Sharpe is having a ball since leaving SSQ_2
29 March 2012
After nine years helping to build international legal search and recruitment consultancy Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ) into one of the UK’s fastest growing staffing companies, Gavin Sharpe, who co-founded SSQ in 2003 with Gareth Quarry, is “having a ball”.
March 2012
After nine years helping to build international legal search and recruitment consultancy Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ) into one of the UK’s fastest growing staffing companies, Gavin Sharpe, who co-founded SSQ in 2003 with Gareth Quarry, is “having a ball”.
Sharpe sold his stake in the company back to SSQ in January. Now, Sharpe told Recruiter, he was enjoying his time out from his previous 24/7 on call existence. After a month in the Far East “to recharge my batteries”, Sharpe has signed up for an MA in psychotherapy.As he looks back at his departure from SSQ, which was ranked third in Recruiter’s 2011 Hot 100 with gross profits of £10m, Sharpe acknowledged “it’s a life-changing decision”.
“I think I was a very tough manager, and in terms of the staff I don’t think I gave enough of myself as a human being”
However, as “a typical entrepreneur”, Sharpe said that as the company grew and matured he felt increasingly out of place. “Towards the end, I had stopped enjoying doing what I was doing.”
Since leaving SSQ, Sharpe has not been short of offers of work. He is currently talking to one or two organisations about helping them with their in-house recruitment functions on a consultancy basis. He is also considering a non-executive director role with a non-legal recruiter, alongside his aforementioned studies.
Reflecting on his career at SSQ, Sharpe said he wished he had practised a more laid-back management style. “I think I was a very tough manager, and in terms of the staff I don’t think I gave enough of myself as a human being.”
Sharpe says his best advice to other recruiters who exit the industry is not to rush into anything.
That said, he added: “If you are doing a job that you don’t enjoy then it is soul destroying. And if that is the case, then get out because life is too short.”
After nine years helping to build international legal search and recruitment consultancy Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ) into one of the UK’s fastest growing staffing companies, Gavin Sharpe, who co-founded SSQ in 2003 with Gareth Quarry, is “having a ball”.
Sharpe sold his stake in the company back to SSQ in January. Now, Sharpe told Recruiter, he was enjoying his time out from his previous 24/7 on call existence. After a month in the Far East “to recharge my batteries”, Sharpe has signed up for an MA in psychotherapy.As he looks back at his departure from SSQ, which was ranked third in Recruiter’s 2011 Hot 100 with gross profits of £10m, Sharpe acknowledged “it’s a life-changing decision”.
“I think I was a very tough manager, and in terms of the staff I don’t think I gave enough of myself as a human being”
However, as “a typical entrepreneur”, Sharpe said that as the company grew and matured he felt increasingly out of place. “Towards the end, I had stopped enjoying doing what I was doing.”
Since leaving SSQ, Sharpe has not been short of offers of work. He is currently talking to one or two organisations about helping them with their in-house recruitment functions on a consultancy basis. He is also considering a non-executive director role with a non-legal recruiter, alongside his aforementioned studies.
Reflecting on his career at SSQ, Sharpe said he wished he had practised a more laid-back management style. “I think I was a very tough manager, and in terms of the staff I don’t think I gave enough of myself as a human being.”
Sharpe says his best advice to other recruiters who exit the industry is not to rush into anything.
That said, he added: “If you are doing a job that you don’t enjoy then it is soul destroying. And if that is the case, then get out because life is too short.”
