The team at 300 North like to do our bit for the community. Every year we take on a new challenge to raise money for a local charity or one that is close to the hearts of our team. Throughout 2020, to support our wellness and charitable aims, we are raising money through a number of sport and health based initiatives to support Smart Works Leeds.

The Smart Works mission is to help unemployed women regain the confidence they need to find success at job interview, secure employment and transform their lives. The service harnesses the transformative power of clothes and confidence. By providing interview coaching and donations of high quality interview clothing, the Smart Works charity are able to change the trajectory of another woman's story.

Joe Firth

I am the Director of 300 North's Construction & Engineering team. I work within the MEP Contracting, FM Lifecycle, Capital Works Projects and Construction sectors. I also manage the Hard Services Engineering covering Engineers & Back office support plus our Specialist Fire Engineering team. We recruit both freelance & permanent hires for our clients.

Tell Us About Your Professional Background

I started my recruitment career working on M&E trades, initially recruiting electricians, plumbers and pipefitters on sites around Yorkshire. I then progressed to white collar M&E permanent placements and gradually moved into FM along the way.

What Do You Like Doing Outside Of Work?

Outside of work I love spending time with my wife and young daughter. I'm also keen on a spot of gardening, with a hidden talent for making a mean hanging basket!

Tell Us Something About Yourself That People Won't Know

I'm originally from Essex for my sins!

If You Won The Lottery What Would You Buy?

Definitely a ridiculous supercar like a Bugatti.

Welcome to Joe Firth who we're delighted has joined the growing 300 North team as a Principal Recruitment Consultant.

To introduce Joe and allow everyone to get to know him, we asked him a few questions to start us off:

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a very friendly chap who likes to have a good craic with my friends, colleagues and family. I enjoy helping others and adding positive contributions where possible. I have worked in recruitment for 8 years since leaving University, it’s a demanding job but rewarding! Having good colleagues and a good working environment makes all the difference!

This is the first in a series of blogs with a focus on diversity and inclusion. A hot topic at this year’s Facilities Management Show and other industry events, it’s also an issue we come across regularly as recruiters within Facilities Management (FM).

We begin by looking at the role women play in FM; a sector perceived (rightly or wrongly) to be dominated by men.

We're pleased to report that our Office Manager Katie Ashley is now qualified as a Mental Health First Aider, which is vital in enabling us to provide support to our internal team and also our candidates and clients in the Facilities Management and Construction sectors. As a recruitment company, we're dealing with people everyday, many of whom may need support. According to The Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 6.8 people are experiencing mental health problems in the workplace.

It’s time to talk legislation. Specifically, IR35, and the impending changes to the private sector planned for April 2020.

Our aim isn’t to overwhelm you with information and jargon; we simply want our clients and candidates to understand how the changes could affect you and how the team at 300 North can help.

Last year 300 North announced that we are sponsoring Callum Hall, International Wheelchair racer in his bid to reach qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  We asked Callum to do a guest blog to update us on his progress over the last quarter and here's what he had to say...

We wanted to take a minute to introduce our new team member Amy Bell and say a huge welcome to 300 North! We're all delighted that Amy has joined the Newcastle office as a Recruitment Administrator supporting the team, our clients and candidates in the North East and Scotland. Already having a good knowledge of the Facilities Management (FM) sector, Amy has got stuck in straight away and we're loving having her!

Mindful of the fact that many of us are fed up with the ongoing ‘situation’ we all know as Brexit, we’ve delayed writing this post for some time. However, ignoring it won’t help anyone; least of all the sector’s employers, employees and contractors.

A lot has happened since the UK’s original exit date back in March but one thing that hasn’t changed is the uncertainty and how a deal or no deal agreement might impact the UK’s economy. Without knowing exactly what will happen come 31st October, it’s hard to know what the future holds but there is one dominating factor throughout all of this…people.

We would like to say a really big welcome to Laura Maddocks, the latest member of the 300 North family. Laura has joined us as a Recruitment Administrator to help support our team of consultants and make our client and candidate experience as smooth as possible. Laura has a professional background in customer experience, sales and administration and is looking forward to getting stuck-in to the recruitment process and leaning more about the Facilities Management Sector.