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Gregor Campbell (Managing Director, Rise)
Interviewed by Colin Cardwell © s1jobs
Originally published: 16.11.2007
Gregor Campbell's office has been commandeered for an interview, so we’re forced to decant around the corner for a coffee. The managing director is slightly concerned about the wear on the carpets at the offices of Rise in Glasgow's Waterloo Street – but at the same time is not unhappy that the need to look at re-laying them is the result of upwards of 15,000 people pounding the pile over the past 12 months.
Rise is a young business, launched in 2003 under the Murray International Holdings umbrella. Campbell himself has been in the recruitment industry for 18 years, after a beginning in sales, and for the past four years one of his major challenges has been helping to fill the incessantly growing demand in the call and contact industry.
Turnover was £12m last year and, he says, the company has always been in profit.
“We found placements for around 4,500 people last year. Over the four years since we launched we have placed 10,000 people.”
Demand in the call and contact sector is consistently outstripping supply, with many companies choosing the offshore option – but specific niche groups and industries, including healthcare and the public sector mean that, for focused companies, the potential for growth here is still attractive.
However, the call centre industry has a reputation for a relentless churn of staff, something that Campbell claims that Rise is successfully addressing.
Call centre work, he agrees, sometimes suffers from a poor perception but adds that this is often unfair and says: “Knowledge of what a client needs, sometimes even within their own business, and placing the right people in the right environment increases both job satisfaction and improves performance.
“Obviously, supply of candidates is, primarily, the most urgent factor. In this business there is a need to create volume – at any one time there may be 1,000 jobs available in the Central Scotland area – so there is a massive demand and limited supply.”
“We achieve sales through service, through speaking in depth with both the client and the candidate. If one of our clients isn’t achieving the level of business they’re aiming at we’re interested in knowing why – and it is part of our remit to make sure they do”
Much of that, Campbell says, is down to identifying “aptitude and attitude”. And when necessary, Rise has brought in its own consultancy advice to provide clients with what Campbell calls “sensible business information”.
This has produced some rather stark survey statistics about the “working climate”, including basic flaws such as the fact that 54% of contact centre workers didn’t know the name of the their chief executive; 28% had never been asked for any kind of work-related feedback and 30% were not aware of health and safety procedures.
“Education and information is part of the service to the client, and in a candidate-led market that’s important. Look, unemployment is at its lowest since the 1970s and one of the challenges is that good qualifications don’t always match with jobs.
"The service element is extremely important. On one hand we’re talking about the success of a client’s business and on the other we’re dealing with people’s aspirations and lives,” says Campbell.
He cites the example of a client with 750 staff of whom 30% were permanent. “Within six months of our involvement, 70% of their staff had become permanent,” he says.
Last year, Rise acquired Quality Link Recruitment in Edinburgh, a company that has been supplying staff to hospitality venues and large hotel groups for 17 years.
There are plans for organic growth and acquisition of “like minded businesses” – ones who will conform to the model Campbell believes the company has created.
“We expect this model to be a standard that will help clients plan their business,” he says.
As something of a perfectionist, Campbell concedes that they don’t always get it right. Success can come down to some detective work as to identifying specific client needs: “If you look at where we are based in Glasgow, there are 15 apparently similar-looking businesses within 800 square metres – all with subtly differing requirements,” he points out.
And Rise is, he says, in it for the long term. “Not everyone can create a sustainable business built around service. That’s what we are: a service business – and that’s how we are judged.”
