What’s your role at Jobtrain?
Officially, I’m the Managing Director. Not wholly sure what that means in practice. I try and avoid dabbling in too many areas but, generally, see my role as providing the right environment (including the office space, the people, the technology, the money and the culture) to allow others to flourish.
What did you do before you joined Jobtrain?
Not a quick and easy answer. I graduated (from Nottingham Trent) and joined Land Rover’s graduate scheme. I loved that, but was being steered towards a specialism after two years so left to have a more generalist role within the NHS. This was a time of great upheaval within the health service, and it was enlightening, instructive and incredibly taxing to be a part of that. My career path was quite healthy there and I ended up being Head of HR/Organisation Development for the largest non-acute trust in England. Following that I went to The Boddington Group as Head of HR for Hotel division (Village Hotels) and then ended up joining an HR consultancy specialising in Executive recruitment. It was there, in 1996, that I was introduced to the internet. Three years later and the notion of Jobtrain was born – by fusing the experience I had at Land Rover (managing recruitment) with my new-found knowledge of internet technology – and the rest, they say, is history!
What’s the best thing about working at Jobtrain?
100% the people. The team here is just great and that makes my job so much easier. I love the fact that we are constantly pushing ourselves as a business to be better. It’s important that we don’t strive simply to be bigger – that will happen just as long as we do things right and we do them exceptionally well. The pace, the energy and the commitment in the business is infectious and you can’t help but love it.
Outside of work, what would you say is your biggest passion?
I know I should say my family – but I’d probably be lying. It’s sport. I watch anything – football, cricket, tennis – even the Mosconi Cup in Pool! I have a hankering to play most sports as well – but the joints find it harder to keep pace with desire.