Charlie Grubb
Managing Director for Executive Search in London
Charlie shares his experiences in working for Robert Half and how he has excelled in his recruitment career within Executive Search. Explore what he believes will make you successful and what the career opportunities are within Executive Search.
Why did you join the executive search practice at Robert Half?
First of all, the Robert Half brand has a strong and trustworthy history. For the last three years, Robert Half has been recognised on the Forbes® list of America’s Best 250 Executive Search Firms.
Secondly, it’s the strategic context and business partnering nature involved with senior level recruitment that I enjoy. While the process itself is very similar to what I have been doing before, I feel working in executive search is the pinnacle of recruitment. I work with my clients to find the recruitment solutions to industry, business or initiative-specific challenges through the placement of skilled and experienced senior hires. It’s these people who can often change the direction of the business.
Why is Robert Half Executive Search different from other executive search firms?
In the UK, we have been able to create and maintain a boutique experience to our executive search practice under the umbrella of a global, NYSE-listed business. This means we not only benefit from the infrastructure, but also the extensive networks and support multi-national business can provide. Our team are all highly-experienced professionals. In fact, most of the team have over 20 years’ experience within their respective regional markets.
We are people that love recruitment, are empowered to develop our business, have the flexibility to utilise and develop our relationships across the UK. This is a great place to expand your recruitment knowledge and to really push the boundaries of what you can achieve in your career.
As a more recent entrant into the market place we pride ourselves on adopting a futuristic approach and style to what we do. We act as a business partner to our client, giving regular advice on the search process, the talent available and the competitive landscape, to ensure we always deliver a high-quality solution.
What makes you successful at Robert Half?
A mix of knowledge, belief, passion, commitment and hunger to make new ground with the businesses I contact. It’s by the tangible impact that I have and by the results I produce that I measure my own success. Because at the end of the day, my success has a direct correlation on the food, education and lifestyle that I can offer my children and family.
What kind of person do you think you need to be to succeed at Robert Half Executive Search?
If I was to list some essential characteristics, these would have to be considerate, knowledgeable, articulate, driven, and a deep desire to be a market leader. If you are prepared to learn, are able to work collaborative and realise the part you play in the team, the whole team are there to support to as well.
Robert Half has a strong branch and set of values that run through the business. Taking time to understand these unique qualities within our brand and how these translate to the executive and C-suite level recruitment we provide are pivotal to your success.
Working with fast growth, mid cap organisations is what we love to do, and our employees and customers have a real desire to want to grow their business, their own knowledge and ultimately achieve their goals.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? How will you get there?
As the leaders of our executive search practice, building out the Robert Half Executive Search business is a major driver for me. With a mix of hands-on recruitment experience and leading from the front I have the ability to ensure we have a clear vision for our future. If along the way I can bolster our team with executive search recruitment professionals who can add value and are ideally better than me in the business, that would be a win for me.
What career opportunities do you foresee for someone joining Robert Half Executive Search?
Someone joining our executive practice would have the opportunity to carve out their own practice specialism an find their own niche to become a Senior Managing Director. Ultimately, they would become a major player in the marketplace and be a mentor to our wider UK recruitment team. Other opportunities include working on an international-level to support the strategic direction of our business and helping to shape our global vision for executive search. And it would be amiss of me to ignore the earning potential that comes with that.
Interested in finding out more about working for Robert Half? Send your questions through to our internal recruitment team today.
