recruiting with style

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Sarah Pomroy, a recruitment consultant at The Career Boutique, talks to B4’s Richard Rosser about her own career and what makes working for The Career Boutique refreshingly different and keeps this incredible Oxfordshirerecruitment agency on course to be the best in Oxfordshire. Article by Emma-Louise Pritchard.

As a mother of two, Sarah Pomroy knows allabout balancing fragile cups on the end of verylong sticks and has taken to working forOxfordshire’s most exciting recruitment agencylike a duck to water. With oodles of experiencebehind her, Sarah elaborates on where she hasbeen, and where she and her colleagues areaiming to get to.

“I started my career by studying at Oxford Mediaand Business School, but at 19 moved to Londonto pursue a career in marketing, working my wayup to Account Manager from a team secretarialposition. I got a taste of the drive, passion andcommitment required to make abusiness operateefficiently and effectively, but always yearned tocome back to Oxfordshire.”

Sarah took the opportunity to return to her rootswhen she had her first child, but it wasn’t longbefore she was back working. “I took a couple of

office management positions,getting experience ina range of large and small companies, adding tomy overall knowledge ofcompanies and how theyoperated.”

In particular, Sarah enjoyed a role at OxfordshireCitizens Housing Association, working inthecommunications department, project managingall of their communications, once again working ata high level with the Chief Executive andOperations Managers. She then went on to enjoya period working for a local construction firm, andit was there that she first cut her teeth in a rolededicated to HR, as she explains.

“Up until that point, I had enjoyed working in avariety of roles in different firms of varying sizes. I’d

managed to learn a lot about how business worksand being appointed HR manager of theconstruction firm seemed a perfect role for me. Iwas able to draw on my experiences and reallyenjoyed the position.”

This gave Sarah the taste for HR and recruitmentin particular, so when the opportunity came to joinThe Career Boutique, she jumped at it. “Over aperiod of just over ten years, I was lucky to workfor some great companies, but when I heard aboutthe vacancy at The Career Boutique, I wasdesperate to get the job. First impressions of TheCareer Boutique are of a very sophisticated,glamorous agency, maybe more suited to TheKings Road than Didcot, but I can assure you,there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind thescenes which makes choosing The CareerBoutique for your recruitment needs a smartmove.”

Sarah’s focus is on filling sales HR, administrationand marketing roles which suits her particularcareer background and own experiences. “Itcertainly helps me to identify what our clients arelooking for, having worked in these roles beforemyself. I have the benefit of having sat on theother side of the fence, and it’s certainly anadvantage.”

Sarah is keen to stress, however, that The CareerBoutique’s modus operandi is far removed fromthat of the High Street recruitment consultantswhich, she strongly believes, do not ‘get under theskin’ of their clients.

“Our philosophy here is to deliver, deliver and thendeliver some more. Value for money is crucial

today, in every business, and we really do leavenothing to chance, leave no stone unturned andmake sure that our clients’ demands are fulfilled.We have to get the right person for the role ourclient is looking to fill, and that means not onlyfinding the right person for that job, but getting toknow our client and the team the successfulcandidate is going to be working for.

“’Never judge a book by it’s cover’, or so they say,and we certainly never judge a candidate by theirCV. A CV is valuable, but it is not the be all and endall. It’s about finding the right person to fit into abusiness, and all the qualifications in the world willbe insignificant if the character of the person weare recommending for a role isn’t suited to anexisting team.

“In order to get the balance right, we have to get toknow our clients, and that, hopefully, means weare the first port of call for all future recruitment

needs if we manage to recruit successfully. It’s allabout building up a trust, and there’s absolutely nopoint plucking a candidate out of thin air just to filla role if the fit isn’t right. It doesn’t do our client anyfavours and it certainly won’t endear The CareerBoutique to our client.”

With the hard work that goes into finding theperfect match, I ask Sarah if this creates a mountain to climb and limits the chances of finding the rightcandidate.

“I do know where you are coming from, but thepoint is without investing time in finding the rightperson, the chances of finding the right person byluck more than judgment are limited, and that’s nogood for our client. Yes we have hit a dead end

RECRUITINGWITH STYLE

“Over a period of just over ten years, I was lucky to work for some great companies, but when I heard about the vacancy at The Career Boutique, I

was desperate to get the job”

“It certainly helps me toidentify what our clients arelooking for, having worked inthese roles before myself. I have the benefit of

having sat on the otherside of the fence, and it’scertainly an advantage”

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