Warwickshire based company Buildout Recruitment have launched a 2022 hiring drive to support their continued growth. We spoke with Founders Jack Hurdley and James O’Donoghue to discuss the unique working environment, bringing more talent into the business and its future growth plans…
Q: Let’s start from the beginning, why did you start buildout?
Jack: “We wanted to do things differently, to offer a disruptive service to an industry that we genuinely believe can make a difference and execute it well. From a team perspective, we set out to build a working environment for people to be autonomous and ambitious and that allows them to progress.”
James: “We started a mission to genuinely improve the customer experience for scaling construction companies looking to attract, hire and retain the best talent. As employers, we wanted to give more people the opportunity to get into the recruitment industry and carve out a meaningful career. Recruitment is so underrated, there is no other industry like it where you can join an organisation with little or no qualifications and progress through the ranks having such an impact.”
Q: Why should someone join buildout?
James: “I founded this business in the mind of making it a company that I wanted to join when I was first interested in recruitment. We understand that although as a team we are all pulling for the same goal and collaborate as such, that each individual is there to grow and develop themselves and has their own personal goals to achieve both inside and outside of work. Fulfilling the potential of our candidates careers and clients businesses is what drives us everyday and we like to do the same for the people who work for buildout. Jack and I founded the business back in 2017, and it remains very much a founder-led business. I work closely with all members of the team, mentoring and training them and offering guidance and motivations, we’re structured to eliminate bureaucracy and to be accessible. We also offer unlimited holiday, which is something that has proved popular with the current team and is evidence of the trusting environment that we have here.”
Jack: “Joining at this stage of the company’s early development, means that new team members are still very much part of our growth and as such have excellent opportunity for progression and therefore fantastic earning potential. We have a really unique culture driven by innovation and have very much got an open-door policy. We believe that there should be no barriers in a business that unnecessarily hold people back, our open-plan working environment means everyone in the team can work collaboratively and everyone is accessible meaning we are only one conversation away from making change and whoever within the business has the best solution or answer to a question, that’s the way it will be addressed. James and I promote individuals to be themselves and expressive of their views and don’t impose an unnecessary hierarchy, we want to allow people to be autonomous in the way that they work and be creative in what they can achieve.”
Q: What can you tell us about the short to medium term plans for the business?
James: “In the immediate to short term we will be doubling the size of the team and continue to deliver the quality and great work to the industry that we have become renowned for. Looking past that, we’re aiming to be known as the #1 talent partner for construction SMEs around the globe. We plan to be recognised as an international powerhouse in the construction market, disrupting the way talent acquisition is viewed for the construction industry along the way.”
Jack: “Tangibly, our talent partnership model is going to be a key driver to our growth in the short to medium term. We truly believe that transitioning to this way of working will not only improve the customer experience, but from an employee perspective it also allows them to focus on giving the best possible quality of service rather than being sales driven.
Q: How do you think the buildout workplace differs from your typical recruitment agency?
Jack: “Internally, we’ve got a really unique culture which is driven by the way that we are structured and work as a business. We’re set up to achieve maximum levels of collaboration rather than as isolated consultants and everyone is here to help each other to achieve more.”
James: “The collaborative approach aligns our focuses and means we are all striving towards the same goal. Being part of our energetic team of individuals on an upward curve in their career gives the team a chance to develop as a person professionally, particularly increasing their confidence along with personal income. We’ve also got the ability to draw off the exceptional expertise of our best-in-industry board of directors who have 200 years of experience across construction, PR, finance and recruitment. We’ve worked hard to create an environment that is not only inspiring, but supportive and although intense and fast-paced at periods, day to day it’s a relaxed and trusting place to work. It’s a place for your ideas and entrepreneurial prowess to be expressed.”
What do you look for in a buildout employee?
Jack: “First and foremost, we want to see how driven and ambitious someone is and how their motivations align with the businesses. We want to maintain the environment we have here, full of energy and with a team of individuals with fun personalities and confidence.”
James: “I’m a big believer that attitude overrides experience or even talent. We’re looking to build a team of individuals that are motivated to strive to fulfil their potential and do something of meaning in the world. Key attributes of a buildout employee are being open-minded and a team-player. As we buildout our team and business, we want like-minded individuals who are also looking to grow and develop themselves.”
Apply here