Agora | Talent Search | Retail & Consumer

CAROLINE

Caroline Phillips is a market leader in Financial Recruitment within the Retail & Consumer space. Since entering the profession in 2006, she has built an enviable network across many Blue Chip brands and SME’s across the Retail, Consumer Goods, and Leisure industries. She co-founded Agora Talent with the aim of creating a highly specialised talent partner agency with a focus on high quality delivery. Caroline is known for her consultative approach, complete transparency and expert industry knowledge.

HANNAH

Hannah joined Agora in 2018 after graduating from the University of Leeds with a Degree in English & Philosophy. She focuses on talent searches and market mapping across the Strategy sector. Hannah has a strong interest in the Fashion space and enjoys travelling.

AMY

Amy is a specialist Part-Qualified recruiter within the Retail and Consumer space. She has built a strong reputation in the market amongst clients and candidates alike, working with a range of businesses from local SMEs to larger international corporations. Amy is known for her specialist industry knowledge, her upfront and honest approach, as well as consistently delivering a high quality of service.

MATTHEW

Matthew has been in recruitment since 2012 working across a variety of industries. He has executed searches with high-growth SMEs and Listed businesses across Europe. With a reputation in the Senior Finance space for delivering tailored solutions, he prides himself on providing a consultative service and going beyond search & selection. He is the trusted partner to many high profile businesses across the Retail, Consumer and Leisure market and has a genuine passion for mirroring clients evolving needs in a fast-moving market.

FELIX

Felix has been in the recruitment industry in London since 2005 and has held senior leadership roles with two large search firms. He has built teams covering finance, strategy, marketing, HR and Procurement, and held P&L responsibility for up to 22 consultants.

He has led retained searches in the retail and consumer markets for FTSE 100 Retailers, Venture Capital Funds and international Management Consultancies, as well as Privately owned and PE backed consumer products brands.

Startups

At Agora Talent we are passionate about supporting smaller businesses. We have come up with a unique solution to enable hiring key people into your organization more manageable.

Quality hires are paramount to the success of any growing business but when cash flow is tight, large one-off recruitment fees can be a real hurdle to using a high quality recruitment agency. Added to that the risk of new hires not passing their probation period, this can often mean businesses are limited to their own personal networks when hiring.

We feel strongly that small businesses should still be able to partner with high quality recruitment partners, to enable them to conduct a fully comprehensive search.

At Agora we share that risk with you to make it manageable.

When we have delivered the search and the successful candidate has joined the business the recruitment fee is split over 6 or 12 instalments paid over the year.
If for whatever reason the new hire doesn’t work out and leaves the business no further payment is required. 100% free replacement service.
Consulting on developing your employer brand, taking control and enhancing your Career’s pages.
Free Sponsored advertising – getting your business noticed.

If you would like further information on our SME payment plan please contact the team on Info@Agora-Talent.com

Executive Search

The team at Agora have a successful track record in placing senior executives within Retail & Consumer Brands across the globe.

Agora can offer a more flexible and dynamic approach than the traditional search firms. Our transparency and speed of delivery have proven invaluable for our clients. We pride ourselves on building balanced and diverse shortlists.

Completed searches include:-

CFO, Global Luxury Fashion House, UK
CFO, Global PE Backed Consumer Goods, Switzerland
Director of Strategy, FTSE Retailer, UK
Finance Director, VC Backed Fashion Brand, UK
Finance Director, VC Backed Restaurant Chain, UK
Head of Operational Excellence, Listed Restaurant Chain, UK
Director of Group FP&A, FTSE Retailer, UK
Finance Director, Consumer Healthcare, KL Malaysia

If you would like more information on our Executive Search service please contact us on Info@Agora-Talent.com

Part Time

Hiring a part-time Finance Director can be a great solution for scaling businesses. It enables SME’s to have a experienced resource in a way that works for their budget, whilst at the same time offering flexibility to candidates.

Agora Talent introduced Finance Director Chantelle Gower-Jackson to VC Backed, Luxury Fashion Brand Roksanda in 2018. Roksanda were looking for an experienced Finance Director from the fashion space to help them through their next phase of growth. As with most SMEs, they were slightly constrained by budget, but weren’t willing to compromise on the level or quality of the hire. Chantelle was ideally looking for a part-time role in order to free up some time to study for a CIPD qualification, so a four day week solution was proposed.

We caught up with Chantelle several months after starting at Roksanda to ask her what she feels the benefits of a part-time arrangement are…

What were the key drivers behind you wanting to take on a part time role?

2 main reasons, I have a passion for HR and Business Psychology and want to start studying in this field. I have always wanted to expand my skill set beyond Finance and what better area to focus on than one that I’m genuinely interested in! The second reason is so that I have some flexibility & time to spend with my little boy who is 2 years old. I am ambitious and want a great career however at the same time family life is extremely important to me.

What do you feel the benefits are for an SME taking on a part-time FD?

I think it allows a business that might not be able to afford a full time FD the option to harness the skills and experience of a more senior finance professional in a way that works for the budget.

What are the main challenges of being a part-time FD?

You have to be extremely organised and focused. There is no time for relaxed lunches – every single minute that I’m in the office I’m working. You also need to be flexible with your employer – you will need to take calls on your day off/respond to emails. I try to be quite strict with this and spend 30min at the end of my day off scanning through urgent emails and responding. Its also very easy to be dragged into working a full time job when you are only paid for a part time role – you need to manage the businesses expectations so this doesn’t happen.

What can businesses and/or recruiters do to support people looking to work on a part-time basis?

At the moment I think that people are too scared to mention that they are looking for a flexible or part time role. There is this unwritten rule that if you ask for this you are not committed to the business and your career. Recruiters can play a key role in breaking these barriers down. Life is short, most of us want to find balance where we can work hard but still enjoy life – lets not be afraid to admit this.

Would you have any advice for other candidates looking to work on a part time basis?

Don’t be afraid to bring this up with recruiters. Some recruiters/businesses will push back. Don’t let this discourage you. Find a recruiter that is prepared to support you with this. Agora Talent were fantastic at listening to me and supporting my search for a part time role.

If you would like further information on part-time hires please contact the team on Info@Agora-Talent.com

Team Building

Wayfair – Case Study

Company

A fast-growing, online marketplace for home goods.

Headquartered in the US but with an expanding international presence. Global turnover of US$4BN.

Situation

Felix was introduced to Wayfair by a contact from a top tier consulting firm who put him in touch with a Director in London office. She had mentioned that the company was growing revenues and suppliers very quickly but that the current recruitment partners were struggling to provide the type of talent that the business was looking for.

Challenge

Wayfair was still building an employer brand in the UK and existing recruitment partners were benchmarking the business against established, traditional, bricks & mortar retailers and sourcing from the buying and merchandising functions. These candidates were often struggling to adapt to the rate of change and level of expected analytical rigour.

Wayfair’s Senior Leadership Team in London wanted to target talent that would fit their data-driven, fast-paced, high performance culture.

Solution

Agora was engaged and took a skills-driven approach to understand the ideal candidate profile.

The search was focused on mapping the market within strategic consulting, high-growth ecommerce and consumer tech firms and top global business schools. Further reach was gained through relationships with the alumni centres at London Business School, INSEAD, Bain, Mckinsey and BCG.

Existing networks were contacted where relevant and a new pipeline of talent was established that has delivered a consistent flow of high calibre hires.

Five successful introductions have been made in London – candidates came from Bain, OC&C, Accenture Digital and major ecommerce competitors.

Further to this success, Agora has subsequently been engaged to help build talent pipelines in new business areas for Wayfair in Germany.

If you would like further information on Team Building please contact the team on Info@Agora-Talent.com

International

In 2017 Agora partnered with a growing Consumer Healthcare business Zaluvida on two senior Finance hires, in two different international locations.

The brief was to fill a CFO role based in Switzerland and a Finance Director role based in Kuala Lumpur. The business was going through such a rapid period of transformation that there was business critical time pressure to deliver on these vacancies. Due to Agora’s industry specialism and agile approach, a truly global market map was delivered within 8 days. The network built up between our founding team meant we could tap into a global pool as well as deep diving into the local talent, which in turn meant we were able to deliver a much more comprehensive search than partnering with a local firm.

Forty candidates were brought forward for interviews via video-conference for both roles over the next two weeks, and then full shortlists presented within three weeks of the role being briefed. We firmly believe that high quality search can be delivered at pace, with full transparency shared with the client throughout the process.

I admit that for the first time in several decades I am torn between several options – testimony to the quality of your search! – CEO Zaluvida during the process.

Following the interviews and several meetings with senior stakeholders within the business, two offers were made and accepted within seven weeks of taking the original brief. These timescales for delivering searches this intricate over two different locations was a great example of how reactive, dedicated, and effective the global team is at Agora.

I had the pleasure of working with Greg over the past 6 months; he was instrumental in getting my current position.
Greg is a very well prepared recruitment professional, approachable and has demonstrated a deep knowledge of both the role and the company (beyond the simple job description) and perfectly aligned with senior directors; there were no misunderstandings or discrepancies in terms of the requirements of role and what was expected.
Most importantly, and this was the aspect that I valued the most, his soft skills are great: not only he kept me up to date at each stage of the recruitment process but he has always taken the time of checking on me to make sure I was happy with the position; this happened before, during and after I accepted the role as well as upon starting.
I would certainly recommend Greg to any organization looking to hire C-suite executives internationally. – Finance Director Candidate Alessandro Mistroni

If you would like further information on our international services please contact the team on Info@Agora-Talent.com

Recruitment

Agora Talent’s team of expert recruiters have a wealth of experience in managing end to end recruitment processes for our clients. We love that no two businesses are the same and so enjoy coming up with tailored solutions. Typically our service includes…

Project Scoping: We work with hiring managers and HR/Recruitment Business Partners to identify the right approach and candidate brief. Using our industry knowledge we can advise on any potential challenges and the best way to position the search.
Advertising: Assistance with job description preparation and full advertising service through our online partners.
Shortlisting: Agora Talent’s team of consultants are fully trained in competency based interviewing. The team are continually meeting top talent within our space so are normally able to provide an initial shortlist faster than our competitors. We firmly believe we are an extension of our clients businesses and so conduct face to face screenings of all potential applicants to ensure we get the cultural fit right.
Offer Management: We work with clients & candidates to manage the offer process, including remuneration negotiations; and supporting candidates through their resignations, and on-boarding processes.

If you would like further information on our recruitment services please contact the team on Info@Agora-Talent.com

GREG

Over the past 7 years Gregory has built a strong and impressive network within the retail and consumer Finance market. For several years he was a top performing consultant in a large multi-national business before recently taking the plunge in co-founding Agora Talent.

He has a strong track record of delivering Finance Director and CFO appointments to some of the largest and most prestigious brands in the UK as well as across Europe and Asia.

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Wayfair – Case Study