Start-up footwear firm Gandys needed to find people in step with its ethical values. CV-Library uncovered a diverse range of people

THE CHALLENGE

Launched in January last year, footwear fashion brand Gandys offers a simple product to customers — the humble flip-flop, or ‘thong’ if you’re wearing them Down Under. However, unlike the first Ford car, they come in any colour, including black, and it seems the whole world wants them. In fact, Recruiter’s first arranged phone call with co-founder Rob Forkan had to be postponed as Gandys was launching into a number of major UK high-street stores that week and things were going “a little crazy” in his words. 

The business was expanding — and obviously needed more people to help it grow.

Started by Forkan and his brother Paul, Gandys (the name comes from the phrase ‘as dry as Gandhi’s flip-flop’) was born out of a family tragedy. In 2001, rather unorthodoxly, the teenage brothers were travelling around India and South-East Asia with their parents and two younger siblings, mainly volunteering to work for charities. The family found themselves in Sri Lanka on Boxing Day 2004 — the day of the tsunami triggered by an earthquake beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean. Tragically, their parents were killed, leaving the children orphaned. 

Following the disaster, the brothers continued their travels, living mainly in flip-flops, and eventually returned to the UK. Back home, Rob Forkan’s first job was working at a fairly new job board company called CV-Library, where he stayed for a few years — until the wanderlust took over once more. On his return to the UK, and having now established Gandys, the brothers needed to attract people to join their start-up, such as an intern, an office manager and a product manager fluent in Mandarin. Finding people not only with these skills, but embracing the same aspirations and ethical beliefs (see below), was going to be a challenge for this brand new company. 

THE SOLUTION

Having worked for CV-Library, Forkan turned to his former workplace for help. “It was an obvious port of call,” he told Recruiter, “it works.” And his former colleague and client response manager at CV-Library Nicky Collins added: “Rob already knew what we can do here. We’re a generic job board but we’ve got the largest database in the UK. It’s a real appeal.”

For the intern position, which was going to be an unpaid role, Collins told Recruiter that it would be useful to attract a “new younger demographic” and that the role would maybe appeal to a younger audience. As well as using CV-Library’s growing number of affiliate network of online career portals, Collins decided to promote the vacancy, which described the ideal candidate as being ‘bright and energetic’ and aspiring to be ‘master of marketing’, across social media to drive traffic to the job ad. “We did lots of off-line campaigning to increase traffic further,” she said, which included TV and transport hub advertising aimed at attracting young professionals and adding to its database of 5.8m candidates. The outcome was extremely positive and very popular, Collins said. Within a month the ad received nearly 1,000 views, with around 120 people applying for the position.

Forkan told Recruiter: “Nicky was really helpful — putting the ad up for us quickly so no time was wasted.” He added that the screening questions for the roles also saved time, so that Gandys received really good applications, which helped in the interviewing process.

With the Gandys flip-flops now being manufactured in China, a Mandarin-speaking project manager was of paramount importance. Collins told Recruiter she recognised the role was going to be difficult to fill, so she carried out extra searches on other databases and sent the most suitable on to Gandys. Forkan was delighted with the service. “Nicky made an extra effort and went out of her way to find the right people,” he said. “They found such a diverse range of people — and a high level of attraction.”

With Gandys attracting the major UK retailers such as Top Man, House of Fraser, Schuh and Office, the next stop is the US with the brothers landing in Los Angeles at the end of summer. Globally the brand could be huge, Forkan said, with “tricky positions” to fill in the future to add to its staff of just eight. “A few months ago I’d never thought we’d have the amount of people we have now,” he said.

And if it takes off the way Forkan predicts, by the end of 2014, the brothers want to open an orphanage in the memory of their parents — Kevin and Sandra Forkan. The orphanage will also mark the 10th anniversary of the tsunami. The ultimate goal is to have Gandys orphanages all over the world. And who would bet against them?

Giving back… 

10% of every flip-flop sale is sent directly to the charity Mango Tree Goa, whose aim is to support deprived children by offering them education, health and nutrition care

For more information, visit www.gandysflipflops.com/

Would you like to be involved in The Challenge? Contact Vanessa Townsend at [email protected]