Corporate Vision March 2017

84 CORPORATE VISION / March 2017 , Philip Shepherd, CEO of Opilio Recruitment, is passionate about his firm, his staff and his clients. He tells us more about the business and how growth is verymuch on his mind for the future, following his success inwinning One toWatch in 2017: Recruitment Onwards and Upwards Opilio Recruitment is a niche consultancy firm focusing on the digital sector. Established in London in 2010, Opilio has an impressive list of clients, including The Walt Disney Co, Penguin Books, PriceSpy, Harvard Business Review, News UK, Bauer Media, Nectar, Universal Music, Jinn, BBC, and Mediacom to name but a few. “Generally, we work with clients that require highly skilled candidates from within the technology, marketing, entertainment, eCommerce and publishing sectors and our three divisions of Commercial, Technical and Marketing allows us to really focus on the market,” explains Chief Executive Officer, Philip Shepherd. Opilio’s mission is simple – be the first point of call for clients and candidates alike. “We are all about the personal touch with everyone we come across because we want to build long term relationships, it’s not about the here and now for us,” Philip embellishes. “All our consultants are passionate about wanting to create the right impression now so that we are highly regarded in future discussions. We think we do a pretty good job as for five years in a row we have managed to retain over 96% of our clients.” Such a high client retention rate is no mean feat, and Philip goes into more detail about how he ensures his clients are always satisfied, and what it is that sets the firm apart from competitors. “It’s pretty simple. We know the market better than others and we hire talented, relationship builders within Opilio to manage our clients. We have an account management model within Opilio so consultants are not constantly chasing their tails and fighting for new business, thus they can focus their time on finding the right candidates for each client we have. Given that we have over 96% client repeat business, this obviously works. Finally, we have core values that support this long term, partnership model – moral integrity, reliability, respect and entrepreneurialism. “In addition, we are all passionate about the digital and data world we live in. We want everyone that comes in to contact with us to know that we are passionate and have integrity that can be relied upon. By making sure we treat everyone with the same reverence we expect for ourselves, we believe that we can further build our reputation above other recruiters.” When working with a brand new client, Opilio has a tried and tested strategy it employs to ensure that clients always receive the best possible outcome. Philip takes us through the process. “We act as management consultants so understanding the client and how they make money is the first aspect we consider. If we have the in-depth, commercial understanding of a client’s business, the ability to find the right candidate is easier. That works across all of our three divisions – Commercial, Technical and Marketing. With our clients, it is vital that we meet them to get a clear understanding of their cultures, values and what the absolute must haves are from the candidate they are looking for. Meeting clients on site has such an important part to play in ensuring we deliver the right type of candidates. As for the candidates, we apply the same rigor. We know that by taking the time to interview face-to-face generates a deeper understanding of their skill set and also what they are looking for from their next role.” In order to best serve their clients, it is imperative that the staff at Opilio keep-up-to-date with the latest emerging trends to stay ahead of the curve. “We live and breathe digital and keep an eye on all emerging and existing technology,” explains Philip. “We are briefed on the latest investment activity in the digital sector and, by operating at the cutting edge, we have conversations with clients and candidates that are on point and relevant. Quite often, we will be engaged prior to investment rounds concluding so funded businesses are ahead of the curve when it comes to talent.” It is important to work hard but have fun at the same time. Philip believes that the internal culture at Opilio is unique and not at all like your run-of-the-mill sales office. “We have a great bunch of consultants that are like minded and team orientated,” he enthuses. “They work for each other which is just a great thing to see. We do lots of fun stuff together, the usual nights out but we always have a team event monthly, be it clay pigeon shooting, archery or trips to the German markets in Switzerland! “We have an internal training consultant that will be there assisting our trainee consultants daily through their first six months. This is coupled with our retained external training consultant who is there to keep us all updated on the latest developments in our market. We completely see the benefits of making sure we try and stay ahead of the market. We have a pretty strict internal recruitment process. In fact, the same stringent process we apply for our clients. Firstly, making sure that new hires fit our culture is number one on the list, they must be caring, reliable and respectful people. Having some real-life work experience is also high up on the list and global travel experience carries much weight. We hire grown-ups and empower them to manage their own desks, within the constraints of the overall Opilio processes.” With regards to the future, growth is Opilio’s main focus and Philip tells us that it is well-funded to achieve this. He has plans to launch a new website, enhance the firm’s marketing effort, launch an Executive Search division, begin Opilio Events and announce a new charity initiative. We strive to improve everything we do and we constantly seek feedback from our clients so the future is to get better and better at what we do,” he comments. “We now have a core team in place, solid revenues, a strong database of candidates and clients and a reputation to match so for us, we continue to hire well and find more consultants to join us. “In the future, we would love to go international and be able to open up new offices in New York, Dubai and Singapore, we are looking into this and would hope that we are in a position to be able to achieve these things in 2018 and beyond. “Finding candidates is the key and every year, there is a new place to go to find these candidates so we simply move some of the budget to pastures new. Given we have an enhanced database already, I am confident we can continue to develop. Since our Technology Director is at the cutting edge of coding, we keep a keen eye on emerging trends and market developments. “I have put six years of my life into building Opilio Recruitment with much sacrifice and have no back up plan so the only option is to continue to grow and keep Opilio expanding and developing. I love what I do and I think that passion and enthusiasm filters down to everyone who joins us and candidates and clients that work with us.” 1703CV06