Candidate Case Study - Todd Pilling

Todd Pilling was placed as a Trading Analytics Partner at Open Partners in 2019 and hasn't looked back! Read his story of how agency life called him and why he loves his role in analytics. 

Todd Pilling, Trading Analytics Partner at Open Partners

Before I was lucky enough to secure my role at Open Partners, my job search was much more focused on the potential business I would be joining, rather than the role.

Having taken the plunge and tried my hand in-house at one of Manchester’s biggest eCommerce brands, I realised I preferred the collaboration and variety that you only really get in an agency environment. However, having already worked in two huge agencies, I was focused on finding something with a more personal, close-knit feel.

I knew I didn’t want to go to a big network agency and feel like another brick in the wall, and I didn’t want to stay in-house, so that left one option: to try and find an up-and-coming boutique agency, who had the drive and ambition to become market leaders in the future. That’s where Open Partners came in.

After being contacted by The Candidate about a new opportunity at a relatively young agency who’s core values were built on openness, integrity and flexibility, I assumed they were probably being slightly over-zealous in how they were pitching the business to try and get me interested. It didn’t just sound perfect, it sounded perfect for me. Of course, after the multiple coffee’s and calls I had with the folks at The Candidate, they knew exactly what I was looking for, so it would have been easy for them to just tell me what I wanted to hear. However, after a little bit of digging and a glowing recommendation from a friend and ex-colleague who already worked there, I started to get really excited when my application went over.

The best part?Everything I was told has turned out to be true. I was lucky enough to have been one of the earlier team members, and to watch the business grow from humble beginnings into the highly esteemed agency we’re fast becoming, without losing the values that make us special, even in such a fast-paced and competitive industry.

I love the industry I work in.It’s an industry that continues to evolve at a rapid pace, so you need to adapt, and learn new techniques and software constantly to stay ahead. Couple that with the fact that there is an increasing demand to be more and more data driven, means that it’s exciting to be riding what feels like the wave of something very current.

Life in an AnalyticsAgency-life is undoubtedly demanding and there are challenges that come with such an emerging industry. For example, there is no set way of doing things, so there is always a certain amount of trial and error involved.

There is also so much data available it’s difficult to know how to start to manipulate it so that it can be turned in to actionable insight. Then once you finally have the insight, turning the data into visualizations that non-technical stakeholders can easily digest, with death-by-bar-chart, always requires a bit of brain power.

Though in the end, if you have the right mindset, the challenges make it all the more enjoyable as you puzzle it out together as a team. I really do enjoy what I do, and where I do it, so I feel incredibly lucky.

It is on that note that I’d like to thank The Candidate for helping me secure this role. Having the opportunity to run through interview prep with not one, but two, of their senior consultants made me feel more confident and helped to consolidate by thoughts and feelings before the interviews. It was a seamless experience and the fact that I’m still in the same role, as happy as the day I started almost two years later is real testament to the time they took to get to know me and find the perfect opportunity.

10/10, would recommend to a friend (and already have!)

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