The RI Awards 2018 – Musings of a Managing Director
The thing about business is, you always have to keep pushing forward. There’s always a new project to get your teeth into, a new idea you can’t wait to start, and a new milestone to reach. It’s exciting, unnerving, exhausting and exhilarating, all at the same time. And it leaves very little time to look backwards.
An opportunity to reflect truly doesn’t come along very often. Sometimes you may think “last year, I had no idea I’d now be employing X people, and I helped Y clients, that’s incredible!”, but the thought is quickly swamped by “ah, but next year, I need to do Z, so I can’t rest on my laurels”. But last week, we got the chance to really reflect on how far we have come as a business. We won an award!
Now it’s not every day one wins an award, particularly in business. It required an entire blog post dedicated to it, which is why the post is only appearing now. I hope you’ll find my musings will give you some insight into why receiving the award is such a personal honour.
If you’ve been following Ineo for a while, or if you’re one of our clients, you’ll already know our ambition: to become the technology solution provider of choice for all recruitment businesses. And on 22nd May 2018 (incidentally, my youngest’s 3rd birthday), Ineo Consulting Ltd won the award for “The Best Technology Solution” from Recruitment International (RI) in their prestigious Awards event in the UK for this year!
So, are we done? Feet up, relax? Absolutely not. But are we using this opportunity to take stock, and share with you our history and tell you how this came to be? Absolutely!
I am always very interested to hear about how people came to be where they are. The choices they made, the opportunities they took, the mistakes they fought to overcome. All of these things bring us to where we are now, and it’s so interesting to hear people’s stories. It’s probably why we are so open about ourselves, because you never know – it may inspire someone to go and grab what they want with both hands and hold on tight – it may be a bumpy ride!
I have worked in the Recruitment Industry for over 15 years now. Starting out, I had no idea that I’d end up so passionate about what I do. I started out on the IT helpdesk for a CRM provider, transferring into Training before then moving into Operations within a Recruitment Business. Through this time, I spent a lot of time thinking “wouldn’t it be great if…” – if we really could fix that bug in the system properly, if everyone had their own dedicated reporting tools bespoke to their business, if the system could do this AND that, if the system did ABC to save time doing XYZ, if, if if…
My eldest was born in 2013 and that’s when I really started to think seriously about how I could be making a difference to these businesses. I think when everyone has a child, they get some sort of hero complex and want to make the World an incredible place for that little bundle that relies on them for everything. Now, Superman I am not, and there are some things even Superman can’t handle. But, recruitment businesses, recruitment software, now that’s what I know, that’s what I’m passionate about, and I wanted to be the hero. Just after she turned 1, Ineo Consulting Ltd was an official registered business.
We have just had our 4th birthday, and in those 4 years, Ineo has evolved in a way that I couldn’t be prouder of. I have employees, sub-contrators, and incredible clients. I’ve made friendships, I’ve had the chance to network with some big names in the recruitment business, I’ve even spoken at an event. I have rolled out bespoke software solutions, I have advised on GDPR, and got my teeth into website design and marketing. My clients ask, and I do everything I can to provide, every time. I believe there is always a solution to a problem, and it’s my job to find it, implement it, and keep it running. Every single day is different, every day has a new stress, and not every day has a new reward. When you’re running your own business, there’s no 9-5, there’s no lunch break or brain switch off time. Sometimes you genuinely wonder why on Earth you decided this was a good idea. And sometimes something beyond expectations happens, and you are reminded that it has all been worth it.
Recruitment International have been working within the industry for over 30 years, so it’s fair to say they know a thing or two about it! The wonderful thing about these Awards are that the winner is not decided by someone who reads your website and compares it against the other nominees; your clients get to have their say, and a panel of experts review the comments and make their decision. It is never more humbling to hear that it is your clients, those you strive to go the extra mile for, who genuinely believe you are award worthy. And sure, everyone likes to fantasise it is them who will get to walk onto that stage and collect the award, but in all honesty when Ineo Consulting was named, I was in genuine shock! You can no doubt tell from my crazy grin! Publicly, I would love to use this opportunity to thank every single one of my clients for using Ineo Consulting, for supporting us, trusting us, and if you were one of those who submitted your comments; for voting for us. Our clients are the reason we do what we do, and to win this award and hear directly from you that you love what we are doing – well, what more can we ask for? Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It was wonderful afterwards to get to speak to everyone who was there, to find out more about their businesses and tell them about ours. There are so many amazing people out there, doing amazing things, and a huge thank you must go to Recruitment International for getting everyone together to share everything they do.
Finally, a thank you to everyone who works for Ineo, from our Admin to our Consultants, this truly would not have happened without your hard work and ongoing support. RI Awards – see you next year!
John Egan
Managing Director