Three Treasury professionals discuss why relationships matter more than ever in hiring. One speaker lost his network after leaving BG and learned the hard way that face-to-face meetings beat AI application filters. Another prioritizes energy, attitude, and curiosity over credentials, while a third explains how recruiters help candidates spot opportunities they'd otherwise miss.
Chapters
I think I'm going to segue back to the original narrative about building relationships. I think fundamentally you and I have had this conversation a few times over a couple of beers. When I first moved into BG, that was a recruiter that I used back in the day, and then I was at BG for 11 and a half years. And what I didn't do, I didn't keep those relationships going when I was at BG. And when I left BG, I literally had nothing. I had no recruitment communications. I didn't have any contacts at all whatsoever. I knew a few people, but I really was at ground zero when it came to that. And it was a real learning lesson for me, actually, that I should never feel like I've been left in that same place again. You know, Mike running these actually is 100% where you want to be. And I'm not just bigging him up for this. I think it's so important that coming to these things, building these relationships, getting the contacts, especially in today's world. We were joking about how you can beat AI and stuff. And it's frustrating when you put in an application, I'm sure, and then within 30 seconds it's been rejected because the prompt that AI is looking for, you haven't put the right word in or something. And fundamentally, when you're looking for other roles, 99 times out of 100, face-to-face meetings, meeting up with people at events like this is going to get you your next job. And I'm not saying it because Mike's here, I'm saying it because it's true. I got my Howden role through a series of contacts from going to events like this.
But that aside, when I do, when I go to hire someone or I'm looking, or I'm in the recruiting seat, the things that I look out for or look for when I'm hiring are energy. And that's what I also want, because when I say yes to a role, I'm all in and I'm going to give you all of my energy. So when I'm recruiting, I'm looking for energy. I'm also looking for attitude, how you walk in. And if you're curious, your attitude determines your altitude. It's just— and you just— a culture. Are you a cultural fit to the role? Are you curious? Are you? Yeah, just— I think an awful lot of it doesn't come down to your qualifications. For me, it's just how you're going to show up in that role. And are you hungry for it? I will hire an enthusiastic amateur because I think knowledge is transferable. It's the other softer skills that will determine whether or not you're going to be successful in a role. And I don't think you get to understand how important that is when you're applying for a role through a system and it's— AI is chucking out whether or not you are relevant for it by ATS and you're just doing Zoom calls as opposed to meeting in person. I think meeting in person is paramount to determining whether or not the person you're hiring is the right fit.
Who were the people who helped you progress and who helped you believe that you could be more, and what impacted it?
Mike Richards.
Oh, thank you very much. No. It is free drinks otherwise, but yeah. But OK, I'll still take that.
Thank you very much.
But to a certain extent, recruiters. I mean, yeah, I think in hindsight and after I'd left, there's a couple of bosses that have been incredibly kind to me. And said how much they liked working with me, how much they could see potential. But I have to say, that's not something I felt in the moment with working with them. So it's been a real development of our relationship. But actually, therefore, it has been the recruiters and, as I say, getting to talk to them about what's my experience, what is it that people are looking for. They're the ones that have really also pushed me and pushed me to consider doing roles that I might not have necessarily thought that I was going to be right for or good for or anything like that. So I suppose to a certain extent, to answer your question, when you talk to other people, people have made mistakes about moving too quickly or moving to the wrong role, which is therefore when some of my advice is kind of like I've really learned and lived it.
