Bruce Russell, 50, director at recruitment specialist Right People explains his career path, what has motivated him, and what his perfect retirement might look like.
What did you want to be when you were young?
Even from an early age I wanted to work with people, I just wasn’t sure whether it would be as a brain surgeon or bus driver.
What are the main career stepping stones you have taken?
After leaving school, I joined a high street bank, quickly moving into a sales-focused role and progressed from there.
After 10 years, I moved to another bank’s corporate finance team where I dealt exclusively with business customers – helping them choose the best method of financing for capital acquisitions. I never purposefully set out to work in recruitment, as most don’t, but registered with three agencies and was offered a position with each. After studying the industry, I found it really intriguing.
The face-to-face contact with people and the opportunity to develop genuine two-way communication with clients and candidates greatly appealed to me. When I started in recruitment there was no one else, in Aberdeen, who specialised solely in IT. Traditionally, the engineering department of recruitment companies would have responsibility for handling these roles.
For more than 20 years, I have helped a great number of people – many who now hold senior roles in the north-east business community and beyond. I’ve worked with a large number since placing them in their first job. Towards the end of the last century, a number of changes began to emerge which, in my view, led to IT becoming seen as an integral part of any business; placing a greater emphasis on recruiting the right IT personnel.
The 1990s saw the advent of Windows operating systems, the dot com era of boom and bust and the threat of the Millennium Bug – all of these were game-changers in terms of how businesses came to see IT as a help rather than a hindrance to achieving business success.
While the pace of new technology has increased dramatically over recent years, the fundamentals of working in recruitment have stayed largely the same. It is still true that there is no substitute for face-to-face contact to gain a better understanding of both clients and candidates’ requirements.
In 2008, along with my colleague, Alex McLeod, we opened Right People. We’ve built the company up from scratch, achieving year-on-year growth largely through word of mouth and our reputation for honesty and integrity.
Is the “career for life” a thing of the past?
I certainly think so, especially here in Aberdeen. There is so much choice available to candidates, who are in turn more visible to prospective employers than ever before. Partly due to social media, people can be contacted easily now.
There is now also a degree of standardisation across industries, especially in the IT world, in terms of the same processes being followed and accreditations such as ISOs. This makes it much easier for skills to be transferred.
What’s your best career advice?
Simple, be honest with people and be easy to deal with. I believe in treating people with integrity; basically how I would want to be treated in turn.
Are you scared of making mistakes?
I’ve made enough of them in my career to get over any fear of them. As long as I can learn from them so I don’t make the same one twice.
What’s your idea of the perfect retirement?
While I genuinely love what I do, I would like to spend a bit more time improving my golf handicap and hill walking. I’ve just completed my 50th Munro, having only taken up the challenge a couple of years ago. I’d like to see how far I can get to completing them all.
Best achievement so far?
My current position, without question. Alex and I set out to establish Right People as the go-to recruitment experts in Aberdeen. We’ve managed to build and develop a good reputation for ourselves, with a very loyal client and candidate base who mostly work exclusively with ourselves. We’ve also got an excellent team who make Right People what it is.
What has motivated you?
Simple, fear of failure.
What’s the best way to motivate others?
I think it’s to allow people to make mistakes. Provided they only make them once and quickly learn from them. A degree of autonomy is a good thing; it’s important to give staff a voice and ask them for their opinion.
Is there any day in your career you would like to live again?
Either the day that Right People opened its doors for the first time, or the day I managed to get tickets for the 2012 Champions League Cup Final in Munich.