Whilst the builders’ merchant sector has largely been able to continue trading throughout the pandemic, many employees have still lost their jobs. GCS Associates considers the current state of the merchant job market and outlines its pledge to help talented individuals get back to work.
In a recent article on the GCS Associates website, Managing Director Michael Parry reflected on the impact of coronavirus on merchant sector jobs, stating: “Pre-Covid, we were in a ‘candidate’s market’ in my opinion. Since Covid, there is certainly an argument for there being a shift to an ‘employer’s market’ as despite the furlough scheme, unemployment went through the roof in those early months of lockdown.
“Clearly, some sectors continue to remain devastated by the actions taken to combat Covid-19 but the construction and construction supplies sector have bounced back extremely well. Once back open, trading reports have been incredibly positive so as quickly as jobs disappeared, they reappeared. (However), there is still a large amount of people victim to Covid-19 redundancies — these are people we genuinely want to help if we can.”
Accordingly, the company has launched the ‘GCS Pledge — 21 for 2021’ in an effort to support those within the sector to have been affected by redundancies. The firm states it has spoken to “so many talented individuals who are now actively looking for new roles” and says that it is “committed to helping them by providing our recruitment services for free”.
Endorsed by the BMF, GCS has pledged to help at least 21 people who have lost their jobs due to Covid get back into employment, and it is reaching out to the industry for support. Drawing on its 15 years’ experience in specialist recruitment for the sector, the GCS Pledge declares: “If you have a vacancy within your business, please get in touch — we guarantee we can find the right talent for you (and) we won’t charge anything for our recruitment services. We’ll act as your recruitment partner, free of charge.”
In a broader context, Michael adds that the unprecedented nature of the pandemic afforded GCS the chance to further develop relationships with its customer base and better understand the requirements of those firms it works with. He said: “During lockdown when recruitment was, shall we say, not a priority, we saw it as an opportunity to give a little back, get to better know our clients and the industry we work in.
“We genuinely listened to our network, and now in addition to recruitment we are expanding our service offering with value-add services such as complete recruitment outsourcing, employer branding, executive search and training solutions.”
Additionally, in October, Chris Whitlock — with over 36 years of experience in the merchant industry — joined the firm in the newly created position of Executive Consultant, focused on developing GCS’s presence specifically within the builders’ merchant marketplace.
For more information on the GCS Pledge and its wider recruitment services to the builders’ merchant sector, go to: https://www.gcsassociates.com/
