MY STANTON HOUSE STORY: ELLE ZOMA

FROM OPERATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE FRONT LINE 

I joined Stanton House three years ago. I was keen on finding a new challenge with a business that I could see myself really growing with.

I was at a point in my life where I felt really stuck, unsure and worried about my next step and I can quite openly admit that I would have never envisioned myself working for a recruitment agency.

When it comes to customer experience, it’s an industry that has typically suffered from a bad reputation. It has been my experience that some recruiters don’t always put their customers first and fail to treat them (candidates in particular) with respect.

However, from the very first interactions I had with Stanton House I was delighted and surprised to find a different kind of recruitment agency – one that sets out to create an exceptional customer experience for clients and candidates alike.

I was thrilled to join the Operational Support team, as the Compliance Coordinator. In this role, I was responsible for ensuring the timely and accurate onboarding of the permanent and contract professionals we place. 

Making the leap to ‘the other side’

Within six months, however, it became clear to me that I was made 'or the other side' - to be customer-facing and generating fees!

I expressed my interest in becoming a Recruitment Consultant and my manager immediately got to work with a transition plan. This was the first time anyone at Stanton House had put their hand up to make the switch from Operational Support to a fee-earning role, but I felt entirely supported in my decision.

I spent a whole month shadowing consultants across the business and had three rounds of intensive internal interviews to ensure I was ready and equipped to start helping our customers.  

It took a lot of tenacity, resilience and genuine care to really do the job well and I was over the moon when I became a fully-fledged Associate Consultant.

I joined the Accounting & Finance recruitment team in Reading where I built relationships with customers across the Thames Valley, matching and placing permanent qualified professionals into new roles. But then after seven months, the pandemic hit, and things got tough for everyone. 

Onwards and upwards  

Although things were challenging, I managed to navigate my promotion to Consultant a month after the UK was instructed to stay at home. My first year as a Consultant was another steep learning curve. 2020 saw us all working remotely, coming up against hiring freezes and supporting candidates through an incredibly tough jobs market.

Fortunately, the market has picked up incrementally and hiring has now reached pre-Covid levels. The close relationships we forged in 2020 mean we are now in a great position to help our customers as recruitment activity continues to ramp up.  

With the support of my colleagues and my absolute dedication and passion for all that I do, I have been able to achieve so much for my customers and am one of the top performers in the business.

Having surpassed my annual targets by July, I am proud to say that I was recently promoted again to Senior Consultant.

The career I have been able to forge here has impacted my life in so many positive ways and receiving the wonderful feedback from the customers I help and add value to, is incredibly rewarding.

I get to build relationships with so many different people, that I might not normally encounter in my personal life, and this is just priceless.