Our Pioneers – Why Alex joined Pioneer Search

Our culture and our people are at the heart of what makes Pioneer Search, well, Pioneering! Our consultative and knowledgeable approach comes from the fact that all our Pioneers love the sector they work in and want to know everything about it whilst also making sure their candidates and clients are actually happy.

In Our Pioneers series we will take a look at why they joined us and what makes them a true Pioneer.

First up, Alex Holliday, Consultant – Technology.

My Background

I am one of the EMEA recruiters at Pioneer Search, my specialism is resourcing within the IT sector across a variety of innovative markets.

My career in recruitment has always been within highly technical sectors, starting within the fascinating world of Electronics. Focusing on Consumer Electronics, I recruited for businesses who in some way make contributions to how the global community moves forwards from smart phones to driverless cars. I then moved into Software recruitment, working in Front and Backend Development Technologies. Another interesting sector with a varied list of clients from financial markets all the way to brilliant ecommerce startups looking to revolutionize the way we spend.

On a personal side, I moved to London immediately after finishing University in South Africa, life here is more fast paced and London is great for opportunity, maybe not so much for the sun but I can live without that for a while.

Why I joined Pioneer

Working at Pioneer Search has been great, they have given me the opportunity to grow my own desk and develop business in new markets following current technology trends. This is all part of the Pioneer journey, so I appreciate the responsibility so early in my career.

The hiring process

Pioneer has a tradition of training great talent internally and I was really pleased to have been chosen to learn the recruitment ropes from Mark and Pratap. Interviewing me from South Africa must have been a commitment to them and since joining they were really supportive helping me move over and adjust to a new home.

I started interviewing from South Africa with a phone call getting to learn who I was and why I wanted to move to the UK, immediately I was told “when could I come in”? Several flights later I got to meet the team and started the next week.

Moving to a new country and coming into a completely new culture can be overwhelming, Mark and the team were really helpful and showed great patience. I was immediately stuck into the work and getting to learn from Mark and Pratap who both had so much experience was brilliant. Pioneer really is a cut above the rest.

My journey at Pioneer so far

4 years later and still here, speaks for itself really.

Having worked in recruitment for a few years now I find that I am still learning every day. Mark is a great mentor and being in a small team allows almost constant communication, working through ideas and new markets. I also have the pleasure to learn from my other team members and like to think we collaborate and learn from each other.

Looking to the future?

Another 4?