Michelle Griffiths - Managing Director

I'm not the sort of person to walk away from a challenge, even if it's one I've set for myself!

My career began back in the late 80's (how scary is that!) with a regional recruitment firm, working on the 'temporaries' desk supplying high volume temps to local commerce (so I really do know about the importance of being there for the client when they need it, having been woken at 5 in the morning to provide emergency cover more times than I care to remember!) I eventually achieved the position of Sales Director for this company but, never one to rest on my laurels, decided that I needed to broaden my experience and so joined firstly Monster and then Fish4Jobs.

Here I found myself working at entirely the other end of the marketplace, a highly corporate, polished world where budgets are large and expectations high. I took a great deal of pride in taking the time to listen to what my clients were telling me they needed and finding solutions that best fitted their brief. Highly rewarding, but certainly not a 9-5 job and necessitating a good many nights in faceless hotel rooms. It was during these overnight stays that the seed of @Work began to germinate; a company that combined the personal service I had provided clients with the very latest recruitment technologies - why should it only be the corporate big boys that get to play with all the best toys?!

And so @Work opened it's doors in Ipswich town centre, in January 2008. As it turned out, just at the start of the worst economic downturn we've seen in years - but as I said, I like a challenge!

A local girl at heart, I am proud of our community credentials, working with the Suffolk Young Chamber, Town 102 to find Suffolk's Best Boss and convincing a team to 'Race for Life' (although it nearly killed some of them!) in aid of Cancer Research. I hope the future will see us extend our reach beyond the traditional users of recruitment services by offering cost-effective solutions to start-ups, SMEs and Nationals - @Work, is obviously very close to my heart but my hope is that it will play it's part at the heart of your business too...