I feel deeply privileged to have been involved with so many great franchises over the years, helping them build their teams, and also helping talented people find the right roles where their skills can make them really shine.

However, one of my proudest moments was listening to the recent podcast between Ruth Brown, COO at Home Instead, and Dug Aylen from The Franchising Centre, where Ruth took time to mention me and how I helped her in her career. I’m usually a pretty modest person, but I must admit it’s a pretty good feeling to know I have made a real difference to both an individual, and a huge brand like Home Instead.

You can watch the full podcast here, which is well worth a listen in its own right:

Or skip to the part (40mins in) about how she found her role with the franchise here.

However, earlier in the podcast. Ruth also drops this wonderful line:

“Weirdly, a lady called Shirley Hughes sent me a job description…”

Of course, there was nothing “weird” about it! I had already met Ruth at franchising events in the past, and had heard a great deal about her skills through some colleagues and contacts of mine. When I learnt she was looking for a new role due to a change in personal circumstances, I reached out to her with something I thought would be a perfect match.

I was working with Trevor Brocklebank, then owner of Home Instead, as they were looking for a Sales/Support Manager and I had offered to headhunt them a shortlist of just the right candidates.

Ruth had worked for 4 years at Thorntons plc as their Franchise Recruitment Manager, so this new role would be a bit of a diagonal move which would require her to perform a lot of new responsibilities, not least looking after franchisees post-recruitment. However, she was more than qualified, and it was clear to me that she had fantastic potential to achieve so much more, so I sent her cv to Trevor and as they say – the rest is history!

Now, as I am sure you are aware, Home Instead is one of the UK’s largest and most successful franchises, not just in care, but right across the board. Ruth tells us now that she was initially a little bit apprehensive about whether or not she could make the right impression as a relative newcomer to the care sector.

“Initially, I dismissed it straight away actually because it was in care, “ Ruth said, “ but it was my now husband who said to me I think you need to go see this company because it ticks all the boxes. I met Trevor and I just fell in love with everything that he was trying to do here in the UK. It was everything I was looking for. I wouldn’t have known about Home Instead if Shirley hadn’t sent me the job description.”

However, that was just the start of what was to prove to be an incredible journey

Ruth excelled in her new role, and Home Instead were also very keen to draw on her recruitment to expand the network. Her responsibilities grew and grew, as did her recognition within both the franchise and the wider franchising sector. She was instrumental in helping Home Instead grow into the first-class, award-winning franchise it is today, and has been involved in over 300 individual franchisees joining the company.

In 2022, she was appointed COO, a new height in an already stellar career… and it all began with a job description being put into the right hands.

“If I hadn’t met Shirley, I wouldn’t be here, where I am today.”

Success stories like this are all about the right person being in the right place, at the right time. Every now and then that does happen organically and franchises strike gold first time, but that’s extremely rare – especially in the world of franchising where such specialist, niche skills are required.

Which is exactly where I come in!

With my extensive contacts and experience in the industry, I can help you take all the chance out of recruiting the right person for your team. Not only that, but I can help you bypass all the arduous advertising and application processes which can take up all your time and rarely deliver the results you need.

So, if you’re looking for someone to fill a role right now, or are planning to create new key posts in the near future, why don’t we talk about how we could help? 30 minutes of your time now could easily save you days, if not weeks, of work later and make your franchise stronger than ever before.

Who knows? Your very own Ruth Brown could be out there just waiting for you!

You can schedule a call with me anytime by clicking the button below.