It seemed like a good idea at the time!

A recruitment service run by people that had done the jobs they were recruiting for. One that was transparent, honest and ethical. That INSPIRED people to apply for jobs, rather than headhunting them. That told them all about both the opportunities and challenges that a role offered. That didn’t talk people into roles that weren’t for them.

I’d been in the voluntary sector for almost 20 years in 2007 and had spent the last few years as a consultant working for charities around the world, big and small. One thing came up again and again – trouble finding staff. Trouble keeping staff. And a recruitment sector that wasn’t helping at all.

So we decided to build something new. Four of us (myself, Joan Jack, David Craig and Eilish McDowell) all of us fundraisers, and all of us committed to breaking the mould when it came to recruitment. We deliberately did everything differently from what recruitment firms did. We told people which charity we were recruiting for. We replied to EVERYONE that applied for our roles. We took the time to find out exactly the sort of person that our clients were looking for. We worked hard to be different and honest. We gave ourselves 6 months!

It worked! Within days we had our first recruitment assignment (for Poppyscotland who are still with us) and we were off and running. Since then we must have recruited over 1000 staff. The ten years since we started have seen us expand beyond fundraising (naturally most of our first jobs were in our own discipline), expand beyond Scotland (BTA is now UK wide) and take on the world (we’ve got sister companies in Ireland, England and Canada.

Oh and we never stopped being consultants. Indeed our consultancy service now is at least the equal of our recruitment work.

In the last ten years so many people have worked for us, worked with us and just generally wished us well. The BTA story is theirs too and we can’t thank them enough for their contribution.

We’re now looking to the future and embracing technology that never stands still. Our recruitment work went online years ago and this year we will launch BTA Digital – our new consultancy service to help charities communicate and organise their digital presence.

The world is getting smaller and (it seems) sillier. We need to evolve, innovate, globalise and constantly, constantly challenge preconceived wisdom. Most importantly we need to help the magnificent voluntary sector change the world for the better. Every day, in every way we can. That is our mission.

It still seems like a good idea!

Bruce