Resourcing is an essential part of work-winning success

Procter Street initially evolved as a multi-disciplinary consultancy following the experiences of directors David and Gareth’s many years working client-side within the construction sector. They saw notable gaps in the project cycle that could be better serviced – from work-winning to costing through to resourcing, and much more. The resourcing side of things arose from demand. We were being asked who we knew. We were using our knowledge and network to pull in favours regularly. So we decided to make recruitment an official part of our offering.

When clients ask us to help them fulfil a vacancy, they’re not approaching us as a recruitment company, they’re asking a construction/civil engineering consultancy with a vast network and a lot of knowledge. We understand the roles you’re looking to fill because many of us have worked them, across all kinds of sectors, underground and overground, from highways to waterways.

We’ve found it makes sense to be focused within our sector. It’s vast in terms of the sheer numbers of stakeholders within construction and civils engineering. But it’s also a small world – reputations are highly visible; we all talk to each other; networks are hard won; and loyalties are important. There aren’t any shortcuts to success, it’s all about taking the time to make connections, understanding pain points and strengths so that when you have a fantastic candidate you know exactly where they’d flourish. And conversely, when you’re asked to find a particular kind of person with a list of skills, you know who to approach. It is all about the personal touch.

We chose to leverage our position in the work-winning process by finding people for the projects we help our clients win. Work-winning only goes so far without the people. And candidates need the projects to work on. This approach is very satisfying to those in the Procter Street team who have ordered, logical, engineering minds!

It all comes together to make a perfect cycle of work-winning; identifying opportunities; strengthening the bidding process; supporting throughout - even by seconding our own people; right through to finding the right professionals to mobilise the secured work.

So, going full circle, when you have grown an excellent team of people, all with specific skillsets, you’re able to perpetuate the sales cycle by finding more work with similar criteria – and you’ll be able to show your organisation has the right experience.