Consulting at QCS Staffing: Why work with us?
At QCS Staffing, we're always upskilling, updating and upgrading what we offer to our clients. This desire to constantly improve has seen us introduce targeted training and development programmes for our team, take on new industries and expand our operations all over the world. As part of this focus on ongoing excellence, we've turned our attention to the work we do with consultancy firms, with Principal Consultant Matthew Bowles committed to further enhancing this growth area. He spoke to us about the consultancy market and his vision for the future.
What is your area of focus?
"I joined QCS Staffing's Renewable Energies division in 2015, and progressed into a sales role with a specific focus on establishing QCS Staffing's market presence within consultancy. Historically, the business has worked primarily with the owners and operators of projects and the subcontractors within various packages of work.
Our work specifically with consultancy firms and third-party engineering houses had been fairly limited, and I’ve since built up a client base across various renewables technologies including on and offshore wind, solar, tidal and hydro.
Whilst QCS Staffing has traditionally been focused on contract recruitment, due to the demands of our clients and the nature of the consulting space, we’ve since worked to develop our permanent recruitment offering and have already made a number of placements.”
What types of consultancies do you work with?
"We work with design and engineering houses, also those who take on entire projects on behalf of financial owners and operators, who may have limited in-house resource and engage with third parties to reduce risk. Scopes of work/disciplines we support can range from design, due diligence, construction management, owners engineering, overall project management and asset management.
We engage with organisations ranging in size – from the biggest in the business, working across multiple industries, to smaller niche consultancies – and they will reach out to me to source a specific set of skills to support their business."
Why do consultancies use QCS Staffing?
"We have a real focus on learning at QCS Staffing and know that we need to be experts in our field and ensure we have excellent knowledge of our clients and the services they provide. I get to know the consultancies I work with and learn about the skills required and day to day activities and tasks. Developing this strong understanding allows us to provide profiles that are closely aligned with what a hiring manager wants to see.
For consultancies, the people who deliver services are their key asset, as their income comes from the work scopes and experts they provide. This means we need to find them the people who can offer that high level of expertise. As work in this area can often be fairly reactive, we’ll work quickly and efficiently to meet their demands."
What are the challenges involved in your work?
"One of the biggest challenges is that consultancies like to do a lot of their hiring directly, which means we need to provide them with added value with their recruitment, whether that's sourcing contractors as projects arise or placing permanent members of the team.
Due to the nature of the industry, consultancies will often bid for large volumes of work, which can result in peaks and troughs of work. This is where our contractor base comes into play. Our team of resourcers is constantly sourcing the best candidates on the market, and it’s my job to constantly engage with my clients to fully understand their requirements and ensure we always deliver the highest calibre of candidates.”
What have been your biggest successes?
"Over the past 12 months we’ve also secured long-term framework agreements with some of the major players in the industry after delivering high-quality support to our clients and we’re looking to continue this success.
This year I spoke with a client about potential opportunities they had subject to winning a tender. This led me to proactively introduce profiles to the client, allowing them to see the quality of the people we could provide. This saw candidates securing contracts and permanent positions with the company, and not just for the tender we had originally discussed.
On another occasion I met a client who said they may need a hydrodynamics engineer in a particular location. Our base of skilled candidates and my knowledge of that opportunity allowed me to present the client with a candidate within the afternoon - and that person has now commenced a contract.”
Find out more
We're always interested in speaking with clients who are keen to learn more about the work QCS Staffing do. Contact us here to start a conversation, or visit our news and blogs section to find out more news from QCS Staffing.