Celebrating our tenth business anniversary, the Astute Team are looking forward to hosting our Birthday Party in Derby this Thursday evening. We are trying to get round to as many candidates and clients who have supported us to say a huge thank you and celebrate with us over a couple of complimentary drinks and some cake!

At the helm of Astute Recruitment are the two MDs, Sarah Stevenson & Mary Maguire.

Sarah said, “It’s amazing to think that with just a couple of laptops and my redundancy money, we are now one of the leading accountancy and finance recruitment businesses across the East Midlands. Its all down to our brilliant team and I know I speak for Mary when I say I’m really proud of what we have achieved together.”

Astute Recruitment Ltd celebrate their 10th anniversary in business!

If you would like any information, please contact Mary Maguire either in the office on 01332 346 100 or on her email [email protected]

Once again, Derbyshire County Cricket Ground proved to be a perfect setting for our latest Business Breakfast Event. Our guests were welcomed with teas/ coffees and welcoming breakfasts on arrival.

Andy Lilliman, our talented Senior Recruiter, proved he is also a talented photographer and we’ve popped some of the photos he took below on here.

Lisa, our guest speaker, travels the world giving powerful presentations and training to corporate teams in business – empowering managers with the knowledge to tap into greater staff engagement and achieve a happier, more confident, successful and empathetic workforce. Lisa succeeding in inspiring us all with great tips and techniques for us to take away.

From left, Mary Maguire & Sarah Stevenson, MDs of Astute Recruitment Ltd with guest speaker Lisa Spencer-Arnell

On a very sunny morning, we held our latest Business Breakfast Event on how to unlock your potential. Our guest speaker, Lisa Spencer-Arnell, enthralled our 50 or so guests explaining how to use Emotional Intelligence to achieve Mindfulness.

Just some of the positive feedback from the morning included: –

“Very enjoyable – a well-organised event”

“Really appropriate subject matter, well delivered and had a great impact”

“Another great event to develop your inner-strength”

“One of the nicest networking events around”

Thanks again to everyone who came! We will host our next event in the Autumn with details to follow.

Round-the-world cyclist, Leigh Timmis spoke to Derbyshire professionals about the importance of mental health at an Astute Recruitment business breakfast.

Mary Maguire MD Astute Recruitment with Leigh Timmis

Leigh Timmis with the Astute Recruitment team

Held at the 3aaa Derby County Ground, the event saw more than 70 attendees join the Astute team (18 October) to listen to Leigh speak about his latest world record attempt, how he created a world-class performance despite a number of challenges and how crucial mental health is in achieving goals and overcoming pitfalls. Leigh also discussed the importance of having the right team around you – a key issue many SMEs face as they grow.

World record holder, Leigh Timmis said: “It’s fantastic to be working with Astute to help local businesses create a world class performance whether that’s locally or internationally. Mental Health is a very important topic for me, I would without a doubt not hold the world record without having focused on my mental health.”

Leigh’s latest adventure saw him fly to Cabo Da Roca in Portugal on the 10 September to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for cycling across Europe in the fastest time, he has beaten this by eight days. Leigh completed the challenge in 16 days, eight days less than the previous world record.

Mary Maguire, managing director of Astute said: “It’s was a real honour to partner with Leigh for this event, he’s such an inspirational person and a great business speaker. The audience were really engaged with Leigh’s presentation, asking lots of questions and leaving great feedback about how much they enjoyed the event.

“The aim of the breakfast session was for delegates to leave in a positive, can do frame of mind, feeling confident that they can use some of Leigh’s tips to bolster team spirit, harness potential and exceed expectations. This is something I’m confident the event achieved.”

Leigh Timmis with the Astute Recruitment team

The 18th October, just 3 weeks after Leigh Timmis smashed the Guinness World Record for the fastest cycle across Europe –

16 days 10 hours 45 minutes; over eight days faster than the previous record!

All of us were delighted to have Leigh talk about how to deliver a world-class performance. His powerful presentation covered many evocative and emotional issues including mental health, team performance and a myriad of wonderful anecdotes that I know I’ll take away with me.

Leigh said after the morning “I took 70 business owners and senior managers behind the scenes of my record-breaking fastest cycle across Europe, explaining how I completed the 4000-mile challenge in 16 days 10 hours 45 minutes; over eight days faster than the previous record!”

He spoke honestly and passionately about his own, personal demons that he had to overcome on the record attempt, admitting that actually ‘the how I got there’ was much more rewarding to him than breaking the actual record. It was refreshing to hear someone speak so honestly and so openly of their personal setbacks – and hear how they overcame them.

Poignantly with just a road team of 4 including Leigh on his journey – loneliness was a major problem. 4,000 miles with just three people for company is a long way to travel. It is even more lonely as every single one of those 4,000 miles was made by Leigh on his own on his bike. Yes, he had his support team of three – but he had to bear up to every one of those thousands of miles physically and on his own. Psychologically, to listen to Leigh and how he and his support team coped, was one of the most inspirational parts of his presentation.

Another fascinating part of the morning highlighted why we all need to embrace our “WHY?”. Leigh described a tremendous technique to re-focus on goals is to bring your mind back to the “Why am I doing this?” and reminding yourself of not just the goal – but what you actually want to achieve along the way. Often people become absorbed in the process and the reason why they are attempting to do something is lost on the way.

Leigh himself said “My talk outlined the importance of setting goals that don’t limit you and establishing an environment that nourishes growth before exploring the decisive factors that shaped our project. With the focus on mental health and team-work, I highlighted the importance of a communication and management strategy to drive a team towards a shared goal, and what psychological interventions we implemented to ensure that I remained focused and determined.”

The audience left with anecdotes and tips about building mental resilience. They were imparted with the knowledge of how to create a positive mindset and an understanding of how Leigh was able to keep going through the most difficult challenges, and how they could apply these lessons to their personal and business goals.”

Leigh Timmis talking about the power of positive thinking and mental health

Engaging talk by Leigh Timmis

We had a brilliant audience of local professional business people from SME companies and larger firms across Derbyshire and the East Midlands. I’d like to share some of the great comments and photos from some of the people who came to watch Leigh and what they learned and took away from this inspiring morning……

Jon Ward | Senior Interim Accountant:

“I could draw similarities personally and professionally in what Leigh was saying and what I do. As an interim, you come with ideas and quite often have to ‘re-motivate’ and ‘re-energise’ a team already in situ, whereas he could build his own team. He was able to get everyone aiming at the same goals and understand “what’s their why”. I have to convince and cajole the team along to get them off their pathway and onto mine. I come in as requested as a professional interim and my “why” quite often hasn’t been shared. Plus, the expectation that I’m going to move on and leave them with my replacement (who may have a different understanding of “why”).

Leigh showed his passion retelling his story and the messages – his correlation to the audience for business, motivation, teams and leadership – were spot on. I’ve got several great takeaways out of this event and will be recommending Leigh to contacts as a speaker. An interesting, inspiring character and to do what he did by himself on a bike was exceptional!

Thanks again and for what it’s worth your team were friendly and supportive. A great team you should be proud of.”

Duncan Longson | Group Financial Controller:

“We very much enjoyed Leigh’s presentation, I think there was something in there for everyone to take away as food for thought! Thanks again for hosting the event.”

Alan Bunn FCA MBA Grad Dip CSP | Head of Finance & Business Services:

“Leigh’s talk was very inspirational, and I took away a few insights; written in your handy notebook 😊”

Ian Sackree | Chief Executive

“Thank you (and from Nadia too) very much for the invite; an inspirational start to the day.”

Amanda Strong | MD | Mercia Image Print

“I spent a long time speaking to Leigh and I agree he is so inspirational and even more so coming back from suffering from mental health himself.

It was a great morning. This successful event will be remembered and create awareness of the professional Astute Recruitment name.”

Iain McBride | Assistant Programme Manager

“Thank you ever so much for hosting the business breakfast. Leigh is an inspirational figure – with many stories to tell – and I am sure that he will engage and captivate everyone that he talks to – his journey through the last 12 months is one of sheer drive and determination and I will take away may things to try to change aspects of myself too.

Thank you also for the card draw, never been drawn out for anything other than a networking speech – so very surprised and overwhelmed!”

Lisa Richards | Partner | Dains

“Thanks, I thought it was a really great event, he was a great speaker with a really interesting story, thanks for the invite.”

Joe Butler | Head Of Accounts

“It was really interesting. Leigh’s drive is very contagious”

Feedback posted on social media: –

“An amazing presentation this morning from @leightimmis ‘Don’t be limited by your goals”

“I had a fantastic morning hearing all about @leightimmis #worldrecordbreaking ride across Europe.”

“An inspirational and engaging speaker and some great lessons learned”

Leigh Timmis with the Astute Recruitment team

Leigh Timmis is available for motivational talks, after dinner speeches, keynote speaking engagements at corporate events, schools and higher education talks and workshops. To learn more and to book him for your event, visit Leigh’s website here: https://www.leightimmis.com/speaking-engagements/

Find out what’s next and keep up to date with Leigh’s latest challenges on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn

As MDs of Astute Recruitment Ltd – Sarah Stevenson and I were delighted to put this event on for local business professionals and will go on to host more events in the New Year.

Keep an eye on our Events Page

www.astuterecruitment.com

Article by Mary Maguire

MD – Astute Recruitment Ltd

Congratulations Leigh Timmis on your new official Guinness World Record!

We can’t believe its only 2 days until our Business Breakfast with Leigh Timmis. Leigh today received the fantastic news from the people at Guinness World Records that his cycle across Europe is officially being entered into the record books.

While Leigh is over the moon with today’s acknowledgment, for him it was how he did the journey and what got him to the end that is truly inspirational. Hear Leigh talk about how he built a world-class team for his European World Record feat and much more around Mental Health, how to achieve your goals and exceed expectations.

To view more details for Thursday’s event and confirm attendance – please click HERE.

There are only a few spaces left so you will have to be quick!

Leigh Timmis round the world cyclist and adventurer will be speaking at Astute Recruitment’s Business Breakfast on 18th Oct 2018 at Derby’s iconic 3AAA County Ground

DERBY-based business Astute Recruitment has teamed up with round-the-world cyclist and new Guinness World Record hopeful, Leigh Timmis to share tips on how East Midlands-based businesses can deliver a world class performance.

The ‘Cycling for Success’ business breakfast event, which will take place on 18 October at the iconic 3AAA County Cricket ground in Derby, not only focuses on building a world class team, but will also put a spotlight on Mental Health and Mental Resilience.

Local professionals will hear tips and anecdotes from Leigh, touching on how he created a world-class performance despite a number of challenges and set backs along the way. They will also learn how crucial mental health is in achieving goals and overcoming pitfalls, Leigh will also discuss how important it is to have the right team around you – a key issue many SMEs face as they grow.

Derby-based world record hopeful, Leigh Timmis said: “This will be my first engagement after my world record attempt and I’m hoping to be able to speak about the world record I will hold by that point.

“It’s fantastic to be working with Astute to help local businesses create a world class performance whether that’s locally or internationally. I’m also excited to be able to raise awareness for my charity, MQ: Transforming Mental Health, working to share the importance of mental health in creating personal and professional success.”

Having struggled with mental health issues in the past, the topic is something that’s close to local adventurer, Leigh Timmis’ heart. After quitting his job in 2010, Leigh cycled around the world for over seven years.

Leigh’s latest adventure saw him fly to Carbo da Roca in Portugal on the 10 September to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for cycling across Europe in the fastest time. Leigh will be speaking at the event less than a month after his world record attempt which he hoped to complete in just 20 days, four less than the current world record. In the event Leigh smashed not only the World Record but also his own goal of 20 days – completing the marathon cycle in just 16 days!

Managing director of Astute Recruitment Ltd, Mary Maguire, said: “It’s a really great honour to be able to partner with Leigh for this event, he’s such an inspirational person and a great business speaker.

“The aim of the breakfast session is for delegates to leave in a positive, can do frame of mind, feeling confident that they can use some of Leigh’s tips to bolster team spirit, harness potential and exceed expectations. Whether these are business goals, career goals or personal goals.”

To sign up for the event please visit: https://www.astuterecruitment.com/leigh-timmis-round-the-world-cyclist-presenting-tips-anecdotes-for-success-at-one-off-event-at-derbys-iconic-3aaa-county-ground-on-18th-october-2018/

Astute has worked to secure more than 1500 jobs for local businesses and is continuing to go from strength to strength, hiring three new consultants in the last six months and launching a highly successful commercial division.

Leigh Timmis round the world cyclist and adventurer

Leigh Timmis is a remarkable fellow. Having cycled around the world over 7 years his latest adventure sees him fly to Carbo da Roca in Portugal in just a couple of weeks to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for cycling across Europe in the fastest time!

Over 10 countries.
From Portugal to Russia
Some three thousand nine hundred and fifty miles.
In less than 20 days. (a staggering 9 days less than the current World Record!)

Leigh and his carefully recruited team, will attempt a world first and put another Derbyshire person in the spotlight after Adam Peaty’s exploits at the European Championships.

On Leigh’s hopefully triumphant return to the UK from Ufa in Russia, he will have some much deserved rest. Then his first engagement will be at Astute Recruitment’s Business Breakfast at the home of cycling in Derby’s iconic 3AAA County Ground on the 18th October from 7.30am.

Local business people will join Astute to hear Leigh pass on some great tips and anecdotes around how he created a world-class performance. You will learn about how crucial mental health is in achieving goals, mental resilience and how to overcome pitfalls along the way. Leigh will also talk about how important it is to have the right team around you – a key issue for many SME businesses at the moment.

You can follow Leigh’s journey via the BBC Worldwide and on Leigh’s website https://www.leightimmis.com/ and support his charity Transforming Mental Health.

All of us at Astute are delighted to have Leigh as our guest speaker and to book tickets for what promises to be an unforgettable morning please click on the Eventbrite link HERE to secure your place.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Clive Mason/Getty Images
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won last year’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix

The team at Astute have worked so hard in the last twelve months, so Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire are delighted to take Astute’s team down to Silverstone and hopefully see Lewis Hamilton work towards securing Pole Position for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Photos of the day to follow next week!

“Reward success in your team and your team will reward you with success”

Astute Recruitment Sports Day

Astute Recruitment has teamed up with local charity Treetops Hospice for a ‘school sports day’ event later this month (19 July) to raise vital funds for the hospices’ work.

Treetops Hospice provides support and care for patients and families living with life limited illness or affected by death, through its day care centre and hospice at home services. The organisation currently relies on donations to make up two thirds of its funding.

Andy Lilliman, senior consultant at Astute Recruitment said: “We’re delighted to be raising money for a local organisation which is close to our hearts – many of the team at Astute have friends and family that have been supported by Treetops, and so we’re looking forward to giving back.”

The event will be held at Treetops Hospice grounds and will feature a variety of classic sports day events, including an egg and spoon race, sack race and a 100m sprint. Local businesses are invited to join in for a small sign-up fee.

“We’re hoping to raise £500 through team sign ups and the sale of raffle tickets.

“Hopefully we’ll get some sunshine and it will be a good excuse to get outside, have some fun and relax whilst helping a great cause. We hope to see as many local businesses as possible sign up a team.”

Laura Corden, corporate partnerships founder at Treetops Hospice said: “We are delighted to have Astute Recruitment host its Corporate Sports Day here in the lovely gardens of Treetops Hospice Care. It is a pleasure to welcome the company, along with other local businesses to take part in what is set to be a fun filled and competitive evening.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for organisations to find out more about the services Treetops offer and to take a look around our facilities. We are hoping to raise awareness of our Compassionate Communities Project whereby we aim to engage businesses to become more aware of the impact life limiting illnesses may have on employees and their families.

Corporate support is incredibly important to Treetops and without the generosity of local businesses we would not be able to continue to deliver the services we do. We are excited to meet everyone at the event and wish the event every success.”

To sign up for the event, visit https://www.treetopshospice.org.uk/events/astutesportsday/. Or please call Andy Lilliman or MD Mary Maguire at Astute Recruitment on 01332 346 100.

Everyone had a great time at our business breakfast on Mental Resilience. Our guest speaker, John Dabrowski, did an amazing presentation explaining the importance of mental and physical wellbeing professionally and personally to each and every one of us.

Some key takeaways: –

We all need to take the time to develop our self-belief and sense of self-worth. It is these that give us the confidence to perform to our maximum potential at work or in our personal lives.

It is crucial to pro-actively train ourselves to look for the positives when adversity hits. Easier said than done, but John demonstrated some great techniques we can all implement as part of our daily routines to make these changes become an important habit and vital life skill.

John also talked about the importance of visualisation. When you have a challenge to overcome, be it a difficult meeting, a new responsibility at work or where you have to present to a team for the first time, John talked about the power of visualising yourself succeeding. You need to close your eyes and in your mind picture the ‘challenge’ and picture yourself successfully doing it. This is incredibly powerful and triggers synapses in your brain which automatically kick into gear when you physically attempt to do the ‘challenge’ to help you.

John went on to give some brilliant examples of sportsmen and sportswomen who have achieved the absolute pinnacle in their disciplines. From an early age they had a goal, visualised themselves being successful and then had the focus to singularly pursue their dream. The ability to focus is actually key in developing mental resilience and John spoke in depth about this.

Mental resilience also means being able to bounce back from physical as well as mental adversity. John encouraged us to seek out the positives regardless of the situation… there is always some positive that we can take – it’s just that sometimes it is easier to do this than others.

Another key area are Comfort zones. – it is only when we challenge ourselves to move outside our comfort zones that we can truly grow our inner self-belief and ultimately grow our confidence levels. So when you are given a new task which stretches your abilities and makes you nervous, if you complete this – the completion of that task will instil a new aura of confidence so that eventually this challenge will become a natural part of you which you can confidently execute. Then you can move onto the next challenge!

There were many other things that John mentioned and these are explored in depth in his book “Off The Wall – How to develop world class mental resilience”. Click HERE to go to John’s website at JD Mindcoach

So – thank you to John, our team at Astute and of course our guests who came and made the event a really memorable and potentially life changing experience!

Some photos of the event:

John-Dabrowski-Giving-one-of-his-books-to-winner-at-Astute-Recruitments-Mental-Resilience-Workshop

John Dabrowski sharing a great video clip of a famous basketball player at Astute Recriutment Ltd Business Breakfast on Mental Resilience

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Mike

16:04 13 Mar 23

Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.

C R.

10:45 27 Jan 23

Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊

Christine

10:32 20 Dec 22

Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!

Helen Pinegar

16:19 18 Dec 22

Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!

Lisa Leigh

11:56 30 Nov 22

I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.