7

7, it’s a great number for me.

7^th birthday – “Action Man Training Tower” as my main present. A serious bit of kit in the 70’s! Up there as an all time favourite along with the Raleigh Grifter bike I received later the same year for Christmas!

Magnificent 7 (the original, naturally) – A truly great film with plenty of scope for a young lad and fan of Westerns to run around the house play shooting the traumatised family pets until restrained by exhausted parents!

Football – the 7 Shirt was given to me when I started playing competitive football as a child. It stayed with me throughout my “career” and always brought me luck, which was crucial given my limited ability! Wearing both it – and by some error – the captains armband every week, always gave me a greater sense of possibility. It also made me shout; lots.

7 is also my lucky number – pretty common but I have never claimed to be original!

October 2016 also marks the 7^th birthday for Foundation Recruitment; my most favourite 7 of all.

Launching as we did in 2009, as a small owner managed business and into a recession, 7 years looked a frighteningly long way off! It gives me a real sense of achievement to see how far we have come and an even greater sense of determination for the next 7 years and beyond.

Over the 7 years there has been much individual and collective accomplishment in our business. We now work with a fantastic and increasingly diverse range of great clients that are generous in both their instructions and praise of our work. We have completed work in over 15 countries and placed some really incredible candidates across our markets. We have even won awards. A decent 7 years, all told.

However I would reserve our biggest achievement to be the great team we have assembled here over the last 7 years. Positioning ourselves as we have to build the business with a young and developing “academy” is not the easiest or fastest route to success. It’s doubtless easier to “spend big” and build a team of experienced hires. Personally though I enjoy working with potential talent and playing a small part in seeing that talent progress through the various stages of professional development delivering some truly fabulous, loyal and committed employees who I hope stay with the business far into our future.

So the calorific cake and bubbles we will doubtless all share in a week or so, is for our team. This (blessedly rare!!) blog is to thank them all for getting us not wearily, but at pace, to our 7^th year of growth and achievement, and to wish them all future success and happiness with Foundation Recruitment. Seriously, couldn’t have done it without you….

Julian Long, Managing Director, Foundation Recruitment