Cathy McCorry wins IoD UK Young Director award

Cathy McCorry is Managing Director of The Grafton Employment Group, Ireland’s largest recruitment solutions provider, responsible for recruiting a quarter of permanent employees and one third of all temporary employees in Northern Ireland/Ireland and 170 internal staff.

Cathy has been recently been awarded Northern Ireland’s and the UK Young Director (2010) by the Institute of Directors, in addition in her own professional field Cathy is also the recipient of the  IRP REC Business Leader of the Year for the UK. She is a former Regional Director of the REC and is a Member of the NI Employment Affairs Committee and the Skills Council NI. Cathy is also involved in work in the community through Prince’s Trust, Women In Business, Children in Crossfire and Business in the Community.

For the past 3 years, Grafton witnessed the most difficult trading period. As the economic recession rippled across the network with a knock-on effect on the mobility of talent, this impacted on margin, turnover and profit.  Through driving the necessary changes and improvements in the business Cathy has improved profitability from a loss of £350,000 in 2008/9 to a profit of £1.875m in 2009/10.

How Cathy stands out from the crowd as a business leader

“To me, although this is a business and a job, it is about much more than this- it is about family. I came into this business as a branch manager and have worked through the organisation to the appointment of Managing Director in 2008. To me, my personal success has been focussed on the development of personal relationships and understanding individuals and their circumstances, desires and hopes so we can build trust and commitment and enjoy true family values. My style has always been open, approachable, practical, supportive, encouraging and inclusive. This applies to both internal and external stakeholders and has helped me deliver financial outcomes because of this style.“

Unique skills or methods that Cathy has brought to the business as a leader

Management style

- personal, inclusive, knowledge of company from ground up at all positions

Communication style

- open, various methods, two-way with strong listening skills

Relationship building is key

- we are successful because of our personality and our people. We are recognised in the market as having something unique- it is a Grafton culture which attracts talent and business to us

Initiatives

- Back to the Floor, Apprentice style presentations, Breakfast with Board, CSI sales initiative, C’mon Over campaign with local government (attracting back talent)

Results:

• Turnaround in financial performance. Through driving the necessary changes and improvements in the business, Cathy improved profitability from a loss of £350,000 in 2008/9 to a profit of £1.875m in 2009/10.
• Sales per head increased from £5600 pp pm to £7800pppm (target £7000) through a restructuring of our customer base
• Employee retention rates - 40% lower than industry standard because of the way we work and our inclusive and entrepreneurial spirit
• Achieved IIP re-accreditation