Heritage Colleague Spotlight - Rakesh, Resourcing Manager

Welcome back to week six of our Heritage Colleague Spotlights mini-series, to celebrate our 40 years of stores milestone!

Our Heritage Colleague Spotlights shine a light on some of our amazing, long service colleagues, and how they have grown and evolved with us over the years. This week we chat to Rakesh Parmar , Resourcing Manager.

Rakesh joined the Dunelm team in 2007 as a Recruitment Support Colleague. He joined the new stores team, at a time where we were opening 12-15 stores a year. He says ‘it was very busy and chaotic, but I absolutely loved it.’

After a couple of years, the role evolved into looking at existing store recruitment too. Rakesh worked closely with the Regional and Store Management teams to handle their ongoing recruitment needs. We began to see the value in a centralised recruitment team, and then our Internal Recruitment function for new and existing stores was formed, an opportunity which Rakesh snapped up.

As the new Internal Recruitment function was based in our Syston Head Office, the role developed further and Rakesh found himself recruiting for other functions too, such as buying and tech. Rakesh says this was ‘definitely a challenge, but I loved it as it helped me build further connections around the business.’

Fast forward to 2024, Dunelm has a sophisticated internal recruitment function and Rakesh heads up multiple business areas as a Resourcing Manager – a role which he loves!

Rakesh feels passionately about being a part of Dunelm - he didn’t hesitate to say, ‘Simply put, it’s just a brilliant business. We do so much more for our colleagues – I have friends who work for other retailers, and we are just that bit better in all aspects, in my opinion.’

He added, ‘retail is fast-paced, moving and evolving all the time, and I just love it! Not one day/week is the same. You are constantly learning, the culture is brilliant, we have strong values, and I’d say compared to other retailers, we have such a strong sense of security because of our success. Moreover, I cannot knock the opportunity I’ve been given from the leaders that have come in and developed me. There is also great flexibility and an exceptional work/life balance. I get quality, meaningful time with my two kids and family. My manager actively encouraged me to keep up with my role as a football coach for my local team outside of work too, something I value very highly.’

What make’s Dunelm Rakesh’s “happy place”?

‘There is not one day I wake up and I am not looking forward to going to work. I love the unpredictability of retail and how every day is different. We are a caring business with a brilliant team, and I am lucky also to have such an amazing manager. Seeing colleagues I have hired flourish and go on to have amazing careers with us is really rewarding- knowing I’ve played a part in their journey is so great.’

Rakesh and his team are currently working hard to fill our seasonal vacancies across over 180 stores, and their hard work is really paying off. We're looking to fill all roles earlier than we ever have before!

#findyourhappyplace #lifeatdunelm #recruitment