A Return to Recruitment: Building Success in Digital

After a hiatus from the world of recruitment to raise her son, Rachel joined the Digital team here at Heat to build out her Controls and Automation division.

As a fully remote member of Heat, we decided to sit down with Rachel to discuss her experience of returning to recruitment, building a successful contract division, and why she chose to join us over other agencies.

“I had been in the recruitment industry for around 7 years before I took a career break to raise my son. It wasn’t an easy decision to take, but I just couldn’t commit to the hours, and with the stress of a newborn baby, maintaining my career in recruitment just wasn’t viable for me at the time. I wanted to dedicate that time and energy to raising Harry. But, when he started school, it felt like the right time to return. And, in January of this year, that’s what I did.”

So, why did Rachel choose Heat?

“There are a number of reasons why I felt that Heat would be the right fit for me, but the big thing that swayed me here was the ability to work remotely and the level of flexibility on offer. I’m based in Cornwall, which is a beautiful part of the world, and I love living here. I wasn’t willing to compromise on location and move homes, but equally, I also couldn’t commit to travelling much either; I spoke to other agencies too, but they wanted me to go back to Birmingham, which is where I was originally based, a couple of times a month. That just wouldn’t be feasible or desirable for me. Being able to work around my son was my main requirement for a new role, and that really and truly has proven to be possible with Heat. In fact, not long ago my son actually had an accident and I had to take time off to take care of him at short notice, and Heat has been totally flexible and allowed me to work around that.”

“ I wasn’t willing to compromise on location and move homes, but equally, I also couldn’t commit to traveling much either... Being able to work around my son was my main requirement for a new role.”
But building out a successful contract desk hasn’t come without its challenges…

“If I’m honest, I was apprehensive about coming on board to start a brand-new desk up. It’s definitely harder than what I was doing before, and I’ve been out of the game for so long so I worried I would be rusty. I knew starting on a cold desk would be really challenging, and the first few months certainly were. I found myself questioning my ability and thinking ‘Can I really do this?’, but in all honestly I think that’s only natural. I knew it would take some time to find my feet, so I kept pushing and putting the work in, and I’m seeing the results now because of this. Every recruiter will tell you that finding that ability to persevere and keep carrying on is what will enable you to start seeing success, but I also owe a lot to our internal team. The level of support and training I’ve had from our managers and from our L&D specialist Nathan has really helped me get to where I am now.”

So, where is Rachel on her journey now?

“I’m fortunate to have acquired some steady clients now and am seeing a pretty regular influx of roles as a result of this. I work closely with contract PLC Programmers and Project Managers, placing them into new positions and matching them up with the right clients. But although I do work on a contract desk, I also work closely alongside our permanent recruitment team as well. It’s pretty closely knit within Digital, and I’ve been surprised by how well-integrated our different subdivisions are and how closely we can work together to help one another. My next challenge will be building out my team and having someone come in to work alongside me as we grow and expand; the Digital and Tech sphere, within contracting in particular, is such an exciting space, with new innovations and rapid evolutions happening all the time. Everyone always says that digital is the future, and I think that’s true. There’s such a wealth of opportunities out there, and it would be awesome to have a team to tackle it and continue to expand on the success we’ve been seeing in this area.”

“Everyone always says that digital is the future, and I think that’s true; digital contracts is such an exciting space, with new innovations happening all the time, and a wealth of opportunities available.”

Contractor Testimonial

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