Congratulations to Sophie Curran on her promotion to Manager of our Legal Team – Yorkshire & North East.
We spoke to Sophie about her career and motivations
What moments have stood out to you as highlights in your Venn Group career?
During the Coronavirus lockdown, I worked with my manager, Sophie, to place around one hundred paralegals into one firm. In what was a quiet time for recruitment across the country, we saw a lot of success from those placements and that company was one of Venn Group’s biggest clients in that period. It was a proud moment for me as I was in the early stages of my career and getting to grips with working from home.
Another highlight was having the opportunity to move to the Manchester office and help establish a centralized North Legal team there, which both brought me closer to friends and family in the area and allowed me to meet new people at Venn Group. We’ve since had a lot of people start in the team and it’s been my privilege to support them, focusing on their training and development.
What lessons have you valued from your management team?
Sophie is very good at giving consultants the opportunity to own their work. It can be easy for people to become reliant on their managers, but she ensures her consultants have the freedom to make mistakes and then provides the feedback and support which will enable them to learn and ultimately become a master at what they do. I’ve particularly appreciated Sophie’s focus on the personal development of everyone on the team; we often have conversations about our career goals, so she knew early on that I wanted to go down the management route and could mentor me towards this.
What do you most enjoy doing when you’re not recruiting?
I’m trying to make an effort to travel more; I recently went to Lisbon with one of my friends and I really enjoyed it there, the food was great and it’s a creative place with a number of stalls, art shops and bookshops. I’m planning to go to Koln in Germany next year as it looks like the place to be at Christmas, and I have plans with friends to visit Portugal in the summer.
I also value spending time with family. I have a four year old niece, and she’s obsessed with soft play centres and inflatable courses, so I have spent a lot of time in those establishments!
In one year’s time, what will indicate you’re succeeding in your role?
Several of my team are currently in their first year at Venn Group, but already they have learnt so much and I’m confident in any tasks I give them. So, I will prioritise continuing their training and development, with a number of promotions and tangible milestones for each of my team to reach over the course of the year. If I’m looking back in a year’s time and my team are happy, confident in their roles, and can speak to me about anything, that will be an indicator I’m doing well, and our success will follow from that. I’m looking forward being able to give my team more responsibility and the opportunity to shine, and to feel the rewards of doing that.
We also heard from the management team who have supported Sophie throughout her career.
‘Sophie’s hard work and determination have enabled her to reach this fantastic achievement. Sophie’s market knowledge with both candidates and clients is excellent, and she has been superb with new members of the team in providing support and guidance, as well as leading by example with her billing. Well done Sophie, I’m very proud of you and looking forward to growing the unit with you. We have an exciting future ahead of us.’
Sophie Anderson, Senior Manager