RECRUITMENT
Growing team – Recruitrite ’ s Leandra Smith ( left ), Melissa Coutts ( centre ) and Caroline Noble .
GETTING IT RITE
Darlington recruitment firm wants ‘ no limits ’
WORDS : PAUL FRASER
Understanding Recruitrite ’ s business owner a little more will help you understand how the Darlingtonbased recruitment specialists are going about filling roles for clients .
Melissa Coutts , the managing director , is passionate about inclusivity and equality , and about promoting how aspirations can be achieved – regardless of age , race , gender or economic background .
Having come from a disadvantaged background herself , Melissa speaks from the heart and her approach has successfully led to Recruitrite growing year-on-year since it was established . In fact , over the course of the last two years , Recruitrite has secured more contracts , opened new markets , tripled turnover and seen its workforce grow , with further organic expansion expected in future months .
At the beginning of the year , the company moved from Darlington ’ s Business Central to its new headquarters at Coniscliffe House in Darlington town centre .
From there , Recruitrite is focused on doing things right and providing lifechanging opportunities to people from all over the region .
Melissa , from Newton Aycliffe , said : “ We want to encourage people to reach for their goals .
“ We want them to think , ‘ Just because I am from a disadvantaged background , it doesn ’ t mean I can ’ t make changes and achieve the life that I want ’.
“ We want that message to resonate
with our clients and candidates . We want candidates to believe there are no limits to their recruitment objectives . Why should our clients believe there are limits ?
“ I didn ’ t have the easiest upbringing and grew up with no real financial security . I left education early to get a job to provide for the family home .
“ With lots of obstacles on the way , I went from a Woolworths Saturday girl to heading up the North-East UK region for a large scale multi-national recruitment corporation .
“ That is why I am so passionate about giving people a chance .”
Recruitrite encourages clients to be totally inclusive when looking to strengthen their workforce .
Melissa and her team firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunities to better themselves , so the office ethos is in place to find the right people to fit the right jobs to lay the foundations for those to improve lives .
She said : “ We aim to work on changing our clients ’ mindsets if required ; as in we try to change the way our clients engage with candidates through the process of recruitment .
“ We have a long list of examples where we have recruited people into businesses who have then progressed to management level . We are recruiting correctly because candidates stay with
Learn more about Recruitrite ’ s people and services by visiting recruitriteuk . com
our clients long term .
“ We are also about attracting talent to come from outside the region to the region , but significantly , we are massive on attracting talent from those disadvantaged backgrounds too .”
Recruitrite boasts more than 50 years of recruitment experience across the team and operates across a long list of sectors including , but not restricted to , manufacturing , engineering , construction and healthcare . It won the Tees Business Digital Transformation Award at the 2023 Tees Tech Awards .
Becoming trusted partners to their clients is a key aim for Melissa and the team and building long-term relationships is the goal , having worked with a number of clients , such as Aldi RDC , for close to 15 years .
Caroline Noble , marketing manager at Recruitrite , said : “ We encourage clients to look at their own values and beliefs and then we look to recruit for them on that basis . It is about ensuring the journey is seamless and jobs are filled every time .
“ Our team recruits for retention . We don ’ t want someone to go into a role and leave soon , we hope that person will stay in the company for the long-term . Retention is key .
“ We often recruit based on values over skills because skills can be taught while values sit at the core of who a person is .”
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