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Gloucestershire Business News

Gloucester-based recruitment specialist fuelled for growth

Only three years after deciding to launch his own business, a Gloucester-based recruitment specialist is on track to record a turnover in excess of £1million.

Tony Farmer decided to use his two decades of experience in manufacturing recruitment to set up the Black and White Group in 2016.

He took long-time colleague Audrey Spencer with him on the new adventure and after spotting a gap in the market they decided to move into the care sector.

Black and White Group now recruit and train expert care staff, with qualified care sector trainer Mr Farmer delivering much of the tutoring himself.

When learning that trade, he had no idea of just how much relevance that training would have, after illness and a freak accident left him in a wheelchair.

"When I was in my mid-30s I started falling over a lot," Mr Farmer said.

"My brother was having similar symptoms and had tests and was diagnosed with late onset muscular dystrophy, and then I was too.

"I broke my leg five years ago in a freak accident and when the bones mended, the muscles weren't ready for me to get back on my feet.

"Things started to get better and then a year ago I shattered my femur in two places and I am still getting back on my feet slowly.

"It was ironic when I broke my leg as the day before I did, I was doing a course on how to use hoists to move patients, then 24 hours later I was in one.

"In a funny way, it's probably helped our business, because I now have that first-hand experience of not being able to do things that we all take for granted.

"It gives our company that extra bit of expertise. We provide care and try to understand what it must be like, but now we really know what it is really like."

Mr Farmer started out in the recruitment business in the mid-1990s working as a sales manager at Omega.

He then set up PDS Recruitment as one of three partners 15 years ago.

He had always wanted to go it alone, however, and two years ago he decided to take the plunge.

Now the Black and White Group have a full-time staff of five working from their Brunswick Road offices and a team of 50 plus specialist agency staff on their books.

"I always wanted to sail my own ship and two years ago, I decided to do just that," Farmer said.

"My expertise is in manufacturing and engineering, but when the credit crunch hit, that sector was hit hard.

"However, care is recession proof as we will always need nurses and healthcare workers and we now manage both, side by side."

"I have a fantastic staff. We invest in them and ensure they are trained to the best standards because our aim is always to give the best to our customers.

"We always say to a new customer that we will treat their business like it's our own.

"We get that kick out of putting the right person in the right job, helping customers out with their problems.

"The reason we are called the Black and White Group is because we want to make things simple. It is a matter of black and white, treating staff and customers well."

For more information on the Black and White Group visit www.nogrey.co.uk  or call 01452 226 136.

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