What an absolute journey these first five years have been, I (Alex) was twenty-five years old when I set this business up. Ella, my business partner, was 21 and at this time, we had doubters: “you are too young”, “too inexperienced in life”, “recruitment is too competitive”, “most new businesses fail in their first year”. I would love to say that it didn’t keep us awake at night but naturally, comments like this can affect you. People who make these comments usually do so with good intent, and are just worried about you. I do now find it easier to stay positive and not listen to the negativity as much; I believe this could be due to a combination of maturing, and growing through these tough times. For anybody that is looking to set up a business, the best advice I can give is to take the negative comments on the chin, it is okay and perfectly healthy to have some form of negativity, but it just needs handling constructively. If you have absolutely no worries whatsoever, then your funds will be gone before you know it.
We chucked the name together, with no brainstorming, and I guess you could call us fortunate – I mean, it is our names chucked together. Despite this, it sounded like a truly positive connotation whilst remaining professional, so it’s worked well through the years. Many people spell it like ‘Excella’ and I don’t blame them. The fact that it sounds like ‘excellent’, ‘excel’ and ‘excitement’ is great, we are honoured to be included in that collection of words! As much as we like it, having to spell the email and name out every time gets tiresome. Also, the branding has been quite corporate, which just isn’t us.
We now have a vision. In 2016 we just had an idea – we knew how we wanted the company to function back then, but no clue on where to take it. We just don’t think that ‘Exella Recruitment Specialists’ fits with the direction of where we are looking to take this established business. The services are the same, the markets we work in will not change, we, and the people that we bring into the company, will not change. But now, the branding crucially describes us.
Think of a recruitment company that you know – I would put money on them having a word such as connect, search, recruit or consulting in the title. A lot of these companies are great. My first role in recruitment was with a company called Consult RPM, and I have nothing but great things to say about the director and the company. However, we do not operate like the vast majority of these companies, our consultants are not told to ‘sell’ opportunities, targeted on cold calls etc. We take a softer approach. We work quickly, collaboratively and efficiently, in order to find high quality candidates that will be different to the ones already received from other agencies.
Placing Faces as a name is warm and welcoming. The Placing Faces branding is fun and vibrant which definitely gives you an idea of the faces behind the business. From the title, you can begin to see what we are like and how we like to set ourselves apart. We get to know you and build genuine relationships, both candidates and clients often ask “are you always this chirpy?”, yes we are 😀
Just take a look at our reviews from some of the great candidates and clients that we have had the pleasure of working with.
If we cannot help you due to your experience not fitting with what we cover, then we will advise as best we can and point you in the right direction. We are honest, and will never give false hope and tell you that we can help where we know that we cannot.
We look forward to new beginnings and continuing the journey, and helping place new faces like yours 😀