I'd recruited my own staff over most of my insolvency career, which meant that I had the joy of receiving numerous CVs, from recruitment consultants, but far too many were totally unsuited to the role I was looking to fill! It occurred to me that very few recruiters in those days really understood insolvency, but I certainly did!!
So I set up what is now GGT Insolvency Recruitment just as the financial crisis of that time hit, but far from insolvency practices recruiting, the recession never really hit in the same way as in previous recessions (and I've been through a few as an IP)! The boom times in insolvency didn't really take off as businesses were kept afloat with various government and bank support, not forgetting that the banks themselves were subject to government bail-outs so not encouraged to pull the plug on their customers!
Through from about 2010 for quite a number of years we found insolvency practices shedding staff as the economy plodded along. Good news being flooded with candidates you might think, but where were the jobs for these very experienced professionals to apply for? They were few and far between and the profession lost some highly skilled and experienced people, never to return to the profession!
In the meantime, we adapted and moved into mergers and acquisitions, introducing insolvency practices to similar practices as firms looked to benefit from economies of scale which we continue to assist with alongside the recruitment side of the business.
Then, after the insolvency profession started to settle down, the world was hit with the pandemic. A potential benefit to the insolvency profession perhaps, but again huge and unprecedented government support soon foiled that!
But we survived and GGT survived to support the profession through the long overdue upturn in insolvency over the last year or so, as the benefits of government life support was withdrawn from shaky businesses, coupled with the Ukraine war and cost of living crisis.
Whilst I started GGT on my own, I was soon joined by my other half, Sheona, who now runs the business as I try to take more of a back seat. Don't get the wrong idea, wanting to step back and being able to when it's your own business rarely goes to plan and so I am still involved on a daily basis, but I just don't get too involved with quite so much of the detail, leaving that to Sheona who has taken up the reins very successfully.
So 15 years on, that light bulb continues to shine brightly and will hopefully, with your continued support, see us through for another 15 years yet!
Geoff Gee
October 2023