A warts and all story of how Woodstock Recruitment came to be...

Once upon a time, there was a young man named Dan. Dan didn't have a clue. He had gone to Uni to study Biomedical Science, because he wasn't bright enough to study medicine like his parents wanted him to.

After 3 years of studying hard (and smashing his student loan on booze and blockbuster videos), Dan realised he still didn't have a clue what to do with himself. So, one day, he broke up with his long term girlfriend at the time (poor girl, she was really nice, but not the one) and went travelling to 'find himself'. Dan didn't find himself, but he did experience culture and enjoyed meeting people and seeing new places for a year. He came home, skint, with a new tattoo and a new girlfriend from Germany.

Dan got a job stacking shelves, after all, every little helps! But he wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. He wanted to be more and he wanted to do more.

Dan put a really crap CV together and some how got a job in science recruitment. Dan still didn't have a clue, in fact, Dan was waaaaay out of his depth. BUT, Dan was a tenacious little blighter and he was skint, so when the 2008 financial crash happened, Dan, knowing he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, worked his little ar*e off to keep his job.

Over a few years, things started to get better. Dan was doing alright. He had moved to Lancaster with his girlfriend and good things started to happen. Well, apart from breaking up with said girlfriend a few months later.

In 2009, Dan was flying at work. He became one of the highest achieving recruitment consultants in the company. He received a few promotions and he (reluctantly) met a girl called Pamela Burrow (Pamela Lloyd ), through a mutual friend. Dan liked her a lot. Dan bought her lots of gin and got her phone number. Pam and Dan hit it off. He travelled from Warrington where he worked, making the journey to Coniston in the lakes, where Pam was working for the YHA. They shared lots of walks and conversation together, until Pam left to do her 2nd Ski season in the French Alps. They spent 6 months apart, with Dan visiting regularly and getting his Ski legs back.

When Pam returned, Dan introduced Pam to recruitment and Pam became one of the top performing recruiters in her division. They bought a house together and in 2013 they were married. In the meantime, Dan was itching for something more. He wanted to push the boundaries. He wanted some freedom, and he wanted to do recruitment how he wanted to do it. So, in 2014, he set up a new science recruitment business with a partner. It was hard, but it was awesome and it did very well.

In the years that followed, the business went from strength to strength. Pam joined the business and the business grew. There were challenges on the way, like Brexit, like having 2 kids, like 'how the hell do we grow a business'?, and like a little thing called a global pandemic....

In 2020, Dan realised he still wasn't happy. Work was great, money was good (despite the pandemic), but Dan's vision wasn't complete. Dan didn't just want profit, he wanted to help make a mark on the industry. He wanted relationships that mattered, he didn't want to work with certain companies because, well, he didn't like working with them. He wanted to be surrounded by people who shared the same ethics and values, who looked after their staff, who wanted to work collaboratively. Plus, Dan and Pam had other plans and visions, so, in December 2020, they cashed out of the business and took a big risk to go it alone.

Dan and Pam spent the early months of 2021 setting up a little business called Once Upon a Fell , a labour of love you could call it. It was the first time Dan had swapped the shirt and tie for his scruffs in his working career and Dan learned a lot. He learned he had very very soft hands and that his joinery skills were comparable to those of a small child. BUT, something he could always rely on was his tenacity. Dan's main competition was always himself, so he completed the eco conscious glamping and camping site and ran that for a year, whilst he was still contractually obligated to be out of the recruitment industry on a non-compete clause.

Missing the connections he had made over the years and longing for the soft touch of a keyboard and a phone, he set up Woodstock Recruitment Ltd in September 2021. The name he took from his house name, whilst washing his car on the driveway. That'll do, he thought to himself. Pam took over the camping business, whilst juggling working with Dan at Woodstock and their first year in business was a big success. He reconnected with all of his lovely clients and industry professionals and he began building his vision for how recruitment should be done, ensuring it was centred around a human-centric approach.

In the next year or so, the world continued to go a bit mental, with rising fuel prices, wars, supply issues, rising inflation and a cost of living crisis. To top it off, Dan and Pam's son, Seb, who has a few difficulties of his own, decided school wasn't for him. So, Dan and Pam decided on unelected home education, because Dan and Pam didn't have a clue what to do. But, they had each other and their vision always included making sure they had a work life balance as a family.

Their story continues and despite the challenges that lie ahead, they continue to be arguably one of the best husband and wife teams in recruitment, utilising Pam's skills of being calm under pressure and Dans outright tenacity.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

P.s Dan is fully aware he has been talking about himself in the 3rd person and it's kind of weird, but then, if you know Dan at all, you'll realise he is kind of weird, in a good, loving kind of way.