Employee case study:
Mark Bailey

It is, without a doubt, the most important thing to me. There’s nothing better than people joining with the enthusiasm, desire, the real ambition, and being able to give them an environment where they can change their lives and get what they want. They will benefit from a supportive culture and outstanding training, are provided with the resources they need, and have a brilliant brand behind them.

I see nothing better than watching someone walk through the door, say ‘I want to do [X]’ and we tell them that they’ll have to work really hard to achieve that. Then we see them put the effort in and go on to buy houses, go on dream holidays, get married, whatever it is they want to do.

As managers, we help colleagues who want to succeed, to succeed, but ultimately, they do it. I don’t believe it’s me that does it. I champion them and coach them, Sellick Partnership trains them, and they’re offered the right tools and platform to be successful.

When you start on day one, no one expects you to just start billing, someone needs to help you. It’s about giving them the room to express themselves and find their identity as they progress.

Often, it’s enough to just know that they have the support of their peers, sometimes it’s important to know that the person next to them is just as invested in their development as they are.

I think it’s about supporting people and really demonstrating this on a daily basis. Show your vulnerabilities at times, so people know they can have vulnerabilities too. Create a culture as positive as possible, and set the standards of what you want. 

I’ve been pushed to be better and better, but I wanted to be pushed. I walked in and said I wanted to get to the Board, you can’t get there by being told how good you are. You also have to take constructive feedback on how you can do better and how you can be better.  

I’ve spent time looking at people and thinking what do they do really well? How can I implement that into my everyday practices, to become better? I look at the people that I manage as well, and think, wow they’re good. I see how much they genuinely care about their teams too, and I have so much respect for that. It definitely keeps you on track. 

We have a Board of Directors and a Senior Management Team (SMT) that is massively motivated to grow – not just in terms of headcount, but to give our colleagues the opportunity to grow and develop their own careers.

Samsic – the majority shareholder of Sellick Partnership – is equally committed to helping us grow, both in terms of headcount but also where we can extend our recruitment services and our overall offering, but what does this growth mean? It’s extra people joining the business that make us better, finding more clients and candidates. We’re also looking to grow in other aligned areas – where our business can be applied. We are open to markets that complement what we currently do.  

There are huge opportunities for new people joining Sellick Partnership, as well as those colleagues already here. We are surrounded by very talented people, everyone can develop and go on career journeys that countless other people have done. Whether it’s to become a Director or a biller who feels valued and knows they’re not a number.

People genuinely care at Sellick Partnership, in general, everyone is invested in each other’s success and we love to see colleagues do well.

When you work for some companies, often being the top biller is the only thing that matters – at least that might be how it feels. When that’s the case, you have a competitive culture, but it’s also going to be dog eats dog.

That’s just not the case here. We’ve had people come in, earn really good money, more than they ever expected, be a great recruiter, take a break to have a family and come back knowing they’re just as valued. When that’s exactly what that person wanted, how can we say that isn’t success?

That’s just as important as someone who comes in and wants to bill as much as they can. Putting it simply, success looks different to each individual and we really do understand that at Sellick Partnership.

It’s the obvious one: I’m about people. For me you give your people the chance, give them the platform, empower teams and individuals so that they can be in control of their destiny.

This business has been built on helping those around it and that in turn, has a powerful knock-on effect when it comes to the service we provide to our candidates and clients.

Sellick Partnership is a £100 million+ turnover business. We’re not there because we decided we want to be a £100m turnover business, we’re there because we decided to focus on our people. The idea is to become a £200m turnover business. This can be done by giving our successful people the right platforms, the right training and development and the right opportunities to grow.

We don’t want anyone walking through the door under any false pretences - recruitment is hard work and the responsibility is on the individual to make it work. However, they should also know that they are working for a brilliant recruitment business, that they should be proud to work for, and one that will genuinely give them the support, coaching and development they need to be successful.

There will be people going about their business right now, maybe they’ve never heard of Sellick Partnership, and we’ve never heard of them. They will be our next case studies in years to come. That’s exciting.