APSCo John Rose
John has been passionate and energetic about the recruitment sector since he entered as a graduate 30 years ago. After his early years as a Consultant and climbing through the management ranks, he was fortunate to gain extremely varied and rich experience as a CEO over a 12 year period in three very different organisations. He commenced his NED/advisory work in 2015.
I remain as passionate and energetic about the recruitment sector (and my job) as I did when I entered it some 30 years ago as a graduate. After my early years as a Consultant and climbing through the management ranks, I was fortunate to gain extremely varied and rich experience as a CEO over a 12 year period in three very different organisations.
I describe what I now do as an NED/Advisor as:
• Using all the experience and knowledge gained in my recruitment career in helping MD’s/CEO’sOwner Managers (as well as their leadership teams) to build their businesses.
• Helping those leaders who don’t know what they don’t know and supporting them as they manage a larger business leading to greater complexity and new challenges
• Stopping them making all the mistakes which I did (guilty as charged, but I can now spot them far easier than most!)
• Running a recruitment business can be a lonely existence; I spend a lot of my time acting as a sounding board and ‘mentor’ to those I advise
• I fully understand what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to value creation; I work with companies to help them build and execute a plan for growth
• Challenging leaders, where appropriate, to think and act differently
• Utilising my international, regional, multi-sector and function experience to assist expansion plans
• Providing a mature and extensive financial management and analytical support (NB: in a past life I may have been an accountant!)
• Assist leaders to fully understand how to work with, and gain maximum value from, their support functions
• Many SME recruitment businesses have little formal structure and many run board/management meetings that are too operational and not forward-looking enough; I can change that!
Please do read my references to understand how the above has worked in practice and where I have been able to make a difference to leaders and their companies since I commenced my NED/Advisory work in 2015. Those I have worked with over the past five years are probably better placed to comment on how I work, what I’ve help them achieve and what I bring to the party. Please get in touch if you want to speak to any of them personally or if you have any questions of me.
Specialism
- Growth Management & Business Planning - Building plans for growth, expansion and change is about the actions you need to take and the milestones along the way; the ‘how’, not the ’what'.
- Mentoring & Leadership Support - I spent 20 years in senior leadership positions in recruitment, and I believe I bring a track record and (hopefully) much expertise to pass on.
- International Expansion - I have managed/launched business in both mature (US, Europe, Australia, Asia) and emerging (e.g. Brazil, Russia, India) markets; I have knowledge and strong connections.
- Merger, Acquisition & Exit - I understand the value drivers of a recruitment business and spend much of my time working on exit planning with the leaders I work with.
Reference 1
“John has been working with us for now about 2 years. Amongst the wide variety of recruitment NEDs available across the industry, we chose to work with John due to his extensive, senior-level experience and crucially, his candid and authentic approach to leadership and Board support. Over the last 2 years, we have had to deal with a multitude of both strategic and reactive issues that have benefitted hugely from John’s incisive advice and panoramic perspective. His intervention has ensured that at times we avoided what would have been unwise decisions and also given us the confidence to pursue opportunities and growth. We have found John’s highly advanced financial analysis capabilities of significant help, enabling us to make sensible, strategy based decisions in alignment with cashflow. This ability to plan ahead – financially – has proven to be of real worth in recent months with the significant implications of COVID-19. If you are seeking a no-nonsense, pragmatic approach from a NED (including some possibly unwelcome home truths!), I would be happy to endorse John’s capabilities.”
Reference 2
“I met John at the Deloitte/APSCo event, 'Defining the Future' in 2016, where he was a presenter on Authentic Leadership. His experience is prestigious and very impressive, a necessary ingredient. However, it comes with a pragmatic whilst caring nature that really platforms the ability to translate his experience and learnings into your own business. From his first meeting with the team, where he presented at a company meeting, through to today, he pro-actively engages not only with the board, but with any member of the team that he can. This may be a quick passing chat in the office, or other occasions when he will independently arrange to meet them for lunch or dinner, where he feels they can get benefit from his attention. As such, he is not only well respected, but well-liked by all team members across the business. Whilst this charismatic style engenders trust, it comes with a ready willingness to highlight risks, challenge thinking or point out standards in performance. Always done without malice and delivered with a style that creates no sense of obligation, but ensuring that alternative viewpoints are considered. It's amazing how situational proximity or unconscious bias can mask these, despite having a diligent management approach. During John's tenure as a Non-Exec, Recruit 121 has grown exponentially, with EBITDA growing by over 500%. His help and guidance have been sought through the most challenging circumstances and he has never failed to be on hand with a genuine care for the company and its people. On a personal note, he has helped me remain sane, given me a needed kick up the backside on occasion and answered every call I have made to him. I am very grateful to him for all his help and have no hesitation in writing this very high recommendation. He's fantastic!”
Reference 3
“We’ve worked with John for nearly two years and in this time he’s been invaluable in helping us not only shape the strategic direction of our business, but he’s also willing to get stuck into day to day activities, which is what sets him apart from other NEDs. Here are three reasons why I’d recommend using John:
• Helps set clear direction and holds us accountable – We review the current business, numbers etc in detail at a monthly board meeting, but the real value comes from looking at ‘what’s next’. John challenges us to have our ‘eyes up’ on what the longer-term opportunities are and have a clear roadmap of how we can get there. Last year, this resulted in us opening a New York office within 12 months.
• Respects our culture & values – We put our culture and values front and centre of everything we do, this means that we often don’t operate like a traditional recruiter. Some NEDs might not appreciate this, but John hasn’t tried to meddle with this part of our business and respects how we want to treat our people and customers as well as how we want to build our brand.
• He’s on speed dial – The Coronavirus pandemic has forced us more than ever to make well considered, swift decisions. During the crises, John has come into his own and worked incredibly hard to support us – often having long calls, late into the evening, to help resolve issues and support us both professionally and personally. He never ‘logs hours’ and appreciates that an NED relationship involves give, take and flexibility. I’m convinced that without John as a sounding board and guide, during the pandemic, that we would have made many more mistakes.
Alongside this, John is a thoroughly decent, kind individual who I have a huge amount of time and respect for personally. I really cannot recommend John highly enough and I feel fortunate to have him involved in our business.”
Reference 4
"I first met John Rose at the APSCo event ‘Defining the future’ in 2016 and appointed him Non-Executive Director of my business in 2017. Throughout his time with the business, John has proved himself to be an insightful and knowledgeable resource that has helped shape the strategic direction of the business. We have seen and overcome a number of challenges in the time John has been with us and I am wholeheartedly able to recommend him as an invaluable advisor to the business. John has been pivotal in the following:
• Negotiating cost savings that far outweigh his cost to the business due to his wealth of industry contacts and knowledge of the market.
• A de-merger and spin-off of part of the group in order to facilitate the exit of our long-standing Finance Director and shareholder.
• The search for and hire of a Managing Director Designate to take the business forward in an MBO with the aim of facilitating my exit. John was also heavily involved in the creation of a framework agreement that put some measures in place to protect the business during this time. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the MBO has been put on hold.
• An acquisition and integration of a business that we worked in a Joint Venture Partnership with, that after an earn-out period, significantly increased the profitability of the company with minimal outlay.
• A current restructuring plan to enable future growth and create options and opportunities for the different divisions of the group, with the ultimate goal of facilitating an exit for myself.
• Input, oversight and critique of a new Commission Scheme and Personal Development Plan for our sales staff to ensure we maximise cross-selling opportunities, the sharing of clients and candidates amongst our sales teams to maximise NFI/G.P.
Our business has weathered some complex market conditions in the last 3 years and I am very grateful that we have had John to hand to help guide us through them."
Reference 5
“I have been working with John Rose for over 3 years. He has brought an immense amount of added value to my business. Whether the issue of the day is a long term strategic decision or short term tactical one, John is always available with sound counsel to help me navigate myself through the decision-making process. His prior extensive recruitment career as CEO of prominent multi-national recruitment brands provides a vast back catalogue of people issues which comes in very handy when faced with the inevitable staff management situations that arise in recruitment firms. His approach is extremely considered, non-judgemental, he asks a lot of questions to make sure he has understood the situation before imparting advice. He often holds the mirror up to myself as CEO to ensure that where possible I come to my own conclusions rather than relying on someone else’s. John is very easy to build a relationship with. He is not in any way ego-driven, fits in well and makes himself available to people of all levels. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend John. He will care about your business, he will go above and beyond for it and you will feel that you get excellent value for money for the investment you make.”