The Supply Chain Social - Interview with Andy Ince - Director at Supply Chain Recruitment Limited

Name: Andy Ince
Company: Supply Chain Recruitment Limited
Position: Director

What did you want to be when you were at school?
I cannot honestly remember, feels like a lifetime ago!

When did you first start out in the Recruitment industry?
Around 16 years ago, had the opportunity to be a junior consultant for a leading high street recruiter. Spent a year there then wanted to find a niche division to specialise in. I was offered a role in either Law recruitment or Supply Chain Recruitment. Law seemed rather saturated at the time and there were literally only 3 companies specialising in Supply Chain in the UK at the time so I opted to join one of those

How did Supply Chain Recruitment come about?
Spent 6 years with leading UK recruiter within this field and decided to work for myself. Set up Supply Chain Recruitment approximately 8 years ago

What kind of jobs does Supply Chain Recruitment specialise in, and which regions do you cover?
We cover the whole of the UK specialising in most areas of Buying, Supply Chain & Logistics. From Heads of Procurement to a Logistics Planner/Analyst. We tend to fill a lot across Supply Chain Planning

What sets Supply Chain Recruitment apart from your competitors?
An honest and simple approach. I don’t work on volume recruitment but tend to have a really high placement ratio and I believe these are due to some basic factors:

Honest Communication
• Always inform candidates the status of their application. Keep all parties regularly updated.  I always find it alarming how many candidates tell me other recruiters do not return their calls or even acknowledge their applications. Don’t be scared of giving negative feedback, people would rather know.

Listen to the Client
• Technical and personal spec is paramount but once you have this info the most important part is to only send an applicant’s CV if you really believe they could get the job. I would rather only send a couple of CV’s for a position knowing that either one could actually get the job than send half a dozen hoping for the best. Some recruiters send huge shortlists of candidate CV’s just because they have seen a buzzword repeated from the job spec to the CV – this approach never works and wastes a lot of time. Work in partnership with the client to fully understand their requirements.

What's been the biggest challenge you and the company have faced since launch?
We started trading just before the global financial crisis (credit crunch) lots of agencies went out of business or heavily downsized during this time so although it was a very stressful time I’m quite proud that we as a small independent were able to make it through that period and still be standing 8 years later.

There can be no doubt that the rise of social media has had a significant impact on the recruitment industry. How has social media changed the way you work?
Absolutely. There have been job boards for many years but Linked-in have changed the game somewhat because although majority of contacts on Linkedin are not actively looking, it does give you potential access to future potential applicants. It is also very useful in researching clients.

How important are job boards within your marketing strategy?
There will always be a requirement for job boards simply because it attracts candidates who are actively looking at that present time

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
Don’t rely on others, just concentrate on your own thing

What one piece of advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs starting out?
A lot of them do not make it, but the ones who do just keep trying. Above all else you need to be self motivated. I’ve worked with some excellent recruiters over the years but they tend to need micro managing in order to deliver results. Just go for it!

What's the latest news at Supply Chain Recruitment?
We have just been awarded sole supplier status for Supply Chain & Senior Logistics appointments for a major (£1b) UK business. This is after having the best placement record with them over the last few years when competing against some of the largest UK agencies.

Where would you like Supply Chain Recruitment to be in 5 years’ time?
We will always remain a small independent but niche recruiter. So long as we continue to deliver a great service to our customers, candidates and we keep beating most of our competitors in actually filling roles then I’ll be happy.