1.What motivated you to join MorePeople 15 years ago as a recruitment consultant? I’d relocated from London and had half a dozen years in recruitment, and I’d developed a skillset for scaling recruitment teams. The opportunity was ripe at MorePeople, and it was clear that we’d mutually benefit from the knowledge I possessed. It felt like I could make a difference, and my personal and professional values matched those of Guy and Peter
2. Did you ever imagine you’d become CEO when you first started? Without sounding conceited – yes. I think that you must believe if you want to make things happen. Let’s not forget, I’m only the CEO of a small (currently 😊) recruitment company, so it’s not like I’m a FTSE 100 CEO, but then again, I’m not at the end of my journey. I’ve had to stay patient and accept that there was a lot to learn – and there still is! I have found out that I love learning, and I will keep that up. Every day is a school day.
3. What’s been the most significant change at MorePeople since you joined? There have been a lot of changes! I think that we’ve accepted and appreciated that we are a recruitment company. Obviously, we’ve always been a recruitment company, but I think that we have embraced more and more what this means, in terms of our offering to candidates and clients but also to our employees. Our new (well, it’s not so new anymore – we’ve been here three years) office is an example of this. It’s poles apart from the office we had for the first twelve years of my employment at MorePeople and the new space lives and breathes what we are all about – we’re proud of the environment and the people. It’s collaborative and inspiring. And fun, yet professional. It’s a hard balance to strike, but I think that we have got it right. I also really enjoyed project managing the development of this site.
4. What core values have stayed consistent throughout your journey to CEO? Fairness, and a drive to seek improvement, constantly. On everything. And leading by example.
5. What’s one piece of advice you would give to your younger self just starting out in recruitment? Work hard. Talk to a lot of people. Attend events and really marry the industry you work in.
6. What has been the most rewarding moment of your career so far? Moving into this new office and seeing the company and the people who work here ‘come to life’ – it also led to some pretty quick growth. It seems such an obvious move looking back but at the time, I’ll admit, there were some nerves there.
7. What challenges did you face moving from consultant to leadership roles? You’ve got to prove that you can add more value in a leadership role than you did when you were a consultant. It’s very black and white when you’re a consultant, but less so perhaps when you’re a leader. The proof that you’re adding value is tougher to see sometimes and your success is in some way down to the performance of the people you’re leading. The leadership role is nuanced and requires patience and empathy (traits that I have to consciously work on all the time!)
8. What qualities do you think are essential for someone aspiring to move into leadership? Realistic optimism and level-headedness. You’ve got to be positive all the time (but realistically so). No one wants to work for a mood hoover or a lunatic who is up and down all the time. The team want to trust in a safe pair of hands at the helm and be inspired and believe that we’re on the right path.
9. How has the recruitment industry changed since you joined MorePeople? Honestly, not as much as people think. It’s more competitive – there are a lot more agencies. But to be honest, I’m using a lot of the same systems I was 20 years ago (though they have had updates 😊). It’s always been about hard work, building relationships, being top of mind with clients and candidates and building useful knowledge and insight for the sector.
10. What are you most proud of achieving as CEO? I think getting to a point where our founder(s) trust that I am on top of everything. Obviously, I benefit from a team of Directors who add tonnes of value, but I’ve earned the trust and respect (and therefore have permission) to make decisions on how to run the business day to day. It’s scary and mistakes get made (that’s how you learn), but broadly speaking, we’re doing great. I’m also proud of the fact that I don’t have impostor syndrome anymore. I’m a CEO. And perhaps others are better placed to comment, but I believe I’m good at it.
11. What’s one thing about being CEO that you didn’t expect when you first took on the role? Maybe I didn’t expect this, or maybe I did. The job is never finished. All you do is move the bar higher. What used to be an aspirational target simply becomes the norm. You solve a lot of problems but then more crop up. I now realise that the goal (in life or as a CEO) is not to have no problems, the goal is to have good problems. The work is never done.
12. How do you stay motivated and inspired after 15 years with the company? I think in chapters. It’s not the same job or the same company as it was when I started or even after I’d done five or ten years. And it won’t be the same job or company in five years’ time. Each chapter has its own unique feel, and life outside of work also dovetails with its chapters (kids, house moves, new interests, new friends, new fashions etc etc)
13. What role does company culture play in MorePeople’s success, and how do you maintain it? It’s huge. Some elements need maintaining, a lot of elements evolve and plenty of new elements get created. Whilst keeping the inalienable core values, we must move with the times and adapt to keep engagement with the team and stay relevant to the clients and candidates. I am a sponge (perhaps some might say a great plagiarist) for new ideas. I love being inspired and then tweaking a new idea to give us an edge on the competition. Some new initiatives land better than others but that’s part of the fun, I guess.
14. What’s your vision for the next 15 years of MorePeople? 15 years is a long time. We can achieve a lot in the next 5, never mind 15. I think that we’ll become absolutely fundamental in our sectors – you won’t be able to work in them without knowing that MorePeople is the recruiter of choice. I expect that we’ll have gone international with additional offices in the UK and overseas – same core markets, but there are a lot of clients and geographies we aren’t currently servicing. The career opportunities that we’ll create for our team will be massive. We’ll have more shareholders, loads more directors, tonnes of managers and a whole host of roles that don’t currently exist in our structure. It’s going to be mega to make it happen.
15. If you could sum up your journey in three words, what would they be? Grateful for it
