Lyndsey Simpson's talk - 'Growing the Curvy Way' - delivered at Recruitment International's 'How to build an exceptional recruitment business' event 2013. The Curve Group: http://www.thecurvegroup.co.uk Recorded by recruitment software provider, Colleague Software: http://www.colleague.eu

1. Growing The Curvy Way
Recruitment International Event
12th
June 2013

2. What’s Coming Up?
 Who are we & what do we do
 Our journey
 The 6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way
1. Culture
2. Brand identity
3. Customer is KING
4. Flexing the business model
5. Dare to be different
6. Funding

4. Jeanette Ramsden
Della Wolfe
Lyndsey Simpson
The Curve Co-Owners

5. Some of the Curvy team…

6. 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

7. 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

8. Concrete Pillars

9. 1) Culture
“The Curvy Way”

10. 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. Passionate
2. Trusted
3. Results-Orientated
4. Added Value/Insight
5. Business Savvy
6. Friendly

12. 2) Brand

13. Create a Consistent Brand Experience

14. Ensure Words & Images are Aligned

15. 3) Customer is KING

16. 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

17. 4) Flexing the Business
Model

18. “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

19. 5) Dare to be Different

20. USPs
No commission!
No specified
hours for head-
hunters
Commercial
pricing – create
some fun/skin in
the game
Seek forgiveness
not permission
No targets

21. 6) Funding

22. 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…

23. In Summary
 I hope you found our journey useful…
 The 6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way
1. Culture
2. Brand identity
3. Customer is KING
4. Flexing the business model
5. Dare to be different
6. Funding

24. Thank you
@thecurvegroup
@lyndseydsimpson
www.thecurvegroup.co.uk
Lyndsey Simpson / The Curve Group