Yorkshire social enterprise recruitment firm celebrates five years of impactful service
We Are Social Enterprise Recruitment has helped to transform the recruitment landscape - for more visit wearesocialenterprise.co.uk.
Set up in 2018 by founders James McBride and Lyndon Timings-Thompson, its aim has been to build employability for all, whilst providing outstanding recruitment services for ethical businesses.
The company set out to redefine recruitment within construction by placing social impact at its core, providing support to disadvantaged individuals by upskilling them in CV writing, interviews, job skills and other employability skills.
Since then, the Leeds based firm has provided more than 5,000 employability support hours and over 100 employment workshops.
WASE has achieved a social value of 1.95x, indicating that for every £1 spent with them, £1.95 of social value has been generated, according to National TOMS, 2024.
The company operates nationwide, with examples of current clients being prominent UK contractors such as Willmott Dixon, Morgan Sindall and Equans UK.
Its goal for 2024 is to increase revenues by 40% as the team expands, which would facilitate the business to increase its total social/local economic value to £10m+ for local communities.
The firm has won notable awards – including winning a 2021 Sustainable Supply Chain Partner of the Year award, as well as graduating from the 10KSB Goldman Sachs 2023 programme and winning a prestigious Business Award hosted by Leeds University’s Spark Accelerator.
WASE says it is proud about paving the way for industry change, as a testament to the transformative power of social enterprise, proving that business success can be a force for good.
Co-founder James explains that unemployment not only elevates the risk of depression, anxiety and suicide, with unemployed individuals being two to three times more likely to experience these challenges, but it also incurs a substantial economic cost on the UK estimated at £80 billion.
From the outset, We Are Social Enterprise Recruitment’s purpose has been to build employability for all, whilst providing outstanding recruitment services for ethical businesses, he added.
The company set out to redefine recruitment within construction by placing social impact at its core, providing support to disadvantaged individuals by upskilling them in CV writing, interviews, job skills and other employability skills.
Given that only 44% of businesses make it to five years and only 4% of companies achieve over £1 million in revenue in the UK, getting to the five-year mark is not always smooth sailing, added James.
WASE has had to navigate a multitude of external challenges from COVID-19 to infiltrating an industry composed of already established, long standing relationships.
“We’re delighted to see what we have achieved so far over the past five years. It’s a business with a focus that we are incredibly passionate about." says co-founder James.
“There was a lot of trial and error in the first couple of years as we learned which actions had the most impact, however, we now have a fantastic team and a solid base to propel our growth - exciting times ahead!”
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