Luke’s Journey
How did you start your career in Recruitment and how did you progress your career to where you are now?
I started my recruitment journey at a rapidly growing tech recruitment company working within the data development team. I progressed up to Principal consultant within 2 years (I believe that was the record) at that business.
Having not worked in recruitment before I was…let's say - below average blanking for my first 6 months. I was consistently spending too much time focusing on having positive conversations rather than winning business…the aim of the game. But after countless late nights in the office and working consistently to develop my skills; it all changed when I learned the art of the cold call and how to work smart.
I am now the proud Founder of IN2 Consult, one of the fastest-growing finance recruitment agencies in the UK. While at times it feels like the world quite literally has thrown uncontrollable hurdles in our way (between a global pandemic, a UK recession and cost of living crisis) I am happy to report we have still seen growth year on year. Proving there is no stopping me and my team of consultants from striving to achieve a first-class service to our clients and candidates alike.
It has been a tough journey, with some amazing highs and some low lows; however, I have a great team behind me and I know that we will continue to achieve our goals and expand. We have outgrown competitors that have been around 5 times longer. Starting in Thames Valley we now support London and the North with teams delivering value to our clients on a day-to-day basis because of the ethos of how we collaborate with our clients.
How did you meet/work with Ash?
When I first joined the industry Ash was my first Manager, leading the data and development team. When I started we were bottom of the leader board consistently being beaten by other teams; however, by the time I left, we were one if not the top performing team within the business.
Ash was the one who helped me on my journey and made me the recruiter I am today. Luckily he overlooked my first 6 months of blanking and saw the potential I could bring to the team through the right support and training.
How did you reconnect and decide to launch Cloud2 Consult?
Where all the best business deals are done…on a golf course! We went for a casual round and got to talking. He mentioned what he was looking for in his next challenge and there was a lot of synergy in terms of what he wanted and an untouched opportunity we had with our existing client base focused on transformation.
Over the next few weeks, it really got me thinking about what we could achieve if we joined forces and the idea of Cloud2 Consult was born.
How will you work together on Cloud2 Consult?
We will for the first time be partners on a level playing field looking to grow and develop a cloud and transformation recruitment business focused on quality partnerships. A number of which we are lucky to already have at IN2 Consult. Cloud2 Consult will be an extension of this adding more value to the partners we have and assisting on the technical ERP and EPM implementations and rollouts they require.
What are you most excited about for Cloud2 Consult?
There are two sides of the coin. Firstly this is an exciting time to not only work with Ash again but also to put my leadership skills to the test working with Ash to grow another business and hopefully take all the lessons I have learned as a part of growing IN2 Consult into practice once again.
Secondly, to be able to help our clients in areas we haven’t been able to support before. We have consistently turned down business as our areas of specialism didn’t align on certain projects. This venture will allow us to deliver a service more broadly across finance not just within accounting knowledge but also system-specific - all whilst maintaining a streamlined best-in-class service.
What is Cloud2 Consult’s mission and purpose?
Cloud2 Consult will become the ERP, EPM and Transformation Leader in the UK. We already are lucky enough to partner with some of the most innovative companies out there and I am confident with the talent we have internally and the leadership involved this will come to light.
IN2 Consult started in my spare room and has grown to be an established leader in finance recruitment in the short time we have been around. I am confident that the success of IN2 Consult will be mirrored with Cloud2 Consult!