What role are you in?

So, I’ll be joining the team as a Senior Talent Partner working onsite with MRJ’s newest client Financial Wellness Group which I’m really excited to get started on.

From what Jody’s told me regarding MRJ talent, it’s going to be a really fun journey and I’m looking forward to getting stuck and delivering results on behalf of the brand.

What’s the background that’s led up to you joining MRJ?

Oh interesting, well, to be honest, most of my career has centered around the recruitment industry and that’s taken me quite far and allowed me to work across the pond in America for a good number of years – But I’d say it was when I was working at AO that I probably had the clearest connection to joining MRJ.

With AO being regular partners with MRJ, I already kind of knew Jody tangentially and was aware of the movements he was making within the recruitment sector and thought it’d do no harm to give him a call and then here we are.

What do you love about your role and recruitment?

Building relationships is without a doubt the foremost thing for me. Above the money or company, at a basic level being able to speak to such a wide array of people is a really underrated part of recruitment that tends to get glossed over.

I mean, the conversation I had with Jody just serves as the perfect example of that when you think about it and the idea that you’re “you're never more than 10 feet from a new opportunity”

What’s your favourite food?

Ooooh, this is a really tough one… I mean it really kind of varies but I’d say a roast dinner stands out to me as the best… but then on another day I could easily say tacos and Mexican food. That’s a tough question to answer!

What’s something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m not sure I have anything outwardly exciting that’s kept under wraps per-say… I guess I once went to Paul McCartney’s house for New Year’s which is quite interesting. Though at the time it didn’t really mean much to me as I was too young to fully understand that like “this is the actual icon Paul McCartney.”

What do you look for within a role?

I think trust is a really big thing for me to be honest on both sides. There needs to be trust on my side that the business has a firm plan for the future and trust on the company’s side that I can deliver them the results they want.

I also think I tend to look for a figure within a business that can provide a mentorship figure for me to look up to some degree, so I think that’s definitely something that’s quite important for me.

What is a common issue that people new to the industry come across?

I wouldn’t necessarily say this is related purely to being a new starter, but being ghosted is something you tend to come across when you’re first starting. Though I’d say that’s more to do with being new to the industry and not having refined the approach you take to candidates.

Like for instance, I can imagine as a new starter it’s probably common to treat a new deal as the first and foremost of your concerns rather than taking the time to build a relationship with the candidate and strike up some common ground between the two of you.

But then to a certain degree, I think that is a natural growing pain within recruitment that decreases as you become more familiar with what works best for you.