2007 Graduate Trainee Recruitment Programme

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Alison Abbott

2006 Graduate

What did you read at University?

I studied Geography as my first degree at the University of Southampton and then went on to study a Masters in Urban Economy and Culture.  While I kept my options open to both human and physical Geography during my degree, the Masters focused very much on the development and future of global economies.

What were you looking for in your career?

Like many students I didn’t really have any defined career plan after finishing University; going into recruitment certainly wasn’t a career that I initially thought of.

Having explored the typical options associated with Economic Geography I decided that I wanted a career that would give me a solid foundation and exposure to many different businesses.  Further, I knew I wanted a career that would suit my personality – that is – working closely with people on a daily basis and making a difference to people’s lives.

Why did you choose Digby Morgan?

I applied to several different organisations for jobs, yet there were three key reasons why I chose Digby Morgan:

• The people – having visited Digby Morgan firstly for the Associate Day and then for the final stage of interviews, I found everyone I met within the company very friendly, supportive and genuinely interested in my background and what I was looking for in my job.  They were very ready to answer any questions and I quickly felt that they were a group of people that I would enjoy working with.
• The focus on professionalism and quality – I was very impressed with Digby Morgan’s strong focus on professionalism and quality, something that was evident from both their website and the people I met.  I knew that I wanted to work for an organisation that not only looked after their employees well, but also focused their business around building strong relations with both clients and candidates in order to secure a future of working successfully together.
• Development opportunities – Digby Morgan works with such a huge variety of clients and being exposed to all of these at such an early stage has helped facilitate my understanding of different business needs.  Further, there will always be development opportunities within the organisation – to move into either the City, Commerce or Interim divisions to help you further develop skills in difference areas and levels of recruitment.

Which division do you work in?

I work in HR Resourcing (HRR).  There are 11 consultants in HRR and we focus on the entry level to middle management HR roles – typically £20,000 to £50,000 in terms of salary.  The client base we work with is hugely varied, from the professional and financial services such as Deloitte, UBS and Linklaters, to Vodafone, Fat Face, Renault and The FA. 

Please describe a typical day

There is definitely no ‘typical’ day at Digby Morgan and I guess my biggest surprise since joining has been how quickly time flies due to the variety involved on a daily basis.

Thinking about the above question it is probably best to list some of the duties I get involved with– if you then throw all of these in a hat and then pull them out in any random order you’ll get a feel for the variety involved: interviewing candidates; visiting a client to take a new job brief; sourcing top candidates and briefing them on the role; writing job adverts; sifting through new applications; setting up interviews between your clients and candidates; taking interview feedback; letting a candidate down after a final interview; or hopefully….relaying an offer from a client to your candidate and making a placement!

Of course, you do have certain activities planned in the day; it’s just a case of fitting in all of the other duties.  The biggest challenge is often prioritising the workload and working out what to do first.

What has your role at Digby Morgan given you from a self-development perspective?

The last six months have been a massive learning curve.  Together with introducing me to the world of business and a huge variety of clients, working at Digby Morgan has built my confidence in the work place, working with both candidates and clients on a range of levels.  In terms of being realistic it’s important to realise that there are highs and lows (as with any job); it’s important to celebrate the highs and pull yourself up quickly and learn from the lows to help you drive forward success.

What advice would you give to candidates thinking of applying to the Associate programme?

From my experience the most important factor to take into consideration when thinking about your career is to find a job that suits your personality and the values you believe in.  If you are in a job and working with people you enjoy spending time with, you will thrive and develop, bringing out your best qualities and most of all you will have success.  Take time to work out what you really want and never rush into anything – it is just as important for you to be completely happy with where you work and who you work with, as it is for your employer to be happy with you.