Meet OneVoice Digital

Want the inside scoop about the culture of a thriving digital platform? Ever wondered how to succeed in the industry, or how businesses in this sector recruit talent? Well it's your lucky day! Richard Wright, Head of Affiliates at OneVoice Digital (TOTUM), talks to us about his role within the company, any advice for others in the industry, and how working with The Candidate has been for him.

What is your main job role and responsibility within the business?

My main responsibility is to drive commercial revenue into the business through affiliate marketing, media sales and brand partnerships.

I head up the Commercial Revenue Team and we’ve very recently grown from 3 to 8 people which is really exciting, and we are continuing to grow. Together we are focused on sourcing great offers and content from brand partners, while deriving maximum value for our members and for OneVoice. We work with household name brands who want to increase their sales to students, apprentices and professional learners.

I also work very closely with the Marketing Team who are focused on acquiring new members to the platform, as well as the product team who are working on improving and building new features for the platform. This opens up lots of opportunity for cross department collaboration which is really fun to be part of.

What advice can you offer to someone who’s looking to start a career in your field?

Expertise is always valued very highly, so I would recommend specialising in a particular field first and build from there. I started out in affiliate marketing back in 2007 when it was considered a very niche part of the digital marketing mix. Demand for affiliate marketing has increased recently so those skills are now considered quite valuable and can be applied in many different contexts across performance marketing.

It can take 2 to 3+ years of hard work to establish expertise and build credentials in a given field, so I strongly recommend doing research on the various industries and chose carefully which you want to be working in.

From then it’s a case of always be willing learn and never passing up opportunities to do something that’s perhaps above and beyond your job description. Not only will you acquire new skills and knowledge, but you will demonstrate ability to adapt to different roles and operate at more senior levels.

Finally – know your value! If you feel the value you bring to a company is not being recognised, then you need to pro-actively address it and not allow it to fester. It can be a very demoralising situation to be in for any length of time and seriously impact your mental health. Always have control of your own future.

What do you believe are the top five stand out characteristics of someone successful in your business/ sector?

In no particular order these were the first 5 things I noted down:

1. Willingness to learn
2. Resourcefulness 
3. Entrepreneurial
4. Commercial thinker
5. Empathetic

The first four are probably obvious, but I am increasingly seeing how important empathy is in business. For example, if you want to create long term and lucrative partnerships it’s imperative you understand what both sides need from the relationship to make it work. Also not everything in this world is completely logical and rational, so understanding the human element can be very important.

Perhaps more importantly, it underpins relationships you have within your own organisation and subsequently your ability to do your job effectively. A strong team player who can positively influence across and upwards through an organisation will always be more productive and successful than those that can not.

Can you please discuss any barriers of recruiting in your industry?

I’d say the two biggest challenges are finding people with relevant experience and who are a good cultural fit for our business.

Experience can be easily seen from a CV or Linkedin profile (and tested in an interview scenario to a degree). But cultural fit is much harder to assess and equally as important. OneVoice is fast-paced and based on close collaboration across departments, so it’s absolutely key to find people who are a good fit with the team.

We try to overcome this by including people from across departments in the interview process as this gives the hiring manager multiple perspectives on a candidate. But it works both ways - the candidate also gets to interview us and see the people they may be working with!

What is the culture like at OneVoice?

This is the number one question we get asked in interviews!

OneVoice is a relatively new company and we’ve worked really hard to make it a very open, transparent and collaborative place to work. Counter-intuitively, I think we’re much better at all of those things since we’ve been working remotely than before the pandemic.

Crucially for me, it all comes from a genuine desire right through the organisation and not just a few token gestures from management. By way of example, we have daily stand-up calls within each work group and a weekly company-wide meeting where everyone is kept up to date of business performance, successes and challenges. Company strategy is also a collaborative process and people at all levels are encouraged to contribute.

I also like to think we’ve created a very safe and supportive environment where people feel they can put forward ideas, ask “silly questions” and make mistakes without fear – no matter what their level or experience in the business.

This all supports a great team vibe where everyone gets along, there are a lot laughs on team calls, and we’re all looking forward to doing some social events really soon!

Describe your experience of working with The Candidate.

I've worked with The Candidate for many years and ultimately what keeps me coming back is the quality of candidates I’ve consistently received.

They have a great profile in the North West which means I can be confident they have a lot of good quality candidates on their books.

They take care to get to know us as individuals and a business which I think helps them sell OneVoice to prospective candidates and ensure a good cultural fit.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Richard!

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