What I'll Miss About GroupM

You understood right...I'm leaving a job I love.

It's a shock, not just for you but for me given that my last post was about how we made GroupM the ad agency to work for in 2019 and into the future...which I will always stand by. We have done some spectacular work and there is no better time to join this company.

That said, I have decided to leave for an opportunity which drives home why I became a recruiter in the first place (more on that by week's end).

Now what will I miss? All of it really - the space, the work, the challenges, but most importantly, the people.

At the heart of it, all great companies are defined by their people. Throughout our careers we have all had our fair share of great and not-so-great bosses, clients and co-workers. Oftentimes it is the characteristics of these individuals that influence our decisions to stay and grow at a company or to simply leave.

 The real competitive advantage in any business is one word only, which is “people” - Kamil Toume

One reason that I loved working here and will cherish this time has been the people that I’ve had the great fortune to work with. This runs across the span and I’d like to call out a few people and teams who have made this a great place to work. I suppose you won’t know most of them but if you don’t, I urge you to reach out and see how you can work for them ??

Starting with Howard Daniels - the man, the legend. Howard was the reason I came over to GroupM and has personally taught me more about the business than I could have ever asked for. When I received the offer letter from him in 2017, I had two other offers on hand but the opportunity to learn with Howard and the team at the time (Ed, Nick and Lauren) was the reason why I chose GroupM over others.

As our team grew and we centralized recruitment, I was given the opportunity to contribute to other parts of the business. A part of that meant new bosses and partners to work with, notably Michael Wright (talent enabler and Head of Talent Acquisition), Rebecca Spinac (Programmatic Recruitment Lead and my late-night work buddy) and Diana Blancone (the official work mom of our Talent team).

Most larger organizations that I have worked or consulted with have a common theme within their talent departments – Human Resources and Recruiters have a hard time getting along. Luckily, I haven’t had to deal with too much of that here. Yes, there were times we have disagreed on process or may have had communication snafus but working with Scott, Rosesal, Laura and Seth (Xaxis); Jen and Mahvash (GroupM); Susan ([m]Platform) taught me what a good functional relationship between these two departments could look like.

A great workplace is nothing without work friends, those people who make the lows just bearable and are great for long walks throughout the day to get your mind off what you’re getting paid for. A special thank you to Christina, Omni, Amanda, Arielle, Melissa, Cassie and Moshiur in this case for being there when you didn’t have to…and that’s in no particular order Christina ??

Finally, the folks that make our jobs possible and can easily make our lives as recruiters very difficult. I have had my fair share of managers who are constantly searching for unicorns but the following teams have made life at GroupM just unbearable (kidding):

Xaxis Copilot (Jake, Adam, Rouzbeh and Sara – for teaching me how to assess for great technical talent and challenging me to think outside the box)

Xaxis North America (Marc, Lisa, Niki, Vishal, RJ, Jenna, Greg, Kelley, EJ and the infamous Matt Sweeney – for keeping the bar high for programmatic talent)

[m]Platform (Bob, Sudi, Abhijit, Lon, Karl, Simon, Derrick, Tanwir, Max, Mike and Brianna – tough managers to hire for but I think I cracked your codes guys)

I would like to say that I’ll miss something more than the people but honestly I can't think of anything. For me personally, GroupM would mean nothing if it weren’t for them and I think many of us feel that way. Just take a look at some of our office tours and see what the recurring theme is across our agencies:

That sums it up. I will dearly miss all the people that I have had the chance to work with across our agencies. To those who I may have unintentionally left out, thank you for being you – I have no doubt that our paths will cross again.

Until next time GroupM.