Life at Gattaca | Matt's Story | Gattaca

Job title: Group Business Development Director
Location: Whiteley

Why did you join Gattaca?

At my interview I was told I’d be given the tools and training to build my own business and that if I worked hard, I’d succeed. It took me a little while to learn my trade but I was hooked on the company within the first week. I loved the banter and the positive and competitive environment.  They were also paying me to learn, which seemed too good to be true.

Describe your Gattaca career so far.

There were about 50 people in the company when I joined and we were operating from a single site in Hampshire. 15 years on and I’m now on the management board of a global listed business. So it’s fair to say, it’s been a brilliant journey.

I’ve met some amazing people through my career at Gattaca, my life is littered (in a good way) with friends that I’ve met through working at the company, be that; colleagues, clients or candidates I’ve placed.

How has your career changed or progressed since you joined?

There have been three major milestones in my career: 

The first was about 12 months into my career at Gattaca. Up until that point I wasn’t 100% sure what I was doing, or even if I wanted to do it. I loved the company but I wasn’t particularly successful. Then the penny dropped. Suddenly, I seemed to develop the knowledge and relationships I needed to make a difference. Clearly this development didn’t happen overnight and was actually the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of meetings, calls and interviews. I’d spend hours reading articles to help me to refine my market knowledge. I was always very focused on trying to be a consultant that happened to recruit - something I still hugely believe in.

The second move was about eight years ago. I’ve always had an interest in how businesses work and I was pretty vocal to the CEO about how we could improve our client engagement. After a little while he made it my job to improve it, so I moved into a newly created role to look at Business Development and was packed off to Cranfield to pick up some ideas.  The knowledge I gained there helped me to build a BD strategy, a bids function and an account management programme.  The experience also equipped me with a few tools and gave me a desire to understand our clients even better. 

Since then we’ve gone on to secure relationships with a whole host of amazing businesses that I am very proud to be associated with. We’ve grown our capability across multiple sectors, we’ve expanded around the world and we’ve also built an entire Solutions business whose focus is on understanding what employers are trying to achieve and then advising them on how to do this.

The final, and most recent step in my career journey, was a move to the Management Board - something that I’m very proud of.

What are your career aspirations with Gattaca?

This may sound a little cheesy, but my aspirations aren’t personal ones any more, they are for the success of the group and the clients and individuals who make us who we are. I like to encourage everyone to focus on their ongoing development, to make his or her mark and importantly to try new things in order to break new ground.  Over the years, I’ve found that this isn’t always easy, but it is fun and hugely satisfying.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Solving problems. Everything we do revolves around people so we need to constantly innovate to create solutions that meet the needs and goals of the people (be that clients, candidates, suppliers or colleagues) that we work with every day. Spotting a problem and then coming up with a solution is a really rewarding experience.