EA First

David McGarry, EA First’s founder, commissioned us to help uncover and define values that would shape EA First’s next stage of growth. It had to communicate their unique personality whilst also ensuring that anyone they worked with understood that underneath the fun and generosity sits an exemplar business.

Action

I began with a full-team session, sharing stories that illustrated how values work in practice and introducing the Active Ethos® process – our structured approach to discovering, expressing and embedding the values that underpin performance. The room came alive. People started to describe what made EA First special in their own words, and what emerged was a powerful sense of people being absolutely front and centre of everything.

I’ll admit, I started out sceptical. The recruitment industry doesn’t always enjoy the best reputation, and I wanted to be sure EA First were truly different. To find out, I spoke to everyone in the business and to clients, candidates and partners beyond it. With each conversation my doubts melted away.

One client told me, “They’re the only agency whose call I always answer.” Another said, “They’ve placed people I’d never have thought to hire and those people have turned out to be some of the best on the team.” My favourite, which I’m not sure they’ll put on their website, was simply: “They’re never a pain in the arse.”

Through those interviews I discovered a company that embodies professional courage and genuine partnership. They challenge briefs, offer alternatives and never lose sight of the human being at the centre of each decision.

I distilled their vision, purpose, values and a concise holding narrative – the cultural backbone of who they are and how they work – into a format ready to share for their review and edits. Alongside this, I developed a set of statements describing ‘what it’s like to work with EA First’, which the team immediately adopted as the headline to their communications because it captured their essence so precisely.

What they say

At EA First, we’re changing the recruitment experience for everyone.

We’re building a people-first recruitment brand that truly engenders value and respect.

Our aim is to be recognised as a brand that is truly in a class of its own.

Our purpose is clear. To be transparent and create the best journey, every time. Whatever your connection to EA First, you’ll feel the difference.

The ActiveEthos® process replaced what might once have become a set of junk values with a truly slow set. Values that are real, relevant, lived and lasting. Values that set high expectations for everyone.

One senior director told me she, too, had been sceptical at the start, having worked with other values specialists on similar projects without success. What they had produced in the past, she said, were all the usual buzzwords. This time, she saw a set of values that “captured our spirit more accurately than we could ever have done ourselves.”

EA First now has the language, structure and cultural clarity to grow without losing what makes them special. I’m confident they will, and that’s because they’re the rare kind of recruitment company that people actually want to answer the phone to.