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Welsh Recruitment meets… Mike Ruddock, Commercial Development Manager, Acorn Recruitment
Many people will be wondering how you found the transition from rugby coach to Commercial Development Manager at Acorn?
The transition has gone very smoothly, largely I believe because of the fantastic support shown to me by my new colleagues at Acorn. Another reason is that I have witnessed a large number of similarities between operating at sport’s highest level and a large business such as the one I am now involved with.
I think the attributes of top leaders and the techniques of good leadership are fundamentally the same in both sport and business. There’s a complete parallel. Running a successful company you need many of the same skills as you do to run a successful sports team, such as passion, determination, ambition and of course patience.
And I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who is so passionate about his business, clients and people than Matt Southall, the founder and Managing Director of Acorn.
I once heard Sir Clive Woodward say, “Show me a person who’s running his own business and is not passionate about it and you’ve shown me someone who’s going to fail.” I couldn’t agree more.
What are your main roles and responsibilities?
Working alongside Dan Langford, Acorn’s Group Director of Marketing & Communications, I spend a considerable amount of time developing new client relationships and ensuring existing clients are receiving the best possible service from Acorn.
My role also involves working with Acorn’s HR consultancy division and contributing to Acorn client learning and training programmes. I am closely involved with the head of Acorn’s HR Services Division, Pat Kiely, developing and rolling-out a new programme aimed at helping companies and organisations make the best of their team leaders.
For this, we analyse personnel development needs against business objectives/strategy and identify the challenges this presents to leaders/teams in terms of skills, values, behaviours etc. We carry out pre-programme assessment/questionnaires and translate findings into a programme for employers to participate in.
What areas of recruitment does Acorn specialise in?
The Acorn Group (www.acornpeople.com) is one of the UK’s leading recruitment and training companies and is the largest agency in Wales. It offers permanent, temporary and contract recruitment supported by a portfolio of training, learning and development solutions.
Operating from its South Wales Head Office at Celtic Springs just outside Newport, South Wales, many of Acorn’s specialist divisions such as Acorn Permanents, Services, Contract Management, Construction, Technical & Engineering, Rail & Civil, Nursing & Healthcare operate, and also the highly regarded Learning & Development Division.
What changes have you seen in the Welsh recruitment industry since you have been appointed?
Clearly, the economic landscape of Wales continues to evolve. We see less manufacturing companies and much greater involvement of the service sector in generating employment. Even in the relatively short period I have been with Acorn, this trend has continued.The challenge is clearly to strive for an economy based on higher skills
It is tremendously exciting to be with a company that is responding extremely well to these changing demands on the recruitment sector. After all, the fortunes of the recruitment sector are inextricably linked to the overall health of the economy. Therefore recruiters such as Acorn are becoming increasingly indispensable in the search for suitable talent as the UK is seeing significant skills shortages in certain sectors.
How is Acorn responding to these changes?
Acorn is extremely well placed to respond to change because we have a large enough UK base to cover the entire recruitment sector, via our capacity and knowledge, while we are also local enough thanks to our local branch network to respond quickly and efficiently to local need.
Acorn also has a very flat and agile management structure. Our flexibility and swift decision making processes continue to serve us very well. Supporting this is a sophisticated customer satisfaction measurement process which measures us demonstrably across every sector in which we operate.
What does the future hold for Acorn?
Since entering into a long-term partnership with Synergie of France, a leading European recruitment consultancy, a little over 12 months ago, it has been Acorn’s stated objective to treble annual turnover in the UK to more than £100m (2004/05:£38.5m) during the next three years through organic and acquisitive growth.
The Acorn brand is well known and respected in Wales however, the company has over the past 2 years opened or acquired new branches in new geographic areas where the Acorn brand is a new proposition – Bristol, Wrexham, Preston, Runcorn and most recently Gloucester.
The board has stated publicly is sees us achieving this growth organically, via the expansion of our branch network into new geographical areas, and by shrewd acquisition when an appropriate opportunity arises.
In this issue we have featured the benefits of online recruitment, what are your thoughts on this advertising alternative?
The internet has arguably been one of the most significant factors in the development of the recruitment sector in recent years. The internet gives you access to a much wider candidate pool than traditional recruitment methods.
Many European and international candidates use the internet to source new employers. What’s more, 98% per cent of graduates, 93% of IT specialists and 95% of scientists use the internet as part of their daily routine. For employers trying to recruit these types of workers the internet is the obvious choice.
Of course, those looking for manual or non-skilled workers may not benefit from online recruitment, which emphasises the role that remains for an agency such as ours with an extremely strong branch network and high street presence
As a role model yourself what advice would you give someone thinking about a career change?
Changing careers can vary in difficulty depending on your specific situation therefore I would never seek to provide a catch-all answer. I can only speak personally, and say it has been a hugely enjoyable change in profession for me. I will never lose my enthusiasm for the game of rugby and the fantastic people that are involved in it, but I feel my new experiences working for Acorn have helped my individual development enormously.
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