Hannah Crowley

Said the following about Jason Garside (Recruiter of the Year):

“As the current Head of Client Development for Network Training and Resource Solutions (NTRS), Jason Garside is a young, charismatic recruiter with an instant knack for ensuring candidates feel at ease. Joining Linbrooke as a telecoms engineer in 2009, Jason then studied for his certificate in recruitment practice and moved to recruitment almost 2 years later to develop NTRS. Building it up from little more than a concept, he has placed over 1000 candidates into full and part time employment. He is also accountable for the creation of our Linbrooke contractor database - which presently names over 10000 multi-skilled engineers. This allows us to have circa 150 contractors deployed throughout the industry at one time.

However, bearing testament to the cliché that “when you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up”, Jason hasn’t always been based in high-flying positions or professions. He had to literally drag himself through a battlefield before starting the long journey to get to where he is today.

Spending 7 operational years as a Royal Marine Commando, Jason manifested his dedication, perseverance and loyalty countless times over before his service tragically culminated in a devastating accident where he drove over an anti-tank mine. Fracturing both his legs and entirely shattering his feet - while under enemy fire - Jason’s 8th year in the services was spent in various rehabilitation units learning how to overcome his ordeal and walk on reconstructed feet.

With repercussions that disallowed Jason to return to the only occupation he’d ever known, he found himself perilously close to depression – yet he never succumbed to it. Utilising his passion and energetic nature, he retrained as a telecoms engineer with Linbrooke Services. Unfortunately however, his reconfigured feet didn’t allow him to walk correctly on all railway infrastructure and this eventually led to him turning to another type of vocation.

When Linbrooke’s CEO and former member of the Royal Marines, Lee Hallam, noted Jason’s talent for enthusing and engaging all those around him - as well as his proactive, ‘can do’ ethos - he offered him a position in recruitment which enabled Jason to truly establish NTRS.

As the professional training and resourcing partner of Linbrooke Services, NTRS provides specialist engineering resources in telecommunications, power and signalling. Uniquely profiling individuals through part of a high-quality, bespoke recruitment solution – fine-tuned and executed by Jason - we accommodate, train and produce both blue and white collar staff. We also provide our clients and larger companies with the opportunities to up-skill current employees. With Jason utilising our state of the art National Training Academy (NTA) to host open days, recruitment fairs and a variety of tours, he is instrumental in making all of this possible.

In line with the recently released IRSE documentation predicting a massive signalling shortage midway through control period 5, Jason is currently focussing primarily on recruiting high calibre individuals – such as former military personnel – to be trained and subsequently employed within the signalling sector. This is to assist with the bridging of the skills gap within our industry. He is also concentrating on in-house recruitment - urging skilled workers to undertake the signalling training - in order to produce a higher number of multi-disciplined professionals with a more widespread knowledge of the commerce.

With a huge focus on recruiting former military personnel, NTRS works with charities such as the C Group and Help for Heroes to provide individuals with training, support and Ministry of Defence (MOD) resettlement programmes. Jason’s empathy, elevated military status and obvious respect for military personnel enables him to connect with potential candidates and provide them with the information and support they need in order to train with Linbrooke and be deployed into the best possible positions. Through his unremitting frequenting of trade fairs, C-Group visits, contact with national job centres and adverts in Quest/military magazines, Jason has ensured a continuous building of our trusted reputation – to the point where NTRS are contacted on a regular basis by individuals in need of training or employment.

Frequently, when ex-military personnel are recruited, they are still struggling to settle back into civilian life. This often negatively impacts on the individual’s self-esteem, confidence, social presence and happiness. Jason discovered – through his own experience - that becoming part of an industry/programme assists candidates in demonstrating higher levels of the above. Providing them with qualifications and employment not only benefits them, but it also ensures that the skills gap throughout the rail industry can be successfully bridged.

Jason has been instrumental in effectively integrating 100% of all military trainees who complete their courses back into a more comfortable civilian life with the abilities to provide for themselves and their loved ones – a feat for which all military leaders, charities and personnel are becoming more increasingly aware of. Utilising the NTA to assess the competence of each candidate, Jason creates personal profiles of the individual trainees to feed to Linbrooke and external clients so we can selectively hire the candidates with the highest quality skills, talents, rate of improvement and relevant attitude and aptitude. This ensures that along with the military honed values of dedication, loyalty, discipline and brotherhood, Linbrooke provides only the best/most efficient workers.

‘Joining Linbrooke has quashed my negative feelings about leaving the Armed Forces; it provides a diverse and challenging environment and it is reassuring to know that I am in an organization with a lot of like-minded people.’

- Ian Ronald, Assistant Delivery Engineer and former service-man

Going above and beyond his call of duty, Jason frequently works around the clock to provide the industry with the kind of personnel we can be proud of. He is a firm believer of treating everyone as equals and as such he was even accountable for answering the desperate plea of a former serviceman, rendered homeless by circumstance. This man has since undergone training, received qualifications and is forging a happier life for himself. With years spent serving his country, fighting for freedom and saving lives, Jason now saves lives of a different nature.“