Getting to know your Consultant - Ray Nicholls
Q: How did you get into Interim Management?
My first career job after moving to London saw me join the administrative finance recruitment business, Reed Accountancy. I was impressed with them as a business, fascinated by the industry and quickly gained a post graduate qualification as part of my role. After two and a half years in progressive positions I found my market quite limited and outside of where the more interesting assignments were. I then made the decision to move into mid market financial recruitment with Michael Page after taking guidance from a client who was a board member of an FTSE 100 listed company. Being career focused and determined I committed to Michael Page for five years, undertaking progressive roles with multinational businesses going through change. Towards the end of my tenure, once again, I found my market capped by brand and limited by operational focus. I place a lot of emphasis on building long term relationships with my clients and became frustrated at being limited in my scope within their respective businesses. Having competed with some of the interim management providers, my appetite was whetted and, on returning from a year-long sabbatical, decided to see who these companies were and how they operated. For me, Interim Partners stood head and shoulders above their peers and satisfied two very important criteria for me; financial viability and positive, proactive, like-minded practice heads that have each demonstrated success in their early careers within recruitment.
Q: What do you find most satisfying about your career
Building long term, mutually beneficial working relationships with both interim managers and clients has been the most satisfying aspect of my career to date. Having been in recruitment since 2000 I have grown with many of my early placements and seen these individuals develop through their careers. I have also been in the fortunate position of having clients who have become candidates, work through me on assignments and then returned to being clients again.
Q: What qualities do you look for in an interim management candidate?
There are a couple really. The highest calibre interim managers that I have met make the interim proposition sound straight forward. Very often businesses are distracted by the symptoms of business issues rather than the root cause and therefore look for the complex solution as opposed to the right solution.
Second, interim managers who have made the commitment to interim management run their assignments as a business. They look at the number of days they need to work within a year and are commercial in terms of their commitment, looking at all of the variables when discussing assignments (length of assignment, location and state of the market). In addition, they are delivery focused and never stay on an assignment unnecessarily, which often leads to repeat assignments.
Q: How can clients get the most out of working with Interim Partners?
Clients get the best from Interim Partners when they view the service we provide as a genuine partnership; recognising the interim solution as a viable, often more cost effective alternative to engaging professional services companies or management consultancies to roll out programmes of change. I position myself as a long term business partner to my client base by offering honest and straight forward solution driven services. Working within vertical markets gives me visibility across all business operations within companies, therefore an insight as to how the whole of the business might be impacted by change.
Q: What would you say are the key challenges for your clients in the Media and Leisure sector? How can interim management help?
The media industry is likely to experience legislative change with regards to how technology driven and digital businesses operate and interact. Major investment is expected in order to return the UK to a leading position within the global media and communications market. Within the leisure sector there is real opportunity for consolidation and rationalisation of costs. How will this translate into interim management? In a nutshell, change. This could take the form of post acquisition integration as businesses become more attractively priced. The large broadcasters are going through reactionary rationalisation and will quickly find talent gaps within their executive teams which may lead to more interim opportunities. I believe that projects with a focus on cost saving and making businesses more attractive to potential suitors will be prominent.
Q: Favourite destination?
Globally I have two; Buenos Aires in Argentina - a city with European architecture, an incredible and vibrant social scene and amazing food and Acaroa in New Zealand, which is a little piece of heaven! It looks like a small Scottish village set within incredible scenery, is warm in the summer and you can swim with hector dolphins.
Q: Best restaurant/favourite food?
La Deuxieme in London - by far one of the best steaks I have had the pleasure of eating!
Q: Which three people would you have round for dinner?
Ricky Gervais, Kiefer Sutherland and Cheryl from Girls Aloud.
Q: Three favourite albums/artists?
The Ting Tings, Radio One Live Lounge 3, Travis.
Q: What are you currently reading?
The last standing Tommy - the story of Harry Patch, one of the few remaining war veterans from WWI.