Who are you, and what do you do?
I’m Lee, one of the Co-Founders of Innova Recruitment.
I’m mostly here for the coffee but aside from that I’ve been partnering with some great tech companies and helping to build their teams.
From starting out the business as two people working on each other’s kitchen tables, we are now in our second office and have hired our first consultant and marketing exec to help us build the brand further.
What made you want to start Innova?
After working in a large corporate agency and being part of a start-up business that quickly scaled, it felt like the right time to take the plunge and do it for myself. And, even better, being able to set up with someone I’ve tolerated for years.
We’d seen a lot of things in recruitment that we really liked, and plenty of things that we didn’t. Setting up Innova gave us the opportunity to build a business exactly how we wanted it to be; honest and consultative with our network whilst being a great environment for anyone working in the business.
What does a day in your life look like?
With a four-month-old, Phoebe, the day begins with lots of broken sleep which I always think is a great way to start a full day of recruiting. From a client point of view, I’ll be taking a job spec or providing updates on how live roles are working out and making sure we’re working with them to find the right person for the job. With candidates, we’ll either be technically interviewing them for live vacancies or having a more general chat about their career goals if they are more passive in the market.
Aside from that, there are plenty of brews and all of the fun admin that comes along with running a business.
What’s your favourite way to spend a day off?
Currently it’s all about spending some quality time as a family (which feels like a very adult thing to say) and if that can be combined with getting some food that I didn’t have to cook, even better.
Aside from that, I’ve been trying to do more running and recently finished a half marathon. I’ve now got a marathon booked in for April because I’m a sadist.
Who’s your ideal dinner guest?
Without doubt it has to be Larry David for me. He’d almost certainly ruin the evening, but I can handle that. Special mentions for Jack White, Charlie Brooker, and Malcom Tucker from the Thick of It.
What song best sums you up?
We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel. Unnecessarily wordy, not modern at all, but generally liked by most people.
