Interviews

Vella Recruitment TEAM INTERVIEWS 2024

2023 has been one hell of year for Vella. We have added 2 more members to the team (Rachel and Kirsty) which now brings us up to 5. This growth has enabled us to push Vella out of it’s Town Planning comfort zone.

Economic Development has taken centre stage this year making up 44% of our placements compared to 12% the previous year.

Developing a further understanding of the market has been particularly enjoyable, this coupled with attending Women in Planning

As we approach the end of the year, what will you think when you look back on 2023?

events and the UK Build Expo was a personal highlight for me. A big well done and thank you needs to go out to the team for all their hard work across 2023.

Ultimately, next year we want to build upon what was a recording breaking 2023 for Vella.

Our office is now at capacity, so one of priorities is to find Vella a new home, we hope to stay at the picturesque Turkey Mill – which makes coming into the office a pleasure. As a team we plan to attend more and more built environment

and

recruitment

networking

events; meeting new people and learning new skills is what makes us specialists at what we do. As we expand the team and our services, the standards of recruitment which we set out from the very beginning is and always will be the absolute priority!

What areas of growth have you focused on, were there any surprises along the way?

What areas of growth have you focused on, were there any surprises along the way?

We began the year with the plan to expand our complementary

services

across

the

built

environment sector, with a particular focus on Economic Development and EIA. However the recruitment gods produced some surprising roles for

us

in

Landscape

Architecture

and

Sustainability, providing us with the opportunity to step in (not Christmas!) -to other areas of the built environment industry. On a personal note it’s been great to speak to a variety professionals operating at different stages of the development process.

Scott Brown Director 07864 093372 Scott@vellarecruitment.co.uk

Vella’s workplace has developed quite a bit since we did our last interview. We are 60% female, 40% working mums, have 4 different level of hires (at the time of posting...!) and have attended a number of workshops over the year to build our business to be as inclusive as possible – but there’s still more work to do.

As a business, we are introducing new perks to look after all members of the team, most recently a strong Health Cash Plan for them and their families, and we recently paid our first year of Christmas bonuses, which was such a rewarding feeling as a business owner. I don’t want to pat myself on the back but in

How has Vella’s culture developed in the past year?

our end of year reviews, everyone told us that their opinions and input feel extremely valued, I’m particularly proud of that.

In work: Expanding our team in September and November. Everyone who joins is a step in the right direction for the business— speaking of November. What a month. We had our best month ever financially and it was a blinder – I'd be lying if I said it wasn’t nice to just have one of those months where you think

to

yourself

“did

that

really

just

happen!”- a different picture from working 12hour days throughout Covid wondering how our new recruitment business was going to survive. Out of work: turning 30 in Miami (photo for reference!). Scott surprised me by renting us a couple of jet skis and we spent the morning flying around Star Island. As far as days go it was a pretty surreal one!

What was your favourite moment (both in and out of work) in 2023?

As we approach the end of the year, what will you think when you look back on 2023?

We’ve expanded our team by 2 this year, and that involved interviewing and reviewing a lot of CVs. While I was impressed with a number of people with various attributes (and this might seem obvious) I was most impressed with people who

had

nailed

the

basics:

preparation,

professionalism, being able to answer why they want to work at Vella, and why they are passionate about working in (or jumping into) Recruitment. It’s also SUPER important just to come across as yourself – we spend a lot of time together, so getting on is vitally important in a small, growing business. As a side note: I can’t stress

enough

to

double-check

spelling/grammar mistakes.

CVs

for

Oliver Hutchinson Director 07526 830041 Oliver@vellarecruitment.co.uk

2023 really has been amazing on so many levels – watching us grow from the ‘Three Muskateers’ to a team of five, celebrating my year anniversary at Vella in September, and being promoted to Senior Consultant back in July.This year I have been specialising in Economic Development, which I have found really interesting, it’s been fantastic to connect with so many different people and really get to know what’s happening in the Economic Development space across the UK. For 2024 I am hoping to be more involved with Social Value

/

Impact

roles,

and

Stakeholder

and

Community engagement positions – which is very exciting for us. One of my professional goals for next

Hi Mel! So, you’ve been with Vella for 15 months (time flies when you’re

year will be continuing to work within Economics, and expand on my knowledge in this area, by attending more events, connecting with more people

having fun right?!), what’s changed

in the field to ensure I am finding the perfect person

for you the past year at Vella?

for the role – and ultimately finding people their dream job!

I am a working mum, and it has been great to see Vella adapt and support me in what can be a juggling act sometimes. A real personal highlight for me this year, has been able to prove to myself that I can have a successful career and still be a present mum, and being able to attend school plays and sports days.

Being part of Vella Recruitment, means I am part of a team and environment where this is all possible, so I feel extremely lucky to be part of this incredible team.

What’s your goal for 2024, both inside and outside of work?

You’ve been doing a lot of Economics work, what kind of roles have you filled?

One of my biggest successes this year I would say, has been single handedly recruiting for a busy Economics team, and growing their team by 4 people! It’s one of the things I enjoy most about recruitment - is finding the perfect people they are getting on and helping grow their teams.

Oliver Hutchinson

What an achievement!

Director

for the role, staying in touch, and seeing how

Here’s to an even better 2024 – filled with lots of hard work, fun, good health, and positivity!

07831 4915378 Melanie@vellarecruitment.co.uk

I’ve

been

learning

about

recruitment

processes and the Built Environment market as a whole - the ins and outs of what it takes to be a recruiter and to work within the Town Planning industry. I’ve also been gaining an understanding of the sectors we work across and focusing on who the right candidates for the job would be and why. There’s been A LOT of information, but it’s been really fun – I even attended some external training to get different perspectives on recruitment which I

Hi Kirsty, your well into your training at this point, what’ve you been learning about?

didn’t expect.

What’s your background and what are you bringing to Vella?

My background is in customer service and sales. I’m used to listening and advising, but it’s nice how there’s such a big focus on the long term here. It’s been a bit of a theme throughout training, doing a good job rather than a quick one which was exactly what I wanted when I was looking for a new role in recruitment.

In 2024, I'm most excited about really getting stuck in and making

What are you looking forward to most in 2024?

placements. I’m working with Oliver on some roles in London and Exeter at the moment and we’ve got a couple of training and networking events booked it’s just learning everything and seeing where it takes me!