Meet The Team: Liam Tolan, Account Manager at GCS Associates

Tell us about your career journey so far?
I’ve worked in recruitment for nearly a decade now. I started in retail where I learnt the ropes, then chose the construction sector as my specialist area.

Whilst working for some household names I progressed through to senior account manager from trainee consultant before taking over my current position with GCS, working onsite as Recruitment Account Manager at Beesley & Fildes, a leading independant Builders Merchant.

Why did you join GCS Associates?
Joining GCS was clear career progression and it meant undertaking a long-term recruitment project where I thought I could really add value. Because of the location and flexibility of the position it meant I get to see a lot more of my family AND the position and the project were just too good to turn down.

What does your job involve?
I work onsite for Beesley & Fildes, one of GCS’s RPO clients within the Builders Merchant sector as an “Internal Recruitment Manager”. Based in their head office near Liverpool, I oversee and manage all our client’s recruitment and sourcing, from advertising to interviews and onboarding.

It’s a varied role where I get full autonomy which I love, we are also starting to work on more strategic projects for Beesley like Employer Branding and video creation to attract and engage more talent into the business.

How do your help your stakeholders and candidates?
I’m honest and upfront from the get-go. I think honesty and realistic expectations are paramount in our profession.

Also, biscuits, everyone loves donuts and biscuits!

What are you working on at the moment?
I think an easier question to answer would be what I’m NOT working on.

I’ve got a large long-term project at Beesley – with the mission to streamline their recruitment processes and benchmark salaries across a rapidly growing business that already employs around 350 people.

Day to day recruitment also fills my time to ensure all the branches & our HQ have the right talent in place.

What do you do outside of work?
Two young kids take up a lot of my time, but that’s time that I’ll never get back so I’m keen to spend it wisely with them now.

I’m Irish, so perhaps obligatory to say I don’t mind a pint of stout from time to time. I still play 11-a-side, albeit as a proverbial pensioner, but I still enjoy the odd worldy strike, although it’s becoming few and far between these days.

I am also a HUGE football fan – viva Ronaldo!