Cordant's new credence revival
17 December 2015
As Cordant Group looks to expand and evolve — minus the man who last year unveiled a new-look Cordant Recruitment business — focus is being put on engagement, integration and incubation, chairman Phillip Ullmann (right) tells Recruiter.
Mon, 04 Jan 2016 | By Sarah Marquet
Former chief executive of Cordant’s recruitment services division Steven Kirkpatrick last year said he planned to shake up the “boring” high street recruitment market as he unveiled a revamped recruitment division.
While Kirkpatrick made a “tremendous difference” to the business, his recent departure is part of a greater business evolution, Ullmann says.
“We recognised that we could only have one CEO. We were effectively two businesses [recruitment services and facilities management]… and the power of the Cordant Group comes from unification, a single business and therefore we had to make a very difficult decision.”
A history of building strong, successful businesses saw Chris Kenneally, who was appointed about the same time as Kirkpatrick to lead the facility services division, take overall control of the business.
Despite not having any recruitment experience and the business generating most of its turnover from that division, Ullmann isn’t worried, citing the experienced team around Kenneally.
The business has also recently said goodbye to Staffgroup founders Mark Znowski and Paul Flynn, whose company Cordant acquired in 2015.
As Cordant works on “digesting” Staffgroup, it is focusing on incubation projects — taking on top recruiters and backing them to effectively build their own business units.
“It’s a better way to grow because you haven’t got the hassle of buying whole businesses, of making redundancies, of dealing with different cultures,” Ullmann explained.
The business is also redesigning its purpose statement with the aim of fully engaging its employees and temps. Ullmann recently put a call out via the group’s social media for all employees to help shape the statement. While the outcome is not yet known, he was clear about one thing: “It’s not just about making money.”
FROM JANUARY 2016'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE
As Cordant Group looks to expand and evolve — minus the man who last year unveiled a new-look Cordant Recruitment business — focus is being put on engagement, integration and incubation, chairman Phillip Ullmann (right) tells Recruiter.Former chief executive of Cordant’s recruitment services division Steven Kirkpatrick last year said he planned to shake up the “boring” high street recruitment market as he unveiled a revamped recruitment division.
While Kirkpatrick made a “tremendous difference” to the business, his recent departure is part of a greater business evolution, Ullmann says.
“We recognised that we could only have one CEO. We were effectively two businesses [recruitment services and facilities management]… and the power of the Cordant Group comes from unification, a single business and therefore we had to make a very difficult decision.”
A history of building strong, successful businesses saw Chris Kenneally, who was appointed about the same time as Kirkpatrick to lead the facility services division, take overall control of the business.
Despite not having any recruitment experience and the business generating most of its turnover from that division, Ullmann isn’t worried, citing the experienced team around Kenneally.
The business has also recently said goodbye to Staffgroup founders Mark Znowski and Paul Flynn, whose company Cordant acquired in 2015.
As Cordant works on “digesting” Staffgroup, it is focusing on incubation projects — taking on top recruiters and backing them to effectively build their own business units.
“It’s a better way to grow because you haven’t got the hassle of buying whole businesses, of making redundancies, of dealing with different cultures,” Ullmann explained.
The business is also redesigning its purpose statement with the aim of fully engaging its employees and temps. Ullmann recently put a call out via the group’s social media for all employees to help shape the statement. While the outcome is not yet known, he was clear about one thing: “It’s not just about making money.”
