Four years ago, we decided – in our 40s – to establish a business in the extremely competitive world of recruitment.
We are open and say it hasn’t been without its challenges – few business journeys are – but we’ve enjoyed pretty much every moment.
On our fourth birthday, we would like to share some key reflections in the hope it may help other start-up businesses in their decision-making process.
- One-hit approaches to business development don’t work: We spent a lot of time, energy and money in sponsoring events and awards in our first couple of years which on reflection gave us very little return. And, while networking has been an effective way of building key relationships for us, we would not have been successful if we had relied solely on our connections and referrals. A multi-faceted, strategic approach that fits your business is always better.
2. You can’t build a successful business without investing in marketing: We knew what we wanted to stand for at the outset and invested in building brand awareness and marketing Sitka very early on. We wouldn’t be here and have the reputation we have if we hadn’t continued to invest in marketing – even – and especially – in the midst of the pandemic.
3. U-turns are sometimes necessary: Earlier this year, like many others, Covid-19 forced us to go against the grain on our face-to-face approach to recruitment. We had to make a swift adaptation to virtual/telephone interviewing and meetings. Fortunately, we already had some strong relationships with clients and candidates that had been built on trust, which meant it was a fairly seamless move. That said, we really miss the human interactions and cannot wait to get back into the office and get out and about more to meet with our clients and candidates.
4. Growth goals needs to be balanced with values: When we set up, we were determined to ensure a work/life balance. Finding the right people to work with and focusing on maintaining those relationships that we spent years nurturing, is what has helped us maintain our ‘work to live’ ethos. As great as it feels to win new business, it does not compare to the satisfaction of successfully recruiting for a loyal client and then rewarding ourselves by spending quality time with the family.
In honesty, there are other lessons we have learned since we started and despite all the current uncertainty, we are looking forward to growing Sitka’s offering more over the next 4 years and beyond.
To find out how we can work with you, please drop us a line
Everything about Sitka’s approach is a breath of fresh air. I have worked with Sitka on both the candidate side and recruiter side and I have never had a better relationship with an agency. I trust them implicitly to provide a service that is above and beyond what you would expect a recruitment agency to do and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.
The whole recruitment process, led by Karen, was a really engaging and positive experience. I can honestly say it was the best interview I have ever had!
My recruitment experience with Sitka has been brilliant. I was dealing with Karen who is so friendly and attentive. She really listened to what it was I was looking for and put me forward for a role I am now in and love.
I felt like they truly cared and weren’t just trying to fill vacancies as quick as possible. Other agencies kept suggesting roles I had already said I wasn’t interested in. This wasn’t the case here, and they really wanted to find the right person.
Ita took the time to ask about our business, our culture, the role and really understood what we were looking for. This resulted in a really straightforward recruitment process. All of the candidates put forward were of exceptional quality and I would definitely recommend Sitka to my colleagues and network.
The recruitment process was excellent. Karen provided me with updates on a regular basis and the level of communication at all points was handled very well. The whole recruitment process was handled extremely efficiently from start to finish.
Sitka was honest all the way through and went above and beyond to make me feel prepared and ready for the interview. Everything went really smoothly and I had regular communication from Ita who made sure I knew everything I needed to along the way. I felt equally as important to the agency as the client and knew I could trust Sitka to represent me as a candidate.
I just want to say a big thank you to Ita for believing in me and being so supportive from the first LinkedIn message until I started my first week!