“The industry needs to think outside the box to recruit” – Cento’s Brett Ennals on the fire & security recruitment market

Brett Ennals, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Cento Group, gives us an insight into industry trends and technology through the lens of a fire and security sector recruitment specialist.

Brett Ennals joined the security industry in 1989 as an electronic security engineer working for Abel Alarms. Moving into the fire alarms sector shortly afterwards, he then progressed through a couple of different companies before ending up as UK Sales Manager of Notifier, which was later acquired by Honeywell. In 2007 he left Honeywell and started a specialist recruitment company for the fire and security industry, Fire and Security Jobs, which was later renamed Cento.

IFSEC Global (IG): What made you leave the ‘comfort’ of a major fire and security company to start up your own recruitment company?

Brett Ennals (BE): I did a lot of recruitment on the client side at Honeywell but was frustrated that I was dealing with recruitment firms that didn’t fully understand the sector. I thought: “Maybe I could do this better?” So I boldly went off to start Fire and Security Jobs.

It gained a lot of tractions, but over the years we found that we got pigeon-holed into engineering and technical recruitment and were overlooked for sales, commercial and board-level roles. So, we repositioned the business back under the Cento brand.

Now we cover pretty much the whole spectrum of job roles, from CEO and board level to R&D engineers, hardware and software engineers, installation and servicing engineers, sales roles and administrative roles. Our sectors include electronic security, active fire systems and passive fire protection.

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IG: What does the name ‘Cento’ represent?

BE: The official answer is that Cento is Italian for 100, and we’re a service business, so always give 100% service to our clients and our candidates.

The unofficial reason is that it’s named after the 100cc Lambretta scooter which I owned when I was around 15 years old!

IG: What is the current state of the fire and security recruitment market?

BE: There are loads of opportunities out there and pretty much everyone is recruiting. There are around 1.1 million vacancies in the UK at present, and I think the fire and security industry suffers a greater skills shortage than some other sectors. Mind you, as long as I’ve been recruiting, it’s always been an industry with a shortage of candidates.

But now, post-COVID, we have a perfect storm of an ageing population, people changing career paths and people going independent as subcontractors. And you haven’t got as many young people coming into the industry, as it’s perceived to be a compliance industry and not a ‘sexy’ sector, especially by Generation Z, who are more influenced by social media.

IG: So what can be done to address this skills gap then?

BE: I think the industry as a whole needs to do its bit to encourage people into the sector. A lot of employers need to think out of the box ­– for example, if you need an engineer try looking amongst electricians or telecoms engineers. I did an electromechanical apprenticeship with The Ministry of Defence – there’s lots of people who can come from adjacent spaces. Yes, they need a bit of encouragement, a bit of training and a bit of time.

During the current cost-of-living crisis, I am finding that many people are moving for more money, but this isn’t always the motivation. Training and development and work-life balance are also important factors, especially for younger candidates.

Work-life balance can be problem with our industry. It’s a 24-hour industry and attending out-of-hours call outs is part and parcel of the job. Since covid more and more people say: “You know, I don’t want to do call out – I want to be home by 5pm. That’s a tricky one, and I don’t necessarily have an answer to it.

IG: What can employers do to help themselves?

BE: A lot of employers have a mixed mindset, wanting staff to be present at the office the whole time. I understand that, but with flexibility and opening up their business, they increase their talent pool. With so many systems and so much technology being accessible via the cloud, remote working should become far more feasible.

IG: How is technology affecting employment prospects?

BE: Some of the market – for instance residential security – is becoming ‘plug and play’ and is almost in the DIY sphere now. There’s a lot of resistance to this in engineering circles, but that is the way technology is taking it, as with the industrial revolution. Technology overcomes the shortage of labour, and that’s happening in the security sector.

With remotely diagnosable and serviceable systems, you only have to send the right engineer once with the right part to do the right job. Ultimately, you’re going to need fewer engineers. That may be a controversial statement that will probably upset a few people, but in the end that’s where the technology will go.

IG: Is greater integration changing the face of the industry?

BE: Growing Integration is also a trend. In the United States, fire, security and AV have almost merged into a low voltage industry. The only problem I see with that is you get resistance from some engineers to working across different sectors. It’s the newer, younger generation that probably want to get their teeth into more integrated systems.

What we’re talking about at the moment though is more ‘interfacing’ than integration – true integration would mean that all devices sit on the same pair. But at the moment, you’ve still technically got a separate intruder system, a CCTV system and a fire system which is bound by its own standards. I don’t think we’re there yet with true integration, but being IP-based and sitting on the same network may be the way forward.

IG: Do you think embracing a more diverse workforce is one solution to the skills shortage?

BE: Yes, and I think the larger employers especially do go down the diversity route. In my experience, I’ve never come across a candidate or employee who has been discriminated against on the basis of gender, race or religion. On the contrary, I have seen instances of positive discrimination where companies are trying to get their gender balance right.

I think the fire and security industry is generally very balanced, open and inclusive. Compared to when I started in the industry in 1989, there is a lot more diversity now, but you can’t get away from the fact that it continues to be a male-dominated industry.

IG: Cento is attending IFSEC in London in May. What are you looking for from the show?

BE: As the industry is becoming more global, we’re looking at targeting international visitors as well. This year, we’re pushing more into North America, the Middle East and Asia. So I see IFSEC as a great platform for us to launch that initiative.

We’ve now widened our scope to cover the facilities management side of things as well, reflecting the wider scope of the IFSEC and FIREX set of exhibitions and their crossover with sectors such as FM. When you deal with a lot of the larger companies, fire and security are just two of their disciplines; they’ve also got businesses in industries such as HVAC, lifts and building maintenance. We’re just going for the adjacent space.

IG: Do you have a final thought on the state of the industry?

BE: I think the move towards cloud-based technology will be nothing short of revolutionary. It’s almost as if the industry has been stuck in its ways for a long time, but now software companies are coming in and taking the industry into the 21st Century.

I think we will see a lot more people starting to embrace the technology not only to deal with the skills shortage, but to develop and grow their businesses. I believe we’ll see that gathering real pace in the next few years.

Cento will be on stand FI2630 at IFSEC and FIREX between 16-18 May at London’s ExCeL. 

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