Recruitment Consultant/Account Executive
"I finished university in 2001 and didn't really know what I wanted to do for a career. After a period travelling across Europe, I got a job working for a call centre recruitment company. They wanted to establish a call centre executive search arm to their business and I was seconded to work in this team. After two years there I joined MRINetwork in a similar capacity.
MRINetwork is a well-respected brand so I'd heard of them before. A colleague at my former company was ex-MRI and raved about the training and networking capabilities with such a large company. These, coupled with the drive and ambition of my potential MD, made the decision an easy one.
Now I jointly head up the contact centre search side of our business. My fundamental responsibility is to manage senior individuals' expectations in an honest and professional manner. The day tends to be split into three areas (40% sales, 40% networking and 20% administrative duties).
For me the highlight of any day is having an influential businessperson ask your advice on the industry as a whole or confide their concerns to you about the situation they are in. It's also the buzz of a positive result, be it placement, in-depth conversation or something as simple as gaining the mobile phone number of a key contact.
Executive Search is all about highs and lows. This is why it is important to stay positive and see the 'little victories' as helping to build the overall desk. Therefore, any telephone numbers, new contacts, new industry information etc. all take you a step further than where you were the day before.
I have been to a couple of training events with MRINetwork, most notably a course at Silverstone and the European Conference in 2005. Both were great opportunities to work with other offices on certain work-related tasks and share in each other's successes as well as concerns. A Business Development Manager visits our office on a regular basis and we focus on specific areas of difficulty we may be encountering at the time. This, coupled with regular telephone training from experienced coaches across the globe, makes for a healthy training schedule.
Our office team is growing fairly rapidly at the moment. We are all supportive of each other and celebrate each success as if it were our own. Each success tends to drive the team on to achieve greater things but, if someone is struggling, they are encouraged to keep to the MRINetwork methodology and things will turn around. The environment is very hard-working and very entertaining with an open 'no surprises' culture. If something hasn't worked or mistakes have been made, it's OK as we are only human.
Our Managing Director is quite entrepreneurial in his outlook and likes to have a good time at work. He is incredibly well respected so I find it natural to want to do well for him. He adopts a very supportive style with clear objectives and a long-term vision strategy. However, he also allows us the autonomy to achieve the results in a way we deem best suited to our own individual styles.
My personal plan is to continue growing the call centre search team and to develop new key client relationships across the horizontal sector. The other important thing for me is to keep enjoying what I am doing and not to become complacent at any time.
In summary, MRINetwork is a very well-respected brand in the recruitment world. We are able to offer a truly global reach in our service offering, but also provide a customised and dedicated solution to each client. The training and development is intensive and thorough and the contacts you make within the network enable you to expand your own skills in the industry. In short, where else could you give advice to some of the world's leading businessmen and help change the fortunes of a number of market-leading businesses, whilst also developing your own commercial awareness along the way?" (Phil Ruck, MRINetwork Mosaic Search)
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