RECRUITMENT
Five star – From left to right , Imperial ’ s Adam Pearson , Aidan Antoniou , Dan Pilkington , Adam Gallagher and Beth Forshaw .
Key to growth is being able to attract , develop and retain the best recruiters .”
“ To be a good recruiter , you need to be a multi-faceted , diverse , all-encompassing professional ,” said Anthony .
“ You need to understand finance , marketing , branding , social media , sales , B2B networking . You need to be a good content writer and researcher . And you need to understand the business world inside and out .”
Now Anthony is training up the next generation of recruiters , which includes his son , Aidan .
“ When he left school , the first thing Aidan said to me was he wanted to come and work in recruitment ,” said Anthony , who is married to Sinead and has two other children , Sophie , 12 , and Thomas , four .
Aidan started a peer recruitment apprenticeship at Imperial 18 months ago and is due to qualify soon .
“ You don ’ t always know what you want to do when you ’ re younger ,” Anthony said .
“ I was in sales originally , but I wasn ’ t confident in the product I was selling , so I went to register with a recruitment service to find another job – and they asked if I wanted to work in recruitment .”
He had found his career destiny and
loved the role , until he woke up one day in January 2016 and thought , ‘ I ’ m ready to do this myself now ’.
“ I wanted my name above the door and my last employers couldn ’ t offer me this ,” he said .
He partnered with Imperial Workforce owners and now fellow directors , Jason and Patricia , and developed his blueprint of key values : integrity , commitment , experience and creativity .
“ Key to growth in our industry is being able to attract , develop and retain the best recruiters ,” added Anthony .
“ The only way to grow this business and retain talented recruiters is for them to have a vested interest in what they do .”
So he gave two of his senior team at Imperial Professionals – recruitment operations manager Dan Pilkington and head of engineering and technical recruitment Adam Pearson – particular parameters to achieve in a three-year plan that would release equity .
“ Three heads are better than one ,” he said . “ You can only do so much on your own , you need like-minded people with the same aspirations to achieve good things .”
When Anthony isn ’ t hard at work , he loves to watch his beloved Tottenham Hotspur and go on holiday with Sinead
Teamwork – Imperial staff , from left to right , Kimberley Walton , Nicola Graham , Cody Pilkington , Nick Walker , Natalie Cook , Claire Campbell and Alina Constantinescu .
and their children .
“ I ’ m also a bit of a foodie ,” he added . “ Being Greek , when it ’ s the summer , I love a big barbecue and cooking traditional Greek food .”
He sees a bright future ahead , particularly here in the Tees Valley .
“ The Tees Valley is an exciting place at the moment ,” he said . “ We have the Freeport , digital Boho , the treasury and the investment at the airport is amazing . For the first time , we ’ re attracting relocators to the region .
“ It ’ s a beautiful place to live and work and we are showcasing that by putting the region on the map . I even hear we are mentioned regularly down in the Houses of Parliament !
“ I always say if you ’ ve got the right drive , you will always be successful .
“ My favourite analogy is ‘ You reap what you sow ’, you get out what you put in .”
Visit imperialrecruitmentgroup . com to find out more .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 71