I’m extremely personal about the staff I hire because each employee is an important cog in the running of a company. At UKFast I employ on personality and intelligence because I want staff to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

As a company grows it becomes more and more difficult to give the necessary amount of attention to recruiting new staff. But despite the size of the company it is still vitally important to get the right staff so as not to dilute your business’s overall skill sector.

To overcome this problem as the company grows, at UKFast we have hired an internal recruitment and HR manager.

Every day at UKFast we receive phone calls from recruitment consultants offering their services and in most cases that’s as far as our relationship goes. It has always been my opinion that with outside recruitment a business loses some of the personal approach it takes to find and employ the correct candidates.

Only internally can you really know what the role entails, what the culture of the company is and who would fit there. Internal recruiters are also more prolific in understanding the qualifications and skills necessary to fill specific roles.

A company grows using a sustainable competitive advantage, hiring excellent candidates who fit in with the company culture, who are enthusiastic and willing to work hard drives the company towards new heights.

I have found that internally we are able to judge a candidate, not on their qualifications, but on their ability to be trained in certain skills as well as on drive and ambition.

External recruitment has been compared to battery farming, providing bulk CVs with little thought as to the person behind the paper. In terms of poultry farming, internal recruitment is the free range equivalent. Each candidate is given more time and judged on personality, ambition, potential to develop skills as well as their list of qualifications.

Additionally, at UKFast we put weight on psychometric testing. This provides an all-round view of the candidate, especially those who become nervous during the interview process.

There are many ways to make sure you are hiring the right people. But I can stress enough the importance of hiring the correct candidates when growing a company.