Rise Group managing director Gregor Campbell would like his growing organisation of recruitment companies to be recognised as a “good platform for entrepreneurs to help them go further”.

Rise’s last acquisition was professional services recruiter Hammond Resources last year. However, Campbell told Recruiter that the acquisition of two other recruitment-type firms were in the offing (see Profile, p22), as well as an expansion of the group’s service offering. Announcements are expected later this summer.

Rise continues to be on the lookout for opportunities, Campbell said.

“I think there’s an opportunity to speak to businesses as a venture capital-type recruitment firm.”

In challenging economic times such as now, Campbell said that he keeps in mind a lesson earned early in his career. “Strategy is nothing if you can’t deliver the numbers. I think that’s especially true just now,” he said. “You can sit and plan all you like once you’ve done the groundwork, and ensure that you’ve got the funds behind you to do so.

“When people talk to me about their strategy and their plans, when they’re not doing the numbers, and they’re not doing the specific things that need to be done to feed success, then it’s just [hype].”

He said he also takes inspiration from a favourite saying of his now deceased father, who told him: “When the going gets tough, the tough get
tougher.”

Campbell has been Rise’s group MD since 2004. In seeking out newcomers to his team of senior managers and directors, he said he looks for “people who challenge me, who have their own ideas, that have a spark about them, that know what they want in life”.

He added that he knew businesses in which senior managers or directors “do everything themselves — you always think you’re the finished article yourself, but there are always people that can add things to what you do”.