Rachael Lee
Facilities Management Recruitment Manager
I started my career within the financial services sector and used the transferrable skills I had developed to catapult myself into my recruitment journey just over 7 years ago. At the start of 2020, I was delighted to join the team with the challenge of starting a brand-new desk, leading our Facilities Management division.
This opportunity was ideal for my long-term career goals and has enabled me to lead a division that has seen consistent growth which has blossomed into a team of high performing consultants within the business. With consistent support and guidance from the directors, I have strived to deliver a high level of customer service to all our clients within the Facilities sector. I am proud to boast that we have been a key partner in supporting prestigious global service providers and SMEs with their talent recruitment process with key hires at all levels.
I joined when the Mainstay team was still quite small and am proud to say I was Mainstay’s first female consultant and manager. I am not only passionate about my sector, but champion diversity and inclusion within the workplace and regularly attend conferences and talks which I have used to empower and motivate me to continuously push forwards.
These talks have raised as many questions as they have answered, but as with a consultant at any level, there is value in always nurturing new ideas and creative thinking in order to drive improvements and adapt within our market. I have seen Mainstay mature into a company that truly supports its staff and encourages success with a collaborative approach across all divisions.
I love working within the FM sector due to its variety, you can recruit for a manufacturing site one day and a corporate HQ another, all with their own intricacies and nuances. This has always captured my attention and imagination as I am inquisitive by nature. My previous experience had been recruiting primarily senior appointments and management but within the last 3 years we have faced a more varied requirement which has in turn enhanced my ability to place a wider range of candidates from front line staff and engineers right through to bespoke roles. I am seeing the evolution of Facilities which offers ample opportunity as we navigate new technologies and smarter workspaces and buildings. With various government incentives, we are seeing a generation of roles that have a focus within energy and sustainability and the impact of our environment around us. I am lucky that working within the Facilities sector has often meant that I have visited a lot of these sites, even donning the odd hard hat! This has been instrumental in enhancing our knowledge and insight into our clients and the roles we source for.
Outside of work of work I enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures, along with exploring my passion for history and art. When I was growing up my father and I would always get the train and explore castles and stately homes while he explained why buildings were constructed and their purpose. This has continued into adulthood and enjoying visiting tourist attractions and national trust properties, with the odd Capability Brown garden known to make an appearance. When I was younger, I secured an architects placement at the council, perhaps in part this has played out to an extent in my chosen career path, turning my enthusiasm for buildings into managing a Facilities department. I enjoy traveling and exploring art galleries and am a regular at our local gallery, partly due to its links with Lucian Freud who is a personal favourite. Ultimately, nothing will ever compare to getting back to nature as this will always be my personal zen, I find it grounds me and helps me recharge, so I can reflect and appreciate how far I come and the people who have supported me along the way.