Why work at QD?

Why Work at QD?

Why write a blog on why to work for us? I don’t think an advert is sufficient and I don’t have the skill to distil what I think makes us great into something short and punchy. If I did it would probably be:

We care.

Let me expand under some categories:

  • Why did we start QD

The benefits of working for us under our four pillars:

  • Authenticity
  • Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Performance
  • What do you need to join us
  • What do we do

1 – Why did we start QD

Recruitment is a saturated market, but we felt there were key areas that other companies were falling short on; initially this was caring for their employees and utilising technology.

We also wanted to build a place where people want to come to work (including us, we work here too!).

These were our founding thoughts we developed these and built them into the model. I’ll tell you what that looks like now.

2 – Authenticity

This is our most important pillar.

It is critical to ensuring our Consultants feel a part of the business and it is critical to how our clients and candidates are treated.

How does this manifest in reality?

  • We have a financial model stretching roughly 5 years ahead; Consultant ‘targets’ (we call them cost lines) are set to this.

This means you know what we need as a business to pay the bills and achieve conservative growth.

It also means you aren’t put under excessive pressure which is what believe can lead to inauthentic behaviour with clients and candidates.

Finally, it means we can flex with your life; some quarters/years you’ll want to make lots of commission other quarters/years you won’t want to or might not be able to (life is like that!) so at least you know transparently what we need as a business from you.

  • Once a fortnight you have a Walk and Talk with one of the Directors to talk about you. Not work related (it can be if you like) but it’s a space to catch up on how you’re feeling.

3 – Innovation

Innovation applies to all areas of our business; not just tech, it runs through everything we do.

  • I believe all the points above and below in other pillars demonstrate our innovation in how we treat people and in how we operate.
  • Technology: we use Microsoft Dynamics and Power Apps. This is quite heavy hitting for a company our size but enables us to customise and enhance processes, to make your working life easier and to enable you to deliver more accurately and more quickly.
  • Our office is biophilic i.e., it has lots of different textures and lots of plant life along with lighting that creates interplay between light and shadow making it a less stressful place to be
  • We have a Sonos system that everyone has access too simply making it a nicer place to be (plus noise cancelling headsets for calls!).
  • We have and will continue to engage coaches to work with us and the team to improve well-being.
  • Once a month we have a Lunch and Learn; an opportunity for us to get together as a team to learn, talk, listen, and discuss.

4 – Sustainability

We believe that even as a small business it is critical that we act in a sustainable way.

  • We have electric pool cars so you don’t need your own car and can travel to work how you please
  • We are paper free
  • We are working on our carbon positive certification

5 – Performance

All of the above is great but we must perform for ourselves and for our clients and candidates.

  • Data – we call it performance data some people call it KPI’s. These are completely personalised to you, your strengths and weaknesses and your market. Everyone has different data, and it works, it enables you to monitor how you’re doing against targets but also you can say what you’d like to achieve, and we can generate the data to tell you how to get there.
  • To reward your performance

Industry leading commission: we want to share success with you! (35% over cost)

Kickers for reaching performance zones

  • It’s important we perform and are rewarded as a team, so we have a clear structure for hitting quarterly events targets; recent events have included all-inclusive trip to Amsterdam and amazing Airbnb weekends!
  • We have also created an org chart across the next 5 years’ so everyone can see the roles which are and will be available, everyone then has a career plan coupled with training to get there.

6 - What do you need to join us?

  • You must be a good person, well-intended, ethical, team player and honest.
  • You’ll need tenacity, staying power, drive, hunger, determination; recruitment isn’t easy especially when you’re starting out.
  • You need to be smart; able to pick processes up quickly and able to quickly digest information.
  • You need to be IT literate: a lot of your time will be spent working on our various systems.
  • You need to be a confident communicator with empathy; able to quickly establish rapport and trust.
  • Recruitment experience is great but not essential in any way

7 – What we do

In its simplest form we win clients who give us vacancies to work on, we then place people into those vacancies.

There is a lot involved in this process, here’s a list of bullet points of activities you can expect to undertake, roughly in order of what you’ll spend most of your time doing:

  • Managing the recruitment process: talking with the clients and candidates involved, organising and consulting to keep the process moving.
  • Speaking with candidates in your network (your network will be defined by your specialism for example Qualified Finance or Projects).
  • Searching for above candidates via various means (our system, LinkedIn, lots of 3rd party job boards).
  • Business Development: keeping in touch with current clients, meetings, approaching potential clients.
  • Most of your time is spent in the office working at a computer; this is why we’ve put so much work into making the office a great place to be!

That covers everything.

When we say we care we mean it and we prove it.

 

Contact Alec Quinton for a confidential chat about working at QD:

alec@quintondavies.com

01173636060