Meet the Team: Holly Murray

As we’re always interviewing other people we thought we might interview each other for a change!

So let’s meet a new member of our team, Holly Murray:

Name: Holly Murray

Job Title & Team: Recruitment Consultant, Commercial and Administration.

What do you do? I recruit for a range of Commercial and Administration jobs, including Marketing, HR, Customer Service, Administrators, PAs and actually too many other roles to list here; Variety is definitely the spice of life in this role!

How did you get into Recruitment? How does anyone get into recruitment? I joined Western Commercial straight from school, answering phones, filing and making a LOT of tea!

Still enjoying a cup of tea. This time in her new Escape mug 🙂

After a few internal moves I joined Eastern Western head office and started my first HR role. At the same time I also went to college and gained my CIPD qualification.

I really enjoyed the recruitment aspect of HR so when Eastern Western decided to create an internal recruitment function applied and that’s how I became a recruiter!

I loved it. I got to meet lots of people; ask lots of question and learn about a lot of different companies and industries. After 10 years I felt that it was the right time to move on and that’s what brought me to Escape in 2017!

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a Zookeeper! When I was a teenager I did actually apply to become a Zookeeper but of course, I didn’t have any experience so my life took a slightly different route!

What was your first job? My family have a business in the motor trade and I used to help out there after school. It made me realise I how much I enjoyed working and that’s what encouraged me to apply for my first job at Western Commercial.

What are you working on now? Since joining Escape I’ve been focused on learning, lots of learning! Yes, there are many things my previous experience has taught me but there are still some differences and new things to learn.

The biggest difference between in-house recruitment and recruitment consultancy is probably the level of expectation. As an internal recruiter my hiring managers were my colleagues often making it easier to influence and advise them. I can of course still do this but as an external supplier it can take longer to build that shared knowledge, understanding and trust.

Holly enjoying her first training session at Escape.

What do you love most about recruitment? Definitely the people. I love interviewing people and getting to know what drives them as a person, what motivates them and what their personality is like.

Recruitment gives you the opportunity to meet a lot of really amazing people, find out where they’ve been and what they’ve done with their lives up to this point as well as their future ambitions and I find that really interesting.

What’s your top tip for jobseekers? Don’t get disheartened if you’ve been unsuccessful in your job hunt so far. Get in touch with a specialist recruiter in your area and they’ll be able to give you advice and help guide you.

What’s your top tip for hirers? Keep an open mind. Sometimes the best person for the job isn’t the best person on paper. If a candidate lacks a bit of experience and needs some training but they’ve got the right attitude and are really motivated; often that’s the best person for the job.

….and finally:
What 3 words would your colleagues use to describe you? Probably enthusiastic, friendly and I’d like to think funny…but maybe not!

Well we asked them and here’s what they said:
“Always has food” and “tells terrible jokes” 🙂

Want to get in touch with Holly? Here’s how: