Video produced by Influence Media. Writeup from Tim Goodfellow.
After leaving the army, Glen Halliwell got a call from a friend asking if he wanted to become a recruiter.
“No one leaves school and thinks ‘I’m going to be a recruiter’,” says Glen. It’s often something you fall into. But now, 10 years later, he’s the founder and managing director of his own specialist IT recruitment firm, Principal IT.
We chatted to the director of C4DI’s official recruitment partner, about the value of recruitment to tech businesses, and how the sector has changed in the last decade.
Starting something new
For many companies, recruitment can be an essential tool for finding talent. No matter how it’s viewed by some, it’s a staple business service.
Glen set up Principal IT in January 2021, after working in the industry for some time. Its genesis came partly because of Covid-19.
Like many, Glen worked from home throughout the pandemic, and decided he wanted to work for himself. “I sought investment from another business, with the aim of addressing a gap in the city for a specialist IT recruiter. There's a lot of generalist recruiters in Hull but there wasn't really an out and out specialist for IT. So, I formed that off the back of 10 years in IT recruitment."
The company, Principal IT, has experienced fourfold growth in the two years since, suggesting he was right about the need for a specialist in the area. “We're getting more clients and candidates coming through every month."
It’s a promising start for the business and suggests the demand for IT roles is high. It also signals that companies have trouble attracting and finding tech and IT talent.
Technology is everywhere, we need people to run it
It goes without saying that technology plays an increasingly central role in just about every industry.
"Any business that doesn't embrace technology is going to struggle in the next 10 years,” says Glen. “And finding the right talent to implement that technology is going to be crucial for businesses."
It’s often no longer a case of adopting new tools to innovate, but rather to keep up with consumer demand. Neglecting the cloud, increased computing power and even things like no-code development, may be feasible now but soon it won’t be an option.
There’s now more demand than ever for talented professionals to facilitate said technology, which has had an impact on the recruitment industry. "10 years ago, IT recruitment was a lot smaller than it is today, but if you look out of an office window in Leeds today, there's probably fifteen IT recruiters. Recruitment is a multi-billion-pound industry. The IT side is going to take up a bigger part of that, hence the need for specialist recruiters to find those skills for companies."
In recruitment, candidates can generally be split into two camps: active and passive candidates. Glen explains that here.
“Active candidates are those who are actively applying for jobs and looking for work. Passive candidates will be open to hearing about a role if you present it to them. I'd say probably 80% of the people within IT are passive candidates.”
“Unless you've got the skills of knowing where to look, head hunting, the tools to do it, and the conversations to have with those candidates, companies will find it difficult to recruit [in this area].” This is the need, Glen and the team at Principal IT are trying to service.
Big changes in recruitment
Along with an increase in IT roles generally, there have been other changes to how recruitment is done in the last 10 years. Technology plays a central role in actually sourcing candidates.
“We use tools like LinkedIn recruiter and AI technology to source our job boards. Using this we'll put a search in for a role such as a .NET developer that will run every hour and give us the cream of the crop to send to our clients.”
Much of the recent changes are due to Covid-19. “It's a lot easier now to get hold of talent because of the [increase in] remote working.” More and more companies are taking advantage of the fact that many desk based roles can be fulfilled by someone on the other side of the country. This has opened up the market.
The roles they’re recruiting for have also changed. “The technologies I was recruiting for ten years ago are now completely obsolete. So, we're starting to work more with things like JavaScript and Flutter centric roles, mobile app development and augmented reality and virtual reality roles."
Glen points out that “COVID changed a lot of things around interviews as well. Even five years ago, people wouldn't offer jobs unless it was off the back of a face-to-face interview. Now I have clients that don't even meet the candidates until they've been working for the business for six to seven months, which in my head is a bit crazy, but that's the way the world's gone.”
For companies wanting to hire talented individuals, “speed is key”, says Glen. “If you get a candidate that comes to you and they tick 90% of the boxes, speak to them. Because if you don't, somebody else will.”
Opening the conversation
As mentioned above, Glen is keen to dispel the notion that recruiters are akin to used car salesmen (a trade which may be unfairly tarnished itself). He’s adamant that they are simply “a talent sourcing solution for our clients.”
"The biggest part of anyone's business is people. Without people there's no business. And recruiting and finding those people is difficult, especially in the current climate.”
"And we don't just find people; we give our clients advice on the software or technology they are recruiting for and what the trends are within those areas and what sort of salary brackets to expect."
Being a C4DI member and based in the co-working space here has helped alter that perception as they aim to deliver a better service.
“We've been able to speak to a lot more companies about their recruitment needs and what they want from recruiters. It means we can tailor how we approach new businesses."
They’ve also partnered with us to add even more value to our members. "We help run the C4DI job board. So, any adverts that go on the C4DI job board come through us first, we vet them and make sure they're going to attract the right candidates. And we also give people advice around salaries and where they should be aiming."
Saying yes to the future
And what about advice for those people looking for jobs?
“Be open minded. Sometimes the opportunity that presents itself isn't what you had been looking for. If I hadn't taken the opportunity to go into recruitment, I wouldn't be sitting here as the managing director of a recruitment company now. So be open minded and always be willing to have a conversation.”
Glen’s career has certainly been varied. After leaving school with no qualifications other than knowing how to kick a football he decided to join the army. His time there taught him lessons you can't teach in a classroom, many of which have helped him in business.
Upon leaving the army, Glen worked in various call centres. He’s happy to admit he was one of those people calling you whilst you’re having your tea to ask about PPI refunds, so the resilience learnt in the forces came in handy there.
He said yes to an out of the blue opportunity in recruitment, which is partly why we’re sat here today but his drive and vision to build something bigger are clear. It’s testament to the fact that no matter where you’ve been you can build a successful business.
“I didn’t have the best start in life, part of which was my own fault, but your past self doesn’t define how successful you will end up being. It’s the actions you take today and tomorrow which define you, something I want to teach not just my children but future generations of business owners.”