How I ended up here...

I have wanted to write several articles over the last few months covering a range of topics, so I thought now makes the perfect moment to wrap them all into one.

I've been sent articles on;

• How childhood trauma effects someone's career journey
• How the Tech and Product market is reacting to 2023 turbulence
• Knowing when to wrap up a business
• Being your professional self vs your true self
• And more...

As many of my contacts know, three and a half years ago I used COVID as an opportunity to start my own business, The Product Club, a brand focused solely on Product Recruitment. I've been open about the venture going better than even I expected and for a long time the idea of re-joining an agency seemed insane. I had my own time, schedule, could be fully myself, and surely nowhere else could offer me that!

My "success" was down to many factors; skill, luck, timing, motivation, but a close friend pointed one thing out over a Christmas dinner that I really was not aware of. My ability to deal with turbulence around me. He posited that my turbulent childhood made me perfect for entrepreneurship as I was quite resilient to shaky ground beneath me. I'd grown up hand to mouth in very uncertain environments and was always comfortable with ambiguity, the sun that could burn off the fog. However, that part of myself was never fully realised in wider agencies as I usually dulled my character, overly conscious of managerial judgements I guess, a sentiment it turns out, is quite popular.

Three and a half years down the road, I begin getting a bombardment of job roles sent to me, the market picking up maybe? As a solo recruiter, I seemed so detached to the rest of the market. Big businesses didn't see me as a threat to their PSL and could throw me the odd job here and there when their usual avenues struggled. Those odd bits and bobs are how I built my business, with a couple of key accounts. Smaller start-ups communicated an enthusiasm for working with a real person as opposed to a suited and booted scripted robot. They wanted a recruiter who cared, and I always did, an intangible benefit in the world of Product. I was able to be frank and direct in a way that agency life would never allow me to be, without being uninvited to Friday drinks or secret Santa. To take my business under the wing of an agency, trust and authenticity would now mean more than beer fridges and commission structures.

When I began having conversations with recruitment agencies it became clear that for most, high quality service and creating win-win situations for both themselves and their clients was not something they were interested in, they'd lost headcount and revenue over the last couple of years and wanted it back, quickly. Sentiments I appreciated, but did not create a conducive environment for me to do my best work. I was becoming disillusioned with the recruitment industry before I started my business and was disheartened to see that not much had changed. Things were arguably worse. Most shiny, friendly, diversity championing businesses on the outside were not really that when you looked under the hood. My belief is that is why they struggled. I don't know for sure and I'm not saying I'm an expert, just my opinion.

When I spoke to Major Players the first time, the internal recruiter adapted the interview process as we agreed I'd have to take a holistic look at the business broadly. I made it clear, it was less me looking for a job, and more about me rolling my current business into MP. After a few stages of teasing out how much synergy we had, I decided to join and bring my Product and Tech expertise over to Major Players, an exciting new start! I realised how much I'd grown and changed, after three years in my flat I felt I could help connect candidates and clients pretty much anywhere, what mattered most is the people I spend my time with and bringing my true self to my work.

I want to thank every single person who helped me build my business and brand over the last 3 years. Clients, candidates, every like or share I got. I learned from the many fantastic Product people I have placed, and even some I haven't, you are your own USP. Back yourself.

This is the shameless plug part of the article, if you are hiring across Tech and Product, let's have a chat, coffee, tea, yoga class, anything!

And I'm excited to say, I'm officially a MAJOR PLAYER!!