Ollie Clark celebrates his 2 year IGA anniversary

Tell us a bit about yourself and your recruitment career to date. How did you get into the industry??

I never thought I would end up in recruitment but mind you who does when they are growing up??When I was in my final year of my degree, I was starting to think the scary thought “what next?”, when I got approached about a few graduate recruitment roles and I ended up joining Mackinnon Bruce, an executive search firm, which was around 3 and a half years ago now (bit scary). The reason I went into recruitment, as I liked the sound of being in a people-based industry where through creating relationships with clients/candidates you can help add serious value to a given candidates career or a client by supporting them hire someone, who positively impacts future growth. I also liked the aspect that being in recruitment you get to be on the pulse of the market, getting a true insight through speaking to candidates/clients into how economic conditions are affecting the market, for example most recently how the mini budget affected the pensions and climate landscape. ?

What is your recruitment specialism at IGA? Have you seen significant changes in this market over the last 2 years??

I specialise in Investments, across the ESG/Climate and Pensions space working with a mixture of; Consultancies, Fiduciary Managers, Asset Management and Fund of Funds placing mid to senior individuals that enriches brands and positively impacts business performance. During my 2 years at IGA I have seen two major changes, one is I have seen more flexibility in roles i.e. firms offering more tailored roles to someone’s interests. The other big change is the variety of ESG/Climate roles coming across my desk, be that from a reporting/data focussed, with more focus than ever collecting/analysing ESG/Climate data, which in turn helps get under the hood of how companies are doing against ESG objectives.??

How has your role evolved since you first joined IGA??

When I joined IGA, I mainly supported James Craven (Co-Founder of IGA) with candidate acquisition and supporting him to find the right individuals to enrich brands and add value to our clients. I have now shifted in to leading the whole process from starting to work with new clients and managing the whole process from taking on a given role to filling the role. I also play an active role in being consultative with clients and candidates to give them an accurate idea of the markets landscape at a given time. Within IGA I am playing more of an active role in supporting those within my team with their personal development/training as well to get to grips with the market. ?

What do you enjoy most about your role? What do you enjoy most about working at IGA??

As I am a people person, my favourite aspect has never changed since starting in recruitment, one thing that has never really changed is creating relationships with candidates/clients to help support their given needs. Also, I really enjoy that through speaking to candidates/clients you get to get under the hood of market trends/changes and how no two days are the same, so it keeps everything fresh.?

At IGA the freedom you get as a consultant is unrivalled, you get to run your desk as you see fit and not micro managed i.e. no KPI’s so you get to make the role your own without being too stressed when things might not go your way. Also, the collaborative environment where you can learn from those around you and framework put in place from external advisors and internal career road mapping to support me with my own career aspirations/development. ?

How do you hope to see your career progress within the next 2 years??

During the next 2 years I would like to increase the ESG/Climate offering by IGA and have someone else supporting me with the delivery of services to clients, be that supporting recruitment efforts or providing market insights.?I'd also like to play an active role in supporting James grow the Investment team moving forward to grow out our wider offerings and support new starters get to grips with the market. ?

What you like to do in your spare time outside of work??

In my spare time I enjoy watching several sports, especially enjoy Cricket and play for a local team…slowly getting worse. I also love travelling the world, taking in different cultures, as well as socialising with friends and family outside of work.