Our People

I’m getting far greater satisfaction from dealing with candidates and clients at the most senior level. There’s a huge difference in the dialogue you have when your goal’s to identify the right person for a chief executive role. And believe it or not, both client and candidate pay more attention to your advice at this level – which means you have to be confident that you’re right. You’re acting as a trusted adviser in the truest sense.

But the challenge is much broader – there’s more emphasis on knowing what’s going on in the client’s world. Working in public services, we have to be aware of government policy or announcements about new initiatives and departmental restructurings, as they’ll inevitably require top-level appointments. We’re well-placed to support business transformation projects or newly established NDPB's. [non-departmental public bodies] – and many of these assignments can potentially lead to a string of director-level and senior management appointments – in HR, finance, IT, web enablement, CRM, diversity delivery, communications or procurement. The cross-functional exposure you get is huge.

Many of our candidates are actually clients of colleagues in Hays’ specialist brands, which provides positive crossover. And our in-house assessment team have often been instrumental in securing business. I’ve sat alongside them as they’ve discussed tailored packages of tests with extremely senior stakeholders – and that credibility has definitely given us an edge.

The teamwork within Hays is excellent. You’re surrounded by colleagues who’re willing to help and who know their markets inside-out. We have a matrix structure so that you can buddy up with people who have more experience in certain areas – so the support is always there.