID has obviously been different from one business to another and we are seeing a wide range of approaches from full time back at work, permanent home working or a hybrid approach. There are also those workplaces which by nature are unable to offer home working.
Whilst businesses have largely been able to adapt to these new arrangements, they do bring increased pressures on the business and additional risks that need to be correctly managed.
It is incredibly important going forward that all employees are aware of what is expected of them and what they can expect from their employers.
Given the new approach to work for many, I suspect most companies haven’t reviewed their employment documentation such as contracts of employment and employee handbooks. This begs the question – are employees now totally clear of their new working arrangements and do their contractual documents reflect this?
Managing your workforce in a small to medium-sized business can become a real headache as typically we don’t have the expertise in-house to deal with issues. We also don’t have the resources to employ a HR manager.
If you don’t already engage the services of an Employment Law professional we would strongly recommend looking into this as you could easily find yourselves running into problems if you haven’t undertaken a review of your employment documentation in the last two years.
Should you find yourselves with a problem there is an insurance policy available which can support you through it, known as Employment Practices Liability. Many of these policies also provide an advice line which you can refer to on a day-to-day basis to head off potential issues ahead of time.
Employment Practices Liability
The cover is designed to provide you with the legal support you need in the event of a potential employment tribunal. In addition to this, the cover will also pay any awards made against you should the tribunal not go your way.
If arranged correctly, this cover will support you regardless of whether you have followed the correct procedures or consulted with a specified advice line.
Beware however of cheap imitations!
There are a number of providers of HR services, who also supply an ‘insurance backed’ helpline service. Whilst these services are cost-effective and have a place, the insurance cover provided comes with conditions which make claiming particularly difficult.
It may now be worth reviewing your insurance provision and considering whether you can afford to ignore the protection that Employment Practices Liability cover can provide.
If you’d like to know any more, feel free to get in touch on 0114 398 4498 or visit: www.actusinsurance.co.uk
PREPARE TO BE AMAZED BY BARNSLEY STUDIO
A specialist studio, based in Barnsley, is using the power of bespoke 2D animation to help clients share important eco-friendly messages with their audiences.
B Animated specialises in the creation of 2D animations to promote businesses, services and products.
The business, situated at the town’s Digital Media Centre on County Way, was founded by award-winning designer Laura Blackburn in 2018.
Recently the studio has been working on a range of animation projects which focus on the promotion of sustainability and low and zero carbon initiatives.
This includes work for The Seam, Barnsley’s Digital Campus, where B Animated created animations to promote the site’s development, including the upcoming Active Travel Hub, which encourages visitors to walk to the campus or travel by scooter or bike, and the use of electric vehicles. The campus will also use the latest digital technologies to be a testbed for future sustainability practises. Another project saw them create an animation for Zero Carbon Cities, a project led by Manchester City Council to help seven cities with the transition to zero carbon.
This was then shared at an event for key partners and stakeholders to promote the work being done.
According to Laura, 2D animation is a great way for clients to present information about the work they are doing or service they provide in a clear and eye-catching format, which appeals to their target audience.
She said: “Zero and low carbon projects have been a really popular sector for us over the last few months as businesses and cities look to become more environmentally friendly and meet targets around reducing emissions.
“Using 2D animation, such as an animated explainer video, enables businesses to present what can sometimes be complicated information or infographics in a more visual and interesting way.
“These could then be used, for example, in presentations to other businesses or the public, informing them of the key facts of a project.
“We’ve had some great feedback from happy clients who say using an animation in this way has really helped them to create an engaging presentation which captures their audience’s attention.
“These have been great projects to play a part in and we’re looking forward to helping more clients share their eco-friendly credentials in the future.”
As well as carving out a niche in the sustainability sector, Laura and her team have also been kept busy with global client projects - and have recently seen their work go Stateside.
In collaboration with our client Science in Sport, they worked on artwork for New York City FC’s home ground, the Yankee Stadium, producing eyecatching LED strip advertising which runs the entire span of the pitch.
Other clients B Animated has worked with include Barnsley Council, Barnsley Premier Leisure and Enterprising Barnsley and as the business prepares to celebrate its fourth anniversary later this year, there are more exciting projects in the pipeline over the coming months.
