What The Candidate can offer you by Laura Walters

Laura Walters joined The Candidate in 2014 looking for a new challenge after 10 years in Media Sales and looking for a new challenge within the digital community. She has since rapidly climbed the ranks to Recruitment Board Director in just over 4 years. With this success she tells us what is happening at The Candidate, the roles she can help with, how 2018 went, what to look for in 2019 and how to succeed at a senior level in your career.

Laura Walters, Recruitment Board Director

What can your department offer? 
My role at The Candidate has recently changed to Recruitment Board Director which means that I have more responsibility across the business as a whole. When I started at The Candidate I launched the client-side division focusing primarily on Digital Marketing roles however more recently I have been working on senior vacancies within many different sectors and skillsets.

The majority of the roles that we recruit for here at The Candidate are within the North West however we do also work on Search and Selection assignments across the whole of the UK.

Although we always aim to provide superb client service, our focus is to offer candidate-centric approach opening doors and opportunities based upon the individual and their skill set rather than just looking at the live roles within our agency. We meet with the majority of our clients and candidates to ensure that we are looking past the CV as we understand just how important the cultural and team fit is for any recruit.

Tell us more about the Senior Recruitment Team and the types of roles that you have been working on. 
We are so lucky to engage with a real variety of candidates, clients, roles and business sectors. In all honesty, I would say that this is one of the most exciting parts of my job! We get to work with one-person start-ups looking for their first recruit to £multi-million international businesses and no two days are the same - things change and evolve by the hour!

Some of the top placements that I have successfully recruited for during 2018 have been Marketing Directors, Head of Performance Marketing, Head of Digital Product and Development, Head of Online Trading, Strategic Business Director, Global PR Director and Media Agency Sales Director to name but a few.

What sort of business’ are you currently working with?
We work with an outstanding client portfolio. I genuinely love meeting with our clients, understanding the different team frameworks, learning about their culture and understanding what makes each business successful. Walking through the doors of two businesses who work within the same space can be two very different experiences offering unique opportunities. From fast-paced global e-commerce fashion retailers, exciting entrepreneurial fin-tech start-ups, to integrated media agencies with an enviable list of clients.

What challenges have you seen within the industry this past year? 
We have some exceptional talent right here in Manchester but we need to attract more people into the regions to bridge the skills shortage that we are experiencing, especially within the digital space. As a business, we have been a part of attracting talent to the North West through supporting local events such a SAScon as well as carrying out our own research on what are the key factors influencing talent coming to the North.

GDPR coming into play. This has changed the ability to store peoples' information and get in touch when a suitable vacancy comes through. All this has had a lesser impact on me as I have personal relationships with most of my candidates and clients but it has added to the importance of keeping administration up to date, which in a busy office can be challenging!!

Uncertainty around Brexit. There definitely is caution by some of my clients around the decisions they are making before Brexit but also like all of us, none of us really know to what extent this will affect budgets, costs and profits until it happens.

Brand and influencer marketing inflating their numbers from buying followers creating uncertainty and distrust within the market. The party is over for some of the ‘fake influencers’ and brands are returning to more organic, genuine, transparent ways and influencers.

The slowdown of growth on key platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat – not growing as aggressively as they were previously.  For 2019 this will see new movers and shakers in the social media platforms to watch out for including Googles business page giving businesses a stronger ability to engage with their customers directly. 

 Top Tips for someone to have a successful Senior Digital / Marketing career?

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