20 years ago Steve and I both started our career in recruitment on the same day, 2nd Oct 2000. We started in the Robert Half Bristol office with Steve working on the permanent qualified desk while I worked on the Temp team for Admin and Business support.
Fast forward 15 years and we had resigned from our jobs and started the process of setting up Element Recruitment. We launched Element in January 2016 and started working in a 3 person office in Whitefriars. We were shortly joined by Dan Morris, Tora Atkinson, Sam Thorpe and Anna Wozniak and we grew to a team of 8 turning over 1.2mil by the end of the first year. We were supported by our Clients and Candidates and were working with a wide variety of SME’s, Corporates, Charities and Public Sector organisations.
Over the years, we’ve bought our temp payroll in-house to provide a seamless service to our candidates and clients, we’ve hired an L&D Manager, we’ve appointed a qualified Mental Health First Aider, we’ve had 5 trips abroad, completed 2 successful Apprenticeships and navigated Covid-19 and the challenges that it’s caused.
We now have a team of 15 and have adopted a flexible work ‘anywhere and everywhere’ approach, which means our team now have the flexibility to work from home, an office, a coffee shop or wherever they like. Without a daily commute they have more time for exercise, family, voluntary work or even a lie-in!
This year we are putting in place a career plan for all of our employees so that they can clearly see what their career can look like at Element and identify any training and development they require.
In January 2021, Element will be 5 years old and I can’t believe the time has gone so quickly. Although we’ve had some dark days along the way, the majority of time has been positive and lots of fun. Steve and I often say we wish we’d started Element earlier as it’s the best business decision we’ve ever made!
The fun times are all down to the team we work with every day. We have a great mix of personalities and characters who all bring something different to the team dynamics. I continue to be impressed by the team; they are resilient and loyal and have coped through lockdown, furlough and uncertainty with professionalism and maturity. We are hoping to celebrate our 5th Birthday with a trip to Vegas next year (restrictions allowing), and it will be a great way to say thank you to the team.
Happy Anniversary Steve. Here’s to getting through the rest of 2020 in one piece!
