At Creativepool this week, we've decided to dig a little deeper into the recruitment process and help our members glean an insight into what they should be doing in order to climb the creative career ladder and make the most of their talents. This is the first in an ongoing Podcaset series of Recruiter Insights, which will each feature founder, Michael Tomes, going head-to-head with a major player in the industry to get to the core of what creative recruitment means in 2016.
We're kicking off proceedings with Jennifer Gabrielle-Chapman, Head of Recruitment and People Operations for Havas Media, at the “biggest boardroom known to man” in Covent Garden. Jennifer has been working with Havas since the end of 2014, and as Head of Recruitment since July last year. It's certainly an exciting time for Havas, which is currently in the midst of a phenomenal business transformation and period of growth, and will be operating as one operational unit by the end of 2017 known as the “Havas Village” in Kings Cross. Jennifer's mandate spans all of the Havas UK business groups, and she oversees a team of 6, who work together to attract top talent by developing the Havas employer brand. Her role also ensures that the People team is supported by legal compliance, payroll & reporting, and agile internal processes, so she's certainly got her fingers in a lot of pies and is well placed to offer us plenty of insight into the heart of the recruitment process at Havas.
“It's about helping someone find a job that changes their career and changes them!”
She takes us through a general day at the office, which she stresses is definitely NOT a typical 9-to-5, but is people-focused and genuinely rewarding. She also makes a point that it can be important to not allow your work to own your personal life, even when you believe in your company, which is something we could all probably take to heart. Jennifer also spills the beans on what she feels is the future of talent acquisition (a lot of technological changes afoot) and what is the best thing for her about being in recruitment.
She also goes into great detail about how fresh talents should go about getting a job with Havas, and she makes it sound like an incredibly warm and welcoming agency, but stresses that exceptional and specific talents are very much at a premium. Havas are also open to university graduates, but equally want to extend their open arms to talents from alternative careers paths, as Jennifer believes that simply sending in a CV and hoping for the best is simply not enough anymore, no matter how good you are! You have to prove that you're keen, prove that you know the company, and prove that you're willing to go that extra mile!
