It’s fair to say that 2022 has been exciting and jam-packed for team MERJE so far.
We’re going strong with our ambitious growth plans as we head into H2 and we’re delighted to have assisted many businesses in their post-Covid recovery, by supporting them in implementing and instigating hiring plans which have helped them thrive in a new era of working.
We’ve also found a host of great roles to help our candidates progress their careers following the stress of numerous considerable market uncertainties.
Here, we reflect on our recent achievements and what we have in store for the business over the next few months.
A new discipline launch
We’re proud to have launched a dedicated Business Change & Transformation division, bringing attention to the vast expertise our team has in supporting clients with roles across continuous improvement, business change, process mapping, transformation, programme management, product, business readiness and more.
Barry and Neil have been pairing the likes of Heads of Change, Product Strategy Managers and Transformation Leaders with businesses for over 15 years, and our BC&T launch serves to put this experience in the spotlight so our clients don’t miss out on this significant string in the MERJE bow.
Related Articles: MERJE launches dedicated BC&T team | Q&A with Barry and Neil about BC&T
A dedicated consultant sharpens our Analytics presence
We enhanced our existing Credit Risk & Analytics offering with the promotion of Tom Cook, our first Consultant who is dedicated specifically to the area of Analytics.
Tom brings with him a wealth of experience, having cut his teeth in the tech industry working across a mix of permanent and contract hires covering DevOps and Infrastructure, before joining MERJE a year ago and getting to grips with the niche and specialist skillsets required in credit risk and analytics roles.
Tom’s focus will now be on growing our Analytics offering, mainly within financial services and banking. His attention will centre around roles across management information, business intelligence and data science, to name a few.
Related Articles: MERJE Markets Q&A with Tom Cook
A host of bright new hires
We were delighted to welcome a raft of new starters to our team amid ambitious plans to increase our headcount as we look to the future of the business. Growing the team means improving our offering to clients and candidates, and we’re pleased to see how well they’ve settled in, all while bringing great levels of drive and expertise to their specialist areas.
Our most recent new hires include:
Consultant Jo Sanderson joined the Front-Line Talent team at a time of significant market activity. Her extensive background in customer service and building relationships has proven invaluable as she gets to grips with the world of recruitment. Jo focuses on entry-level positions right through to team manager roles across customer experience, sales and telesales, administration, collections and recoveries.
Andriana Maniati joins us in London as our new Office Manager. Hailing from Athens, Andriana has just completed a Master’s degree in Web Design and comes to MERJE to ensure the smooth running of our London office, as well as to use her higher education experience to add value in other areas of the business, including our website.
Louie Felton is a Resourcer who specialises in sourcing exceptional Legal, Risk Management and Compliance candidates for the Governance team in London. He is currently focusing on building and maintaining a strong, trusted network while developing his overall knowledge of retail banking, wealth and asset management, investment banking and business banking.
Marcus Keane joins our Credit Risk & Analytics team in the highly specialist business of pairing exceptional credit risk, analytics and data professionals with brilliant fintechs, retail banks, start-ups, challenger banks, debt management businesses and established FS institutions. He is now ready to build on his people and relationship skills even further as he embarks on a fruitful recruitment career.
Continued team growth
Our team growth isn’t stopping there though! As we continue our ambitious development plans, we’re looking for even more brilliant people to join the team. In particular, we’re searching for Legal and Finance consultants in London and someone to join Barry McDonald, our Business Manager for Customer Contact, Business Change & Transformation, in Scotland.
Find out more about working at MERJE here.
Well-deserved promotions all round
Tom Cook, our aforementioned Analytics expert was recently promoted from Resourcer to Consultant in recognition of the invaluable skills and insights he brings to the wider Credit Risk & Analytics arena.
Sally Cordwell was recently promoted from Principal to Managing Consultant. Sally joined MERJE in 2018 to build up our Front-Line Talent offering from scratch. The volume recruitment market comes with its own particular challenges, but Sally has poured passion into her work, taking FLT from a one-woman show to a thriving team.
The team specialises in single, multiple and volume campaigns for the likes of Customer Service Representatives, Sales Agents, Administrators and more, on both temporary and permanent contracts. Between them they consistently achieve fantastic results, garnering phenomenal feedback from clients and candidates.
Paul Clayton recently celebrated his eighth work anniversary as part of the MERJE team as well as being promoted from Principal Consultant to Business Manager. His MERJE career is a shining example as he has progressed from Resourcer to management through eight years of dedication, hard work and success – with a lot of laughs along the way too!
As well as continuing to provide expert hiring and job searching services across the Risk & Compliance and Wealth Management arenas, Paul now adopts a more active approach to knowledge sharing with the team and has a hand in the strategic direction of the business and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Our straight-talking Resourcer Mandy Bancroft enjoyed a double celebration as she received a well-earned promotion from Front-Line Talent Resourcer to Consultant the very same month she tied the knot.
Mandy is tenacious, yet always open and honest with candidates, working tirelessly to deliver an exceptional service with a smile. Mandy has more than 10 years’ worth of experience in the world of employment, ranging from training to full 360 recruitment, and we see great things in the future of her MERJE career.
Accreditations to be proud of
In today’s commercial climate, which is fraught with sustainability, diversity and ethical issues, having a good business model is about more than booming profit margins and record revenue streams. It’s about adding value to society and having a positive impact on the world. That’s why we’re taking steps to evolve as a business, including becoming:
Good Business Charter (GBC) accredited
The GBC is an accreditation which encourages and recognises responsible business practices and publicly acknowledges the UK organisations that take pride in following them. By becoming GBC accredited, MERJE demonstrates its commitment to being a socially, ethically and environmentally responsible business.
A Disability Confident Committed employer
Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to improve how they attract, recruit, retain and train disabled people and those with health conditions. Being Disability Confident Committed sends out a clear message that we’re passionate about upholding workplace equality.
A Financial Services Qualification System (FSQS) registered supplier
As part of our ongoing commitment to our Financial Services clients, we have been accredited by Hellios as an FSQS registered supplier for many years. The FSQS accreditation indicates a successful audit process and demonstrates a supplier's compliance with a standardised methodology which allows FSQS Buyer organisations to access our information from within a central system.
An imaginative brand refresh
We recently worked with an agency to undergo a brand refresh with an emphasis on ensuring that our brand presence truly reflects not just the business we are now, but the business we’re aiming to be as we grow. Beth, our Marketing Manager who has been working with the agency as well as the MDs and Head of Client Services to coordinate the refresh, said,
“These changes, which are being rolled out incrementally as we speak, are a stepping stone in our brand journey as we continuously look to ensure we are being innovative, authentic and exceeding the expectations of our clients, candidates, partners and employees.”
MERJE’s 10th Birthday
We recently took time out to celebrate this fantastic milestone with a trip to the stylish Rudding Park Hotel & Spa. Read more about our visit here.
Of reaching 10 years of business operation, Jonathan Abelson, one of MERJE’s MDs and founders, said,
“We can’t quite believe that MERJE is celebrating its 10-year milestone. The years have flown by and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved.
“We started out as just three young recruiters – Ed, Rick and myself – with a vision of a better type of recruitment business. We’ve gone on to win awards, grow our team and our expertise, increase our turnover year-on-year, move into a purpose-built Manchester HQ and many more fantastic achievements!”
Ambitious long term plans
Looking to the future, we’re aiming to further cultivate our service offering by evolving each of our talent solutions, starting with recently shining a spotlight on our executive level hiring expertise.
Supporting clients with critical appointments such as CROs, CFOs, COOs and similar has long been in our repertoire, and we’re excited to bring this solution to the fore with the development of MERJE Executive Talent.
In the longer term, we’re considering the progression of our business, brands and services overall and how we can continue to innovate whilst meeting the key needs of our clients. Watch this space!
Related Articles: The Pros and Cons of Executive Search | What is Executive Search?
An emphasis on knowledge sharing
Throughout the year so far, we have tapped into our many years of recruitment expertise to share a host of informative articles which covered a huge range of topics. We called on our specialist consultants, including Paul Clayton (Compliance & Risk), Adam Jones (Actuarial & Insurance) and Andrew Varty (Finance & Audit) to name a few, to share key insights about their markets.
Check out these articles: MERJE Insights | MERJE Markets
We also collaborated with thought leaders to discover their views and comments on a variety of subjects, such as our chat with Charlie Michael, Chief People & Sustainability Officer at DF Capital.
Read more of our MERJE Meets series here.
As well as this, we continued to promote business best practices with our guidance on matters such as supporting mental health in the workplace, trans-inclusivity and whether motherhood should be included on a CV.
See all our articles here.
All in all, 2022 is shaping up to be another stellar year for MERJE.
We’re proud to have navigated the commercial challenges and market uncertainties of the past few years, and now we look forward to an equally prosperous H2 2022.
