Behind the business with First Class Technical

North East technical and engineering recruitment specialists, First Class Technical, have enjoyed continued success with the growth of northern offshore and subsea industries. James Gill, consultant at the firm, takes Bdaily behind the business.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

The business launched last September and is therefore relatively new. That means we’re still consolidating our position and growing our brand, which is one challenge. This is nothing out of the ordinary for a start up however so I’d say our biggest challenge has been addressing poor perceptions of the recruitment industry as a whole and underlining exactly why we’re different and how we’ve set our stall apart.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

Our biggest achievement relates to the answer above. When we were establishing First Class Technical we carried out comprehensive research to further understand our customer base and their requirements to complement our existing knowledge, which was pretty extensive already. We found that many businesses had their fingers burnt by recruitment companies who professed to understand their sector but were in fact just looking to quickly place someone and move on.

Although concerning, this issue has actually given us a strong USP. We’re founded on the values of ethics and transparency, themes that run through everything we do and clients respond favourably to this. Equally, we only appoint people who have worked in the industries they’ll be serving so our expertise is very specific. Each team member really understands the challenges and opportunities our clients face because they’ve been at the coal face. It’s thanks to this we have won some very significant contracts and found ourselves ahead of financial targets, allowing us to open an Aberdeen operation sooner than planned.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

Like any ambitious business, our focus is on growing our headcount and adding recruiters and engineers to our portfolio. The industries we work with are very buoyant and include chemical and pharmaceutical, oil & gas, energy and utilities, renewables, automotive & supply chain and electronics & technology. Our objective is to continue to develop our network, which is already global and take a further bite out of the market.

There are also many debates being led by the government and business organisations here on the doorstep such as the CBI NE and NECC relating to UK and regional skills shortages. We are committed to having a voice within these discussions and to lobbying for change on behalf of our clients.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone planning their career, what would it be?

It’s a tricky one because everyone has different hopes and aspirations. I would say that when you’re thinking of career choices or progression, it’s always worth investigating which sectors are performing well both nationally and where you’re geographically based, if that is where you plan to stay. For example, many people aren’t aware that here in the North East one of the dominant sectors is chemicals. There is a skills shortage in the sector and the packages are competitive so with forward planning, that could be a lucrative and rewarding choice for the future.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in your region or generally, and where your organisation sits within it?

Here in the North East we supply the industries in which the region has worked hard to become world class and the outlook for these sectors is very encouraging. However, the pool of candidates to serve them isn’t growing, which will soon be problematic. For example, there are some positive developments in the pipeline for Nissan, Hitachi Rail, Siemens and SSI in Teesside (among others) and it is likely most of the talent will have to be sourced from outside of the region. Candidate supply is something that needs to be looked at closely and addressed fast.