NICK POVEY MANAGING

Director

What’s your background?

I entered the recruitment industry by chance and without knowing too much about it soon after graduating from university I worked for a leading UK contingent sales recruitment company and progressed to managing one of their regional offices On joining, I found myself instantly dealing with candidates and clients with a wealth of experience that knew much more than I did that I could learn from. It was a challenging and disciplined new business sales environment that gave me a good grounding for my career in Search I then moved into Retained Search in Technology and Software with two companies, Parity and then Norman Broadbent, before setting up Symbiosis Search just as the Tech sector was recovering from the Dotcom bust

What projects are you looking forward to working in Sheffield Haworth?

I’m really looking forward to taking what we’ve built as a group at Symbiosis Search and developing it further within a bigger business, with a broader offering and a truly global footprint Sheffield Haworth has assembled a talented team across CTS and I’m excited at the prospect of working and collaborating with them on challenging senior level international searches for some of the best companies on the planet

What made you join the tech industry?

When I first started focusing on the tech industry in the late 90s, the demand for GTM talent was exploding and it was an exciting space to be working in It was a fast moving sector, creating globally dominant market leaders within the space of a few years, led by some of the smartest entrepreneurs and business leaders I was attracted by the opportunity to work in a sector that was disrupting traditional industries, where software was starting to underpin every function of a business, and is now baked into every aspect of company’s operations, products and services

When didyou join?

I joined SH in November 2022 following the acquisition of my company, Symbiosis Search, that I founded with Andrew Parker back in 2002. We’re now part of Sheffield Haworth Technology, along with seven other fantastic Symbiosis colleagues.

Who in your career has been a role model to you?

I wouldn’t say I’ve had one standout role model I’ve worked with some amazing colleagues and alongside some talented leaders within clients that I’ve learned loads from Before I entered the world of work, my uncle was a big influence He was a sales leader at a FTSE100 FMCG company, was very driven and helped me in those early years at the start of my career Once I’d established my career in recruitment, I came across a number of people that had started their own business in Search that I took inspiration from to set up Symbiosis.

Tell us something people might not know about you/do you have any hidden talents?

In my youth, I thought it would be great to be a professional football manager and 7 years ago I was given the opportunity to start up my son’s grassroots football team, which I still manage today at U14 level I think I’ve reached my limits in that profession!