I can confidently say that whilst we haven’t quite changed the whole industry (yet), we have certainly made a positive impact and I believe every one of our clients and candidates would attest to that.

Over the past 9 years we have diversified and expanded, giving our candidates a greater scope of roles, giving our clients a more encompassing service offering, and giving our people new opportunities to grow their careers. We began as Logistics specialists, after both myself and Nick had worked in that field. Following our initial success in that market, we quickly identified that we wanted to broaden the spectrum of the services we offered to our clients. This led to the introduction of Production and Manufacturing, Engineering, IT, Facilities Management and finally Office and Administration. We knew that we could win, service and retain clients in individual fields, but we wanted to be the all-encompassing recruitment partner for our clients, and unless we diversified this wouldn’t have been possible. This strategy has served us well, we currently have 400 clients; a relatively small number for a company of our size, but what those clients get from us is a service so fulfilling, most won’t ever look elsewhere again. This approach eventually led us to tender for Crown Commercial Services, a tender that we would win, and be named as one of only around 100 recruitment agencies operating at a standard high enough to supply Government bodies such as the MoD, MoJ, NHS, the Home Office and HM Treasury. There are nearly 30,000 recruitment agencies operating in the UK; by my count that puts us in the top 0.3%. 

In recent years my focus has been on managing the organisation as a whole and ensuring that the high standards that Nick and I set from day one are maintained, the strategy for growth is never forgotten and that we continue to put new opportunities in front of our people. In 2021 we embarked on our journey to win our Crown Commercial Services tender. In 2022 we opened a second location and doubled our headcount. In 2023 we embarked on a huge rebrand to better embody our vision and our values. We are constantly evolving and growing and I see no reason why this would stop yet, there’s still a lot of miles left for Mainstay, and I know I still have the drive, hunger and determination I had on that very first day.

Our people are our everything. Our slogan is United by Ambition because that’s exactly what we are.  We had this vision to create what Mainstay is today but this has been just as much about those who have fulfilled it. Tom Williams, our day-one employee who now directly manages more than half the business. Jordan Richards, joined in 2016 to run our Accounts and Payroll now manages a team who payroll more than £8million a year. Aaron Pollard who started our Production and Manufacturing Department in 2018. Rachael Lee, our first female consultant and Head of FM who gives us so much more than just being the manager of the department. Andy Woodvine “Woody” our recruitment veteran who provides invaluable guidance and knowledge to the teams that he has picked up during his 22 year career. Sam Hinks who joined in 2018 as a trainee and now oversees our Coventry office. Sam Daly, our Office Manager, who keeps the machine well-oiled and plays a vital role in the day to day running of the business. There are 22 more that I haven’t mentioned; they know who they are and how grateful I am to them for their hard work and dedication to our vision.

We’ve come a long way over the last 8 years and achieved so much, but we’ve got a long way to go until we’ve achieved it all.