Meet The Team: Kimberley Hollis, Recruitment Consultant at GCS Associates

Tell us about your career so far?

I began my career working in a Primary School but, after a few years, I decided that I would like to venture into something different. I then moved my career into the hospitality industry where for 4 years, then COVID struck, lockdown happened, and it was during this time being home with family that I decided I had done my fair share of unsociable hours and was ready to start the next chapter in my career that was more suited to my family life at home.

This is when I started my career in the Merchant industry, working at Buildbase for nearly two years on the counter, I really enjoyed the Merchant industry and learned a lot about the sector from my time there.

Why did you join GCS?

After working in the Merchant sector for a few years, I was looking for a new challenge within the sector where I was still able to work with people and use my customer service skills. I joined GCS, the Merchant Specialist recruitment agency, to dip my feet into something slightly different but still working with the merchants. It was an exciting change, and I am loving every single minute of it!

What’s your role at GCS?

My role at GCS is Recruitment Consultant, specialising in the Construction Supply sector. We are based in a brilliant office in Corby, Northamptonshire .

In general, my role is all about finding people jobs and providing the best shortlist of talent possible for our clients. I assess the job specifications from our clients and then, using my network & our database, source and evaluate potential candidates.

Finding great candidates for our clients is the best part of my job! I also really enjoy getting to know our candidate. I can help job seekers by being able to talk from experience and help them to understand the next steps in their career – helping with interview and presentation prep etc.

What do you do outside of work?

When I’m not at work you can find me around Northamptonshire dressed as a princess and attending children’s birthday parties as a princess entertainer or out and about exploring with my partner.

For more information on GCS Associates retained recruitment and RPO solutions, please get in touch.

e: enquiries@gcsassociates.com
t: 0161 660 2548


Beesley & Fildes partner with GCS Associates on Recruitment Process Outsourcing Solution

Beesley & Fildes are experts in building materials across a wide variety of trades, including construction, civil engineering, landscaping, joinery, plumbing & heating, kitchens and bathrooms and roofing.

Beesley & Fildes pride themselves on having the knowledge and experience to advise on product choices, whilst their product specialists ensure they consistently offer the widest range of quality building products at competitive prices.

Since the first branch was established by Robert Beesley in Prescot in 1820, they have remained a family business. With 11 branches, Beesley continues to offer the service you’d expect from a local builder’s merchant but with the added capabilities of a regional network.

Aims & Objectives

Beesley & Fildes were looking for a Recruitment Process Outsourced (RPO) Solution to achieve the following;

• Streamline and improve recruitment service to best in class
• Manage all admin and process in regard to talent attraction and internal staff engagement
• Recruitment of all roles across the business including external and internal requirements
• Manage overall talent acquisition strategy
• On demand candidate attraction including Talent Pipelining and Talent Mapping with the aim of building a medium / long talent pool
• Candidate engagement, interviews and onboarding.

Recruitment Fulfilment

GCS Associates facilitated a complete refresh of the recruitment processes at Beesley & Fildes with great success. By placing a dedicated Talent Acquisition Partner onsite at the Beesley HQ, this meant a dedicated recruitment resource was now available to create consistent and streamlined processes. Within 6 months, 88% of hires resulted from direct sourcing meaning not only more engaged candidates, but considerable cost savings for Beesley & Fildes.

Other recruitment activities fulfilled were

– Internal & external role advertising & interview processes developed
– Internal talent database created
– Candidate management and onboarding processes implemented
– Companywide salary bench marketing review

“Overall, the changing of the process from start to finish has been extremely successful, with superb results in terms of critical vacancies filled. Retention rates are exactly where they now should be. I personally think that’s a true reflection of the benefits of an RPO, not only does it save time and money but the long-term benefits around processes and improved retention rates are a great indication of success.”

Liam Tolan
Onsite Talent Acquisition Manager

“The level of work from GCS Associates has been outstanding, and the recruitment support covered everything we needed including providing an on-site Talent Acquisition Partner to work with us on our resourcing strategy and to build relationships with internal hiring managers. The feedback from our Hiring Managers was very positive and we’ve managed to fill some critical and hard to fill roles very quickly, which has saved us considerable time and money.

The GCS team are approachable, engaging and extremely knowledgeable which landed very well with our business. I highly recommend GCS Associates as a recruitment partner & RPO as a recruitment solution”

James Beesley
Commercial Director, Beesley and Fildes

Key results:
60 roles filled in 6 months across the full range of disciplines such as Trade Counter, Internal & External Sales, Accounting, Admin and Yard staff.

  • Average Candidate Submission Time: 2 days
  • 95% of candidates submitted requested for interview
  • 95% of recruitment campaigns led to offer

“Providing a Recruitment Process Outsourced solution for Beesley has not only taken away the day-to-day admin of recruitment but has significantly sped up the recruitment process, improved recruiting standards and saved money for Beesley on recruitment costs. By recruiting in the Beesley brand, we have also increased brand awareness & engagement with candidates which has really helped with retention. Working with Beesley and Fildes has been genuinely a pleasure. Beesley is a business with real ambition and appetite to embrace change and we’re proud to be part of that.”

Michael Parry
Managing Director, GCS Associates

What we do
GCS Associates are specialist consultancy providing talent acquisition and staffing solutions to the building materials, construction, technical & engineering sectors.

With over 15 years’ experience partnering with a wide range of businesses from FTSE 100s to SME’s & smaller independent businesses – we simply provide the right talent to the best organisations.

At GCS Associates, we work with our clients to find the best recruitment solution for them. If you’d like any advice on recruitment or retention strategy, please get in touch.

e: enquiries@gcsassociates.com
t:  0161 660 2548