Political Risk Recruitment Agency October 13, 2011
Posted by Jeff Riley in : Political risk , trackback
BeecherMadden is one of a handful of specialist recruitment agencies that work in the niche area of business risk and resilience. We spoke to Luke Vile one of their directors about the kind of people they can help recruit.
Luke, I haven’t come across agencies operating in this area before? Well there are only a handful – around four or five agencies in this sector. It started developing around the millennium when the concerns about the ‘millenium bug’ made business much more aware of issues around risk and what we call resilience. Since then businesses have developed whole divisions that manage these risks, and entire consulting firms have been founded that provide such services.
We proactively identify people to work in areas such as
- Business continuity
- Disaster recovery
- Crisis management
- Physical Security
- National security and defence
- Intelligence
- Operational Management – ranging from facilities management and senior management recruitment through to operational risk
- Technology security
‘Risk’ as a concept of business management covers all of the above areas. For example banks may want someone to define who gets access to what layers of their IT or information, and a company may want to devise protocols for deciding who gets physical access to which parts of their buildings. It could also involve more policy type work. For example assessing the potential threats for a company’s operations in a particular region through intelligence control.
So who are your clients? Lots of financial firms (investment and retail banks) consultancies, professional services firms such as auditors, defence consultancies, retailers, consumer goods companies
How do you find people? Well we proactively search – which is why we approached King’s College. We have been able to place a number of postgraduates from the War Studies department. When we meet people we can then be approached by clients or more proactively approach them and suggest they may want to take a look at certain individuals. It is more common than is thought for jobs to be created for strong candidates, from junior to senior levels.
What do you look for if you are considering postgraduates? Well I think of it as a certain ‘X factor’ but what it comes down to is a combination of things: An excellent academic track record as a foundation. Some previous experience is important but not always essential. Though you may not need heaps of experience. Frankly junior people bring a certain energy and freshness, and they are certainly cheaper than senior people. As well as this they will need to have impeccable communication skills, be able to present well and have a corporate personality. They should also be able to be convincing and knowledgeable about the industries they want to be develop careers in. The academic course may be great at giving a global overview of international security but our clients need to know you can see the security implications for their firms and their operations in ‘real world situations;. Finally a certain element of intrepidness.
What kind of roles have you placed students in previously? We have had people placed as crisis analysts for investment banks – researching potential crisis points in regions of operations. Others have been placed as security consultants looking at contingency plans if there are natural disasters and providing an audit of current security measures and we have had people become researchers looking at the political issues for a banks operations in a particular region.
How should people proceed if they think they might be suitable? Well we want to hear from people who might be able to start work within six months so people who have just started their masters should wait a while. Otherwise people are free to email or phone me for a discussion. No obligation of course.
www.beechermadden.com Luke Vile 020 303 608 22 Luke.vile@beechermadden.com
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