#Derbyshire Archives - Page 4 of 5

As the leader of a company, you are there to set an example, to lead and inspire a team of individuals to achieve a series of business goals. But, how do these business leaders go about their daily routine? Business Leader spoke to Mary Maguire, MD of Astute Recruitment, about her working day.

WHAT TIME DO YOU USUALLY WAKE UP?

If it’s a work day I am usually up by 5.30am. If it’s a weekend and the kids allow, then usually I get a lie in till 8.30/9am.

WHAT DO YOU TYPICALLY HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?

During the week I’m quite naughty, a couple of black coffees usually does the trick- the first one has to have three sugars in, after that it’s Sweetex all the way.

WHAT IS THE REST OF YOUR MORNING ROUTINE BEFORE YOU START WORK?

I cherish having half an hour to have a cup of coffee, read the news online and think about what I want to achieve that day.

Then I’ll head for a piping hot shower, check my hubby is awake and shoot off to work between 6.45am-7.15am. This way I can (usually!) avoid the traffic nightmare that is the A52 and get some work done before the team arrives.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO AT THE START OF YOUR WORKING DAY?

Probably boring and predictable but I check my emails, WhatsApp and texts. If there is something urgent – I can address it head on.

HOW DO YOU PRIORITISE YOUR DAY’S WORK?

I’m old-school so I have a page-per-day diary where I write down the most important things I need to get done in order of urgency – once completed I cross them off or carry over to the next day. I think I am alone in this as the rest of my team have everything on their phones, but I’d be lost without my diary.

DO YOU PLAN MEETINGS OR ARE THEY A WASTE OF TIME?

I always plan meetings – I really believe in the phrase “If you fail to prepare you prepare to fail”.

Even for staff 1:1’s, candidate interviews, any sort of meeting in or outside of work – you need to think why am I having this meeting and what do I want to achieve? Preparing for meetings saves time, shows you care and is the efficient, professional way to maximise results.

DO YOU HAVE A WORKING LUNCH OR IS IT GOOD TO TAKE A BREAK?

This depends on the day. I always have something to eat mid-morning and use that time to get away from my desk. It is definitely a good thing to have a break – just five minutes of fresh air often yields a solution to a problem or issue.

WHEN DOES YOUR WORKING DAY FINISH?

I start early and try to get home for 6pm – when I’m at home I put my mummy/ wife hat on. There are times where there is the odd call or email I have to address in the evenings, but I try and save those precious two or three hours at home to be in the moment with my kids and long-suffering husband!

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE NEXT DAY’S WORK?

Personally – my preparation is the last thing I do before leaving the office. I look at my diary and make a note of what has/ hasn’t been done – carry things forward to the next day and then I can switch off. The next time I think about the next day is the next day. This could be why I rarely have trouble going to sleep.

FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY?

I hate to be predictable – but it’s my Samsung smartphone. I can use it for work emails, research ideas, check the news, draft blogs and obviously keep in touch with friends, family and work contacts. I also seem to have developed a new addiction to Candy Crush – oops!

HOW DO YOU SWITCH OFF?

Spending time with my kids and husband is amazing. I also have a lifelong passion for reading and art – on a rare moment of total freedom, like to sketch and draw. I also love swimming and find that doing something like swimming or art completely takes over my mind and allows me to completely ‘switch off’.

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED?

That’s a hard one – I have two and can’t choose one over the other, “Measure twice, cut once” and “Always treat others as you would wish to be treated”. I’ve always believed in these two and they have served me well both personally and professionally.

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.”

Fantastic to see Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire in todays edition of Derby Telegraph in their Women In Business Feature. Great write-up of Astute Recruitment but also highlighting the brilliant work of other Women In Business including all the team at Derby’s Finest including Claire Twells of Smith Partnership, April Hayhurst of Derby College, Bev Crighton of The University of Derby, Former Mayor, Linda Winter and Amanda Strong of Mercia Image Limited. Great to celebrate the success of all women working successfully in business!

Derby Telegraph’s Women In Business article featuring Astute Recruitment’s MDs Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire

Have you heard about our Triple-Point Guarantee? Article featured in AGENDA magazine’s Autumn Edition 2018

Astute Recruitment in Queen Street is re-inventing the way recruiters are seen with a unique ‘Triple Point Guarantee’, which offers clients £500 in cash should their vacancy not be filled in time.

The service is being offered to companies with a permanent role available which choose Astute as their sole recruiter for an agreed time period and is the first policy of its kind to be offered by a recruiter anywhere in the UK.

Mary Maguire, MD of Astute Recruitment said: “We really want to set ourselves apart from our competitors and demonstrate our commitment to offering value and high standards of service.”

“We work across the East Midlands with a great number of SME’s locally, so anything we can do to support our clients and make a real difference to their business, we will embrace and the Triple Point Guarantee is exactly that.”

“As well as the £500 payment, we also offer free replacements and pro-rata fee rebates if a candidate leaves the role in the first eight weeks of placement.”

“We pride ourselves on being able to place the right people in the right roles – this policy demonstrates how confident we are in this and gives clients peace of mind.”

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.

As featured in TheBusinessDesk.com, their Midlands Leadership Awards have been created to celebrate the people and organisations across the entire region who are role models for their teams and who have continuously raised the bar for their competitors.

Those shortlisted have showcased the very best qualities of modern leadership – of inspiration, collaboration and empowerment. The winners will be announced at an exclusive awards lunch on Thursday 15th November 2018. The day will be a celebration of the transformational impact great business leaders are having in our Midlands Region across Finance, Professional Services, Accountancy, Manufacturing, Service and all other industry sectors.

The Leadership awards offer a great opportunity to recognise and shine a light on the achievements and successes of businesses in the region. Sarah’s inclusion as a finalist for these prestigious awards follows on her successful recognition as Entrepreneur Of The Year, awarded by the Derbyshire Times, Small SME Director Of The Year East Midlands, awarded by The Institute of Directors and Finalist of The East Midlands Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year. The Midlands Leadership Awards also serve to recognise the fantastic work Sarah’s team here at Astute Recruitment Ltd have achieved in becoming the go-to accountancy and office recruitment specialist in the East Midlands. Our unique Triple-Point Guarantee and other innovations will reach a wider audience and we hope inspire other innovations in excellence across the recruitment sector.

Fingers crossed for Sarah and all the other Finalists below!

Leader of the year – This person will be selected from the other award winners and will be the person or organisation that embodies outstanding leadership and is an exemplar for the whole Midlands Region.

The finalists for the 2018 Leadership awards are: –

Professional services

David Richardson, Lloyds Banking Group
Nick Green, Squire Patton Boggs
Sarah Perry, Wright Hassall
Sarah Stevenson, Astute Recruitment
Steve Allen, Mills & Reeve

Best leadership programme

Birmingham LGBT
Meridian / Common Purpose
Plink Fizz
Streetwise MBA / Common Purpose

Empowering Potential

Anthony Burns, Paycare
Anthony Ratchford, Intec Microsystems
Lee Southen, Grayling
Sallie-Ann Allen, Enploy
Simon McAlpine, Infinity IT Solutions

Diversity and inclusion leader

Carmen Watson, Pertemps
Claire Bell, West Midlands Police
Hilary Smyth-Allen, BPS Birmingham
Prof Kiran Trehan, University of Birmingham
Yetunde Dania, Trowers & Hamlins

Public and third sector

Mike Hopkins, South and City College Birmingham
Paul Kalinauckas, BCRS Business Loans Limited
Tom Clarke-Forrest, Sport 4 Life UK
Dr Yeow Poon, Chinese Community Centre

Transformational leader

Greg Reed, HomeServe Membership
Matt Jones, Oxbridge Home Learning
Mike Hopkins, South and City College Birmingham
Pauline Biddle, Deloitte
Phil Mead, NEC Group Arenas

Company leader (up to 100 employees)
Jonathan Evans, Discovery
Keir Edmonds, MCS
Kevin Rogers, Paycare
Mike Brooman, Vanti
Scott Parsons, Forsyth Barnes

Company leader (100+ employees)

Craig Dickson, DAC Beachcroft
Greg Reed, HomeServe Membership
James Rigby, SCC
Shahid Sheikh OBE, Clifton Packaging Group

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.

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.

Derby-based business Astute Recruitment has been named ‘Best in Accountancy and Finance Recruitment 2017’ at Acquisition International (AI) Magazine’s 2017 Global Excellence Awards.

Corporate finance publications AT Magazine holds its Global Excellence Awards every year to recognise firms that demonstrate ongoing outstanding performance and lead the way across the entire corporation finance sector.

Mary Maguire, MD of Astute Recruitment, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this prestigious award.”

“At Astute Recruitment we’re passionate about supporting local business by matching them with the right people and we’ve worked hard to establish a reputation as experts in this field. We already pride ourselves on being the ‘go to’ financial recruitment agency in the East Midlands but it is an honour to be recognised on a much wider scale.”

Elliot Ashbourne from AI Magazine said: “These awards showcase businesses that routinely go above and beyond in terms of what they offer their clients, while at the same time pushing the boundaries of what has previously been though possible for firms in their industry.”

“Winners are chosen through a rigorous and in-depth selection process from our in-house award specialists. The team left no stone unturned to ensure that every winner was selected based on proven performance over the past 12 months.”

With Christmas round the corner and the realisation that another year is over, families will be getting together recounting the year gone by and looking ahead to 2018. Christmas also affords some time to reflect on aspirations – personally and professionally. Many try and quit bad habits. A lot vow to keep attending that expensive gym beyond the first week of January! (Guilty!)

The holidays are a prime time for a lot of people to take stock of their lives and often their careers. How many of us are truly 100% happy in our job? Maybe that promised payrise hasn’t materialised AGAIN.. Or maybe the promise of flexible working has been pushed to one side too many times. Perhaps the realisation that actually promotion opportunities won’t be around the corner as you were told on interview? A lot of us spend more time at work than with our children, husbands and wives. Surely we deserve to be happy? Surely everyone deserves to work in a business where their emotional wellbeing and personal development count and not just profits?

If you find yourself pondering any of the above the team here at Astute would be delighted to offer some impartial and completely confidential support and advice. Often it is not just about changing job but actually communication and letting your supervisor/ Finance Director/ Managing Director know you are unhappy? The examples above are genuine cited from many an accountant, credit controller, administrator and more as frustrations.

Sometimes no matter what you do or say – the situation doesn’t change and you are left in a position where you are feeling frustrated and unappreciated. If that’s the case, its great to reach out and speak to a third party who will be able to give you some impartial and constructive advice- Particularly if you have been in one job for a long time.

So – this Christmas – enjoy a glass (or two) of wine, embrace the warmth of loved ones, but also take a moment to think about your own goals and aspirations for the forthcoming 12 months. Then come January – reach out and do something positive to make 2018 a truly memorable year for you and your families.

hffk

Christmas Greetings from everyone at Astute!

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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.