Member Spotlight: Nicci Birley, Owner – Cornerstone Resources

1. Introduce yourself

I’m Nicci Birley.  I run a local business, alongside my husband Rob, that provides end-to-end outsourced HR services to small businesses and charities throughout the UK.  I’ve been running Cornerstone Resources Limited for over 6.5 years and, after 20+ years in the corporate world, I love it.

We live south of Manchester with our two yellow labradors.  I’m a mum of two teens, love learning about new cultures and languages and love to volunteer for local charities in my spare time.

2. Career highlight

I’ve been working in HR now for over 25 years, so it’s hard to pick just one highlight.  However, since we set up our business, I’ve loved helping other business owners and charity leaders to implement pragmatic HR solutions.  I’ve learnt, as a fellow small business owner myself, how much quicker things can be implemented in a smaller organisation, how easy it can be to make a tangible difference and, if something doesn’t work, it’s not an issue, we try again!

3. Name three words that describe your personality

Passionate, compassionate & tenacious

4. What’s the best thing about pro-manchester

The best thing for me is pro-manchester’s proactivity, as a busy business owner, it can be hard to keep abreast of all the different events etc, however, I find that the pro-manchester team are so proactive in making me aware of the right events at the right time.  I think that they are role models in taking a truly collaborative approach across the region.

5. What are your priorities for 2024

As we move into the last part of the year, our remaining priorities are to continue to grow the business across all the three customer groups, move to a much bigger office (planned for later in September), recruit at least two more team members, continue to work towards being efficient and effective in all we do (from an internal perspective) and continue to enhance our offering to our customers.

6. What do you think are the most important things going on in Manchester at the moment?

Apart from the recent announcement about the Oasis tour next year?!

I think it’s an interesting time across the country, not just in Manchester.  As business leaders, we’re waiting on the next budget in October to see what this means for us, as a HR leader, we’re waiting on the next raft of employment law changes due for October and as a proud Mancunian, I’m watching to see what the new government has in store for the North West as a region.

7. Favourite meeting place in Manchester

If I were to choose a big city centre one, I’d say I love the Department Bonded Warehouse and I love a lot of the more modern shared working spaces.  In Stockport, closer to home for me, I recently visited Bask, which is right by the train station and was a great, chilled venue to work from for a few hours or to meet with a couple of people.  I tend to choose smaller, independent cafes to work from in the surrounding areas.

8. Are their any particular types of businesses that you would like to meet

I am passionate about learning from others, so I always welcome meeting up with other business owners to understand how they grow and manage their businesses, what mistakes they’ve made and learnt from and what systems and approaches are working for them.

I’d also welcome meeting business and charity leaders who don’t have their own in-house HR and would like an initial, no obligation chat about how Cornerstone Resources Limited can help free up their time, motivate and develop their teams and improve retention and recruitment.

Get In Touch (optional)

Email: [email protected]

Phone:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niccibirley/