“You don’t have to be amazing at anything but if you’re amazingly organised then you will go far.” – On his 10 year anniversary, we asked James Feeney eight questions to find out more about what makes him tick.
If your life here at Venn Group was a movie, who would play you as the leading character?
I’d have to go for someone funny like Karl Pilkington – when I was on the company's top billers lunch a few years ago, all of the directors made videos speaking about how brilliant their consultants were for getting onto the lunch and when it came to my turn, Avtar put on a Karl Pilkington mask and basically took the mick out of me for the whole five minute video, cheers Avtar!
Vacation or staycation?
Vacation. I love America, I’m going to New York and Florida next year and off to Majorca this week.
If you could have any four people over for a dinner party, who would you have?
I’d have to have someone funny like Peter Kay, I love Eminem (favourite album is The Eminem Show) so he definitely gets an invite, Sir Alex Ferguson because he’s the greatest ever football manager and it’s only right my last invitee is the GOAT, Cristiano Ronaldo.
What’s been the biggest change in your life over the past 10 years?
Having my little boy, he’s 7 now and him being born definitely changed everything for me (for the better!).
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt whilst working at Venn Group?
I would say organisation – I’m a halfway house when it comes to organisation. My intention is to be organised, but I need people around me who are strict with their organisation to avoid chaos! If you’re not organised in this job, you will lose clients custom very quickly. To any new recruiters, my advice is to really nail your organisation. You don’t have to be amazing at anything but if you’re amazingly organised then you will go far.
Do you have a favourite quote?
Back when I used to work for Andrew Wilkinson, if we were having a bad week he would give us a Churchill quote – “success is not final, failure is not fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts”. It really stuck with me and offers perspective to every situation you’re in.
If given a chance, who would you like to be for a day?
It would have to be someone very famous! Like Lewis Hamilton, he gets to drive incredibly fast cars in loads of amazing cities – I’d love to race in Monaco! If not Lewis Hamilton, then I’d have to go for The Rock.
If you were stuck on an island, which three colleagues would you want with you?
Greg Jones because he would work really hard, Luke Grant because he would analyse the situation really well and direct Greg’s hard work and Sarah Onions for the giggles – all whilst I kickback and enjoy an ice-cold beer.