IAN MUNRO is managing director of Castlerock Care Services, a nationwide locum agency with its headquarters in St Helens.
The 31-year-old has owned the company, which supplies temporary healthcare staff to the NHS, private sector and Ministry of Defence, for nearly 10 years. This is an account of his day.
5am:I wake up and head straight for the gym which is next door to my apartment in Liverpool city centre. I run for half an hour, then nip back home for a shower and some cereal before heading to the office.
6.30am:The traffic is pretty clear at this time of morning, so it doesn’t take too long for me to get to St Helens. The first thing I do is log-on to see what’s happened overnight. We are a 24-hour operation. so there is always something to deal with.
7am:Staff start arriving and we have a quick catch-up so that any issues can be addressed first thing. Despite the fact that we now have over 60 staff, at five branches across the UK, I pride myself on being very hands-on and very approachable.
7.30am:I start planning the day, but I am mindful of the fact that things can change quickly in this business and plans are often futile.
9am:I leave to go to our office in Manchester. As well as St Helens and Manchester, our other branches are located in London, Southampton, Gateshead and Cannock. I visit them all very regularly to offer support and discuss branch development and staff recruitment.
10am:I arrive in Manchester for a catch-up and forward planning meeting with the branch manager and sales consultant. The team here supplies GPs to both the NHS and private practices, and we talk about how we can identify new opportunities for the business.
12noon:Another meeting, this time at the Cannock office, which supplies staff for one of our biggest contracts – a national care home provider with over 250 homes. We provide staff for their care homes across the whole of England & Wales and have just been awarded Master Vendor status.
3pm:I arrive back in St Helens and tend to have a lunch of Lucozade and sweets. During the afternoon, I talk regularly to the financial controller. We particularly like to make sure all our temporary staff are paid on time every Friday. Recruitment of temporary workers is an ongoing operation – we are always on the look-out for good staff. At another meeting, we discuss how we can keep that side of things running smoothly.
5pm:The office closes for the day and I sit down with the operations and sales directors to catch up on our ongoing developments and plans.
7pm:I arrive home and go for a run round the docks for an hour with a friend – or maybe go to the gym again . . .
8pm:Once I’ve freshened up, I have a quick bite to eat and then get back on the computer and respond to all the emails I haven’t had a chance to address during the day. I always make sure I reply to messages as soon as possible.
11pm:Off to bed – but raring to do it all again in six hours’ time. I genuinely love my job, so I never regard putting in long hours as a chore.
