Press Coverage
Sea Change Careers
Director - 2002-07-01
AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS year, Zena Everett made a bold decision. She stepped down from her role as founding managing director of recruitment consultancy Perriam and Everett.
"Owners of growing businesses can get to the stage where they're preventing progress," she says. "My company was doing well and had a great reputation, but 1 wondered what was holding it back - and decided maybe it was me. I'd been at the helm for 10 years and built a team of good people around me, but it was time to bring in new ideas."
Everett insists that demoting herself to a director of her own company wasn't a difficult decision. "I'm passionate about the business and still work at it full time, but I'd become immersed in the day-to-day issues and I wanted to concentrate on marketing and the creative side."
The consultancy, with an annual turnover of £2m, employs 15 people, supplying recruitment professionals across a broad range of sectors. It recently won the Professional Recruiter Award for Excellence.
But business wasn't her first career choice. Brought up in southern Ireland, she longed to escape and joined the Navy.
"The ads promised worldwide travel but I soon discovered that for the first three years you could choose anywhere as long as it was Plymouth or Portsmouth."
Her naval training has proved useful. "I learnt to always be busy and productive. And the services teach the value of teamwork, self-discipline and personal accountability."
Everett rose to the dizzy heights of stenographer (Navyspeak for personal assistant) to the First Sea Lord, but at the end of her contract she returned to civilian life. For two years she worked for a recruitment company but wanted to do things differently and realised that the only option was to set up independently.
In 1992 she set up Perriam and Everett "the recruiter's recruiter' with Alan Perriam, an industry broker. As with many small businesses, it had no longterm business plan and Everett eventually decided that some formal processes were needed.
'At the start I was told, 'pay for the best advice you can afford'. I have two non-execs whose help is invaluable, and I did a business growth course at Cranfield. We also got Investors in People accreditation."
Since 1997 when Everett bought out her business partner she has introduced a number of innovations to the business, including a business excellence manager and a career helpline for recruiters. She sees her new role as ensuring that the service matches her perception.
"I'm ambitious for the company rather than myself"
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