Q + A: Catch up with Becky, our HR & Business Support Consultant

As we celebrate Becky’s seven-year anniversary, we sat down for a chat to find out more about her career so far. Since joining us in 2018, she’s worked in a number of different roles with Sewell Wallis. She tells us all about it, and her most recent move, from Finance to HR and Business Support recruitment.

You’ve been with us for seven years, can you tell me about your journey with Sewell Wallis?

Seven  years! Time flies! Initially, I started here as an Administrator – my role was working alongside the Consultants, formatting candidates’ CVs, updating the database and answering calls. This role was really valuable; it helped me to learn about the recruitment process and the terminology and allowed me to soak up essential information from the Consultants, I really enjoyed it. After about 3 years in this role, I was approached and asked if I wanted to be a Resourcer. This involved me effectively handling the candidate side of the recruitment process, it seemed like a natural step for me as I felt I understood the process at this point and dealing with just the candidate side seemed like a nice way to ease into recruitment. After a year and a half of doing my resourcing position, again the natural progression into consultant just seemed right. I then took on the full 360 process including liaising with clients and candidates.

You’ve recently changed your role from Finance Consultant to HR & Business Support Consultant. What prompted this change?

Having come from an administrative background myself this area has understandably always interested me. Having that experience allows me to relate to candidates more closely , and be able to understand a business’ needs and the type of person that would be a good fit for them. I’d always done finance recruitment from resourcing into being a Consultant as that seemed the logical decision at the time with it being a more established area of the business, but now having built up experience I feel confident enough to take on a new area that isn’t necessarily as established. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to develop this sector within Sewell Wallis.

Business Support talent is obviously vital to the success of most businesses. Do you think it’s a role that often gets overlooked?

Absolutely! I think it can be massively overlooked; there are a lot of business support roles that businesses often take for granted. I feel that getting the right Administrator for example is equally as important to the business as a finance/accounts position, as these roles are often integral to the successful running of a company. A lot of businesses would struggle to be as successful as they are without their admin team; they’re the experts at keeping everything ticking along in the background.

What traits make a good administrator?

From personal experience and from being in that role myself for a number of years, I feel organisation is absolutely key to any office support or admin role. Administrators often do work for numerous people within a company, so you need to be able to organise your workload to enable you to do the best job you can for everyone in the business. I also think attention to detail is key. Sloppy admin work can be really damaging. A positive, can do attitude will get you far in this kind of role, and a willingness to learn new skills and master different tasks make it a great

What new developments in HR have you found interesting recently?

I have found the new legislation brought in by the Labour Party interesting, and the conversations it has started have been useful to a lot of leaders. I think a lot of businesses are still unsure how it will affect them directly, but I personally think it will provide more security and peace of mind for staff and in turn reduce staff turnover within companies. Following the Budget at the end of October,

What level of HR candidates do you work with? Could you give some examples of the roles you work?

I cover the full spectrum up to HR Manager and HR Director level, so I tend to work with candidates who are HR Administrators, HR Assistants, HR Advisors and HR Business Partners.

What’s your favourite thing about working in recruitment?

It always sounds like a cliché, but I love that no two days are the same – I enjoy the variety and speaking to different people each day. I also love finding candidates their dream roles, calling people up with job offers never gets old! You can have such an effect on someone’s life by doing this job.

And finally, what’s your favourite memory of working at Sewell Wallis?

My favourite memory or memories are always the staff parties and get-togethers, I love meeting up with the Sheffield office and just chatting and catching up with everyone and making more funny memories together!