In 2015, CoolBrands made it official. Five Guys became a cool brand.
What's more, they needed help getting to the bottom of their EVP and developing a whole new employer brand, which means they also needed the help of a pretty cool agency.
And, y'know, it sounded like just the job for us.
Our research discovered that the kind of people who have what it takes to be successful at Five Guys are people who aren't afraid to muck in and get the job done. People who don’t beat about the bush and say what they mean. People who bring the energy and never stop learning.
People who are made of 'the right stuff'. And that's exactly what we built the Five Guys brand on.
Part of our brief also involved creating a hero video that put the audience right at the heart of the action, and helped them to get a real feel for the environment, what's expected of them when they join, the key behaviours they need, and what they'll get from being part of the Five Guys family.
So, it was a great excuse for us to put our film and video know-how to the test. You can check out the result here.
As we worked through it, we caught up with Chris, head of recruitment at Five Guys in the UK to make sure he had the right stuff, too. Here's what he told us…
How did you get into the industry?
I suppose, like a lot of recruiters, I fell into recruitment. I studied HR at Uni in South Africa – but wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it after I left. I knew I’d enjoyed learning about resourcing, so thought I’d give it a go. My first role was as a consultant agency side (doing IT recruitment) - it was a bit of a baptism of fire and nothing like I thought it would be – but I actually ended up loving the sales and target driven nature of the role. I eventually went in-house with a client of mine and if I thought agency was tough, in-house proved even more ch
allenging… you’ve got nowhere to hide in-house!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
Not sure if it’s the best piece of advice but someone once told me to fake it till you make it – but it certainly resonated with me. It’s all about doing things that force you out of your comfort zone with confidence and you’ll surprise yourself when you achieve things you never thought you could!
What advice would you give to someone starting out in the HR sector?
Never forget it’s about people, as individuals. We can often get so caught up in strategy, data, branding, processes, models, etc., that we can forget that what we do in HR can (and does) have a direct impact on a person’s working life. Just like you and me, they want to be treated as an individual – not part of a resource plan or a number on a spreadsheet.
What’s the best thing about working with Chatter?
There’s loads - they’re so easy to work with because it’s about people. I don’t think we have a traditional client relationship with the guys at Chatter, because I feel like they’re part of the team. They’re able to cut through the ‘noise’ and present solutions/advice that are/is effective – and delivers results in the real world. And they’re a good laugh which always helps – they just get it!
What are you reading, watching and listening to at the moment?
I’m reading Gold: My Autobiography by Nick Skelton who won an individual gold at Rio 2016.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Not sure it’s a guilty pleasure – more of an unhealthy obsession – but it has to be spending time with my horse (if you’d like to know more, and have cleared your diary for a week, I’ll happily tell you about him).
Three words to describe yourself?
Quirky, thoughtful and funny (I hope?).
What fact would surprise people about you?
Not many people believe this but when I was in the Army in South Africa (this isn’t the surprising thing), I was shot at when on border patrol trying to catch people who were trying to cross the border illegally. I survived (obvs).
