Vikesh Patel Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, Gb

After just over 1 year (of an 18m FTC), I was made full-time at Wolff Olins continuing as the Talent Acquisition Manager for our London studio.• Strategically pipelined a database of future talent through market mapping competitors and adjacent companies, regularly engaging with this passive pool of candidates

London, Gb

Global brand consultancy creating transformative brands that move organisations, people and the world forward. TA Manager, as part of a team of 3 in HR, overseeing end-to-end hiring for London and supporting our New York studio.Outcomes• 25 total hires to date• 65% reduction in cost per hire 2022-23 / 82% reduction 2023-to date • 41% reduction in external recruitment debt 2022-23 / 79% reduction 2023-to date• 41% reduction in time to hire 2022-23 / 25% reduction 2023-to date• 30% reduction in external vs direct hires 2022-23 / 71% reduction 2023-to date• 100% success rate in probations passed for direct and external hires• 21% increased representation of Men:Women within our client facing teamsOutput• Hiring across Creative, Strategy, Engagement (Client Services), Marketing, HR, Finance, Operations• Partnering with hiring managers, influencing and educating on recruitment strategies • Built future talent pipeline through market mapping, proactive headhunting, recruitment campaigns and leveraging our collective network• Reviewing recruitment tools and platforms are producing expected ROI• Support annual salary benchmarking and workforce planning• Provide cover for HR i.e. offer letters, contracts, IR35 paperworkTools: Recruiter, Workable, Job Boards, Metaview, ChatGPT (Job Descriptions, Outreach Messages)

London, England, Gb

*Redundancy*B2B, SaaS startup redefining workplace learning. Joined Seed-stage through to Series A. First and sole Talent Partner overseeing end-to-end hiring for non-Tech in the UK, supporting US and Macedonia. Role was made redundant due to runway and lack of significant hiring needs.Outcomes• 28 total hires• 44% reduction in time to hire• 45% reduction in cost per hire• 81% reduction on roles hired via external recruiters• 22% improvement in candidate experience score• 300% increase in referrals• 41% increase in site traffic• 100% success rate in probations passed for both direct and external hires• Maintained a 50:50 average of Men:Women representation across non-TechOutput• Hiring across non-Tech including Sales, Marketing, Product, Customer Success, Marketplace, People, Operations, Finance.• Supported Head of People with commercial talent OKR's• Applied a strategic approach to using recruitment agencies• Introduced a structured hiring process; scorecards, interview training, documentation, hiring playbooks• Recommended and implemented improvements to our recruitment stack by measuring and reporting on key success metrics• Coached hiring teams on bias and best practice through hands on training• Introduced a gamified company-wide referral scheme• Led employer brand initiatives including revamping job descriptions, careers site and LinkedIn Life pages • Co-founded Mental Health Circle and collaborating on company-wide Mental Health initiatives • Diversified interview panels, gender decoded job descriptions and educated stakeholders on inclusive hiring practices• Coached People Assistant to support on interview coordinationTools: Recruiter, TeamTailor, Job Boards (Otta, Cord), Notion, Canva

London, London, Gb

High-growth, bootstrapped product development company in the iGaming space. Joined at scaleup stage, growing the business from 150 to 300+. Joined a team of 7 as a Talent Partner overseeing end-to-end hiring for UX & Design, SEO and People teams in the UK and Canada.Outcomes• 32 total hires• 300% headcount growth in UX & Design / 60% headcount in SEO• 90% reduction in roles filled externally• 100%+ individual quarterly hiring targets met and exceeded (7 per quarter)• 100% success rate in probations passed for both direct and external hires• First visa sponsored hire made in the business• Trained and acquired certification as a Mental Health First AiderOutput• Partnered directly with hiring managers, advising on hiring strategy and best practice• Trained inexperienced interviewers on best practice by running interview workshops• Improved representation across key business units by building our Sponsorship & Mobility programme, implementing anonymous recruiting, sourced inclusive job boards, proactively building inclusive talent pools• Enabled international remote workers; supporting delivery of international Remote Working initiative• Improved overall employee wellness; led on search for Mental Health vendor (Spill), co-founded Mental Health GuildTools: Recruiter, Lever, Job Boards (Otta, Hired.com), Confluence, Trello

London, Gb

After close to 2 years, promoted to Senior UX Recruitment Consultant. On top of everything I was already doing, my role also included:- managing and prioritising upwards of 10-15+ roles – includes additional headcount and separate roles- stakeholder management skills: Market mapping, pushback on difficult stakeholders, advising on internal structures and budgets, improving interview processes, promoting diversity hiring and more- interviewing and mentoring junior consultants- improving and embedding best recruitment practices at Zebra People- arranging ‘Learning Lunches’ to encourage knowledge sharing- organised a ‘Zebra Labs’; tailored workshop led by an industry expert to teach candidates new skills – https://zebrapeople.com/event/re-configuring-user-research-in-agile-environments/ - interviewing apprentices for work trials- engaging my network through online blogs – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hiring-diversity-doesnt-work-least-type-youre-going-vikesh-patel/www.zebrapeople.com

London, Gb

After having a very rough and difficult introduction to recruitment at previous companies, I joined Zebra People - the leading experts in UX Recruitment. By applying the basics of recruitment I had learned from previous companies, I was able to:- take detailed briefs from existing and new clients in person and over the phone- work collaboratively with the team at Zebra People - hit KPI's on weekly basis i.e. CV's sent, meetings arranged, interviews booked- maintained a strong 2:1 CV to Interview ratio and a 2:1 Interview to Placement ratio consistently- attract candidates effectively via LinkedIn, Job Boards, Database, Referrals, Head Hunting- built strong relationships with candidates to become a respected individual in this area- regularly met candidates assessing their technical and personal skills- ensured a smooth process for both candidates and clients- attended industry leading events i.e. UX Live, UX Crunch and more- ALWAYS keeping candidates updatedwww.zebrapeople.com

London, Gb

This wasn't the best or easiest environment for me but I learned a lot of the basics that would help me in my future in recruitment. This included;- how and where to source candidates for contract and permanent markets- learned about UX and Digital Design by talking and meeting industry leaders- learned the incredible importance of organisation and time-management - managing easy/difficult clients and candidates- self-motivation through the roller-coaster of emotions that is recruitment!Although it was a very difficult environment to work in especially being a new sector I was still able to achieve £80k in billings and bring on new business.

First foray into a full 360 recruitment consultant role on a primarily contract focused team of 5-6 consultants specialising in placing nurses into 3 month placements across various NHS Trusts throughout the UK.

Bachelor Of Laws (Llb), Law

A Level

Gcse