Ever wondered what it is like to run a small recruitment business? In the next edition of our insight series, we caught up with Owen our Co-Founder to really see what it is all about. Have a read…

Monday
At the moment we are all working from home on Mondays as part of a hybrid work policy. For me, that means I do school drop off and am at my desk for 8.45am. I start my day with a catch up with my business partner Jenna to run through progress and priorities for the week. Then I lead a weekly team meeting to talk through collective goals and discuss our portfolio of work. For the rest of the morning I focussed on finalising a Finance Director shortlist I was due to discuss with a client later that day.
The day took an unexpected turn when my in-laws called to say they were unwell and so couldn’t pick our eldest up from school. I was quickly on the school run before dropping Lucy off at a Halloween party. Next for me was writing a proposal for a campaign we were pitching for later in the week followed by doing the invoice run for our month end. I was around for the kids’ bedtime before getting off for a quick gym session to finish the day.

Tuesday
Working life as a parent can be quite testing and today was no different. My youngest was up all night disturbed by the howling winds meaning my wife and I had very little sleep! Still, I was out of the door by 7am to London to meet one of our associates for her weekly 1-2-1 over breakfast. The rest of the day was spent in the office catching up with some contacts, arranging interviews for the Finance Director position, finalising arrangements for our office move later in the week, and doing some credit control work. After another 1-2-1 with Olly over a quick pint, I was off home with minimal train disruptions meaning I saw the kids before they went down for bed. I spent a bit of time in the evening doing some sourcing work for a few tricky jobs we have on.

Wednesday
A busy day of meetings today. I met Hattie at Liverpool Street for a coffee to hand back her desk – she had been away in Thailand for two weeks which meant I was doing an average job of trying to keep her portfolio spinning! I was then over to the West End for a second stage meeting with a potential future recruit for the business. Jenna and I then met two long-term clients for lunch in the City before getting into the office early afternoon. After catching up on emails and call backs, I was off to another meeting, this time a first stage with a potential hire for the business before heading home.

Thursday
I started the day in Stratford to meet a CFO we have been working with recently for coffee. Getting into the office later in the morning, I was behind on some month end queries from our accountant I had to deal with and then did the weekly contractor pay run. Next up was packing the office – this was our last day in White Collar Factory before we got the keys to our new place on Monday. Most of the afternoon was orchestrating the move out to ensure it ran as smoothly as possible before taking the team for a quick beer to mark the occasion. Olly, Hattie and I were then out to dinner with someone we have been talking to about potentially joining the business next year.

Friday
We have a 4 day week policy which for us means everyone is free to do what they wish on a Friday whilst overseeing commercial imperatives. For me, I still work but balance it around other life priorities. Today, I made the kids breakfast and headed to the gym. I then spent the rest of the morning catching up on emails and some business admin, before doing a quick food shop for the weekend and picking up my youngest from his playgroup at lunchtime. Later on, Hattie and I had a panel meeting to pitch for a recruitment campaign we were hoping to win…which we later found out we did! I finished the week at the local fireworks night with the family…mixed reviews from the little ones!