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An Astute decision to recruit a non-executive director

Simon Gray writes…

Having previously worked in the recruitment industry for many years, I didn’t hesitate when Astute Recruitment approached me to help them refocus and reshape their business. Through Pembridge Gray Limited I work with a select group of clients as a non-executive director and business development trainer and was excited to get started in helping what was already a great business, become even better.

Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire, the founding directors, started their business in tough times. Recruitment is a challenging industry to be in and only the strong and equally determined survive. I was impressed by their energy and ambition, and since January 2015 have worked closely with them in what has become a very enjoyable journey.

I’ve always believed in keeping things simple. As Leonardo da Vinci said: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’. This is a mantra I hold close at heart and for me, successful business is about positioning, promotion and performance. Unique positioning in the recruitment industry can be challenging. Working hard with the director team, we moved from a general offering to become a specialist SME ﬁnancial recruitment business, recruiting solely for industry.

What’s more, Astute is the only recruitment business to offer a Triple – Point- Guarantee. If things go wrong, they work with their clients to ﬁx the problem and will penalise themselves ﬁnancially in the process. This boils down to conﬁdence in the provision of a service second to none and gives comfort to businesses using the services of a recruitment company for the ﬁrst time.

With a new website, social media channels and a business development strategy, which has nothing to do with selling, they’ve gained new regional recognition and picked up numerous awards. As an IoD member, I was keen to introduce the director team as new members and incredibly proud to see Sarah win in the category of Director of the Year (SME — Small) at the IoD Awards 2015. Further awards followed closely, including the ICAEW East Midlands Business of the Year.

I was thrilled to be ‘Highly Commended’ in the category of Non-Executive Director of the Year at the IoD Awards 2016. It was great to see Sarah presenting an award and Mary on the promotional ﬁlm played at the start, showcasing last year’s awards.

A recent event organised by Astute in collaboration with Geldards in Derby, saw former rugby player Neil Back MBE address an audience of 50-plus. Once again this is part of the new strategy to promote the business in the right way. On the performance front Mary and Sarah have invested heavily in training their team and developed a culture of learning and feedback. Every day is an opportunity to get better and to improve — the concept of knizen, which is something I saw on a daily basis while living and working in Japan, is very much alive. In my opinion the role of a non—executive director is to challenge, advise and to encourage the director team to step out of their comfort zone to think differently and constantly improve. I’m excited for the future and will continue to work with Astute Recruitment to help drive their next phase of growth.

Simon Gray FCA is a non-executive director, business development trainer and founder of Pembridge Gray Limited.

Picture by: Shawn Ryan [email protected]

Simon Gray of Pembridge Gray Limited chatting with former international rugby star Neil Back, MBE at Astute Recruitment’s recent breakfast event.

Mary Maguire wrote:-

“Looking to grow our business to the next level, we appointed Simon Gray in January 2015 as a non-executive director. His expert knowledge across the accountancy recruitment sector across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire is second to none, as is his proven knowledge of marketing, branding and positioning for SME businesses. The effective use of a non-executive director cannot be overstated. We’re now clear on our direction of travel, have a plan in place, and it’s helped encourage business owners like Sarah and l to run our business and not let the business run us! In a nutshell, that’s what working with Simon has meant to the business and the great team we have here at Astute.

Astute sponsors IoD’s SME Business Awards 2016

IoD East Midlands Summer 2016 Magazine – Sarah Stevenson presenting Cuan Forrest of Ellipse Energy

Winner of IoD’s 2016 SME Business award which Sarah won last year and

Astute sponsored the award this year.

Picture by: Shawn Ryan In photo: Mary Maguire of Astute and Don Hayes of Enable.

Accountancy recruitment agency Astute Recruitment has offered to help Nottingham-based charity Enable bolster its team.

Enable works to support voluntary and community focussed organisations in the East Midlands, providing advice and support in terms of economic development, learning, skills and employment.

Mary Maguire, director at Astute Recruitment, which has offices in Derby and Nottingham, felt compelled to help Enable grow its team when she visited the organisation’s offices.
She said: “At Astute Recruitment we recognise the importance of finding the best candidates possible, helping to grow and enhance your existing workforce. When I met with Enable’s chief executive Don Hayes, I was blown away by Enable’s amazing work across the region and the service it offers to other charities.

“When I spoke with Don, he mentioned that Enable was currently searching for non-executive trustees but had been struggling to find the right fit. Almost immediately, I knew we could help, especially in terms of accountancy candidates. Once a year we try to carry out one piece of pro bono work for local charities and I am delighted that we helped Enable recruit not one, but two new non-executive directors: Alan Bunn and Nikki Hufton”.

Thanks to Astute Recruitment’s support Enable has now appointed Alan Bunn as its non-executive finance director and Nikki Hufton as its non-executive HR director.
Don Hayes said: “I was taken aback when I met with Mary, who approached us to find out more about what we do and how we work. I mentioned in passing that we were looking for volunteers to help fill the skills gap on our board of directors, but I never dreamt for a moment she would find a group of suitable candidates for us.

“We are delighted to have Alan and Nikki on our board, they have made a huge difference to our day-to-day activity and made a positive impact. We are so grateful to Astute Recruitment for helping us find Alan and Nikki and we would recommend Astute to anyone looking to fill a skilled accountancy role”.

Enable works to support individual small local charities and voluntary organisations in the East Midlands to access government funding for learning and skills programmes and to more effectively meet the learning and skills needs of individuals within their communities.

Hayes added: “Before I met with Mary we had looked to recruit new board members through traditional avenues; advertising in financial magazines, word of mouth and advertising to specific organisations – none of which were successful. It is so important for us to have a strong board of directors as we support other organisations in bolstering their skills and teams”.

Rugby legend Neil Back will be asking Midlands businesses what they can learn from sporting success this month, during an exclusive breakfast event held and sponsored by Geldards at its Pride Park office in Derby on 29th June.

The event has been organised by specialist accountancy recruitment agency Astute Recruitment and aims to help local professionals to re-think their day-to-day approach to business.

During the breakfast event attendees will hear from Neil Back and co-director Damon Blakey of Fortius Broking as well as a representative of Geldards, who will be welcoming guests – sharing their experiences in both business and sport.
Mary Maguire, managing director of Astute Recruitment, said: “We are excited to be organising this event alongside Geldards, as it offers a great opportunity for our peers to learn more about business and sport from inspirational speakers.
“We are certain it will be an interesting morning and we hope everyone comes armed with questions for our expert speakers. We would like to thank Neil, Damon and Geldards in advance of the event – as we are delighted to have such a great panel”.

Breakfast will be served to attendees from 7.30am, with speakers commencing at 8.00am and the event closing at 9.15am.

A CELEBRATION event has been held in honour of the businesses nominated for the Derby Telegraph Business Awards.

Firms that have made the shortlist were last night given the chance to fete their success at a champagne reception evening at the Finesse Collection’s Cathedral Quarter Hotel, in St Mary’s Gate, Derby.

After weeks of poring over the entries, a shortlist of three finalists has been drawn up for each of the 13 categories.

Winners will be revealed at a gala awards ceremony at Derby College’s Roundhouse, on Pride Park, on June 9.

Last night’s event was thrown in the firms’ honour by Champions (UK) plc, which is staging the awards in partnership with the Derby Telegraph.

The finalists were welcomed to the venue by the Finesse Collection’s chief executive, James Blick.

The Cathedral Quarter Hotel, which is a historic Grade Two listed building, is one of the business awards’ key sponsors.

When it opened in 2008, following a £5 million refurbishment, it was Derby’s first independent boutique hotel and has received a number of high-profile guests – none more so than Her Majesty the Queen.

Today, it hosts meetings and conferences for a wide spectrum of Derby businesses and organisations.

Mr Blick said he was pleased to continue to support the Derby Telegraph Business Awards. He said: “It is only right to celebrate business success and this is the reason why we were keen to sponsor the awards.

“Derby has so many positives when it comes to doing business. It has excellent transport links, is centrally located and has the highest average salaries outside of London. It also has a strong leisure culture.

“These are just some of the reasons why major global brands have located to our thriving city.”

During last night’s event, the finalists had an opportunity to mingle with the sponsors, who have judged each category.

Several of the sponsors spoke on the night about how impressed they had been by the high standard of all the nominations.

The two headline sponsors of the awards are Derby College and Concur. The college is also sponsoring one of the most coveted awards – the Company of the Year category.

April Hayhurst, the college’s business development director, said: “Derby is the UK’s city of innovation and businesses today are continuing our proud heritage of breaking new ground across the industrial sectors and setting the bar high for the rest of the country to follow.

“The Derby Telegraph Business Awards are a vital part of that landscape. They celebrate success and encourage the whole business community to aim high.”

Derby Telegraph editor Neil White said: “It was great to see so many high-quality businesses come together at last night’s event.

“Looking ahead, the awards ceremony itself promises to be a fantastic event and a wonderful celebration of Derbyshire business excellence.”

This article first appeared in the East Midlands Business Link

Astute Recruitment has been named “East Midlands Business of the Year” at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Chartered Accountant of the Year Awards 2016.

The prestigious awards ceremony took place at Nottinghamshire’s Eastwood Hall on 3^rdMarch.

Astute Recruitment is an accountancy recruitment agency operating across the East Midlands which offers bespoke recruitment solutions to its clients.

Mary Maguire, director at Astute Recruitment, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this accolade by the ICAEW, our whole team works hard to ensure that we provide a fantastic service to all of our clients, who are looking for bespoke recruitment support across the accountancy sector.

“Astute Recruitment has continued to grow and we are so proud of all we have achieved since 2009, when we first set up. We work closely with SMEs and large accountancies to offer the very best advice and service we can and we are proud to have been recognised for this.”

Astute Recruitment’s two owners Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire set up the business in 2009 at the height of recession after facing redundancy. Six years later, Astute now boasts two offices, a growing reputation and an increasing number of clients.

Through educating, advising and genuinely partnering SME business owners, Astute Recruitment’s team advise business owners on practice in HR, business and financial performance.

Maguire added: “This award marks a true milestone for us and is a testament to our whole team. We not only work to benefit the business community through our services, but also through supporting charities based in the Midlands too.”

Astute Recruitment has secured over 1000 jobs for local businesses.

The consultancy currently recruits permanent and temporary accountancy staff in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Mary Maguire summarises what 2015 has meant for the business and comments on the power of your brand.

To read the full article please click here.

Astute Recruitment has started the year by launching a brand new website alongside a complete re-brand of their business. The website was previewed by friends of the business at the end of last year, during a celebration evening of Astute Recruitment’s success over the past six years at the Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

The new website and brand aim to showcase the bespoke services Astute Recruitment offer, and highlight testimonials from leading businesses including: Weleda, 3AAA, Smith Cooper and Botham Accountancy.

Mary Maguire managing director at Astute Recruitment said: “Sarah Stevenson and I launched Astute at the end of 2009 in the height of the recession after facing redundancy. It was tough initially – as people who had always had a guaranteed salary each month, to go from that to the uncertainty of relying on cash flow to pay ourselves and our staff caused a few sleepless nights! However we are really proud of the fact that six years on we remain 100 per cent owners of our business and have not diluted our ownership.”

“Many long-standing clients were delighted to use us again and we were also able to capture new businesses who have not used us previously,” she continued. “The definition of Astute is the ability to accurately assess situations and I think that’s a great description of what we do every day!”

Last year Astute director, Sarah Stevenson, secured the Entrepreneur of the Year accolade at the Derbyshire Times Business Awards 2015, a prestigious event attended by over 200 professionals from the region. 2015 also saw Astute being shortlisted for a number of awards, including Sarah receiving the SME Business Director of the Year in the Small Business category at the Institute of Directors (IoD) East Midlands Director of the Year Awards 2015.

Simon Gray, the firm’s non-executive director said: “Both Sarah and Mary have worked hard to make Astute stand out from its competitors. They understand the requirements of SMEs. Through the rebrand they are communicating a different message to the market, and their journey is something I’m very proud to be a part of.”

Article originally published in The Global Recruiter

Here at Astute Recruitment we understand that the hardest part of the process can be getting the opportunity to have an interview in a competitive job market. So HOW can you maximise your chances when you have that all important interview opportunity?

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!

- Get an early night prior to the interview we all perform better when well rested.
- Wear an appropriate outfit (suit or business wear).
- Arrive for interview around 10 minutes early.
- Research the company.

2. Go the extra mile.

- As well as researching the company website, explore other avenues such as social media/ LinkedIn/ company blogs so you can sound informed and up to date.
- Investigate whether there have been any news updates about the company recently.
- Ask around – try and talk to people who know the business (e.g. family or friends).
- Visit the store/ find the product in the shops as relevant. Mention that you have done this in interview.

3. Know your experience.

- Study your CV so you know your experience inside out and can discuss it in relation to the role/job description.
- Be prepared to discuss the journey of your career to date, your aspirations and goals for the future.
- Think about your strengths, weaknesses and your key achievements, so that you can highlight these in interview.

4. Explain ‘why you?’

Your interviewer will want to know both why you want to work for the company (a great opportunity to display your research) and why you are interested in this particular role. Think about this beforehand so that you can relay your thoughts at interview and let them know what appeals to you.
They will also be keen to know why they should employ you!
Let them know you are keen.

5. Ask questions!

- How is the business performing currently?
- What are the biggest challenges they are facing?
- What are the company’s plans for the future?
- What does the interviewer like about working there?
- With regards to this role, what progression opportunities might there be for the future?

I hope this has given some of you added inspiration and confidence to approach an interview!

Here at Astute Recruitment we are not afraid to show our mistakes. I’m sure you have seen our corporate videos on our website and we’re not afraid to show our human side. So we have included our outtakes from our corporate videos for your amusement.

Enjoy!

[featured-video-plus]

The Biggest Headache MD’s Face & How We Solved It!

The Problem

We thought using Sage was the only answer for SME businesses to achieve our accounting and reporting goals. Like most business owners we bought into the trust and sheer popularity of the system – surely if something is taken up by so many companies it must be a safe option?

We used Sage for a while but struggled with accessing log-ins on different machine. We also struggled to extract simple management information easily.

Our Eureka Moment

Here at Astute we specialise in financial recruitment and regularly speak to Business Owners and Directors. One conversation about IT generally and its value to a company led to a recommendation of Xero. We hadn’t heard of it before – but liked the idea of being able to access our accounts any time of day or night and from any location.

Our Solution!!

After contacting Xero and hearing more we implemented it and have just gone live. In a short space of time, it’s already made a big difference.

Our Accountant can log in from another PC remotely – he doesn’t have to be in the office.
We get updates as soon as any online invoices are opened – no more claiming they didn’t arrive!
If you click on ‘OK’ to reconcile it even sorts out your latest bank transactionsWe want this post to create some thoughts and lively debate with you and your team – it may raise some questions.
All this and more means we can get on with the important job – running a successful and growing financial recruitment business.

Am I using the best system for my company and I?
Is it the smartest accounting IT partner for my company now?
Is it the most cost effective and efficient system out there? Please let us know your thoughts and for more posts on other useful business topics please visit www.astuterecruitment.com

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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.