Recruitment Matters: Miles Hunt

Benula Capital director Miles Hunt joined REC chief executive Kevin Green for the final Scale Up Podcast of 2015. He was featured in this month's issue of Recruitment Matters.

Embrace the new

Technology probably now favours the start up over the established company. The opportunity to go and set up, even in a very competitive market, and find that niche, is huge. For established companies, it's much more challenging. Their fear of change is one that stalks the corridors of many companies in the UK. They're wondering what the result will be of all this rapidly-developing use of technology and changing client and candidate behaviours. But the trick there is to embrace it and look at your business model or the broader talent-management spectrum of different services.

Don’t let the economy trick you

I think you'll find you can move in gradual steps down a path that leads to a new opportunity. The worst thing you can do is stick your head in the sand and think what worked in the 1990s will work for me today. Anybody who's making money off those old methods is probably because of the strength of the economy. Imagine how things will be when the next downturn comes - it will be even more difficult than the last one.

Mid-term strategy is vital

Mistakes from the outset were falling into new markets, but a little bit more strategic planning in my early 20s would be more useful. If I were to do it again, I would have taken a shorter term view on some of the markets I invested in.

Get to know finance

Any recruitment owner or manager, they've got to get themselves familiar with basic financial management. The approach I will always recommend is the lily pad approach: always build on solid foundations. If you've got yourself in a position where your business is strong, you've got good second-tier management, you've got the flexibility to do the next thing..

Know yourself

Underpinning everything is an underlying philosophy, personal and business. That's not the same as business values and culture - it's about finding what you're about and what you're trying to achieve in non-monetary means. If you can devise a cause then it's easy to start positioning yourself.