Our Beliefs at Stroud Resourcing

Stroud Resourcing is proud to be a business that lives by our principles. Managing Director, Joanna Stroud explains how and why we’re committed to these principles:

When I launched Stroud Resourcing over a decade ago, I knew I wanted to do things differently. My former experiences in recruitment were mixed, I was grateful that moving into this industry presented an opportunity for me to get ahead based on my own accomplishments, but it wasn’t without challenges, gender inequality and social class discrimination were just some of the negatives I had exposure to.  

 ‘Laddishness’ and bullying was rife, I saw co-workers screamed at, hit with phones, and even witnessed colleagues come to blows over commission splits. I saw favouritism and nepotism, my potential was completely overlooked, in my first recruitment role there were 120 Recruitment Consultants, 6 of whom were female. Of these 6 women, 4 of us are now at the helm of our own company.

When I decided it was time to take the plunge and start my own company, I knew I had to create a different kind of culture and put good business practice at the heart of decision making. Delivering the latter was easy, my early career in retail management indoctrinated me in driving objectives and delivering outstanding service. What I’ve found challenging is creating the right culture.

I’ve learnt over the years that culture must be developed and the strategy to this is as important as the strategy adopted to generate revenue. Timing is also really important, my advice to any business owner is to make sure you are truly ready for growth. I expanded Stroud Resourcing when I was pregnant, I had 2 children within 2 years, I was also suffering from PTSD following 3 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy which nearly took my life - the timing was not right.

Although I was still involved in the business, I wasn’t leading the company. The culture that formed during this period didn’t reflect me individually, it didn’t serve the business, me, or our employees well. I ended up with a company culture that I really didn’t like, and we had to learn from mistakes that had been made. It took hard work and determination to change it, we effectively had to rebuild the company culture from scratch.

Roll the clock forward 5 years the business is unrecognisable. The intrinsic character of my colleagues is to solve problems, we are committed to achieving great things for everyone involved in our business. Self-value, self-worth and authenticity run through our veins, we have a genuine passion for the job and a palpable love for Stroud Resourcing.

We have the same expectations of each other – which is to go above and beyond, but most importantly we belief that well-placed empathy is paramount which means listening to clients, customers and colleagues and treating them how they expect to be treated. We look after each other, I have a meaningful connection with all my colleagues and having felt isolated in my own company that’s also really important to me.

Now, I can be proud of the company culture we have all worked to build here, of the values we share, of the great work my team do, and of the great fun we have doing it.