From an initial desire to create something different to now being a three-time winner of Great Places to Work, Kate and Ian have built McCarthy from the ground up and created a highly successful business along with an amazing workplace culture. We all work together to write the rulebook and we have a genuinely kind and caring 'family feel' environment
Having started out in retail and then moving on to retail recruitment, Kate recognised the need – and opportunity – for a high-quality Management and Leadership Recruitment Agency, with the focus on delivery and knowledge of the talent market across all sectors.
My career started at 14 as a paper girl and working in the local shop, it progressed to working for Boots during and before University and then a short career in retail management and as a holiday rep before falling into recruitment by accident.
I never knew what I wanted to do when I “grew up” and I still don’t – but recruitment felt right, I hadn’t always felt like I fitted in fully, and when I started in this crazy world of recruitment something just clicked. I loved it, it combined so many things I loved; people, relationships, sales, service, accountability for delivery, and competitiveness.
What I didn’t love, however, were some of the ethics associated with recruitment, the cultures, the ways of working and I decided the only way to change that was to create my own. So…McCarthy was born! It wasn’t easy, I sold my house, sofa surfed and put my world into storage, worked crazy hours and everything came second – I lost friends who didn’t understand and I got new ones who did and I gained a business environment and culture that I love even more than my love of recruitment itself. My career hasn’t been planned, my degree in Sociology and Employment has actually proved useful now but its main use at first was teaching me resilience and hard graft. I am a normal girl, from a hard-working family and I am the only one who has their own business.
I am married to Matthew, who believed in me from the start and that belief gave me confidence – although we had only met a few months before I started McCarthy, our relationship has grown and had as many ups and downs as McCarthy! During this journey, Matthew and I have had 2 boys, Charlie and Joshua, both of who I fought for (that’s another story) and who have and continue to teach me so much and make me a better leader and Mum.
I am passionate about life, about making the most out of it and making memories. I am not frightened of saying it how it is, I am very straight forward and I am known for my absolute honesty. I hope that gives you a bit of an insight into me, if you want to know more pick up the phone and give me a call, I am always interested in talking.
Kate
After meeting Kate in 2006, I completely bought into the culture and values she and the team had created as well as her drive to make the business the best recruitment business out there!
I never set out in life knowing what I really wanted to do and was always following in the footsteps of my brother who seemed to achieve everything very easily! We are all wired differently and this learning at an early age definitely contributed to how I approached everybody as individuals throughout my career.
I discovered my passion for food and hospitality and saw the opportunity to get out of pure academic study and put my creativity to good use at catering college. I spent 7 years in the hotel and catering industry working crazy hours and making my way up through numerous kitchens and restaurants and even had a spell as a doorman in top hat and tails in a nice hotel in the Lake District driving fancy cars to the car park!! All of that was alongside my studies at catering college where I graduated with a degree in Hotel and Catering Management. This was a pivotal moment as I didn’t set out to achieve a degree, I perhaps didn’t believe I could but it proved to me again that we are all different and there is no set way of achieving in life.
I left the hospitality industry and moved to retail as I saw a much more structured career path and development and spent the next 15 years working for Safeway and Selfridges in a variety of management and area support roles. Retail became my passion but whilst I can still remember the sales numbers from key Christmas trading periods and the fun we had opening new stores what I am most proud of is all the individuals I developed and nurtured who went on to fulfill their ambitions and career goals, those memories are the one’s I look back on with the most pride and still speak with some of those people now as they have become friends over the years.
So to my McCarthy career, well again I didn’t really know what the future held when I walked down Deansgate in Manchester after meeting Kate and the team and made the decision to walk back into Selfridges and resign. It was a big step, a risk, a big salary drop at the time but having met Kate I completely bought into the culture and values she and the team had created as well as her drive to make the business the best recruitment business out there! So I joined and loved it and developed in different ways, delivered in different roles, found that my ability to understand how to get the best out of individuals worked in this environment as it had throughout my career and I flourished. Nearly 15 years on and I’m the MD although still don’t forget that each and every member of the team is just as important as the next, that’s the culture in our business and we all work together as one to deliver for our clients and candidates.
Outside of work I have three amazing kids and couldn’t be more proud of their achievements and attitude to life, we are a hard-working family, I got that from my parents and my kids have all picked that up too, however, we love life, love family time and enjoy the simple pleasures together.
I hope that gives you a flavour of me, if you are reading this and want to know more then please give me a call, I’m always open for a good conversation!!
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