1 year at Contino #602

Wow where has the last 12 months gone?

After 6 years of agency recruitment it was time to switch things up and try out a new challenge - and challenge it was. Most people think a move to internal recruitment is a slower pace, easier life. Not here at Contino! With new projects and work streams being signed every week, coupled with healthy attrition in the technology space it's been a crazy busy year. In 2021 Contino hired 154 people across all departments, taking us to 230 people here in the UK. My first 12 months here have seen me personally hire 30+ people across the DevOps, Cloud, Data, Security and Software Engineering space, as well as make some great friends in the process.

So Internal Recruitment:

• More freedom ?
• More autonomy ?
• More diversity in your day to day work ?
• More opportunity to develop wider skills ?
• Greater trust ?
• Greater focus on quality ?
• Greater focus on building long term relationships ?
• Better work life balance ?
• Deeper understanding of the areas you are recruiting in ?

Squad Model

Here at Contino we have a 'squad model', which means every engagement has a delivery team (mixture of DevOps, Cloud, Data, Security and Software Engineers). These engineers are supported by a member of our Talent, PeopleOps, Finance, Marketing, Delivery Lead, Client Principal and Account Principal teams. I have had the pleasure of managing some of the best squads across Energy, e-commerce, Insurance, Government, Finance and many more from a talent perspective. This model has been great for recruitment because it means I have direct contact with the delivery team about the work taking place, key technologies and who will be a cultural fit to both Contino and the project. This, coupled with long-term mapping of what talent we need to bring into Contino from working closely with the Client and Account Principal teams. The Xavi and Iniesta connection from 2009 has been back in full force with Sam Lloyd.

Every squad at Contino also has a quarterly budget to spend on a social activity away from the office to build internal relationships, which is even more essential with the new 'remote first model'.

Women of Silicon Roundabout Conference

One of my proudest achievements in 2021 was organising Contino's presence at the Women of Silicon Roundabout Conference on the 1st and 2nd of November over at the O2. This combined a recruitment booth staffed by Sarah, Ciaran, Craig and I - with an amazing panel conversation from Yann, Orinta, Anna and Aine discussing how to ‘Break into Tech - No Matter Your Background’. Having never been a part of an event before, going straight into leading one was quite a challenge - but in the words of Ester Boserup 'necessity is the mother of invention" and we managed to make it happen. It was great to meet so many people from the tech space in such a friendly manner and we even managed to make two hires from the event. Both Svetlana and Femi are absolutely smashing it here at Contino and I can't wait to do the same again later this year.

Socials

Moving from a recruitment agency the bar was always going to be high in terms of social events, but Contino has blown my expectations out of the water. The final Thursday of each month we have a Gathering in the office - where a different squad presents on the work that they have been doing, Mike our Managing Director does a live Q and A and then we have beers and pizza in the office. The fully stocked beer fridges save the day vs London priced pints.

We also had an amazing Company Day back in February, which showcased performance in 2021 and set us up for an even better 2022. It's great to see transparency and honesty in the business - senior leadership aren't afraid of answering the tough questions. We had Pasta Evangelists kits sent home for Thursday and then had an in-person social on Friday night.

To top off each half of the year we get the entire EMEA team together to celebrate in style. Our summer party was at Century Club Soho, with a live Saxophonist - and then at 12th Knot for the Christmas instalment. I'm not sure if there was an award for best dressed but...

So what is in store for this year?

It's already been a great start to 2022 welcoming a further 52 Contini's to the team.

From a Talent and PeopleOps perspective we are aiming to improve the Contino experience for everyone who works here - better training, increased benefits, more complex technical challenges, more flexibility in terms of work life balance and of course more socials.

We are looking to make a presence at more tech events and even run some of our own meet ups at Contino HQ. If you have any recommendations or would like to get involved please reach out to me directly.

On a personal level I am looking to continue bringing amazing people to Contino and delivering great value to our customers. I am aiming to get more involved in the interview process from a cultural standpoint and even get some facetime on the Contino promotional videos.

If you are interested in hearing more you know where to find me.

Gaz x