Recruitment consultants 3Q has been in business since 1999. The company began by providing temporary and contract catering staff to hotels, hospitals and the food service sectors. It grew strongly in its first seven years and, by 2006, employed 14 people. But when the crash came, 3Q felt the impact almost immediately.
"We lost around a third of our turnover within 12 months between recruitment embargoes and clients shutting up shop because they had been wiped out by the recession," says managing director and 3Q co-founder, Cora Barnes.
“Private individuals also started cutting back and large scale events like big silver service weddings that required lots of banqueting staff simply dried up.
“On the industry side, there was also major upheaval,” she adds. “At the height of the Celtic tiger, there were over 400 recruitment companies serving a population of less than four million. That was clearly unsustainable in the long term. But the sudden dive into recession made the shake-out happen very quickly.
“We like competition in the marketplace. It keeps you honest and focused, but it got totally out of hand here with recruitment companies on every corner.”
Determined not to be a casualty of the recession-driven rationalisation, 3Q wasted no time in downsizing.
Voluntary redundancy
The company moved from “own door” premises over three floors to offices in an adjacent building. It lost two staff to voluntary redundancy and did not replace those who left.
“One of our strengths is that we always have a plan. We are good at responding quickly and are not afraid of change,” Barnes says.
“The plan may get tweaked and, as your business grows, it takes longer to turn a bigger ship, but the mindset remains the same: do what’s needed to remain at the top of your game.
“We never set out to be the cheapest in the business,” she adds. “We set out to deliver a quality service and that’s probably the one key reason we’ve survived.
“We are not the largest or most profitable recruitment company and I’m not saying we haven’t made mistakes along the way, but we have clients who have trusted us to support their businesses for the last 15 years.”
Barnes met her 3Q co-founders, Cathie O'Reilly and Gerry Lynch, while working for a recruitment company no longer operating here.
Entry costs
“We decided to focus on the catering sector initially because of the demand and our experience,” she says. “We had good contacts, the entry costs were low and we were able to get the business up and running quickly. Our reputation stands or falls on the calibre of people we supply and we are uncompromising on qualifications and experience.”
During its early years 3Q had to cope with two major crises that hit the hospitality industry hard – the foot and mouth outbreak and the events of 9/11.
“We survived and learnt lessons,” Barnes says. “We realised the importance of not having all your eggs in one basket and subsequently set up a permanent recruitment division to give us another string to our bow.” Being careful with money has also paid dividends. “Our view is that if we really need something we buy it so when the downturn came we didn’t have any big debts to service,” Barnes says. “During the boom the banks tried to throw money at us to invest in property and I can see how people were seduced by the hype. We never got involved and never became bank dependent.
“In this business you choke if you don’t have good cash flow but, because we had retained money in the company, we coped. We also reduced overheads and took pay cuts followed by a pay freeze.”
Last year, 3Q restructured its operation into Three Q Temps and Three Q Perms.
“We had grown to have three divisions – catering, medical and professionals – and about three years ago we decided we needed to sharpen our focus. We set about restructuring to strengthen our business and in particular invested in the growth area of permanent hires.”
In September 2013, the company established Nurse Jobs Ireland, a stand-alone business that will be launched as a fully-fledged jobs board within the next six months.
“We see this as an area with growth potential both here and internationally,” Barnes says. “We have been building the site for the last two years and believe the concept can be applied outside Ireland.
“It goes well beyond being ‘just’ a jobs board. It has multiple additional resources such as professional training information. It has been done before. We’re just going to do it better.
“We feel the timing is right because there are signs of a lift in our sectors,” Barnes concludes. “The market is less jittery and, while there are still highs and lows, they are not as severe. We have lifted our pay freeze and taken on two staff.
“The landscape has changed fundamentally and it feels like we are in a brand new market but with the benefit of 15 years providing a quality service behind us.”
