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20th February 2009

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Breaking Through The Retail Barrier

Breaking Through The Retail Barrier

A new recruitment company aims to change the perception of retail as a career choice

A new recruitment company based in Portadown, is championing an area of employment which its managing director believes is hugely underrated: Retail.

Breakthrough Recruitment Ltd., which was launched in August by County Armagh businesswoman, Bernadette Hendron, will specialise in recruiting staff for the retail sector throughout Ireland. Bernadette has already secured contracts for several top high street names such as TK Maxx, Menarys Retail Ltd and New Look, and the company has attracted hundreds of prospective candidates from across Ireland, endorsing Bernadette’s decision to both establish her own consultancy and to focus on retail.

“The retail sector is often a much undersold area of employment,” she says, “when, in actual fact, it should be promoted as an admirable career choice. There are so many progressive and exciting career opportunities within retail and it often provides the chance to develop at a much faster rate than any other sector, yet many people view it almost as a poor relation. Breakthrough Recruitment Ltd will help to break through that perception.”

Bernadette spent almost 20 years both here and in London working within the recruitment and human resources industry for corporate giants such as MSL International, Readers Digest, Ladbroke Group PLC and Sears Clothing Ltd, before taking the decision to set up her own business.

“Having spent the majority of my adult life working within the recruitment industry, I decided it was time to go it alone,” explains Bernadette. “I took a sabbatical from work around this time last year to have my first child, but prior to that I had spent almost five years as Director of Operations for P.INC Retail Ltd, a retail recruitment specialist company based in Belfast.  But becoming a mum gave me a different perspective. I knew I didn’t want to stop working altogether, but I also knew I wanted more control over my career. Setting up my own recruitment consultancy was something I had often whimsically considered in the past, and when my son was born in January, I knew that the time was now right for me to pursue that goal.”

Whilst Bernadette had immense knowledge of her market, she needed some hands on advice about setting up her own business and approached Invest NI for help. They recommended their Start a Business Programme, which Bernadette says was instrumental in pushing her idea forward.

“The Start a Business programme taught me so much about the financial, organisational and legal aspects of running a business,” she says. “In fact, I received so much support from the programme that I actually decided to open my office in the new CIDO Innovation Centre at Portadown, which specialises in helping new businesses to get off the ground. It’s the perfect location for me and means I still get lots of back-up support.”

Bernadette believes that, particularly in the current economic climate, Breakthrough Recruitment Ltd can highlight retail employment opportunities to people of all ages and backgrounds who are either looking for their first job, want a promotion, or even considering a change of direction in their career.

“I want to be able to match good people up with some of the best employers in the country,” she says. “I took the decision to change my life and I hope that, through Breakthrough Recruitment, I can help many other people to change theirs.”

If you have an idea for a business, the Go For It Programme can help you, just as it helped Bernadette. Call 0800 027 0639 to turn your business idea into a business success story.

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