With an abundance of talented senior people out there – finding the right fit for your company can still be a challenge.
Ask Tom Gozney, the founder and CEO of Gozney. The Dorset-based company makes stone bake ovens, professional kitchen ovens and Roccbox – the world’s first portable 500C wood and gas pizza oven.
The company has grown fast and internationally, requiring high quality senior staff.
“When you’re a young business resources are heavily invested in product development,” Tom states.
“You’re trying to create sales whilst trying to develop the business, find stability and grow. During the early years you can’t really invest in highly senior people. Naturally, experienced people want to be paid well and rewarded for skillsets they bring.”
When the time came to make senior appointments, Tom discovered it was not easy. Often, talented people turned out not be the team players he required.
”It is a challenge finding people that tick all the right cultural boxes – they’re collaborative, they listen, they take guidance,” he says.
“And all of those qualities need to be reflected from the owner of the business as well. I need to be collaborative, open minded, conscientious. I need to communicate and listen to people and be guided by team I am a part of. The cultural impact of having someone that’s not the right fit in the business is vast.”
The Difference A Recruitment Consultant Can Make
In the early days of running business, Tom Gozney says some of his hires were “disastrous”.
He was urged to meet Sally Bennett, Executive Manager from Team Executive. Tom says: “We’re a fast-paced business that needs to move quickly and Sally just got it.
“Sally came in for a meeting and I don’t think she was expecting me to just jump in and say ‘Right, go and find a key senior person’ but pretty much off the first meeting, we clicked. Sally was trustworthy, and she was extremely knowledgeable.
“You just don’t tell Sally something twice. I tell her once what I’m looking for and she’ll always remember it. Her ability to find talent has just been amazing.
“Sally has a strong talent for understanding our business, understanding me, the pace that I work, what I expect from people, common objectives and goals that we all share – and then she’s has this amazing ability to spot talent that fits within the business.
“So many recruiters out there, in my experience, just do not give the same level of thought or detail to the recruitment process,” he states.
“Sally was highly conscientious really thoughtful and considerate about every single person and really tried to position people in front of us that she knew we would like and she always has.”
What Lies Ahead For The Right Candidate
For candidates that do fit the culture, Gozney offers a chance to be part of an innovative business that is conquering new markets. Half of Roccbox sales are made up of the US market.
“We are going to go from building an oven in a back garden in Southbourne and thinking it’s a cool idea to start a business to growing into a global brand that has integrity,” he says.
“That, just as a journey to be involved in, is so unbelievably cool.
“The business has grown amazingly in the last couple of years. We’ve scaled the company into America, Canada, Australia, Europe and now we are following with a whole host of new products we’ve got coming this year and next,” says Tom.
“The opportunity is vast. It is just ours for the taking. That is how we feel.”
With the right recruitment consultant on board, an ambitious company can hire the senior talent that fits its ethos and fuels even more growth.
Team Jobs are Dorset Chamber Business Partners
www.teamjobs.co.uk
BOURNEMOUTH 01202 007939 – POOLE 01202 445700