the hot seat
Brian Wilkinson, Commonwealth Zone Manager, Vedior
Vedior NV, is headquartered in Amsterdam and operates in 49 countries worldwide, making it one of the world's largest staffing companies. Vedior has a leading market position in the provision of professional/executive recruitment in sectors such as information technology, healthcare, accounting, engineering and education. Vedior has a more diverse portfolio of recruitment services than any other recruitment company. To reach its ambitious objectives, Vedior relies on the commitment and talent of its employees, both internal and external, because they are the ones who guarantee the quality and continuity of its services. Vedior offers its employees a stimulating environment, where the development of skills, creativity and self-responsibility are the main focus."
What was your first job?
After Uni I didn't know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to earn some money and have a company car - so I went into Sales. My first job was as a Graduate Trainee working for Mars inc., the US based FMCG firm
What attracted you to the recruitment sector?
I saw an advert for Sales Managers in The Grocer and thought that selling services might be more interesting than selling products. The fact that the service was recruitment was irrelevant to me as I knew nothing about it. Looking back, the Company I applied to (SOS Group, part of the long since acquired and thus disappeared Hestair plc) was way ahead of its time in having dedicated field sales people, issuing cars to Branch Managers etc - this was back in 1980.
What advice would you give to Consultants starting their recruitment career?
Make more calls than anybody else. Your business will grow faster, you'll look like a star and you'll get promoted. It worked for me!
What’s the greatest challenge facing your business now?
Without a doubt, staff attraction and retention. With two Group companies in the Sunday Times Top 100 companies to work for we're getting there, but we can't be complacent.
Who is the best manager you have ever had?
Keith Austin of Austin Benn was an extremely hard taskmaster but he taught me all about accountability and taking responsibility. I worked with John Rowley now of CSG on two separate occasions and learned a lot from him about the importance of cost control and margin enhancement. David Gallagher now of Prime Time mentored me early on in my management career and helped me to understand the value of persistence, hard work and a driven approach to business. A chap called John Allan (now CEO of Exel Logistics) became my boss when I was running HMS in the early 1990's. He had no experience of recruitment but he taught me an enormous amount about marketing, particularly classic business segmentation strategies. He also showed me that there are more ways to manage people and get the best out of them than the recruitment industry was deploying at that time. The benefit of those experiences lives with me today supervising businesses in every conceivable sector, run by a mixture of recruitment sector career professionals and hugely successful entrepreneurs.
Who do you most admire/been your greatest mentor?
Other than the above I've learned a lot from my colleagues and bosses at Select/Vedior - Tony Martin in the early days and more recently Zach Miles. Peter Wakeham during my time at BET was and remains a great personal mentor.
Who would you want with you on a desert island?
My wife
What is the main key performance indicator that you monitor in your business?
It depends on what stage the business is at. Here in the UK we have invested heavily over the last few years and now the time is right to take the benefit of that investment so I'm monitoring Gross Profit per £ of Labour Cost pretty closely. The other all round great metric is Conversion Ratio - EBIT over GP. It's a great efficiency measure since it strips out the effect of differing gross margins between sectors and temp or perm biased businesses. Basically it tells you how efficiently you're converting gross profit to net profit.
What’s your worst habit and how have you overcome it?
I'm a big picture person and tend to lose interest in the detail. I hope I'm a little better than I was but I can't claim to have licked the problem
What’s been your best business decision?
Acquiring Ma Foi, our Indian business in May 2004 - one of my best strategic acquisitions ever!
What’s been your biggest regret?
Je ne regrette rien! Seriously, regret is such a pointless emotion. You can't go back and change it so why worry about it?
What’s your greatest financial indulgence?
My holidays. I take as many of them as I can and enjoy them enormously and unashamedly.
What do you drive?
Rover most of the time and a little Porsche rag-top when the sun shines
What gadget can’t you live without?
My Blackberry - truly the most business-life changing piece of kit since the mobile phone.
What time do you start work?
8.00 am
How do you relax?
DIY, working out, walking to country pubs and drinking beer.
