Meet the Consultant: Charlie Griffiths
- December 03, 2019
It's time to put Charlie our Managing Director in the hotseat and ask the questions we all want to know!
Tell us a bit about your role as Managing Director at Stonor?
Being the MD of a small business means you wear many hats, from managing the finances to keeping the tea and coffee stocked. However, the best part of my job is helping my employees grow their divisions and constantly exploring new ways we can innovate to improve our service.
What did you do prior to being MD at Stonor?
I was a landscape gardener and a wannabe Indiana Jones.
Has the recruitment industry changed within your career, if so, how?
It has changed a lot, both in terms of candidate behaviour and client expectations. Candidates are now very passive and can afford to be selective about who they choose to work with, whether that’s recruiters or employers. That means it’s more important than ever to build trust and develop real expertise in your particular sector. Clients rightly now expect much more from their recruiters and most of our clients see us as trusted advisors rather than suppliers.
Do you feel that there has been a shift in what is important to candidates when searching for a new role/company over the past few years?
Yes. There has been a definite shift in priorities for candidates. Where they would ask about salary, bonus and car in the past, now they are much more interested in the company’s culture and what it’s values are. Or put another way, they’re more interested in what they’ll be doing, with who than how much they’re going to be paid to do it.
What do you think is important to clients when they are recruiting?
Our clients know that the success of their business is entirely reliant on the quality of the people they hire. They therefore take the recruitment process incredibly seriously and invest much more time preparing job descriptions and company information packs than they did in the past. The job market is highly competitive and clients recognise that they often need to move quickly to avoid missing out. This means that video interviewing and screening calls are now very common, as are assessment days and personality profiling.
What has been your best day at work so far?
We ran our first charity event recently (coffee and cakes in aid of Sue Ryder) and I really enjoyed that day. It was great to see such a positive reaction from our staff and associated businesses.
How are you different to other consultants in the industry?
We like to think our consultants are excellent to deal with and can offer genuine insight. All of them have a minimum of 2 years experience in their sector so they know what they’re talking about. Feedback from clients suggest that we are less “pushy” than our competitors which fits with our values of being friendly and informative.
What is your favourite thing about working at Stonor?
The mix of characters and the fact that every day is different. As Forest Gump said, “You never know what you’re gonna get”
What would be your advice to anyone searching for a new role at the moment?
Call Stonor Recruitment.
Stonor Recruitment specialises in Marketing, Creative, Digital, PR, Legal & Market Research Recruitment. To brief us on a role or for more information about outsourcing your marketing recruitment, please contact us.