Harriet Smith: Be my Boss!

If you missed my colleague’s blog, we’re saying goodbye to our amazing South West director in a few months’ time - she’s off to join a family business in a completely different sector – and I’m eager to be actively involved in the recruitment process as we search for a new person to join the Bristol family.

So, let me start by telling you a little about myself…

I’ve worked at Rethink’s Bristol office for nearly five years now. In that time, I’ve worked for two Rethink brands, I was part of the move into our amazing new office, I saw us win the South West’s happiest workplace award, and I became the Group’s first certified mental health first-aider. We’ve been busy right? But this is a testament to the level of support on hand in the Bristol office and the camaraderie of the people who work here.

I originally joined Rethink to work within our talent management brand, RTM. After a couple of years, I realised it wasn’t overly suited to me, and I was keen to return to open market recruitment, as I’d done prior to joining Rethink. Our open market business, ReThink Recruitment, didn’t have any open opportunities at the time, and so I thought I’d have to leave the business to pursue what I wanted to do.

Thankfully, I did not - the South West director saw the bigger picture, and the value I could potentially add to that side of the business and working life in the Bristol office. With that, she created a role for me within open market, more suited to my strengths.

Fast forward a few years on and there was something else I wanted to pursue… I wanted to raise awareness of mental health. It’s not something that’s openly discussed in the workplace, but it was through my own personal experiences that lead me to want to be actively involved in what is often seen as a ‘taboo’ subject.

The leadership team recognised that this was something that they had little knowledge or experience in, and with that, spurred me on to get both myself, and the wider office involved and educated on the matter.

We brought in Bristol Mind – a mental health resource for people in Bristol and surrounding areas – to run a 2 day workshop on mental health; delving in to the most common mental health issues that people face, how to recognise the signs, and how to deal with them. It was important for me to prove that there are ways to combat the pressures of a competitive sales environment and encourage people to succeed within it, despite this demand. So why am I telling you all this? Because as you can see, the level of support I’ve received in this office has been second to none. And it’s because of that support, that I and the rest of the Bristol office have been able to achieve all the amazing things we have.

Essentially, whoever assumes this position is going to have a £20 million turnover business to run. But more than that, they’re going to be joining and leading a family.

Does this sound exciting to you? Click here to apply to be my boss.