Experienced employability, recruitment and business development professional

Robert Walters plc is one of the world’s leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies and focuses on placing high calibre professionals into permanent, contract and temporary positions at all levels of seniority. The New Zealand business recruits across the Accountancy and Finance, Banking, HR, IT, Legal, Procurement & Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing and Secretarial & Business Support fields. Established in 1985 the Group has built a global presence of 53 offices spanning 24 countries

Advantage is an industry specialist in design and delivery of national and international projects targeting Youth Enterprise, Entrepreneurship & Employability.Managing a team of 6 core staff and numerous external associates and delivery agents, my role at the company meant I had responsibility for no less than 8 major government funded youth enterprise and employability programmes during my time at the company.Deputising to the Director and as Company Secretary my role was to oversee the day to day deliveryof all projects, ensuring resources were effectively applied, risk managed/mitigated and targets met.I also oversaw budgets, managed finance, quality and procurement systems and ensured thecompany adhered to and reported on KPI’s provided by our funders. This multi-faceted role alsoinvolved a significant element of strategic management, key relationship management, marketingand communications, HR & recruitment, business development & tendering.During my time at the company I was also heavily involved in delivery, both to large groups of young people and intensive mentoring on a 1:1 basis. I delivered both employability and enterprise skills workshops and Open College Network qualifications to a range of diverse audiences, often working with very hard to reach members of society such as young offenders or long term unemployed. My role in Advantage afforded me the opportunity to travel around Europe to share knowledge and benchmark best practice in the fields of Youth and Social Enterprise. I worked across many prestigious European programmes such as Interreg, The European Social Fund and The Northern Periphery Programme.

Parity Talent Management helps NI organisations bring in high calibre talent or upskill existing staff.As part of the talent management business development team I was responsible for prospecting, presenting to clients and closing opportunities across a wide portfolio of learning and development solutions. I worked as a consultant working with NI businesses, helping diagnose their talent management needs, prescribing solutions and developing plans for implementation and funding.I worked to achieve challenging sales targets in order to meet overall team targets of £400,000 per quarter and identified new opportunities for more bespoke tailored offerings for clients.One of my key roles was to build key strategic relationships with umbrella organisations and professional bodies in order to successfully promote Parity offerings. This has included relationships with referral partners and key people within local government.A large part of the role was also to work hand in hand with the marketing team to develop a clear and consistent message for the marketplace.

Working as part of a team of recruitment consultants working within NI’s buoyant industrial sector, I was responsible for running a busy recruitment desk. This involved sourcing candidates from a rage of backgrounds and ethnicities to fill roles for multiple clients, working with candidates to put together their CV’s and with pre interview advice.

Working in the group sales team of a large travel company I helped manage key accounts with sports clubs, travel agents and tour operators. A key part of this was maintaining relationships, ensuring maximum levels of customer satisfaction and delivering against key KPI’s set for the team and individuals.