Makes changes before a crisis happens, advises Venner

Don’t wait for a crisis until you make changes to your business, says Gary Venner, co-founder and director of financial services recruiter Premier Jobs.

Venner’s company has been selected for inclusion in this year’s Parliamentary Review. Inclusion in the Review, which is an independent publication chaired by parliamentarians Lord Blunkett and Lord Pickles, is awarded to companies that demonstrate best practice across different sectors of the UK economy. 

Based in Calne, Wiltshire, Premier Jobs is among a number of staffing companies included in the Department of Work & Pensions section of the 2019/20 Parliamentary Review. The others are: life sciences executive search firm Morgan Prestwich; multi-discipline recruitment consultancy Brightwater Recruitment Specialists; blue collar recruiter Gable Essex; HR advice and resource partners Lamont Jones; generalist recruiter Ethero Strategic Staffing; rail industry recruiter Proactive; and multi-sector recruiter The Launch Group.

Representatives from all these companies have been invited to a reception at the Palace of Westminster on 14 November for the annual gala.

Venner told Recruiter that the major reason for Premier’s inclusion has been its ability to adapt to major changes in the market for financial advisers. The company’s entry highlights how, despite launching in 2007, the year before the financial crash, and changes in regulations that saw the number of financial advisers fall to just 22,000, the company quickly adapted. 

“We proactively sought new client relationships with successful financial adviser firms and leading networks, searching for where the market was strongest and where there was a gap in the market created by the banks [exiting the market],” says Venner. The company also helped SME firms to grow by offering self-employed as well as employed contracts for their sales force.

“Adapting to changes in the market are something that you need to do all of the time,” says Venner. “There is no crisis that comes around where you say ‘I must do it on this occasion’. You must continually have a business plan,” he says, who advocates SWOT analysis to identify threats and opportunities. “And don’t leave it too late,” he adds. 

“You can’t influence external forces, but what you can do is influence what you are going to do in your business to guard against the threats and to maximise the opportunity before other people do it.” 

As Premier Jobs’ entry in the 2019/20 Parliamentary Review demonstrates, this ability to adapt and take advantage of opportunities has paid off for the company. From a point after the 2008 financial crisis, where the recruiter’s survival was in question, the company recovered so that in 2018 it moved into larger premises, and now has more than 400 clients across the UK.

Venner also emphasises the importance of companies having a mix of skills; this allows them to keep on top of new trends such as developments in IT and social media. “You need people in your business to understand the trends and how to access them,” he says. “If your systems aren’t up to date for Google Jobs, you won’t get in there,” he says, by way of example.

Investing in staff training has also helped ensure that staff are up to speed on best practice in terms of professional standards and compliance, with the vast majority of head office staff having Level 3 recruitment diplomas from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation. In addition, all staff receive extensive financial services industry training.

The full Department for Work & Pensions Parliamentary Review can be seen here.

Premier Jobs’ contribution can be viewed here.

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