Rick Hughes
As a Director at Corecom I like to think my role is planning and executing the things that facilitate other people to carry out their roles effectively.
I’m involved in pretty much all areas of the business from strategy, operations, finance, sales, marketing, training, new product development, forecasting, compliance & internal recruitment. The variation in my role and the opportunity it has given me to learn all the things required to grow a small business is one of the things I love most about it.
Contact me on:
Call me on 0113 457 1454 or email me on r.hughes@corecomeu.psmockup.com
What does a normal day working for Corecom look like?
My day usually starts between 7am and 7:30am depending on whether I’m in the office that day; I like to get out as soon as possible to walk my dog, Rocky. I have a green smoothy every morning with my breakfast to get the day started off right.
The work day starts off with the team for our daily 8:30am morning meeting, which gives me a great opportunity to keep up to date with what’s going on across the company. As we’re working from home 3 days a week it’s also a nice way of seeing people I might not see in person that week.
No day is the same for me and will depend on the needs of the business at that point in time, but a typical work day could involve working with the Sales Managers by writing and delivering training or coaching them to help them develop their teams. I spend a large amount of my time on Operations & Finance reviewing and signing off compliance and contracts, financial forecasting & planning, setting company budgets and producing company management information. A part of the role I particularly enjoy is leading efforts on new product development and internal projects such as our Corecom Partnerships & IR35 Connect products or implementing our new CRM and automation systems. Whilst I don’t do a great deal of hands-on recruitment these days, I still utilise my network to build relationships with new customers and act as a senior point of contact for our key clients.
Most days I try to break my day up by going to the gym or going for a run. I tend to finish around 7pm most days as I find I’m most focused later in the day. I’ll be back out with Rocky for a walk before settling down to a TV series (big Sopranos fan!) or a film with my fiancée with a cup of tea or a glass of red!
What’s the best thing about working with the Corecom team?
I’ve been at Corecom since 2011, and it has been amazing to watch us grow from 3 people to the business we are today. The people here are great. We’ve worked so hard to build a culture that makes coming to work a pleasure. It sounds like a cliché but Corecom has always felt like a family to me, and not like work. I also believe we’re the best at what we do and working with the best people means we challenge each other on a daily basis to be even better.
Being a small business there are no hiding places and so as a business owner you have to stretch yourself, push yourself out of your comfort zone and pick up new skills quickly. While at times this can be hard, it forces you develop at a pace you’re unlikely to achieve in any other role. Our business success has allowed us the freedom to pursue new ventures and expansions. In recent years we have launched Corecom’s first international business in the Netherlands, and in 2020 we teamed up with old friends to launch an IT Consultancy that shares the Corecom name, Corecom Quality Engineering.
How do you spend those well deserved days off?
I’m a huge Leeds United fan and travel to all games home and away with my dad and brother. I love to travel abroad and get away regularly with my fiancée, Adela, my family and friends. I’m a bit of a history geek too so I read a lot. Oh, and I love a beer!
What job would you be terrible at?
Anything that involves DIY. I’m probably the worst man at DIY in Yorkshire.
What’s a piece of advice that has stuck with you?
Something my Dad told me – It’s important to save but If you’re going to spend your money on anything, spend it on travelling and seeing new places, because savings won’t buy your time back and experiences are everything!
What I wanted from this partnership was to be able to take a step back and free me up to focus on my other responsibilities in addition to recruitment. Working with Corecom alone made everything so straight forward. I wasn’t having to chase up several agencies and there was no duplication of candidates. Tunstall was their no1 focus and I trusted them to deliver, which they did. There was noticeable improvements in CV-to-interview and interview-to-placement ratios which was a real pain point before changing the model on how we worked together. Working on a retained basis gave me confidence that extra effort and resource would be put in to filling the roles.
