Growing The Curvy Way

Recruitment International Event

12th June 2013

What’s Coming Up?

Who are we & what do we do Our journey The 6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way

1. Culture2. Brand identity3. Customer is KING4. Flexing the business model5. Dare to be different6. Funding

Jeanette Ramsden

Della Wolfe

Lyndsey Simpson

The Curve Co-Owners

Some of the Curvy team…

The Journey

The Curve Group began life as Curve Recruiting Ltd in 2004. From 2004 through to 2007, the focus was purely on permanent search and selection of senior roles ranging in salary from £70-150,000 with a significant proportion of roles being retained fees

As the business grew, there was client-led demand to help the candidates that we placed then hire the teams in underneath them. Moved into contingent recruitment and re-named both businesses Curve Search (for the senior hires) and Curve Recruiting for hires ranging from £40-80,000

In Sep 2008, the recession hit with force and at that time, our 3 major Banking customers cancelled all recruitment and put in place 12-18 month external recruitment freezes

In Oct 2008 we undertook a major review of our business and made some strategic decisions that shaped the business today:

Over 60% of our revenue came from 3 major customers so we pro-actively looked to extend our sector coverage and customer mix

We decided to invest and build Curve Outplacement

We built this business from scratch, invested in the IT, built a website for it and launched it on 1st January 2009, by 10th January, we had our first customer – Pizza Hut

2004

2008

2007

2009

The Journey Continued… In 2010, we built a 4th business – Curve Outsourcing (Now Curve RPO). This provided

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and HR Outsourcing (HRO) solutions to corporates in the form of 2 or 3 year full outsource agreements

June 2010 – we re-brand to The Curve Group, bring all of our websites and external marketing into 1 site and create a new brand identity with a focussed 2 year PR & Marketing plan to maximise on the investment.

Bounced back immediately from the previous year to record a 130% growth in income and returned to higher than pre-recession levels

Withdrew HRO offering to focus on RPO

Embarked on another client-led expansion into contractor recruitment. Built and launched Curve Contractors

June 2013 – re-brand to include 5 businesses, new “responsive” website to go live on Wed 26th June

Currently tracking at 165% yr on yr growth

2010

2011

2012

2013

Concrete Pillars

1) Culture

“The Curvy Way”

So What is The Curvy Way?

Its how we think and how we behave Its what we hire our people based upon It encapsulates our corporate culture It empowers our team to Be Different – Be Curvy It brings to life our 6 core values every day:

1. Passionate2. Trusted3. Results-Orientated4. Added Value/Insight5. Business Savvy6. Friendly

2) Brand

Create a Consistent Brand Experience

Ensure Words & Images are Aligned

3) Customer is KING

Customer is KING

Customer

Candidates & Clients are the same!

Always do what you say you will

Understand their world & priorities

Resourcing & HR are your customers – don’t go around them

Notice the little things

Keep relationship points the same

4) Flexing the Business Model

“To stand still is to fall behind”Gordon Forward

Spot your exposures/look at your pareto analysis and keep building a more rounded business

Pull out of unprofitable clients & sectors

Change your pricing model – know your profitable limits & level of “seller power” with individual clients

The 3 S’s….Silence, solitude, solutions

5) Dare to be Different

USPs

No commission!

No specified hours for head-hunters

Commercial pricing – create some fun/skin in the game

Seek forgiveness not permission

No targets

6) Funding

Funding Expansion

Lots of routes – for us, it’s the Bank Know your cash – daily, weekly, monthly & 3-month forecasts When running projections:

Headcount Desk space/infrastructure IT equipment Major outflows e.g. VAT/Corporation tax/annual profit share

Don’t ask for money when you need it! Bring them in on the journey, get them excited about your business

and feel a part of it Plan ahead and allude to what you will need next quarter, next year…

In Summary

I hope you found our journey useful…

The 6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way1. Culture2. Brand identity3. Customer is KING4. Flexing the business model5. Dare to be different6. Funding

Thank you

@thecurvegroup

@lyndseydsimpson

www.thecurvegroup.co.uk

Lyndsey Simpson / The Curve Group