SIMON GRAY
THE CAREER BOUTIQUE We welcome The Career Boutique’s latest addition to the team, Simon Gray, to the B4 offices to find out more about his career to date and how he hopes to grow the already well established recruitment agency’s brand. Written by: Richard Rosser Photography by: Rob Scotcher
Simon has come from a luxury yachting background having previously worked with high end profile clients both in build and charter of “super yachts”, and the wider industry. He also worked on the marina side of the business partnering with luxury car brands, wine, spirits etc…. to develop high end events with a view to marketing and, ultimately, supporting the sale of yachts and marina berths. But some things are quite clearly more important to Simon than super yachts and a world surrounded by luxury, so why the change? “I joined The Career Boutique more out of a personal, lifestyle choice. I met my wife eight years ago and started a conscious transition of travelling less and moving to Oxford – I couldn’t be further from the sea, so this was a challenge for me. I decided to look for great companies in Oxfordshire and already knew Katherine (Bertram, owner of The Career Boutique) and that she was making a positive impact with the companies she worked with, so it was a logical fit to join her and build on this. “I have a multi-part role, focusing on business development and looking at how we can grow the brand, interact and engage with businesses in Oxfordshire. For example, we run a series of free to attend HR Forums, Seminars and Workshops with our partners Crossland, Migrate UK and Emma Browning that are well attended and the feedback is that we deliver great value and insight, so I would like to see us build on these and bring more local companies to the table, to join in the discussions on topical HR & recruitment issues. This, along with developing strong relationships to really understand where businesses struggle so that we can develop a recruitment-based support framework, will deliver greater value. That is really
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part of the over-arching philosophy Katherine and I deeply believe in, we want to support the growth of businesses in the area – and that doesn’t just mean directly through a recruitment-led service; for example we help our clients advertise some of their jobs directly via social media and professional networks without any charge.” Katherine was the cover feature of a previous edition of B4 where she outlined her plans for the future, including appointing someone in Simon’s role and Simon is excited with the challenge ahead. “Katherine has achieved much of her initial plan since that article in a relatively short period of time and the company is doing very well, working with some fantastic brands in
With B4’s new initiative, Oxfordshire Voice, one of the key areas under the spotlight is skills and the difficult recruiting in Oxfordshire, so what are Simon’s top three reasons for coming to live and work in Oxfordshire? “Firstly, from a careers perspective there are so many well established organisations and also startups that are securing funding for research and they are being commercialised through some of the companies in the science and technology sectors, so there is a significant skills requirement in the area.” “From a personal point of view, it’s a great place to live in terms of your welfare, your health and the countryside with the green belt surrounding Oxfordshire, which is a huge attraction.” “Finally, housing, despite being at the higher end of the market, the quality of housing available can support the jobs which are being created to support this longer term growth. There is the balance to be made with the overall cost of living, which is an issue that needs addressing, but this is not in itself unique to Oxford.” Good luck to Simon and The Career Boutique for the future and Simon, if you do start to miss the world of super yachts, we’ve got canals all around Oxfordshire and you can always give punting a go!
the immediate area and further afield. My job is to take that a step further and interact and engage with the companies in the Oxford area on a greater scale. Many of these companies are enjoying a step change in their development and despite the political uncertainty, we are seeing emerging and organic growth, the associated recruiting to support that and we are well placed to assist them. They are sticking to their growth plans and will still need people, so the future is bright for the region.”
contact@thecareerboutique.com 0845 520 4010 www.thecareerboutique.com
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