2016 was a big year for us, with a new website launched and a fresh brand unveiled. As we inch ever closer to our 25th birthday, we felt it was time to celebrate the heritage of our brand and look back on how far we’ve come. Who better to help us shine a light on Quanta’s history than our founder and CEO, Stephen Trigg? He spoke to us about how Quanta began and how it’s grown over the years.
What made you start Quanta?
“Quanta was actually my third ‘start up’! I had previously started recruitment companies in the ’70s and ‘80s and had just left my last company after it had been sold to a large corporate,” says Stephen.
“I was really at a crossroads in my career at that time and had to decide whether to continue working in a corporate environment or to draw upon all the experiences I had achieved at that time and pour them into a new venture. Eventually, the draw and excitement of selling to new clients in new industries and in new locations was too strong to resist and so I started again.”
What have been the most significant changes you’ve noticed in Quanta over the years?
Quanta started in 1992 with clients focused in the Banking, Financial and Mobile Telecoms sectors. We now operate in the Life Science, Renewables and ICT sectors, spanning more than 20 countries.
“Clearly, over the past 25 years of Quanta’s history there have been major technological changes that have impacted every facet of the recruitment industry,” says Stephen.
“The speed of communication, the tools used to attract candidates, the automation of many recruitment processes - these have all changed and will continue to do so. Fundamentally though, if you ignore all the great technology and amazing tools in recruitment and social media, recruitment has not really changed. There is still a client with a problem that needs solving and we have the responsibility to ensure that we can find a candidate that can be a part of the solution, within time and budget. To achieve this, we need to recruit and train our own staff to have all the competencies and knowledge to help achieve this solution. I think this is where the most significant changes have taken place.”
What new challenges have you seen arise at Quanta over the years?
“The challenge to recruitment management has been the understanding of, and response to, the changing needs and expectations of staff that enter the recruitment industry,” Stephen explains.
“Of course, this affects all industries, not just recruitment. We have hired staff who have been born in the periods known as ‘X’ gen, ‘Y’ gen and now the ‘Z’ generation. Each generation has a different perspective on life to the other and technology plays an increasing part in this; to the extent that distinctive ‘work’ hours and ‘play’ hours are no longer distinctive, they are morphing together through the use of technology.
For example, a recruiter could be talking with friends on WhatsApp and then sending a message to a candidate on LinkedIn and then sending a picture to a friend of the pub they are in on Instagram! This is now becoming the norm and hence brings different challenges to the traditional recruitment lifestyle.”
What are you proudest of at Quanta?
2016 was a proud year for everyone at Quanta, with a Queen’s award under our belt and strong team growth helping to propel us forward. So what is Stephen most proud of overall?
“There have been many highlights throughout the evolution of Quanta. I think though that without a doubt our success (and our future success) is a result of the culture we have created at Quanta. Our leadership team have invested significant time over past years in understanding what motivates our staff and subsequently in creating and developing personal development and training programs.
The Quanta staff have been instrumental in creating our vision and values and demonstrate these through their behaviour and work ethic on a daily basis. I have to say it is an absolute pleasure to work with them all and makes myself and my co-directors very proud of what we have achieved. This success culminated in 2016 when Quanta were awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise for International Trade; that was indeed, a very proud moment.”
We are committed to being not the biggest recruitment company in town, but absolutely the best at what we do. If you’re interested in working with us, either as a client or a candidate, we’d love to hear from you.
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