When a recruitment company needs to recruit, the pressure is on. Can they practice what they preach and put their money where their mouth is?
In 2013, Fred Howie, Owner of Howie White decided he needed a hand. He had been in the recruitment game long enough to spot a winner. And so he appointed David Taylor.
Fast forward to 2022, retirement (and the golf course!) beckoned and David took over ownership of Howie White.
David was keen from the outset to ensure that Howie White maintained its core values and processes that had made it a success for the past twenty four years. ‘If it ain’t broke…’ comes to mind!
“When you’ve got the rock solid reputation that Howie White have, I’d be mad to make sweeping changes,” says David. “We still have a number of clients who were with us on the day that Fred founded the firm 24 years ago. You don’t earn that sort of loyalty by not being good at what you do. So no, clients won’t see any huge changes to the way we do business, but I also need to make sure that we move with the times.”
Last year was a period of letting the dust settle after the disruption caused by COVID. Work patterns changed for a lot of companies; working from home and hybrid working became the norm; some companies didn’t survive while others did very well. However, in amongst the turmoil, recruitment still had to take place, although the big difference was now being done online and not face to face. David explains ‘to start with it all seemed very strange, but we came through it and, if anything, I think a lot of companies now prefer to use Teams, Zoom, Skype etc. It’s also something that we have adopted on a wider basis because we can speak to more candidates in a short space of time and also maintain close relationships with our clients.’
Something that certainly has changed over the last twelve months, is the number of clients who use Howie White Recruitment. You’ll need to take our word for it, but David has already attracted some very well known, big, household companies that want him to look after their recruitment. (Client confidentiality means we can’t name names, but we’ve seen the list.)
So, what is the marketplace looking like when it comes to recruitment?
“To be honest, even though there are, quite rightly, concerns about a recession, cost of living, industrial unrest etc., companies will always want good people and will spend money finding the right person. Good candidates are still in a very strong position and can lead the market to a certain extent. We’ve seen growth in all industries across all specialisms. We’re also doing an increasing amount of recruitment work across Europe and North America.
We’re fortunate here at Howie White in that we have a good spread of clients who need different types of candidates. It means that we’ve built a terrific network which allows us to move quickly to find the right person. Candidates are a bit more cautious of moving due to concerns about economic stability, but our experience gives clients and candidates confidence that we’ve done our homework and won’t push ahead with a project if it didn’t look right.”
As for 2023, David has a simple strategy.
“We’ll be building on the strengths that we already have and making ourselves as good as we can be…but there certainly won’t be change for changes sake. This business has been hugely successful for 24 years and I will ensure that our reputation continues to build. We are known as a company that is always willing to help, that wants to always find the right candidate and is interested in quality rather than quantity. That sort of reputation means everything.”
In other words, Howie White is in good hands with David Taylor leading from the front.
And everything is about to go full circle. David will, at some point in 2023 be looking to add a new member to the Howie White team. We suspect that he’s got a pretty good idea of the sort of person he’ll be looking for.